A friend sent this to me earlier and I have been UNABLE to stop laughing at it.
Fox News went into Eastern Pennsylvania to find out what the regular folks of small town America think of the Presidential candidates. The anchor asked the people at this diner who they would be voting for and manages to find a "Split Decision" that doesn't look to be all that split.
Um. Gee...looks to me like they were all voting for Obama. The one guy who was going to vote for Mccain was completely shot down by his wife! And when it was time to raise his hand for Obama, he finally did the right thing!
Meanwhile, everyone else in the diner was voting for Obama and you can hear them LAUGHING after the idiot from Fox News describes it as a "split".
Palin undercuts McCain and his message posted by
Dookie The Webmaster 2:28 PM
Katie Couric, in a segment to air tonight, asks Palin about her joke that she's been listening to Joe Biden's speeches since second grade, and whether that isn't an odd thing to say given her own running mate's age:
Oh no, it's nothing negative at all. He's got a lot of experience and just stating the fact there, that we've been hearing his speeches for all these years. So he's got a tremendous amount of experience and, you know, I'm the new energy, the new face, the new ideas and he's got the experience based on many many years in the Senate and voters are gonna have a choice there of what it is that they want in these next four years.
BooHoo: Nancy hurt my feelings posted by
Dookie The Webmaster 1:26 PM
Poll: GOP blamed for failed bailout
Respondents to a new ABC News/Washington Post poll blame Republicans over Democrats by more than a two-to-one margin for Monday's failed vote on the $700 billion bailout package.
The poll, conducted Monday evening after the vote, reported 44 percent of respondents said the GOP is "mainly responsible" for the failed deal. Twenty-one percent blamed Democrats while 17 percent said the two parties share equal blame. The survey interviewed 424 registered voters and has a five percent margin of error.
Forty-seven percent of those polled oppose the bailout while 45 percent said they support it. Only a slim majority, 51 percent, expressed confidence that the proposed bailout would prevent the current financial crisis from getting worse.
But while Americans are split over the bailout, a vast majority, 88 percent, said the failed vote "could lead to a more severe economic decline."
Republicans eating their own posted by
Dookie The Webmaster 7:53 AM
Palin's (Conservative) Problem?
Even as Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin prepares for Thursday night's vice presidential debate against Delaware Sen. Joe Biden, an increasing number of Republicans and conservatives are expressing reservations about both her candidacy and the way in which she is being used (or not used) by John McCain's campaign.
The trouble began late last week with what was widely seen as a disastrous Palin interview with CBS News anchor Katie Couric in which the vice presidential nominee was barely intelligible on relatively basic questions of foreign policy. (Is it just us or has Couric been kicking butt in the last few weeks? It isn't just us; the Post's Howie Kurtz seems to agree.)
That "performance" was -- luckily for the McCain campaign -- largely drowned out by coverage of the ongoing fight on Capitol Hill over the bailout of the country's financial institutions.
But, it did not go entirely unnoticed particularly by several prominent conservative opinion makers.
Kathleen Parker penned a column on Friday in which she asserted: "As we've seen and heard more from John McCain's running mate, it is increasingly clear that Palin is a problem."
"If Palin were a man, we'd all be guffawing, just as we do every time Joe Biden tickles the back of his throat with his toes. But because she's a woman -- and the first ever on a Republican presidential ticket -- we are reluctant to say what is painfully true."
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who many within the establishment of the GOP saw as the smartest choice as vice president, told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" that:
"Holding Sarah Palin to just three interviews and microscopically focusing on each interview I think has been a mistake, I think they'd be a lot wiser to let Sarah Palin be Sarah Palin. Let her talk to the media, let her talk to people."
Bill Kristol, in his column for the New York Times echoed that sentiment.
"McCain needs to liberate his running mate from the former Bush aides brought in to handle her -- aides who seem to have succeeded in importing to the Palin campaign the trademark defensive crouch of the Bush White House," wrote Kristol.
McGrampy has lost it posted by
Dookie The Webmaster 6:11 AM
McCain at dead end as House rejects bailout plan
Republican John McCain has maneuvered himself into a political dead end and has five weeks to find his way out.
Last Wednesday, McCain suspended his presidential campaign to insert himself into a $700 billion effort to rescue America's crumbling financial structure. In so doing, he tied himself far more tightly to the bill than did his Democratic opponent, Barack Obama.
.....
The implication: that he played a critical role in building bipartisan support for the unprecedented bailout.
.....
Both he and Obama had insisted the plan originally proposed by the Bush administration be strengthened with greater oversight and regulation.
Within hours, however, the measure died in the House mainly at the hands of McCain's own Republicans.
Initially, McCain went silent, choosing instead to send his chief economic adviser out with a statement that blamed Obama, claiming that the first-term Illinois senator had put his political ambitions ahead of the good of the country.
"This bill failed because Barack Obama and the Democrats put politics ahead of country," McCain senior policy adviser Doug Holtz-Eakin said.
It wasn't long, however, before McCain told reporters in Iowa: "Now is not the time to fix the blame, it's time to fix the problem."
All in all, McCain might have been better served by staying out of the mess and above the fray.
How about "VP Camp?" posted by
Dookie The Webmaster 2:53 PM
Palin heads to 'debate camp' in Arizona
As some prominent conservatives begin to raise the question of whether Sarah Palin should remain on the Republican presidential ticket - and others call for her to be given more public exposure in a bid to reverse falling poll numbers - the McCain campaign is bringing the Alaska governor to John McCain's Sedona ranch for several days of intense debate prep.
Senior campaign advisor Steve Schmidt and other top officials met Palin in Philadelphia Sunday night, and are traveling with her and McCain to a Columbus, Ohio event Monday morning. The group then heads to Arizona.
The original plan was for Palin to prepare in St. Louis, where the vice presidential debate will be held Thursday. Instead, she has already been preparing in a Philadelphia hotel for four days with advisors. She will now get ready for the debate at McCain's rustic creek-side home - what a top aide calls "debate camp."
The aide, who's part of the team prepping Palin, tells CNN they decided to take her to debate camp there because it is an "invigorating and enjoyable place to prepare for Thursday."
"SP [Sarah Palin] loves it, and has her kids and Todd coming," wrote the aide in an e-mail, and that "John McCain himself came up with the idea."
Heckuva job, Bushie! posted by
Dookie The Webmaster 2:23 PM
Dow slammed, posts worst-ever point decline
Fear swept across the financial markets Monday, with the Dow Jones industrial average posting its worst point decline ever, after the government's financial bailout package failed to survive a vote in the House.
Wall Street started tumbling in afternoon trading as the vote was shown on TV Monday afternoon, sending investors fled to the safety of the credit markets, worrying that the financial system would now keep sinking under the weight of failed mortgage debt.
The Dow closed the day down 777.68 points, or 6.89 percent, beating its previous record for an intraday drop of 721.56 points, set during the first trading day after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. Still, in percentage terms, the decline remained well below the more than 20 percent drops seen on Black Monday of October 1987 and the Depression.
"This is panic, and fear is running amok," one trader told CNBC. "We are in a classic financial meltdown, and it's panic-based. We're seeing panic selling."
The site will redirect you specifically to a video intro by Gov. Sarah Palin at JohnMcCain.com if you are hitting it for the first time. Note that the redirect sends you first to JohnMcCain.com and THEN to Palin.htm (Palin's Video Intro) if you're visiting for the first time, or if your cookies are cleared, or if you're not accepting cookies.
- URL Registered within ~36 hours of McCain's Decision to select Palin as running mate - Redirect sends users specifically to a palin.htm file, but only on the FIRST redirect - Whois Privacy Information Matches JohnMcCain.com Whois Privacy - URL Held by same registrar - Note that the .net and .org versions also redirect to the McCain Campaign Website. Network Tools.com Trace Route: - 64.203.107.149 (VoteForTheMILF.com) - 64.203.107.149 (JohnMcCain.com)
-As of 3:35 PM EDT The redirect has been changed to direct users to google.com -As of 3:49 PM EDT The redirect has been changed to direct users to a Wikipedia page about domain registration.
The House on Monday defeated a $700 billion emergency rescue package, ignoring urgent pleas from President Bush and bipartisan congressional leaders to quickly bail out the staggering financial industry.
Stocks started plummeting on Wall Street even before 228-205 to reject the bill was announced on the House floor.
Even as the electronic roll call began, Democratic and Republican leaders were uncertain about having enough votes to pass the politically unpopular plan. It's the most sweeping government intervention in markets since the Great Depression.
The bailout would have put in place an unprecedented federal program to buy up rotten assets from cash-starved firms. The goal is to free up choked credit that was threatening to cause broader market turmoil.
"Many of us feel that the national interest requires us to do something which is, in many ways, unpopular," said Rep. Barney Frank, the Financial Services Committee chairman, before the vote. "It is hard to get political credit for avoiding something that has not yet happened."
No more horse race posted by
Dookie The Webmaster 5:59 AM
Obama increases lead over McCain slightly since debate
Democrat Barack Obama has made strides in convincing Americans that he can handle the toughest challenges facing the country, including the financial meltdown and international crises, according to a Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg survey taken after Friday's presidential debate.
The poll of registered voters who watched the first showdown in Oxford, Miss., also showed a slight increase in Obama's lead over Republican John McCain.
The Illinois senator extended his advantage to 49% to 44%, compared with last week, when the same respondents gave him a 48% to 45% edge.
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Though more voters still see McCain as more knowledgeable, Obama was seen as more "presidential" by 46% of debate-watchers, compared with 33% for the Arizona senator.
The difference is even more pronounced among debate-watchers who were not firmly committed to a candidate: 44% said they believed Obama looked more presidential, whereas 16% gave McCain the advantage.
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After the debate, 43% of registered voters who saw the event said Obama had more "honesty and integrity," compared with 34% for McCain. A week ago, the same voters were evenly divided, with each candidate winning the trust of 40% of respondents.
Good thing he suspended his campaign and rushed back to Washington posted by
Wally 7:24 AM
After making such a big show of "rushing back to Washington" - even blowing off Letterman to do so because it was so urgent (well, not really, but that's what he told Dave before rushing to his interview with Katie Couric, and then back to his hotel for the night, and then eventually the next day back to Washington), one might think John McCain would spend most of his waking hours on Capital Hill working to find a solution to the economic crisis. After all, he claims the crisis is so urgent that it is threatening to destroy America and cause mass hysteria and riots and earthquakes and plagues and locusts and fire to rain down from the heavens.
One would be wrong. He's been hanging out at home, chatting on the phone and texting his bff's.
After interrupting his presidential campaign to come back to Washington on Thursday morning to try to push forward a $700 billion bailout deal, Mr. McCain remained in his condominium in Arlington, Va., until 12:30 p.m. Saturday, when he emerged and made a one-minute trip in his motorcade to his campaign headquarters around the corner.
By mid-afternoon, Mr. McCain's closest adviser, Mark Salter, told reporters that Mr. McCain would not go to Capitol Hill on Saturday but would make phone calls to try to push the deal along. "He's calling members on both sides, talking to people in the administration, helping out as he can," Mr. Salter said.
Asked why Mr. McCain did not go to Capitol Hill after coming back to Washington to help with negotiations, Mr. Salter replied that "he can effectively do what he needs to do by phone."
Apparently, he just learned about this new technology since Thursday.
McCain and Team Have Many Ties to Gambling Industry
Senator John McCain was on a roll. In a room reserved for high-stakes gamblers at the Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut, he tossed $100 chips around a hot craps table. When the marathon session ended around 2:30 a.m., the Arizona senator and his entourage emerged with thousands of dollars in winnings.
A lifelong gambler, Mr. McCain takes risks, both on and off the craps table. He was throwing dice that night not long after his failed 2000 presidential bid, in which he was skewered by the Republican Party's evangelical base, opponents of gambling. Mr. McCain was betting at a casino he oversaw as a member of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, and he was doing so with the lobbyist who represents that casino, according to three associates of Mr. McCain.
The visit had been arranged by the lobbyist, Scott Reed, who works for the Mashantucket Pequot, a tribe that has contributed heavily to Mr. McCain's campaigns and built Foxwoods into the world's second-largest casino. Joining them was Rick Davis, Mr. McCain's current campaign manager. Their night of good fortune epitomized not just Mr. McCain's affection for gambling, but also the close relationship he has built with the gambling industry and its lobbyists during his 25-year career in Congress.
As a two-time chairman of the Indian Affairs Committee, Mr. McCain has done more than any other member of Congress to shape the laws governing America's casinos, helping to transform the once-sleepy Indian gambling business into a $26-billion-a-year behemoth with 423 casinos across the country. He has won praise as a champion of economic development and self-governance on reservations.
McCain Aide's Husband Headed Trade Group Lobbying on Bailout
It looks there's another John McCain adviser with a personal background that doesn't exactly jibe with the candidate's recent effort to portray himself as a populist crusader for ordinary folks.
Last week in Green Bay, McCain declared: "At the center of the problem were the lobbyists, politicians, and bureaucrats who succeeded in persuading Congress and the administration to ignore the festering problems at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac."
Of course, as Barack Obama has pointed out, McCain's campaign is a virtual who's who of former lobbyists for Fannie and Freddie.
But another McCain adviser has close personal ties to one of the industries that, like Fannie and Freddie, spent too long assuring the public that the housing market was in good health, and thereby forestalling efforts that might have protected homeowners and staved off a crisis.
A national poll of people who watched the first presidential debate suggests that Barack Obama came out on top, but there was overwhelming agreement that both Obama and John McCain would be able to handle the job of president if elected.
The CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey is not a measurement of the views of all Americans, since only people who watched the debate were questioned and the audience included more Democrats than Republicans.
Fifty-one percent of those polled thought Obama did the better job in Friday night's debate, while 38 percent said John McCain did better.
Men were nearly evenly split between the two candidates, with 46 percent giving the win to McCain and 43 percent to Obama. But women voters tended to give Obama higher marks, with 59 percent calling him the night's winner, while just 31 percent said McCain won.
Foreign leaders from three continents this week provided Gov. Sarah Palin with personal tutorials on world affairs, exchanging views on everything from international security to Alaskan energy policies. But they also sought to show they weren't taking sides in the American election contest, going out of their way to tell reporters how much they think of Sen. Joseph Biden.
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili showered praise on Biden, saying he played a little known role in advising the government on how it should respond to Russian intervention last month. "There were lots of people calling me," he said at a breakfast hosted by Richard Holbrooke, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Biden and Holbrooke, he said, "were two people that made lots of difference on the ground."
Saakashvili said Biden called him two days after Russian troops entered Georgia and proposed a series of "very concrete things we should do." He said Biden came up with the idea -- later approved by the Bush Administration -- to provide a $1 billion grant to Georgia to get back on its feet, and that he also outlined a series of laws designed to punish Russia, including legislation that would "go after corrupt Russian officials."
The effusive praise appeared in part to show that Saakashvili had friends in America's two major political camps. Until recently, the Georgian leader had been perceived as close to Sen. John McCain, a sharp critic of Russia's military intervention of Georgia. Earlier this year, Georgia signed a $200,000 contract with a lobbying firm owned by McCain's top foreign policy adviser, Randy Scheunemann.
Sick, sick, sick, sick! posted by
Dookie The Webmaster 1:45 PM
WAMU CEO bags $20 million for 17 days of work
Washington Mutual Inc.'s new CEO, Alan Fishman, will be eligible for at least $12.65 million or more in salary and bonuses next year, the company said Thursday in a securities filing.
Fishman, who replaced Kerry Killinger as CEO on Monday, also received a $7.5 million signing bonus for joining the company, according to a regulatory filing made with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Add another to the growing grumble... posted by
Dookie The Webmaster 1:37 PM
Palin should step down, conservative commentator says
Prominent conservative columnist Kathleen Parker, an early supporter of Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin, said Friday recent interviews have shown the Alaska governor is "out of her league" and should leave the GOP presidential ticket for the good of the party.
The criticism in Parker's Friday column is the latest in a recent string of negative assessments toward the McCain-Palin candidacy from prominent conservatives.
It was fun while it lasted," Parker writes. "Palin's recent interviews with Charles Gibson, Sean Hannity, and now Katie Couric have all revealed an attractive, earnest, confident candidate. Who is clearly out of her league."
.....
"If BS were currency, Palin could bail out Wall Street herself," Parker also writes. "If Palin were a man, we'd all be guffawing, just as we do every time Joe Biden tickles the back of his throat with his toes. But because she's a woman - and the first ever on a Republican presidential ticket - we are reluctant to say what is painfully true."
Republican John McCain agreed to attend the first presidential debate Friday night even though Congress doesn't have a bailout deal, reversing an earlier decision to delay the event until Washington had taken action to address the crisis.
With less than 10 hours until the debate was scheduled to start, the McCain campaign announced that the Arizona senator would travel to the University of Mississippi. The campaign said that afterward McCain would fly back to Washington to continue working on the financial crisis.
Obama had always planned to attend the debate and was onboard his plane preparing to take off when McCain's announcement was made.
The McCain campaign's statement said he was optimistic that there has been progress toward a bipartisan agreement. But earlier in the week, McCain said he would delay the debate "until we have taken action to address this crisis."
"He is optimistic that there has been significant progress toward a bipartisan agreement now that there is a framework for all parties to be represented in negotiations," the McCain campaign said in a statement.
It was a different position than McCain had taken Wednesday, when he announced, "I'm directing my campaign to work with the Obama campaign and the Commission on Presidential Debates to delay Friday night's debate until we have taken action to address this crisis."
This is what got us in this mess posted by
Dookie The Webmaster 6:18 AM
The Republican alternatives to the Paulson bailout
The "agreement in principle" on a $700-billion mortgage bailout turned pretty quickly into a disagreement Thursday night as House Republicans revolted. Not being a Capitol Hill Kremlinologist, I can't really tell you how significant this is: This summer's big housing bill was opposed by 149 of 199 House Republicans, and that sure didn't stop it. What I can offer a halfway informed opinion on is whether the two Republican counterproposals floating around make any sense.
One, that of the House Republican Study Committee, seems to be a joke. It calls for a two-year suspension of the capital gains tax to "encourag corporations to sell unwanted assets." But the toxic mortgage securities clogging up bank balance sheets are worth less now than when they were acquired. Meaning that no capital gains tax would be owed on them anyway. If you repealed the tax, banks would have even less incentive to sell them because they wouldn't be able use the losses to offset capital gains elsewhere. Seriously, where do these people come up with this stuff?
Eric Cantor, the Republican chief deputy whip, has a more reasonable-sounding if still pretty vague plan to insure more mortgages rather than buy mortgage securities. Taxpayers already explicitly insure several hundred billion dollars worth of mortgages (it was $400 billion at the end of FY 2007, but I imagine it's a lot more by now) through the Federal Housing Administration, and have now also taken responsibility for the $5+ trillion in mortgages held or guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Add a couple trillion dollars of troubled private-label mortgages to that, and you don't have the big up-front expense or direct government involvement in the banking system that the Paulson plan calls for. Cantor also seems to think Wall Street would pay the premiums on the insurance (with FHA-insured loans, homeowners pay the premiums).
Even for a party whose president suffers dismal approval ratings, whose legislative wing lost control of Congress and whose presidential nominee trails in the polls, it was a remarkably bad day for Republicans.
A White House summit meeting on Thursday meant to shore up John McCain's shaky campaign ''devolved into a contentious shouting match.'' And that's how McCain's own campaign described it.
The meeting revealed that President Bush's $700 billion bid to combat the worst financial crisis in decades had been suddenly sidetracked by fellow Republicans in the House, who refused to embrace a plan that appeared close to acceptance by the Senate and most House Democrats.
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson begged Democratic participants not to disclose how badly the meeting had gone, dropping to one knee in a teasing way to make his point according to witnesses.
And when Paulson hastily tried to revive talks in a nighttime meeting near the Senate chamber, the House's top Republican refused to send a negotiator.
"This is the president's own party," said Rep. Barney Frank, a top Democratic negotiator who attended both meetings. "I don't think a president has been repudiated so strongly by the congressional wing of his own party in a long time."
Why the polls are wrong posted by
Dookie The Webmaster 1:48 PM
Omitting cell phone users may affect polls
People with only cell phones may differ enough from those with landline telephones that excluding the growing population of cell-only users from public opinion polls may slightly skew the results, a study has concluded.
The finding, in a report this week by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center, may increase pressure on polling organizations to include people who use only cell phones in their surveys. While many major polls including The Associated Press-GfK Poll already interview cell phone users, some do not, largely because doing so is more expensive.
Earlier studies - including a joint Pew-AP report two years ago - concluded that cell and landline users had similar enough views that not calling cell users had no major impact on poll findings. The new report concludes that "this assumption is increasingly questionable," especially for young people, who use cells heavily.
Combining polls it conducted in August and September, Pew found that of people under age 30 with only cell phones, 62 percent were Democrats and 28 percent Republicans. Among landline users the same age that gap was narrower: 54 percent Democrats, 36 percent GOP.
Similarly, young cell users preferred Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama over Republican nominee John McCain by 35 percentage points. For young landline users, it was a smaller 13-point Obama edge.
Please don't make me debate Biden! Please! posted by
Dookie The Webmaster 11:54 AM
McCain camp to propose postponing VP debate
McCain supporter Sen. Lindsey Graham tells CNN the McCain campaign is proposing to the Presidential Debate Commission and the Obama camp that if there's no bailout deal by Friday, the first presidential debate should take the place of the VP debate, currently scheduled for next Thursday, October 2 in St. Louis.
In this scenario, the vice presidential debate between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin would be rescheduled for a date yet to be determined, and take place in Oxford, Mississippi, currently slated to be the site of the first presidential faceoff this Friday.
Graham says the McCain camp is well aware of the position of the Obama campaign and the debate commission that the debate should go on as planned - but both he and another senior McCain adviser insist the Republican nominee will not go to the debate Friday if there's no deal on the bailout.
Can't be a "Maverick" today posted by
Dookie The Webmaster 11:45 AM
Lawmakers: Financial bailout agreement reached
Warned that time was running short to bolster the distressed economy, congressional Republicans and Democrats reported agreement in principle Thursday on a $700 billion bailout of the financial industry, and said they would present it to the Bush administration in hopes of a vote within days.
Emerging from a two-hour negotiating session, Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., said, "We are very confident that we can act expeditiously."
"I now expect that we will indeed have a plan that can pass the House, pass the Senate (and) be signed by the president," said Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah.
The bipartisan consensus on the general direction of the legislation was reported just hours before President Bush was to host presidential contenders Barack Obama and John McCain and congressional leaders at the White House for discussions on how to clear obstacles to the unpopular rescue plan.
Key lawmakers said at midday that few difficulties actually remained.
"There really isn't much of a deadlock to break," said Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee.
Chinese regulators have told domestic banks to stop interbank lending to U.S. financial institutions to prevent possible losses during the financial crisis, the South China Morning Post reported on Thursday.
The Hong Kong newspaper cited unidentified industry sources as saying the instruction from the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) applied to interbank lending of all currencies to U.S. banks but not to banks from other countries.
In the first economic reading from the period since the Wall Street crisis erupted, a government report Thursday showed initial unemployment claims rose last week much more than expected.
According to a study by the Department of Labor, initial filings for state jobless benefits increased by a seasonally adjusted 32,000 to 493,000 in the third week of September. It was the highest number of weekly claims since Sept. 29, 2001, when unemployment soared in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
The consensus estimate of economists surveyed by Briefing.com was 450,000.
"The labor market is very weak," said Mark Vitner, an economist for Wachovia. "Layoffs have ticked up for the last two months, and there has been a slowdown in hiring, so we haven't been able to absorb new entrants into the workforce."
The director of the Congressional Budget Office said yesterday that the proposed Wall Street bailout could actually worsen the current financial crisis.
During testimony before the House Budget Committee, Peter R. Orszag -- Congress's top bookkeeper -- said the bailout could expose the way companies are stowing toxic assets on their books, leading to greater problems.
"Ironically, the intervention could even trigger additional failures of large institutions, because some institutions may be carrying troubled assets on their books at inflated values," Orszag said in his testimony. "Establishing clearer prices might reveal those institutions to be insolvent."
In an interview later yesterday, Orszag explained using the following example: Suppose a company has Asset X, whose value is recorded on the books as $100. Because of the current economic decline, Asset X's real value has dropped to $50. If the company takes part in the government bailout and sells Asset X for $50, the company has to report a $50 loss on its books. On a scale of millions of dollars, such write-downs could ruin a company.
Such companies "look solvent today only because it's kind of hidden," Orszag said. "They actually are insolvent" already, he said.
Will wonders never cease? posted by
Clyde 10:27 AM
Palin won't reveal her finances until after debate
Sarah Palin requested and received an extension of the deadline for revealing her personal finances, until the day after her only debate with Democrat Joe Biden.
The Republican vice presidential candidate received a four-day extension Thursday from the Federal Election Commission.
The federal financial disclosure report was initially due next Monday. Now, Palin has until Oct. 3, the day after her debate in St. Louis with Biden, the Democratic vice presidential nominee.
Earlier this month, Biden released a decade of personal financial records that showed the veteran U.S. senator from Delaware earned less than many of his congressional colleagues. For example, Biden and his wife, Jill, earned $319,853 in 2007. On Thursday, Biden submitted an updated report to the Federal Election Commission
You can't bail being President posted by
Dookie The Webmaster 6:28 AM
McCain Suspends Democracy
Lincoln ran for office in 1864, when there was a good chance he wouldn't have a country to lead. FDR ran for office in the middle of the largest conflict in human history--twice. We can have a debate this Friday.
Instead, McCain is going to "suspend" the democratic process? And this from a man who prides himself on his Commander-in-Chief skills? How is calling quits amid a crisis as severe as 9/11, in human security terms, a measure of his leadership strength?
Bush and McCain, linked again at the hip, are telling this nation which seeks confidence and hope: You have nothing to fear but the end of fear itself. McCain has bailed out from the responsibilities demanded of a Presidential candidate who claims to be a leader. Bush looked like the dog in that never-to-be-forgotten National Lampoon cover with dog, gun pointed at his head. Propped up at single digit ratings delivering a speech, the worst President in our history was sent out there to scare Americans and prop up a man he smeared two election cycles ago.
The people of this nation don't need more showboating, fearmongering and ducking for cover. They need a plan which will treat Main Street with dignity, respect and equity. McCain's desperate sprint to Washington only exposes how the pinstripers in pitchforks are scared. (As CNN's Anderson Cooper reported tonight , McCain has missed more votes than any other senator this year.)
There is blame to go around. The Nation's special forum on the bailout this week lays out ideas about how to extricate this good country from a financial disaster with bipartisan parents. But McCain's low road showboating is nothing but a way to put his political fate ahead of his country's in order to divert and distract attention from his failing campaign. We deserve better.
He's not ready to debate posted by
Dookie The Webmaster 6:22 AM
First Debate Up in Air as McCain Steps Off the Trail
Declaring that it was time to "set politics aside," Senator John McCain said Wednesday that he would temporarily stop campaigning and seek to delay Friday's debate with Senator Barack Obama to return to Washington to help forge an agreement on a proposed $700 billion bailout of financial institutions before Congress.
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The debate on Friday was to focus on Mr. McCain's perceived strength, foreign policy. Mr. McCain had not planned to devote large blocks of time to debate practice as did Mr. Obama, who was holing up with a tight circle of advisers at a hotel in Clearwater, Fla., on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday to prepare. Mr. McCain had a preparatory session on Wednesday afternoon at the Morgan Library in Manhattan, but advisers said it had been interrupted by his decision, announced immediately afterward, to suspend his campaign.
Democrats were withering in their reaction to Mr. McCain's decision.
"Now that we are on the verge of making a deal, John McCain airdrops himself in to help us make a deal," said Representative Barney Frank, of Massachusetts and chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. "Frankly, we are going to have to interrupt a negotiating session tomorrow between Democrats and Republicans on a bill where I think we are getting pretty close to troop down to the White House for a photo op."
"What, does McCain think the Senate will still be working at 9 p.m. Friday?" Gov. Edward G. Rendell of Pennsylvania said in an interview, referring to the scheduled start time of the debate. "I think this is all political."
Ding dong, I'm a dumbazz posted by
Dookie The Webmaster 7:59 PM
Palin: I can give you examples of things that John McCain has done, that has shown his foresight, his pragmatism, and his leadership abilities. And that is what America needs today.
Couric: I'm just going to ask you one more time - not to belabor the point. Specific examples in his 26 years of pushing for more regulation.
Palin: I'll try to find you some and I'll bring them to you.
So didGeorge! posted by
Dookie The Webmaster 2:15 PM
Laura Bush says Palin lacks foreign policy experience
First Lady Laura Bush told CNN Wednesday Sarah Palin lacks experience in foreign policy, but quickly added the Alaska governor is "a very quick study."
Asked by CNN's Zain Verjee if she thought Palin's resume included sufficient foreign policy experience, Bush said, "Of course she doesn't have that."
"You know, that's not been her role," she continued, "But I think she is a very quick study, and fortunately John McCain does have that sort of experience."
The McCain campaign has pointed to Palin's gubernatorial service as head of the Alaska's National Guard, part of which is deployed in Iraq, as experience in foreign policy. ...
The Maverick is a pussy posted by
Dookie The Webmaster 2:10 PM
McCain seeks to delay debate to focus on economy
Republican John McCain said Wednesday he wants to delay Friday's debate with Democratic rival Barack Obama and temporarily put aside their partisan campaign to resolve the nation's financial crisis.
McCain's announcement came after the two candidates held private talks about joining forces to address the Wall Street meltdown. The Obama campaign said the Democrat initiated the talks, but McCain beat Obama to the punch with the first public statement calling for the two to rise above politics in a time of crisis.
McCain said the Bush administration's plan seemed headed for defeat and a bipartisan solution was urgently needed.
McCain said he would put politics aside and return to Washington Thursday to focus on the nation's financial problems after addressing former President Clinton's Global Initiative session in New York. McCain said he wants President Bush to convene a leadership meeting in Washington that would include him and Obama.
"It has become clear that no consensus has developed to support the administration's proposal," McCain said. "I do not believe that the plan on the table will pass as it currently stands, and we are running out of time."
The BBC's Panorama programme has used US and Iraqi government sources to research how much some private contractors have profited from the conflict and rebuilding.
A US gagging order is preventing discussion of the allegations.
The order applies to 70 court cases against some of the top US companies.
While President George W Bush remains in the White House, it is unlikely the gagging orders will be lifted.
Campbell Brown Rips McCain posted by
Dookie The Webmaster 6:24 AM
A prominent female news anchor chastised the McCain campaign Tuesday evening for engaging in sexism and insulting behavior in its attempt to shield Gov. Sarah Palin from members of the press.
In a fiery commentary, Campbell Brown laid into John McCain for casting a "chauvinistic chain" that ran over his running mate. Punctuated by a call to "Free Sarah Palin," the CNN anchor highlighted the attempt Tuesday by the McCain campaign to ban editorial reporters from covering Palin's visit with world leaders at the UN, as yet another gender-demeaning move in a campaign highlighted by sexist behavior.
"Tonight I call on the McCain campaign to stop treating Sarah Palin like she is a delicate flower that will wilt at any moment," said Brown. "This woman is from Alaska for crying out loud. She is strong. She is tough. She is confident. And you claim she is ready to be one heart beat away form the presidency. If that is the case, then end this chauvinistic treatment of her now. Allow her to show her stuff. Allow her to face down those pesky reporters... Let her have a real news conference with real questions. By treating Sarah Palin different from the other candidates in this race, you are not showing her the respect she deserves. Free Sarah Palin. Free her from the chauvinistic chain you are binding her with. Sexism in this campaign must come to an end. Sarah Palin has just as much a right to be a real candidate in this race as the men do. So let her act like one."
The young generation's "JFK" posted by
Dookie The Webmaster 6:16 AM
Young voters, solidly behind Obama, registering in droves
A new national poll says young adults age 18 to 29 overwhelmingly prefer Sen. Barack Obama over Sen. John McCain in the race for the White House.
Obama leads McCain 56 percent to 29 percent with 13 percent undecided and the remaining 2 percent supporting third-party candidates Ralph Nader and Bob Barr.
The Washington, D.C.-based Rock the Vote, a political-advocacy group, conducted the random telephone poll of 500 young people shortly after the Republican National Convention ended on Sept. 4. The poll had a 4 percentage-point margin of error.
The survey also indicates that young adults could register to vote in record numbers this year.
Rock the Vote officials say that 1.6 million people have downloaded voter-registration forms from the group's Web site, up from 1 million during the 2004 presidential election. It's unknown, however, how many people who download forms will follow through and register. Eighty-six percent of those polled said they were likely to vote in the presidential election.
McFriends in high places posted by
Dookie The Webmaster 6:11 AM
McCain Aide's Firm Was Paid by Freddie Mac
One of the giant mortgage companies at the heart of the credit crisis paid $15,000 a month to a firm owned by Senator John McCain's campaign manager from the end of 2005 through last month, according to two people with direct knowledge of the arrangement. The disclosure contradicts a statement Sunday night by Mr. McCain that the campaign manager, Rick Davis, had no involvement with the company for the last several years. Mr. Davis's firm received the payments from the company, Freddie Mac, until it was taken over by the government this month along with Fannie Mae, the other big mortgage lender whose deteriorating finances helped precipitate the cascading problems on Wall Street, the people said.
They said they did not recall Mr. Davis doing much substantive work for the company in return for the money, other than speak to a political action committee composed of high-ranking employees in October 2006 on the coming midterm congressional elections. They said Mr. Davis's his firm, Davis & Manafort, was kept on the payroll because of Mr. Davis's close ties to Mr. McCain, the Republican presidential nominee, who was widely expected by 2006 to run again for the White House.
Mr. Davis took a leave from Davis & Manafort for the duration of the campaign, but as a partner and equity-holder continues to share in its profits.
A Freddie Mac spokeswoman said the company would not comment. The McCain campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
Is Caribou Barbie camera shy? posted by
Clyde 10:42 AM
Palin bans reporters from meetings with leaders
Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, who has not held a press conference in nearly four weeks of campaigning, on Tuesday banned reporters from her first meetings with world leaders, allowing access only to photographers and a television crew.
CNN, which was providing the television coverage for news organizations, decided to pull its TV crew, effectively denying Palin the high visibility she had sought.
Palin planned to meet Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe in New York on Tuesday as the United Nations General Assembly convenes this week. She also was expected to meet with former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.
Those sessions and meetings scheduled for Wednesday are part of the Republican campaign's effort to give Palin experience in foreign affairs. She has never met a foreign head of state and first traveled outside North America just last year.
Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) said he opposes the $700 billion bailout of Wall Street investment firms, a move that could threaten swift passage of the emergency legislation.
"After reviewing the administration's proposed bailout plan, I believe it is completely unacceptable," DeMint, chairman of the Senate Republican Steering Committee, said in the statement. "This plan does nothing to address the misguided government policies that created this mess and it could make matters much worse by socializing an entire sector of the U.S. economy."
"This plan fails to oversee or regulate the government failures that led to this crisis," DeMint added.
and
Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), chairman of the conservative House Republican Study Committee, questioned the proposed bailout Friday, saying he was "unconvinced that this is the proper remedy for our nation at this time."
Rep. Mike Pence (Ind.), another conservative Republican, said in a statement Saturday: "Congress must not hastily embrace a cure that may do more harm to our economy than the disease of bad debt."
Congressional leaders of both parties underscored the importance of responding to extreme stress in credit markets but said they couldn't swallow the plan as proposed. House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., said Democrats and the Bush administration are moving toward agreement on some of lawmakers' chief concerns, such as oversight and more help for homeowners with troubled mortgages. Talks are continuing over other changes, such as limiting special pay of executives whose firms benefit from federal aid and letting bankruptcy judges alter mortgage terms.
"We're now seeing eight years of reckless Bush economic policies come crashing down with unimaginable speed and severity," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.
Reid said Congress must pass a second bill to help workers by extending unemployment aid and investing in public works projects.
Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., top Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, called the Treasury plan neither "workable nor comprehensive, despite its enormous price tag," adding it would be "foolish" to waste taxpayer dollars on a plan that could simply mean more ad hoc bailouts. He said Congress must work on an alternative.
Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, R-Colo., said, "I refuse to burden families already struggling with soaring energy and food prices with bailing out investment banks that made bad decisions."
Have the People woken up? posted by
Dookie The Webmaster 6:18 AM
Poll: GOP takes brunt of blame for economy, Obama gains
A new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation Poll suggests that by a 2-to-1 margin, Americans blame Republicans over Democrats for the financial crisis that has swept across the country the past few weeks — one factor that may have contributed to an apparent increase in Barack Obama’s edge over John McCain in the race for the White House.
In the new survey, released Monday afternoon, 47 percent of registered voters questioned say Republicans are more responsible for the problems currently facing financial institutions and the stock market, with 24 percent saying Democrats are more responsible. One in five of those polled blame both parties equally, and 8 percent say neither party is to blame.
The poll also indicates that more Americans think Obama, the Democratic presidential nominee, would do a better job handling an economic crisis than McCain, the Republican presidential nominee. Forty-nine percent of those questioned say Obama would display good judgment in an economic crisis, 6 points higher than the number who said the same about McCain. And Obama has a 10 point lead over McCain on the question of who would better handle the economy overall.
These numbers appear to be affecting the battle for the presidency. Fifty-one percent of registered voters are backing Obama, who now holds a 5 point edge over McCain, at 46 percent. McCain and Obama were tied at 48 percent apiece in the previous CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey. Obama's advantage, while growing, is still within the poll's sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Where did Obama make his gains?
"In two core McCain constituencies: Men, who now narrowly favor Obama. And seniors, who have also flipped from McCain to Obama," says CNN Senior Political Analyst Bill Schneider.
McFailin falls flat posted by
Dookie The Webmaster 6:08 AM
Women Heavily Favor Obama in Donations
Women have donated twice as much money to Barack Obama than John McCain in the 2008 election, reversing past trends that favored Republicans, according to an analysis by the Women's Campaign Forum Foundation.
In the 2000 election, women donated twice as much to then-presidential candidate George W. Bush as to his Democratic rival, Al Gore. In the 2004 election, women donated about the same amount to Mr. Bush and to Democratic Sen. John Kerry.
Women are also on pace to contribute far more money to the presidential campaigns than ever before, the analysis showed. But they still make far fewer political donations than men -- and are showing few signs of catching up.
According to the analysis, which was based on campaign-finance data through the July 31 disclosure period, women had given a total of $109.5 million to the presidential campaigns of Sens. Obama and McCain. That nearly matches the $115.2 million that women contributed to Messrs. Bush and Kerry in the 2004 race -- and nearly triple the total women donated to Messrs. Bush and Gore in 2000.
Lets help Tina posted by
Dookie The Webmaster 6:13 AM
Tina Fey wants to "be done" with Palin after November
Tina Fey's hit comedy series "30 Rock" may have picked up 4 Emmys, but backstage at the TV awards show the show's creator and star faced almost as many questions about her recent portrayal of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin on "Saturday Night Live" as she did about her award-winning show.
As it turns out, Fey would rather not see Palin become a regular character on "SNL."
"I want to be done playing this lady November 5th," Fey said when asked backstage about how she feels about the election. "So, if anyone can help me be done playing her on November 5th..."
A bonus you'll never see posted by
Dookie The Webmaster 6:08 AM
Resisting Efforts
Congress and the Treasury Department appear to be in agreement on the big picture, namely the need and the cost. The differences lie on issues such as what, if anything, the government should extract in return for helping out struggling financial firms.
Mr. Paulson is resisting efforts to limit the pay of executives whose firms participate in the program and plans to fight it "hard," according to a person familiar with the matter. He fears that provision would render the program moot, since many firms might choose not to participate.
.....
The debate could expose a peculiar irony in the government's rescue planning, because taxpayers are now both creditors and debtors in the housing mess. While some taxpayers would benefit from attempts to aid homeowners by modifying mortgages or easing the bankruptcy process, others could be hurt if those moves increase the overall cost of the bailout.
.....
But among both Democratic and Republican leaders, there's concern that the more populist tilt on Capitol Hill could pose difficulties. The biggest problem is likely to be in the House, where conservative Republicans are uneasy with the size of the bailout and the scope of powers being given to Treasury, while rank-and-file Democrats are calling for fresh assistance for distressed homeowners.
That $700 Billion bailout is scarier than you think posted by
Wally 3:27 AM
Below is some of the text of the proposal. Basically, it is a three quarter of a Trillion dollar blank check to the Bush administration, with no oversight and no outside control. Just the way they like it.
Here are some tidbits you might find interesting (the Secretary would be Secretary of the Treasury, Paulson):
Sec. 2. Purchases of Mortgage-Related Assets.
(a) Authority to Purchase.--The Secretary is authorized to purchase, and to make and fund commitments to purchase, on such terms and conditions as determined by the Secretary, mortgage-related assets from any financial institution having its headquarters in the United States.
(b) Necessary Actions.--The Secretary is authorized to take such actions as the Secretary deems necessary to carry out the authorities in this Act, including, without limitation:
(1) appointing such employees as may be required to carry out the authorities in this Act and defining their duties;
(2) entering into contracts, including contracts for services authorized by section 3109 of title 5, United States Code, without regard to any other provision of law regarding public contracts;
(5) issuing such regulations and other guidance as may be necessary or appropriate to define terms or carry out the authorities of this Act.
So, Secretary Paulson can do whatever the hell he wants, including hiring and firing (his friends and family) and signing contracts (with his friends and family). This is already screaming corruption. But wait, it gets better. This is my favorite part:
Sec. 8. Review.
Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.
So after he breaks any law he wants, he can't be held accountable, and his actions can't even be reviewed by the courts. Did he just become King?
Judges are so cute when they think Cheney gives a rat's ass about court orders posted by
Wally 3:21 AM
Cheney Is Told to Keep Official Records Judge's Order Responds to Suit Filed by Open-Government Advocates, Historians
A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction yesterday ordering Vice President Cheney and the National Archives to preserve all of his official records.
U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly's order came in response to a lawsuit filed this month by the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. The group, joined by several historians and open-government advocates, warned that Cheney might destroy or withhold important documents as the Bush administration winds down if he interprets the Presidential Records Act of 1978 as applying to only some of his official papers.
"It's a pretty strong opinion," said Anne Weismann, chief counsel for the watchdog group. "They will be prevented from destroying anything. It basically means they have to preserve everything in the broadest possible interpretation of what the law requires -- not their narrow interpretation."
A spokesman for Cheney said the vice president's office will not comment on pending litigation.
Translation: Thanks for the money, but no thanks for the bridge to nowhere. But definitely thanks for the money!
That "bridge to nowhere" that Caribou Barbie is so fond of bragging about refusing to build? Well, since they had all that extra money laying around that we the taxpayer gave them to build a bridge, and since they no longer were going to spend it on anything worthwhile, like a bridge to nowhere, and since they already had the plans for the road that leads to what was going to be the bridge to nowhere (you know, the one that Barbie said "no thanks" to) .... you guessed it.
Alaska town opens 'road to nowhere'
Alaska now has a Road to Nowhere going to what would have been the Bridge to Nowhere.
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's transportation department has completed a $25 million gravel road leading to the site of a bridge that Palin, as John McCain's vice presidential candidate, now boasts that she stopped, so as to save taxpayers money. The road was built with federal tax dollars.
Palin repeatedly tells campaign crowds she said "thanks but no thanks" to Washington when it came up with $400 million for a bridge linking Ketchikan to an island with 50 residents and an airport. In fact, she turned against the bridge only after it became a national symbol of wasteful spending and Washington had backed off financing the project.
Alaska received about half the bridge money anyway, on condition it be used for other things. Palin's predecessor and the Legislature redirected all but $60 million in 2006 to other projects, and Palin has left the remainder untouched, to be used eventually to improve access to the island, her spokeswoman has said.
McCain declares his brilliant plan for the healthcare industry. posted by
Wally 7:41 AM
Make it more like the banking industry
Some days our job here at dubyaD40.com is almost too easy lately, thanks to the Fart and Tart presidential ticket. Thanks to Paul Krugman for finding this little McCain beauty.
OK, a correspondent directs me to John McCain's article, Better Health Care at Lower Cost for Every American (PDF), in the Sept./Oct. issue of Contingencies, the magazine of the American Academy of Actuaries. You might want to be seated before reading this.
Here's what McCain has to say about the wonders of market-based health reform:
Opening up the health insurance market to more vigorous nationwide competition, as we have done over the last decade in banking, would provide more choices of innovative products less burdened by the worst excesses of state-based regulation.
So McCain, who now poses as the scourge of Wall Street, was praising financial deregulation like 10 seconds ago - and promising that if we marketize health care, it will perform as well as the financial industry!
Bill must be relieved that not everything is his fault anymore.
John McCain, the GOP, and the right wing media circus have spent the past 18 months or so extolling McCain's long Senatorial tenure and his vast experience, comparing it with Obama's rookie status and lack of experience and accomplishments. Apparently Obama moves and learns fast. In the past week or two he has gone from Mr. Do-nothing no-experience on-the-job-training guy, to the center of the "good old boy" network, and like Bill Clinton before him, all the ills in the world, from high gas prices to AIG's financial problems to Hurricane Ike are Barack Obama's fault.
This morning Senator McCain gave a speech in which his big solution to this worldwide economic crisis was to blame me for it.
This is a guy who's spent nearly three decades in Washington, and after spending the entire campaign saying I haven't been in Washington long enough, he apparently now is willing to assign me responsibility for all of Washington's failures.
Last week McCain said Obama has done exactly nothing. This week he says that he is solely responsible for ruining our country. This leads me to the conclusion that Barack Obama is some kind of super-hero capable of amazing, impossible feats.
Either that or McCain and the entire Republican party are flip-flopping morans.
The anger felt by many Nebraska Republicans toward Sen. Chuck Hagel rose to new heights Thursday after Hagel questioned whether Sarah Palin has the experience to serve as president.
State Republicans are "worn out" with Hagel and his propensity for controversial comments aimed at fellow Republicans, said Mark Quandahl, chairman of the Nebraska GOP.
Quandahl went out of his way to distance the state party from Hagel's remarks about Palin, the party's vice presidential nominee. Quandahl said few Nebraskans would agree with Hagel, the Nebraska party's senior elected official.
"The views expressed are his own and would not reflect the views of the Nebraska Republican Party and most Nebraskans, let alone most Nebraska Republicans," he said.
Gov. Dave Heineman said "most Republicans are not happy" with Hagel right now.
Barack leads by a field goal posted by
Dookie The Webmaster 6:09 AM
Poll: Obama tops McCain as football-watching buddy
People would rather watch a football game with Barack Obama than with John McCain - but by barely the length of a football.
Obama was the pick over McCain by a narrow 50 percent to 47 percent, according to an Associated Press-Yahoo News poll released Friday that generally mirrored each presidential candidate's strengths and weaknesses with voters. Women, minorities, younger and unmarried people were likelier to prefer catching a game with Obama while men, whites, older and married people would rather watch with McCain.
"I think he'd be fun to sit back with and hear his experiences, all his stories," said Kyle Ferguson, 28, a Republican from Santa Rosa, Calif., who picked McCain. But reflecting a sense some voters have of McCain based on the complaints of a few Senate colleagues, he added warily, "I bet he'd probably get pretty angry and lit up if his team was losing."
Democrat James Smith, 29, of Asheville, N.C., picked Obama because he believes he and the Democratic senator from Illinois have more in common.
McCain Gaffe: Confuses Spain with Hostile Latin American Countries
We wanted to give you an update on the post below where we described Sen. McCain's latest gaffe in which he seemed to suggest that he might not be willing to meet with Spanish Prime Minster Zapatero because he is among those world leaders who want to harm America.
The story is already getting picked up pretty quickly in the Spanish press. And the way it's being interpreted in the Spanish press is that McCain got confused about the fact that Spain is a country in Europe, rather than a rogue state in Latin America.
Our review of the audio suggests the same conclusion. In the interview, McCain is asked about Hugo Chavez, the situation in Bolivia and then about Raul Castro. He responds to each of these with expected answers about standing up to America's enemies, etc. Then the interviewer switches gears and asks about Zapatero, the Spanish Prime Minister. And McCain replies -- very loose translation -- that he'll establish close relations with our friends and stand up to those who want to do us harm. The interviewer has a double take and seems to think McCain might be confused. So she asks it again. But McCain sticks to the same evasive answer.
This is obviously a story that's difficult to get a handle on because of multiple layers of translation and retranslation. So I would ask that those of you who are speak Spanish fluently to review this article in El Pais and the audio in the post below, and let us know any other information you find.
The more we know about Palin... posted by
Dookie The Webmaster 6:24 AM
Polling News from All Over: Obama Numbers Creeping Up
The much-anticipated Time/CNN battleground polls have been released Wednesday, with Barack Obama showing surprising strength in three states, including N.C., that many were beginning to write off.
The results:
Florida: Obama 48, McCain 48
North Carolina: McCain 48, Obama 47
Ohio: Obama 49, McCain 47
Indiana: McCain 51, Obama 45
Wisconsin: Obama 50, McCain 47
The North Carolina, Ohio, and Florida polls give Obama quite a bounce from recent polls, including surveys released today from American Research Group that have McCain up 11 in North Carolina and six in Ohio. The Time/CNN polls were conducted more recently than most of the ARG polls, however, perhaps reflecting a slight Obama uptick from the past few days of pointed economic swipes at McCain.
Sounds just like the Bush Administration posted by
Dookie The Webmaster 6:11 AM
Troopergate Probe Appears To Be Unraveling
The abuse-of-power investigation of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was unraveling Wednesday, with most key witnesses refusing to testify, new legal maneuvering and heightened Republican pressure to delay the probe until after Election Day.
Palin initially welcomed the investigation, saying "hold me accountable," but she has increasingly opposed it since Republican presidential candidate John McCain tapped her as his vice presidential running mate.
In a reversal of position, a key Democratic lawmaker said Wednesday he may convene the committee that is conducting the investigation into whether Palin dismissed her public safety commissioner when he would not fire a state trooper involved in a bitter divorce with her sister.
Some Republican members of the committee have asked for such a meeting, to consider delaying the probe or replacing Democratic state Sen. Hollis French as its manager. The investigation's conclusions are supposed to be released by Oct. 10. The Legislative Council, made up of 10 Republicans and four Democrats, had unanimously approved launching the probe.
Buffett disagrees posted by
Dookie The Webmaster 1:37 PM
Buffett says Clinton, Obama could run a business
Warren Buffett said on Monday that he would be comfortable putting Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in charge of running a business, though not his Berkshire Hathaway Inc insurance and investment company.
Buffett has said he plans to support the Democratic Party in the 2008 elections, as it seeks to retake the White House.
He has not endorsed Clinton or Obama for the presidency, but said on CNBC television: "I would put either one of them in charge of a business."
Separately, Buffett identified Walt Disney Co's Bob Iger as among chief executives who are doing a good job and who run a company in which Berkshire does not invest. Earlier on CNBC, Buffett put the CEOs of warehouse club operator Costco Wholesale Corp and nuts and bolts distributor Fastenal Co in that group.
Hoax? Palin's personal e-mail hacked posted by
Dookie The Webmaster 1:33 PM
Sarah Palin's Personal Emails
Did the internet just cause Sarah Palin to destroy evidence? The potential Veep is in a bit of trouble for conducting state business using her personal, unarchived email address (gov.sarah@yahoo.com) instead of her official account (which is, of course, subject to laws requiring the retention of government records). Emails from that Yahoo account are already being sought in connection with the Troopergate investigation. Now comes word that Anonymous, the fun-loving Internet trouble-makers based loosely around the message board 4Chan, gained access to another Palin email account: gov.palin@yahoo.com. It looks legit! The offending posts, screenshots, heretofore unseen family photos, and emails have all been deleted from Imageshack and 4Chan. But we have them. You want to read Sarah Palin's email?
Ok, sad thing first: a good Samaritan reset the password and tried to alert Sarah. But he also posted the new password, causing multiple people to try to log in at once, freezing the account for 24 hours. And now, the account has been deleted! Which is, as we said, maybe destruction of evidence? So for now this is, we think, all we'll get to see from this email account (if anyone finds evidence of saved emails, let us know.)
The full timeline of events, with corroborating evidence of the legitimacy of these screengrabs, is here. Here's why it all looks convincing:
The emails to Ivy Frye, a Palin aide who's mentioned in the earlier email stories specifically wondering how best to hide her correspondence with the governor.
The attached contact list (below) features an email address for husband Todd Palin that is legit. As well as an apparently genuine phone number for Bristol Palin and an address for Beth Leschper, Palin's deputy communications director.
The email from Amy McCorkell, a known associate of Palin's from Wasilla who might have the governor's personal email address.
Emails to and from Lt Governor Sean Parnell about a local radio talk host.
Calls to the phone number listed for Bristol Palin apparently go to her voicemail.
The public profile for the gov.palin address dates its last update to April of this year-well before she became McCain's running mate. So if it's a hoax, it's a hoax that began long before anyone outside of Alaska cared about Palin.
We haven't seen these family photos before. Have we?
The previously accessible public profiles for gov.sarah@yahoo and gov.palin@yahoo were both deleted at the same time.
Under a bus posted by
Dookie The Webmaster 6:07 AM
Fiorina's comment called 'Biden-like'
Top McCain-Palin official Carly Fiorina is facing criticism from some within the campaign for a day of what they call "very Biden-like" comments, after the former Hewlett-Packard CEO told two separate interviewers that neither member of the Republican ticket would be capable of running a company.
Democratic VP nominee Joe Biden is noted for his off-the-cuff gaffes.
Asked by a St. Louis radio station whether she thought Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin could run a company like Hewlett-Packard, Fiorina responded: "No, I don't.
.....
"Carly will now disappear," this source said. "Senator McCain was furious." Asked to define "disappear," this source said, adding that she would be off TV for a while – but remain at the Republican National Committee and keep her role as head of the party’s joint fundraising committee with the McCain campaign.
The honeymoon is over posted by
Dookie The Webmaster 6:05 AM
Palin's Favorability Ratings Begin to Falter
To know her, it seems, is not necessarily to love her.
When John McCain picked Sarah Palin as his running mate late last month, the Alaska governor quickly became a media phenomenon. Largely unknown, she existed at first in something of an information vacuum, and due to the shock of her selection--everyone loves a surprise--the press rushed to fill the void with whatever data was easily available. Mostly this consisted of human interest material; Palin had plenty to go around. Mooseburgers. Float planes. Ice Fishing. Beauty pageants. Teen pregnancy. Et cetera. By the end of her first 15 minutes in the spotlight--which included her speech at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul--Palin existed mostly as an idea: a frontier supermom who'd triumphed over adversity (the Ol' Boys Club, the "liberal media"). Palin spent her first week reading from a teleprompter and avoiding questions from the press--and the public--so as not to sully this first impression.
The polls reflected the early success of her strategy. In the three days after Palin joined Team McCain--Aug. 29-31--32 percent of voters told the pollsters at Diageo/Hotline that they had a favorable opinion of her; most (48 percent) didn't know enough to say. By Sept. 4, however, 43 percent of Diageo/Hotline respondents approved of Palin with only 25 percent disapproving--an 18-point split. Apparently, voters were liking what they were hearing. Four days later, Palin's approval rating had climbed to 47 percent (+17), and by Sept. 13 it had hit 52 percent. The gap at that point between her favorable and unfavorable numbers--22 percent--was larger than either McCain's (+20) or Obama's (+13).
But then a funny thing happened: Palin lost some of her luster. Since Sept. 13, Palin's unfavorables have climbed from 30 percent to 36 percent. Meanwhile, her favorables have slipped from 52 percent to 48 percent. That's a three-day net swing of -10 points, and it leaves her in the Sept. 15 Diageo/Hotline tracking poll with the smallest favorability split (+10) of any of the Final Four. Over the course of a single weekend, in other words, Palin went from being the most popular White House hopeful to the least.
What happened? I'd argue that Palin's considerable novelty is starting to wear off. In part it's the result of a steady stream of unhelpful stories: her unfamiliarity with the Bush Doctrine during last Thursday's interview with Charles Gibson (video above); her refusal to cooperate with the Troopergate investigation; her repeated stretching of the truth on everything from earmarks to the Bridge to Nowhere to the amount of energy her state produces. That stuff has a way of inspiring disapproval and eroding one's support. (Interestingly, Palin's preparedness numbers--about 50 percent yes, 45 percent no--haven't budged.) But mostly it's the start of an inevitable process. Between now and Nov. 4, voters will stop seeing Palin as a fascinating story and starting taking her measure as an actual candidate for office. Some will approve; some won't. It remains to be seen whether Palin's recent slide will continue, or hurt John McCain in the polls. But it's hard to argue that the journey from intriguing new superstar to earthbound politician--a necessary part of the process--doesn't involve a loss of altitude
Failin' Palin wants to fix the economy posted by
Dookie The Webmaster 9:28 AM
Gov. Palin on Wall Street
ABC News' David Wright, Alyssa Litoff, and Imtiyaz Delawala report: Sarah Palin deviated briefly from her standard stump speech to acknowledge the news from Wall Street today.
"This is an issue of real concern," Palin told thousands gathered in a rodeo ring in Golden, Colo. But, she said, "I'm glad to see the Federal Reserve has said 'no' to using taxpayer money for a bailout."
Palin's remarks echoed McCain's calls to overhaul outdated regulations and bring accountability to the financial markets. Palin accused Wall Street regulators of being "asleep at the switch," and vowed that she and McCain would "put an end to the mismanagement and abuses."
"We're going to reform the way Wall Street does business and stop the golden parachutes for CEOs who betray the public trust," she said.
.....
This was the first time Palin had mentioned Wall Street in her stump speech. Mostly, she tends to reprise large portions of her nomination speech from the convention. Palin, herself, may not be the most authoritative spokesperson on such issues. In the past, when she ran for Alaska governor, she freely admitted to a reporter that she got a "D" in macroeconomics in college.
Cheney would be proud posted by
Dookie The Webmaster 5:59 AM
John McCain campaign tries to quell 'Troopergate'
The presidential campaign of Sen. John McCain is trying to put to rest the ethical controversy that's come to be known as "Troopergate," releasing e-mails supporting Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's contention that she dismissed her public safety commissioner over budget disagreements, not because he wouldn't fire her ex-brother-in-law.
And, the campaign says, Palin is unlikely to speak with an investigator hired by the state legislature to look into the matter.
.....
The last straw, the McCain campaign said, was in July, when Monegan planned to travel to Washington to seek federal money for a plan to assign troopers, judges and prosecutors who could exclusively handle sexual assault cases - one of the state's most intractable crime problems.
In a July 7 e-mail, John Katz, the governor's special counsel, noted two problems with the trip: The governor hadn't agreed the money should be sought, and the request was "out of sequence with our other appropriations requests and could put a strain on the evolving relationship between the Governor and Sen. (Ted) Stevens."
Four days later, Monegan was fired. He said he had kept others in the administration fully apprised of his plans to go to Washington.
More lies and deception posted by
Dookie The Webmaster 5:54 AM
Palin supports $600 million 'other' bridge project
Gov. Sarah Palin may eventually have said "no thanks" to a federally funded Bridge to Nowhere.
But a bridge to her hometown of Wasilla, that's a different story.
A $600 million bridge and highway project to link Alaska's largest city to Palin's town of 7,000 residents is moving full speed ahead, despite concerns the bridge could worsen some commuting and threaten a population of beluga whales. ...
"This is basically an incredibly expensive project that doesn't help commuters, doesn't help create jobs and may drive whales to extinction," said Justin Massey, an attorney advising environmentalists opposed to the proposal. "It is also a project that serves the area where the governor is from, which is near and dear to her heart."
This is McCain's economy posted by
Dookie The Webmaster 2:22 PM
McCain Blasts Wall Street Failure, Neglects To Mention His Adviser Helped Cause It
As the news broke of the Lehman Brothers meltdown and the rest of the latest financial crisis, John McCain, speaking at a campaign rally in Florida on Monday, angrily declared,
We will never put America in this position again. We will clean up Wall Street. This is a failure.
And in a statement released by his campaign, McCain called for greater "transparency and accountability" on Wall Street.
If McCain wants to hold someone accountable for the failure in transparency and accountability that led to the current calamity, he should turn to his good friend and adviser, Phil Gramm.
As Mother Jones reported in June, eight years ago, Gramm, then a Republican senator chairing the Senate banking committee, slipped a 262-page bill into a gargantuan, must-pass spending measure. Gramm's legislation, written with the help of financial industry lobbyists, essentially removed newfangled financial products called swaps from any regulation. Credit default swaps are basically insurance policies that cover the losses on investments, and they have been at the heart of the subprime meltdown because they have enabled large financial institutions to turn risky loans into risky securities that could be packaged and sold to other institutions.
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Gramm is responsible for the rise of the wild and woolly $62 trillion swaps market. And he was chairman of the McCain campaign and a top economic adviser for McCain--until he dismissed Americans worried about the economy as "whiners." After that comment, McCain dumped Gramm. But was Gramm truly excommunicated from McCain land? Last month, he attended a meeting of McCain's top supporters in Aspen, Colorado. And at a dinner that day, McCain singled out Gramm for praise.
Hitting back hard! posted by
Dookie The Webmaster 12:55 PM
Obama: If you believe that, I've got a bridge in Alaska to sell you
Obama tries out a few new lines in Colorado, Carrie Budoff Brown reports:
"But now suddenly, John McCain says he is about change, too. He even started using some of my lines. Suddenly he says he wants 'to turn the page.' He had an ad today that he started running that he and Gov. Palin would bring the change that we need. He had this in an advertisement. Sound familiar? Let me tell you something, instead of borrowing my lines he needs to borrow our ideas," Obama said.
He followed up with s dig on lobbyists, saying "if you think those lobbyists are working day and night for John McCain just to put themselves out of business, well then I've got a bridge to sell you up in Alaska."
Karma catching up posted by
Dookie The Webmaster 12:20 PM
WHEELS COME OFF STRAIGHT TALK EXPRESS?
For a candidate who prides himself in "straight talk" -- and whose political image in part is based on that truth-telling reputation -- Saturday proved to be a brutal day for John McCain and his campaign.
First came a front-page New York Times piece noting that McCain "has drawn an avalanche of criticism this week from Democrats, independent groups and even some Republicans for regularly stretching the truth." There was also an accompanying fact-check of McCain's latest TV ad, which called it the "latest in a number that resort to a dubious disregard for the facts."
The Washington Post gave "four Pinnochios" to McCain's recent assertion on "The View" that Palin never took earmarks as Alaska governor. Then the Boston Globe reported that Palin didn't really travel inside Iraq as has been claimed. And Bloomberg News said that the McCain camp may not have been exactly truthful in estimating the size of its recent crowds. "Now officials say they can't substantiate the figures McCain's aides are claiming."
To top it off, McCain spokesman Brian Rogers said this to the Politico about the increased media scrutiny of the campaign's factual claims: "We're running a campaign to win. And we're not too concerned about what the media filter tries to say about it."
Not surprisingly, the Obama camp has pounced on all this, issuing a memo to reporters entitled "Unraveling the myth of the Straight Talk Express." The memo argues, "Since naming Governor Palin as their vice presidential nominee, the McCain campaign has distorted, distracted, and outright lied to the American people about her record in a desperate attempt to hide the fact that a McCain/Palin Administration would be nothing more than a continuation of the failed Bush policies of the last eight years."
Republican presidential nominee John McCain held his first rally without running mate Sarah Palin today, and let's just say there were seats available.
The McCain "Road to Victory" rally was originally scheduled to be a pancake breakfast, but the campaign said there was such an outpouring of enthusiasm the event was shifted to the 15,000-seat Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena.
The may not have been the best idea: There were almost no supporters in any of the cavernous arena's 24 upper-level seating sections, and only eight of the 21 sections downstairs held fans. Only four of those were filled, though some supporters crowded around the stage on the arena floor.
McCain and wife Cindy made a point of thanking supporters for coming out on "a Monday morning'' for the 9 a.m. rally.
4 more years of the last 8 years? posted by
Dookie The Webmaster 6:17 AM
Lehman Files for Record Bankruptcy, Victim of Meltdown Firm Helped Create
Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., the fourth-largest U.S. investment bank, succumbed to the subprime mortgage crisis it helped create in the biggest bankruptcy filing in history.
The 158-year-old firm, which survived railroad bankruptcies of the 1800s, the Great Depression in the 1930s and the collapse of Long-Term Capital Management a decade ago, has filed a Chapter 11 petition with U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan today. The collapse of Lehman, which listed more than $613 billion of debt, surpasses WorldCom Inc.'s insolvency in 2002 and Drexel Burnham Lambert's failure in 1990.
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"First there will be chaos and then an adjustment process as losses distribute themselves through the market,'' said Gilbert Schwartz, a former Federal Reserve attorney and now a partner at Schwartz & Ballen LLP in Washington. ``There won't be any lasting turmoil. Treasury and the Fed have determined that markets have adjusted to the situation since Bear Stearns. If every time a big institution went bust the markets expected the government to step in, no one would ever adapt."
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Any sale of Lehman's investment management units would be subject to court approval and creditor scrutiny if Lehman goes into Chapter 11, Tatelbaum said. "Bankruptcy severs all counterparty contracts, and therein lies the systemic risk," said David Kotok, chief investment officer of Vineland, New Jersey-based Cumberland Advisors Inc., which manages $1 billion. "This would be the first time we've tested how much damage will be done by a bankruptcy." The case is In re Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., 08-13555, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).
Last week, Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain said his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, hadn't sought earmarks or special-interest spending from Congress, presenting her as a fiscal conservative. But state records show Gov. Palin has asked U.S. taxpayers to fund $453 million in specific Alaska projects over the past two years. These projects include more than $130 million in federal funds that would benefit Alaska's fishing industry and an additional $9 million to help Alaska oil companies. She also has sought $4.5 million to upgrade an airport on a Bering Sea island that has a year-round population of less than 100.
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In fact, in the current fiscal year, she is seeking $197 million for 31 projects, the records show. In the prior year, her first year in office, she sought $256 million for dozens more projects ranging from research on rockfish and harbor-seal genetics to rural sanitation and obesity prevention. By comparison, her predecessor, Gov. Frank Murkowski, sought more than $350 million in his last year in office. The McCain campaign said Sunday that Gov. Palin's overall record is one of fiscal discipline. "Her record is cutting the number of earmark requests from the previous administration sizably," said McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds, and she has vetoed wasteful state spending as well.
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The state's earmark requests stand out in part because its state government is among the wealthiest in the U.S. Flush with oil and gas royalties, it doesn't impose income or sales taxes. In fact, money flows the other way: Every man, woman and child this year got a check for $3,200. The McCain campaign has also come under fire for saying on the stump and in TV ads that Gov. Palin killed the controversial "Bridge to Nowhere," a $223 million earmark linking the mainland to a sparsely populated island. In fact, she supported the project initially and killed it after it was widely criticized and Congress allowed the state to use the funds for other projects. On the campaign trail, Gov. Palin has repeatedly attacked Sen. Obama on earmarks. "Our opponent has requested nearly one billion dollars in earmarks in three years. That's about a million for every working day," she said at a rally in Albuquerque, N.M., earlier this month.
Sen. Barack Obama requested a total of $860 million in earmarks in his Senate years, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense. That doesn't include $78 million for projects that were national in scope and had been requested by many lawmakers. Sen. Obama halted all earmark requests in fiscal 2009. It is difficult to compare Sen. Obama's earmark record with Gov. Palin's. But using the same calculation that the McCain campaign uses, the total amount of earmarked dollars divided by the number of working days while each held office (assuming a five-day work week, every week, for both), Gov. Palin sought $980,000 per workday, compared to roughly $893,000 for Sen. Obama.
Wait, Rove said that? posted by
Dookie The Webmaster 6:14 AM
Rove: McCain went 'too far' in ads
Former Bush adviser Karl Rove said Sunday that Sen. John McCain had gone "one step too far" in some of his recent ads attacking Sen. Barack Obama.
Rove has leveled similar criticism against Obama.
"McCain has gone in some of his ads -- similarly gone one step too far," he told Fox News, "and sort of attributing to Obama things that are, you know, beyond the '100 percent truth' test."
The Obama campaign immediately leaped on the quote.
"In case anyone was still wondering whether John McCain is running the sleaziest, most dishonest campaign in history, today Karl Rove -- the man who held the previous record -- said McCain's ads have gone too far," said campaign spokesman Tommy Vietor, in a statement sent to reporters minutes after Rove's on-air comments. Rove masterminded both of President Bush's successful White House bids.
Rove said both candidates need to "be careful" about their attacks on each other.
Group With Swift Boat Alumni Readies Ads Attacking Obama
A new group financed by a Texas billionaire and organized by some of the same political operatives and donors behind the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth campaign against Sen. John F. Kerry in 2004 plans to begin running television ads attacking Barack Obama, a signal that outside groups may play a larger role than anticipated in the closing days of the presidential race.
The American Issues Project has amassed a multimillion-dollar fund, and the group is putting the final touches on an eleventh-hour campaign targeting the Democratic presidential nominee, sources said.
"We expect to be doing both issues and express advocacy between now and November and beyond," said Christian Pinkston, a spokesman for the group.
The effort could mark a sharp turn in what has been an unusually quiet year for outside political groups. At this point in 2004, such groups had already spent about $100 million dollars on television commercials attacking Kerry (D-Mass.) and President Bush, but they have devoted $8 million to ads so far in this election cycle.
Neoconservatives plan Project Sarah Palin to shape future American foreign policy
Comments by the governor of Alaska in her first television interview, in which she said Nato may have to go to war with Russia and took a tough line on Iran's nuclear programme, were the result of two weeks of briefings by neoconservatives.
Sources in the McCain camp, the Republican Party and Washington think tanks say Mrs Palin was identified as a potential future leader of the neoconservative cause in June 2007. That was when the annual summer cruise organised by the right-of-centre Weekly Standard magazine docked in Juneau, the Alaskan state capital, and the pundits on board took tea with Governor Palin.
Her case as John McCain's running mate was later advanced vociferously by William Kristol, the magazine's editor, who is widely seen as one of the founding fathers of American neoconservative thought - including the robust approach to foreign policy which spurred American intervention in Iraq.
In 1988, Mr Kristol became a leading adviser of another inexperienced Republican vice presidential pick, Dan Quayle, tutoring him in foreign affairs. Last week he praised Mrs Palin as "a spectre of a young, attractive, unapologetic conservatism" that "is haunting the liberal elites".
Back to what's important - Barack Obama! posted by
Wally 9:08 AM
Is Obama Qualifed?
I know I'll be accused of being sexist for saying so, but I am of the strong opinion that teaching Constitutional Law for 12 years at the University of Chicago is better preparation for the job of "Upholding and Defending the Constitution of the United States of America" - you know, that silly little "oath" that the President takes upon entering office - than being mayor of some backwater hick-town in Alaska. Better preparation even than a year and a half as governor of a state that is best known for moose, polar bears, wolves, and wilderness (all of which are things that Caribou Barbie feels were put here by the Creator primarily so that she could kill them).
By most accounts, Obama's time at the law school was a huge success. He arrived in 1992, fresh out of Harvard Law School, to juggle teaching courses in constitutional law and race theory. Within a few years, he had become a rock-star professor with hordes of devoted students, written a popular book and launched a political career as an Illinois state senator.
"There was a lot of give-and-take," says Marta Lowe, who took Obama's Current Issues in Racism and the Law class during the spring of 1995. "There was no pontificating from on high about what we should think. It was us organically coming up with kernels of wisdom." Obama in academe proved to be more charismatic than academic. Evaluations by students reviewed by TIME gave him consistently high ratings. For a winter 2003 course called Voting Rights and the Democratic Process, for example, he received a 6.07 out of a possible 7 for "overall evaluation of teaching performance."
I have a simple suggestion for Caribou Barbie. Take one of Obama's Constitutional Law final exams (PDF format)and show us what you're made of. Prove to us that you're capable and qualified. You have 6 hours. You may use books and notes, but you man NOT talk to advisors or minders for help. Have a nice day.
Hey John, your pants are on fire...... AGAIN posted by
Wally 7:57 AM
We have to spread the truth about McCain ourselves because it's clear the corporate media won't. NOW. FAST. FURIOUS. EVERYWHERE.
We are in the two-minute drill with no timeouts. No more sitting on the sidelines and allowing the McCain campaign to rack up points with countless distortions.
As we've seen with The Real McCain 2 (nearly 4.5 million views and counting!), once the truth gets out, it's hard to stop. In the last few days we have seen a disgusting descent into the worst of sleazy smear politics. We need to spread the facts and the truth. Send this to your friends and relations, especially if they are unsure or undecided - they're more willing to believe you than a talking head!
What McCain and Obama's tax cut proposals look like drawn to scale posted by
Wally 7:03 AM
Sure, McCain says his cuts are bigger, but look at the distribution. Does anybody really think that Bill Gates needs another tax cut more than you do? How will allowing a billionaire to buy a new Bentley help the U.S. economy more than allowing you or I to buy a new Ford or Chevy built in Detroit by American workers in American factories using American steel (at least in theory) keeping the dollars here in America.
Click the image above for more details and a full sized image.
Let TrooperGate begin... posted by
Dookie The Webmaster 2:41 PM
Todd Palin subpoenaed in firing probe
The state Senate Judiciary Committee voted 3-2 today to subpoena 13 people -- including the husband of Gov. Sarah Palin -- in an investigation of whether Palin abused her power in trying to get her former brother-in-law fired.
The legislative probe has taken on new significance since Republican presidential candidate John McCain picked Palin as his running mate.
Retired prosecutor Stephen Branchflower asked the state House and Senate judiciary committees for power to subpoena the 13 witnesses, including Todd Palin, the governor's husband.
"He's such a central figure. ... I think one should be issued for him," Branchflower said.
Imagine that, another lobbyist posted by
Dookie The Webmaster 1:09 PM
McCain Taps Lobbyist for Transition
A prominent Washington lobbyist who has worked for every Republican President since Richard Nixon has been tapped by the McCain campaign to conduct a study in preparation for the presidential transition should John McCain win the election, according to sources familiar with the process.
William E. Timmons Sr. is a Washington institution, having worked in the Nixon and Ford administrations as an aide for congressional relations and having assisted the transition teams of both Ronald Reagan in 1980 and George W. Bush in 2000. He was also a senior adviser to both Vice President George Bush in 1988 and Senator Bob Dole in 1996.
When you've lost the AP, you're toast posted by
Dookie The Webmaster 6:50 AM
Analysis: McCain's claims skirt facts, test voters
The "Straight Talk Express" has detoured into doublespeak.
Republican presidential nominee John McCain, a self-proclaimed tell-it-like-it-is maverick, keeps saying his running mate, Sarah Palin, killed the federally funded Bridge to Nowhere when, in fact, she pulled her support only after the project became a political embarrassment. He accuses Democrat Barack Obama of calling Palin a pig, which did not happen. He says Obama would raise nearly everyone's taxes, when independent groups say 80 percent of families would get tax cuts instead.
Even in a political culture accustomed to truth-stretching, McCain's skirting of facts has stood out this week. It has infuriated and flustered Obama's campaign, and campaign pros are watching to see how much voters disregard news reports noting factual holes in the claims.
.....
But McCain and his running mate Palin, the Alaska governor, were defiant this week in the face of similar reports. Day after day she said she had told Congress "no thanks" to the so-called Bridge to Nowhere, a rural Alaska project that was abandoned when critics challenged its costs and usefulness. For nearly a week, major news outlets had documented that Palin supported the bridge when running for governor in 2006, noting that she turned against it only after it became an object of ridicule in Alaska and a symbol of Congress's out-of-control earmarking.
The McCain-Palin campaign made at least three other aggressive claims this week that omitted key details or made dubious assumptions to criticize Obama. It equated lawmakers' requests for money for special projects with corruption, even though Palin has sought nearly $200 million in such "earmarks" this year.
It produced an Internet ad implying that Obama had called Palin a pig when he used a familiar phrase, which McCain also has used, about putting "lipstick on a pig" to try to make a bad situation look better. McCain supporters said Obama was slyly alluding to Palin's description of herself as a pit bull in lipstick, but there was nothing in his remarks to support the claim. Obama accused the GOP campaign of "lies and phony outrage."
You go girls! posted by
Dookie The Webmaster 6:34 AM
Women Against Sarah Palin Speak Out
ABC News' Julia Hoppock reports: With recent polls suggesting that women are flocking to the McCain/Palin ticket, there is a growing chorus of female voices who want to put a stop to this trend, and fast.
Two women in New York felt so strongly that Palin was the wrong choice they created a blog called "Women Against Sarah Palin" and are using the site to post emails from women who write in from all over the country about why they think Palin is the wrong choice as for Vice President and the wrong choice for American women.
"We felt as though McCain's choice was this kind of way to automatically grab female voters and we found that assumption was very insulting to our intelligence as female voters in America," said Lyra Kilston, a 31 year old art magazine editor in New York who helped create the blog.
Shortly after Palin's selection, Kilston and her co-worker Quinn Latimer, citing what they saw as 'mounting disbelief, fury and dread' among their female friends over the selection of Sarah Palin, sent out an email to forty of their friends soliciting reaction the Alaska Governor's nomination for their blog. The women also asked the recipients to forward the email to everyone they knew so that others could do the same.
Within a week they received up to 80,000 responses from women from Alaska to Florida, and now estimate they are receiving response emails at a rate of three per second.
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin left open the option Thursday of waging war with Russia if it were to invade neighboring Georgia and the former Soviet republic were a NATO ally. "We will not repeat a Cold War," Palin said in her first television interview since becoming Republican John McCain's vice presidential running mate two weeks ago.
Gov. Sarah Palin linked the war in Iraq with the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, telling an Iraq-bound brigade of soldiers that included her son that they would "defend the innocent from the enemies who planned and carried out and rejoiced in the death of thousands of Americans."
The idea that Iraq shared responsibility with al-Qaeda for the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, once promoted by Bush administration officials, has since been rejected even by the president himself. On any other day, Palin's statement would almost certainly have drawn a sharp rebuke from Democrats, but both parties had declared a halt to partisan activities to mark Thursday's anniversary.
"America can never go back to that false sense of security that came before September 11, 2001," she said at the deployment ceremony, which drew hundreds of military families who walked from their homes on the sprawling post to the airstrip where the service was held.
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said Thursday that she didn't blink when Republican John McCain asked her to be his running mate, a surprise selection that shook up the presidential race.
"I didn't hesitate, no," she told ABC's Charlie Gibson in her first televised interview since accepting the Arizona senator's invitation to be on the Republican ticket two weeks ago.
"I answered him 'yes' because I have the confidence in that readiness and knowing that you can't blink, you have to be wired in a way of being so committed to the mission, the mission that we're on, reform of this country and victory in the war, you can't blink. So I didn't blink then even when asked to run as his running mate," said the 44-year-old Palin, a governor who has been in office less than two years.
Asked if she felt ready to step in as vice president or perhaps even president if something happened to the 72-year-old McCain, Palin said: "I do, Charlie, and on January 20, when John McCain and I are sworn in, if we are so privileged to be elected to serve this country, we'll be ready. I'm ready."
So the bartender says, "I was talking to the pitbull!" posted by
Dookie The Webmaster 6:12 AM
Palin: Stumped On Bush Doctrine, Seems To Contradict McCain On Pakistan
Charlie: Do you agree with the Bush Doctrine?
Palin: In what respect, Charlie?
Charlie: What do you interpret it to be?
Palin: His worldview?
Charlie: No, No, the Bush Doctrine. He enunciated it in September 2002, before the Iraq War.
Palin: I believe that what President Bush has attempted to do is to rid this world of Islamic extremism, terrorists who are hellbent on destroying our nation. There have been blunders along the way, though. There have been mistakes made. And with new leadership--and that's the beauty of American elections and democracy--with new leadership comes the opportunity to do things better.
Charlie: The Bush Doctrine, as I understand it, is that we have the right of anticipatory defense. We have the right to preemptively strike any other country that we believe is going to attack us.
She's like Cheney's "Mini Me" posted by
Dookie The Webmaster 1:12 PM
Palin May Move to Block Subpoenas in Trooper Case
A top law enforcement official in Alaska Governor Sarah Palin's administration is considering steps to block a legislative probe into allegations she improperly fired the state's No. 1 police official.
The legislature's report on the conduct of Republican vice presidential nominee Palin may be released next month, just weeks before the presidential election.
Senior Assistant Attorney General Michael Barnhill, in a letter to Alaska lawmakers, questioned whether the investigation is biased and threatened try to quash subpoenas for seven Palin administration officials who have refused to be interviewed in the probe. Legislative leaders meet tomorrow to consider issuing the subpoenas.
"The eyes of the nation have now turned upon us," Barnhill said in the letter. "We think there is a legitimate concern that this investigation is no longer being conducted in a fair manner." The chief investigator "may have prejudged the outcome," he said.
Book it. Done. Someone tell McSame posted by
Dookie The Webmaster 10:18 AM
No victory in Iraq says Petraeus
The outgoing commander of US troops in Iraq, Gen David Petraeus, has said that he will never declare victory there.
In a BBC interview, Gen Petraeus said that recent security gains were "not irreversible" and that the US still faced a "long struggle".
.....
He said "the trends in Afghanistan have not gone in the right direction... and that had to be addressed".
Afghanistan remained a "hugely important endeavour", he said.
.....
He said he did not know that he would ever use the word "victory": "This is not the sort of struggle where you take a hill, plant the flag and go home to a victory parade... it's not war with a simple slogan."
Some good news posted by
Dookie The Webmaster 7:05 AM
Number-crunching pollster sees decisive Obama win
A pollster whose mathematical model has correctly predicted every winner of the White House popular vote since 1988 is banking on a decisive victory for Democrat Barack Obama in November.
Emory University political scientist Alan Abramowitz said Wednesday that according to his "time for change" model, Obama would secure 54.3 percent of the popular vote against 45.7 percent for Republican John McCain.
That margin would virtually guarantee a crushing victory for the Democrat in the state-by-state electoral college that actually selects the next president, Abramowitz said.
He said unknown variables, such as the nation's bitter partisan divide and resistance to Obama's African-American race among some white voters, may result in a slightly smaller popular vote margin for the Democratic nominee.
But, "the combination of an unpopular Republican incumbent in the White House, a weak economy and a second-term election make a Democratic victory in November all but certain," he writes in the October issue of the journal "PS: Political Science and Politics."
.....
"Regardless of the popularity of the president or the state of the economy, it is simply much more difficult for the president's party to retain its hold on the White House," the pollster said.
A great read posted by
Dookie The Webmaster 6:45 AM
Even before TV interview, Americans feeling 'Palin Fatigue'
As the initial shock at Republican Sen. John McCain's selection of little-known Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to be his running mate gave way to her stage-managed entrance onto the American political scene, some Americans - many of whom had paid little if any attention to Campaign 2008 up to that point - were swept away by the idea of a strong woman from The Last Frontier riding down to the Lower 48 to save the day.
And regardless of your politics -- regardless of where you stand on how to best help working families trying to make ends meet, or whether or not Social Security should be strengthened by the government or left to the whims of Wall Street, or any of the great questions concerning God and Country - regardless of all this, Sarah Palin is a great story.
We are, after all, Americans. We love stories about people of modest origins who speak truth to power and by way of their courage and honor set things right again. At times in our history, we've even been fortunate enough as a nation to find leaders who bring the change America needs when it needs it. Were this the case with Palin, it would no doubt be a blessing for all of us.
There's just one big problem: Palin may be from Alaska, but her carefully crafted political image is all Hollywood. Tinsel. She's what happens when a party with an absolutely atrocious record to run on makes a bold move that could be viewed as cynical or inspired, depending on one's perspective, but can in no way be seen as even remotely fair to the American People.
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Dangling her before select audiences only doesn't help much, either. Voters already understand that while campaign appearances and media access can generally be managed, the affairs of the world are not so easily bent to suit the image the GOP vice-presidential candidate is trying to project. It's a real tightrope for the McCain camp now, knowing that the more Palin is in the national media eye, the more likely it is people will learn things they didn't know about her, things that leave them uneasy.
In this great unknowing about Sarah Palin -- and about the decision-making abilities of a man who would put expedience and manipulation over national interest in direct defiance of the "Country First" theme of his convention -- voters are already returning to someone they do know. Little reported among all the Palin-driven lipstick-sensitive nonsense are polls showing Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama with his highest approval ratings of the year.
Republican. Ethics? Hahahaha! posted by
Dookie The Webmaster 6:36 AM
Ethics Adviser Warned Palin
An informal adviser who has counseled Gov. Sarah Palin on ethics issues urged her in July to apologize for her handling of the dismissal of the state's public safety commissioner and warned that the matter could snowball into a bigger scandal.
He also said, in a letter reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, that she should fire any aides who had raised concerns with the chief over a state trooper who was involved in a bitter divorce with the governor's sister.
In the letter, written before Sen. John McCain picked the Alaska governor as his running mate, former U.S. Attorney Wevley Shea warned Gov. Palin that "the situation is now grave" and recommended that she and her husband, Todd Palin, apologize for "overreaching or perceived overreaching" for using her position to try to get Trooper Mike Wooten fired from the force.
Mr. Shea was acting on his own in writing the letter, with no official capacity. In late 2006, Gov. Palin asked him to co-write an ethics report for Gov. Palin with then-House Democratic leader Ethan Berkowitz that recommended new financial-disclosure rules for elected and appointed officials in the statehouse. That report served as a key document for the ethics bill she later signed into law.
If you're wife wears a $300,000 outfit to your convention, you might be an elitist.
If someone asks you how many houses you have, and you answer "One of my staff will have to get back to you on that", because 1) you don't know and 2) you have a staff, you might be an elitist.
If you think the middle class is anyone who makes less than $5 million dollars, you are definitely a f**king elitist.
Either that or you're a McCRainman.
"About a hundred dollars."
"About five million dollars"
At least he doesn't wear magic underwear like Romney. Or does he?
McCain: Dirtiest Campaign Ever posted by
Dookie The Webmaster 7:55 AM
Obama Camp Response to McCain Ad "Education"
"It is shameful and downright perverse for the McCain campaign to use a bill that was written to protect young children from sexual predators as a recycled and discredited political attack against a father of two young girls - a position that his friend Mitt Romney also holds. Last week, John McCain told Time magazine he couldn't define what honor was. Now we know why," said Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton.
Transcript of the ad:
Script For "Education" (TV :30)
ANNCR: Education Week says Obama "hasn't made a significant mark on education".
That he's "elusive" on accountability.
A "staunch defender of the existing public school monopoly".
Obama's one accomplishment?
Legislation to teach "comprehensive sex education" to kindergartners.
Learning about sex before learning to read?
Barack Obama.
Wrong on education. Wrong for your family.
JOHN MCCAIN: I'm John McCain and I approved this message.
He's good enough; He's smart enough posted by
Dookie The Webmaster 6:19 AM
Al Franken Wins Primary for Minnesota Senate Seat
The comedian Al Franken won the Democratic nomination for Senate in Minnesota on Tuesday, setting up a showdown with the incumbent Republican senator, Norm Coleman.
Mr. Franken, who gained fame as a cast member of "Saturday Night Live," easily beat six other candidates. Mr. Coleman trounced his only opponent, an expatriate living in Italy.
Mr. Franken's celebrity has both helped and hurt him. His coast-to-coast recognition enabled him to amass impressive financing for a first-time candidate, but archives full of racy material provided ammunition to Republicans and his most visible Democratic rival, Priscilla Lord Faris, a lawyer.
Ms. Lord Faris, part of a well-regarded family in state Democratic politics, criticized Mr. Franken for "angry and offensive public behavior" and said he would be too easy a target for Mr. Coleman and his allies...
He didn't say "pitbull" posted by
Dookie The Webmaster 6:16 AM
Obama: McCain can't put lipstick on a pig
What's the difference between the presidential campaign before and after the national political conventions? Lipstick.
The colorful cosmetic has become a political buzzword, thanks to Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin's joke in her acceptance speech that lipstick is the only thing that separates a hockey mom like her from a pit bull.
Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama told an audience Tuesday that GOP presidential nominee John McCain says he'll change Washington, but he's just like President Bush.
"You can put lipstick on a pig," he said to an outbreak of laughter, shouts and raucous applause from his audience, clearly drawing a connection to Palin's joke. "It's still a pig. You can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called change. It's still going to stink after eight years."
The only poll that matters posted by
Dookie The Webmaster 2:54 PM
World wants Obama as president: poll
US Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama may be struggling to nudge ahead of his Republican rival in polls at home, but people across the world want him in the White House, a BBC poll said.
All 22 countries covered in the poll would prefer to see Senator Obama elected US president ahead of Republican John McCain.
In 17 of the 22 nations, people expect relations between the US and the rest of the world to improve if Senator Obama wins.
More than 22,000 people were questioned by pollster GlobeScan in countries ranging from Australia to India and across Africa, Europe and South America.
The margin in favour of Senator Obama ranged from 9 per cent in India to 82 per cent in Kenya, while an average of 49 per cent across the 22 countries preferred Senator Obama compared with 12 per cent preferring Senator McCain. Some four in 10 did not take a view.
"Large numbers of people around the world clearly like what Barack Obama represents," GlobeScan chairman Doug Miller said.
Endorsements Part 2 posted by
Dookie The Webmaster 1:19 PM
In the harshest attack yet on Sarah Palin, Bush and Cheney endorse her
President Bush and Vice President Cheney praised Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin in separate interviews, calling the Republican vice presidential nominee "an inspired pick" and a "good candidate."
"I find her to be a very dynamic, capable, smart woman who, you know, it really says that John McCain made an inspired pick, to me," Bush said in an interview to be aired Tuesday morning on "Fox & Friends."
"She's had executive experience, and that's what it takes to be a capable person here in Washington, D.C., in the executive branch," Bush said in excerpts released by Fox.
Cheney, commenting for the first time on his potential successor, dismissed suggestions that she may not be up for the job.
Endorsements posted by
Dookie The Webmaster 12:03 PM
British PM Gordon Brown endorses Obama
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has, more or less, endorsed Obama, writes the Evening Standard's Paul Waugh:
Gordon Brown has broken with British convention and made clear that he favours Barack Obama as the next US President.
In a departure from the usual self-denying ordinance of Prime Ministers past, Brown has written an article for The Monitor magazine in which he praises Obama's plans to get the US out of the housing slump.
Referring to the anxieties facing voters across the globe during the economic slowdown, he says: "Around the world, it is progressive politicians who are grappling with these challenges....In the electrifying US Presidential campaign, it is the Democrats who are generating the ideas to help people through more difficult times. To help prevent people from losing their home, Barack Obama has proposed a Foreclosure Prevention Fund to increase emergency pre-foreclosure counselling, and help families facing repossession."
Former New York Mayor Ed Koch, who endorsed and worked for George W. Bush in 2004, is endorsing Obama today, NY1 first reported.
I asked Koch just now what prompted the move.
"The designation of Palin to be vice president," he said. "She's scary."
He said he was alarmed by the report that she'd triggered a conflict with the local librarian in Wasilla, Alaska by inquiring about the possibility of banning books.
"Any time someone goes to the library and says, 'I want to ban books,' and the librarian says 'no,' and she threatens to fire them -- that's scary," he said.
Taxes, taxes, taxes posted by
Dookie The Webmaster 9:21 AM
Sarah Palin's Alaskonomics
Sarah Palin thinks she is a better American than you because she comes from a small town, and a superior human being because she isn't a journalist and never lived in Washington and likes to watch her kids play hockey. Although Palin praised John McCain in her acceptance speech as a man who puts the good of his country ahead of partisan politics, McCain pretty much proved the opposite with his selection of a running mate whose main asset is her ability to reignite the culture wars. So maybe Governor Palin does represent everything that is good and fine about America, as she herself maintains. But spare us, please, any talk about how she is a tough fiscal conservative.
Palin has continued to repeat the already exposed lie that she said, "No, thanks," to the famous "bridge to nowhere" (McCain's favorite example of wasteful federal spending). In fact, she said, "Yes, please," until this project became a symbol and political albatross.
Back to reality. Of the 50 states, Alaska ranks No. 1 in taxes per resident and No. 1 in spending per resident. Its tax burden per resident is 21/2 times the national average; its spending, more than double. The trick is that Alaska's government spends money on its own citizens and taxes the rest of us to pay for it. Although Palin, like McCain, talks about liberating ourselves from dependence on foreign oil, there is no evidence that being dependent on Alaskan oil would be any more pleasant to the pocketbook.
Fiscal conservative? posted by
Dookie The Webmaster 6:10 AM
Palin Billed State for Nights Spent at Home
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has billed taxpayers for 312 nights spent in her own home during her first 19 months in office, charging a "per diem" allowance intended to cover meals and incidental expenses while traveling on state business.
The governor also has charged the state for travel expenses to take her children on official out-of-town missions. And her husband, Todd, has billed the state for expenses and a daily allowance for trips he makes on official business for his wife.
Palin, who earns $125,000 a year, claimed and received $16,951 as her allowance, which officials say was permitted because her official "duty station" is Juneau, according to an analysis of her travel documents by The Washington Post.
Condi, the Obamican posted by
Dookie The Webmaster 12:49 PM
Rice offers less-than-hearty Palin endorsement
ABC News' Jonathan Karl Reports: In a weekend interview, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice passed up an opportunity to defend Sarah Palin from allegations that she does not have the foreign policy experience to be vice president.
In a less-than-hearty endorsement, Rice declined to say anything more positive about Palin than "she gave a terrific speech" and "she's a governor of a state here in the United States" during her interview with Zain Verjee of CNN.
Asked point-blank if Palin has enough experience, Rice said, "These are decisions that Senator McCain has made. I have great confidence in him." Confidence in Palin? Rice didn't say.
Rice added: "I'm not going to get involved in this political campaign. As Secretary of State, I don't do that. But I thought her speech was wonderful."
Comparing Vice President Cheney's foreign policy background Palin's, the interviewer asked Rice to respond to critics who say she "just won't be able to handle it."
Rice's response: " There are difference kinds of experience in life that help one to deal with matters of foreign policy."
More Rice: "You know, she's governor of a state here in the United States."
Rice also said she'd be the "last" to advise Palin in a foreign policy debate against Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden.
McDumb & McDumber posted by
Dookie The Webmaster 12:45 PM
Sarah Palin fumbles on Fannie, Freddie
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin stumbled this weekend when she commented on the federal takeover of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The Huffington Post "helpfully" pointed out her mistake to anyone who missed it the first time around.
Speaking before voters in Colorado Springs, the Republican vice presidential nominee claimed that lending giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had "gotten too big and too expensive to the taxpayers." The companies, as McClatchy reported, "aren't taxpayer funded but operate as private companies. The takeover may result in a taxpayer bailout during reorganization."
Economists and analysts pounced on the misstatement, saying it demonstrated a lack of understanding about one of the key economic issues likely to face the next administration.
"You would like to think that someone who is going to be vice president and conceivable president would know what Fannie and Freddie do," said Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research. "These are huge institutions and they are absolutely central to our country's mortgage debt. To not have a clue what they do doesn't speak well for her, I'd say."
Added Andrew Jakabovics, an economic analysts for the progressive think tank, Center for American Progress: "It is somewhat nonsensical because up until yesterday there was sort of no public funding there. Even today they haven't drawn down any of the credit line they have given to Treasury. 'Gotten too big and too expensive' are two separate things. The too big has been a conservative mantra for a while and there is something to be said of that in that they hold about half of the mortgage guarantees that are out there. And in the last year they have been responsible for roughly 80 percent out there. The 'too expensive to tax payers,' I don't know where that comes from."
A year and a half since the surge in Iraq, violence is the lowest it has been since the invasion. The idea of throwing another 30,000 troops into Iraq was a desperate gamble in a dark time. And only now are we finding out just how much opposition there was by the nation's top military leaders. That's among the revelations in a new book by Washington Post Associate Editor Bob Woodward.
...
Asked what the generals at the Pentagon thought when presented with the idea of a surge, Woodward told Pelley, "They think that it won't work. And the president actually at one point goes and meets with them. And the Army chief of staff, General Schoomaker, says 'You can't add five brigades, it will take many more,' 'What about another crisis?' 'We don't have troops for this,' 'What about the damage your doing to the force, the young kids who see nothing but endless rotations?'"
"What does General Casey, sitting in Baghdad, think of having additional troops?" Pelley asked.
"He thinks that Baghdad is a troop sump-a place you can put endless numbers of troops in. And he does not want to add force," Woodward said.
"The president, who has said in public, endless times, that he relies on his generals to tell him what they need, is actually going his own way here," Pelley remarked.
"That's right," Woodward agreed. "The records of the joint chiefs show that the idea of five brigades came from the White House, not from anybody except the White House."
Sen Inhofe (R-etard) accuses Republicans at RNC of not loving America posted by
Wally 9:16 AM
Senator Inhofe (R-OK) - who still doesn't believe in global warming or a spherical earth - claimed Friday that Obama doesn't love his country. His reasoning - Obama didn't wear a lapel pin.
"Do you really want to have a guy as commander in chief of this country when you can question whether or not he really loves his country?" Inhofe asked, in an interview with the paper.
"[Y]ou have to question why at times he seems so obviously opposed to public displays of patriotism and national pride, like wearing an American flag lapel pin," Inhofe added. CBS News
By Senator Inhofe's own standards, guess who else doesn't love America?
Inhofe says that Norm Coleman hates America
I always wondered about Mitt. Now I know thanks to the good Senator from Oklahoma
As proven by the past 8 years.
'Nuff said
You break my heart Fredo!
Big surprise that Joe hates America. Yaaawn. Nothing to see here.
Plenty of Botox and plenty of room for diamonds, but no flag pin
Huckster
You Bitch!
Uh Oh!
Who knew all those Republicans at the RNC were anti-American? Thanks to the good Senator from Oklahoma for pointing this out.
(note: credit for all of the above photos goes to the RNC Convention website and Reflections Photography)
Oh yeah, there's one more. Don't forget about this America hating sonofabitch:
"Energy Independence" = "Leave the Oil Companies Alone" posted by
Wally 9:03 AM
Sarah Palin to be energy independence chief in John McCain's government
John McCain wants to put Sarah Palin in charge of US oil and energy policy if he becomes president, The Sunday Telegraph has learned.
The Republican presidential candidate will make his running mate the public face of the country's drive for energy independence, according to a McCain campaign official.
Mrs Palin backs drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), which Mr McCain has previously opposed. Should he decide to reverse that position he will use Mrs Palin to make the case that it is necessary.
"No one has more experience of getting oil out of the ground and to the market than Sarah Palin," he said. "It is the issue that most distinctively divides the two parties and it is one that has proved popular for Senator McCain.
Mr Lieberman is pencilled in to become Secretary of State or Defence Secretary in what insiders say will be a "government of national unity on foreign affairs".
Call their bluff today with the Gay Republican Hypocrites Playing Cards!!
Click the image above to buy a deck.
Note: as much as we at dubyaD40.com would like in on some of the action er, I mean profits, we're not affiliated with the makers of these cards. We just thought this was too funny to ignore and don't mind promoting a good idea when we see it. I just wish we thought of it first.
About that jet that Palin sold on eBay.... posted by
Wally 8:34 AM
Or actually, the one she claimed to sell on eBay, but it turns out she didn't, and was lying about it. The one that John McCain continues to lie about her selling on eBay even though he knows that it's a lie.
Well, she just got a replacement.
Palin gets freshly painted jet from Tucson firm
Vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is known for selling the jet her predecessor as Alaska governor used to tool around the state.
She now has one of her own.
A Tucson company delivered the freshly painted campaign jet on Thursday, just six days after Arizona Senator John McCain announced her as his running mate.
Global Aircraft President John Sawyer says the plane seats about 100 people and has been reconfigured with bigger first-class seats, dividers and an area for the press.
Some Things Are Just Too Funny! posted by
Clyde 4:26 AM
McCain's backdrop baffles California school
Staff at a California school were scratching their heads on Friday after their facility mysteriously appeared as a backdrop during John McCain's Republican Convention speech.
A giant image of Walter Reed Middle School in the Los Angeles suburb of North Hollywood was one of several pictures projected onto a backdrop at the Republican Convention on Thursday as McCain addressed delegates.
However ABC and online reports have speculated McCain's campaign could have intended to show a picture of the prestigious Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington D.C. rather than a relatively obscure school in California.
A McCain campaign spokesman was not immediately available to comment on the reasons for the selection of the photo.
The Foundations Of Our Economy Are Strong! posted by
Clyde 4:13 AM
Government may soon back troubled mortgage giants
The government is expected to take over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as soon as this weekend in a monumental move designed to protect the mortgage market from the failure of the two companies, which together hold or guarantee half of the nation's mortgage debt, a person briefed on the matter said Friday night.
Some of the details of the intervention, which could cost taxpayers billions, were not yet available, but are expected to include the departure of Fannie Mae CEO Daniel Mudd and Freddie Mac CEO Richard Syron, according to the source, who asked not to be named because the plan was yet to be announced.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and James Lockhart, the companies' chief regulator, met Friday afternoon with the top executives from the mortgage companies and informed them of the government's plan to put the troubled companies into a conservatorship.
The news, first reported on The Wall Street Journal's Web site, came after stock markets closed. In after-hours trading Fannie Mae's shares plunged $1.54, or 22 percent, to $5.50. Freddie Mac's shares fell $1.06, or almost 21 percent, to $4.04. Common stock in the companies will be worth little to nothing after the government's actions.
Nothing to see here, move along... posted by
Dookie The Webmaster 8:06 AM
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.
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.
Thank you John McCain! posted by
Dookie The Webmaster 6:11 AM
Caribou Barbie inspires women to vote for Democrats
MOST US women are unimpressed by Republican John McCain's choice of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate, and have thrown their weight behind the Democratic ticket in the race for the White House, a national poll showed today.
Six in 10 women voters see McCain's choice of a female running mate as a calculated political decision rather than one based on Palin's experience and qualities, the poll conducted by the Garin-Hart-Yang Research Group showed.
"Women voters see the choice of Governor Palin as being driven by politics rather than by any sense of conviction on Senator McCain's part that she has the experience and qualities to make a good vice-president," the research group said in a statement.
A majority of the 800 women polled - 56 per cent - said they were put off by Palin's legislative record and her position on moral issues, such as abortion.
"When women voters learn that Palin opposes abortion even in cases of rape and incest, opposes stem cell research and, as governor, opposed funding for state pre-kindergarten programs... a majority say... (they) feel less favourable toward her," the poll showed.
You know that jet that Caribou Barbi sold on Ebay? posted by
Dookie The Webmaster 2:53 PM
Another lie:
GOP Convention: Palin Sold Alaska Jet at a Loss, and Not on eBay
EBay got a huge plug last night when, trying to depict herself as a tight-fisted reformer, GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin said she put a state jet on eBay.
But the Westwind II jet never sold on eBay.
According to PolitiFact, the plane, bought by her Republican predecessor whom she beat in 2006, was listed for sale three times on the San Jose internet auction giant. But no one ever met the minimum bid. The plane was listed with an asking price of $2.5 million in 2007. The state had paid just under $2.7 million for it in 2005.
Finally, the state turned to an aircraft broker, who sold the jet to an Alaskan businessman for $2.1 million.
Party of the people? posted by
Dookie The Webmaster 2:37 PM
Cindy McCain's Monday Night Outfit Cost $300,000
One of the persistent memes in the Republican line of attack against Barack Obama is the notion that he is an elitist, whereas the G.O.P. represent real working Americans like Levi "F-in' Redneck" Johnston.
It caught our attention, then, when First Lady Laura Bush and would-be First Lady Cindy McCain took the stage Tuesday night wearing some rather fancy designer clothes. So we asked our fashion department to price out their outfits.
"I've been called worse on the basketball court" posted by
Dookie The Webmaster 2:07 PM
Obama Dismisses Palin Criticism
Sen. Barack Obama dismissed the harsh criticism fired his way last night at the Republican convention as part of the problem in politics, asserting this afternoon, "At some point we've got to stop that and get serious."
Speaking to a group of factory workers at a hydropower equipment plant, Obama refused to address Gov. Sarah Palin's mocking assessment of his background and political rise. When a member of the audience asked him to weigh in on the resume issue, Obama responded, "I'll let Governor Palin talk about her experience, I'll talk about mine."
But he rebuked the GOP in general for focusing almost exclusively on biography in St. Paul, Minn., and for attempting to redraw old partisan lines.
....
"They've had a lot of speakers. And if they had a bunch of ideas, you'd think they would have put 'em out there by now. And so the question is, what's their agenda? What's their plan?"
dubyaD40's Governor slams Palin posted by
Dookie The Webmaster 12:12 PM
Sebelius Accuses Palin Of Deceiving Voters
In a Thursday morning conference call for reporters organized by the Democratic National Committee, Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius pushed back against the idea that Republicans have cornered the market on small-town American values.
"I live in the American heartland, and have been a governor [here] for six years," she said. "I don't know any mayor in any small town in Kansas -- and we have a lot of mayors of small towns -- who hires a lobbyist and goes after earmarks the way Sarah Palin did." On Tuesday, the Washington Post reported that, as mayor of Wasilla, Palin secured more than $27 million in federal earmarks for a town with only 6,700 residents.
In her speech, Palin made a not-so-subtle pitch to snatch the sympathies of small-town voters -- touting her own experience as a mayor, and contrasting her self-professed values with those of Barack Obama. "I might add that in small towns, we don't quite know what to make of a candidate who lavishes praise on working people when they are listening, and then talks about how bitterly they cling to their religion and guns when those people aren't listening," Palin said, referring to remarks Obama made at a San Francisco fundraiser earlier this year.
Fire the troopers; Call the National Guard posted by
Dookie The Webmaster 11:55 AM
Troopers' union angry about Palin accusations
... "It is outrageous and disappointing that the governor would choose to make the Alaska State Troopers the whipping boy for her ethical lapse of judgment," said John Cyr, the executive director of the Public Safety Employees Association.
Cyr added that his organization was filing an ethics complaint against the governor and her staff regarding the disclosure of Wooten's private personnel information ...
On Tuesday, Palin's lawyer filed an ethics complaint regarding her dismissal of Monegan. The complaint was an attempt to have the state personnel board investigate the Monegan firing and head off the Legislature's own investigation.
In the complaint, Palin's attorney accused the Alaska State Troopers of conducting a "slipshod" investigation into Wooten ...
"Where's Waldo" at the RNC. posted by
Dookie The Webmaster 6:16 AM
They claim to be the "face" of America. Sure doesn't look like America to me:
In a more diverse America, a mostly white RNC
Organizers conceived of this convention as a means to inspire, but some African American Republicans have found the Xcel Energy Center depressing this week. Everywhere they look, they see evidence of what they consider one of their party's biggest shortcomings.
As the country rapidly diversifies, Republicans are presenting a convention that is almost entirely white.
Only 36 of the 2,380 delegates seated on the convention floor are black, the lowest number since the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies began tracking diversity at political conventions 40 years ago. Each night, the overwhelmingly white audience watches a series of white politicians step to the lectern - a visual reminder that no black Republican has served as a governor, U.S. senator or U.S. House member in the past six years.
Even the media is calling their bullsh*t posted by
Dookie The Webmaster 5:55 AM
Attacks, praise stretch truth at GOP convention
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and her Republican supporters held back little Wednesday as they issued dismissive attacks on Barack Obama and flattering praise on her credentials to be vice president. In some cases, the reproach and the praise stretched the truth.
PALIN: "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."
THE FACTS: The Tax Policy Center, a think tank run jointly by the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute, concluded that Obama's plan would increase after-tax income for middle-income taxpayers by about 5 percent by 2012, or nearly $2,200 annually. McCain's plan, which cuts taxes across all income levels, would raise after tax-income for middle-income taxpayers by 3 percent, the center concluded.
Fun Facts about McCain's VP posted by
Wally 1:27 AM
We know, we're not voting for the VP, we're voting for the Prez. Also - and this is important - if we go after Palin for her pathetic excuse for experience, that is exactly what the Repubs want us to do. They'll play that up in a big ugly way "You don't think she's experienced enough to be VICE President, but Obama's okay for President?"
There are several ways to dismiss that argument. Somewhat weak (from a Bushie viewpoint at least) is the idea that with McCain being as old as he is and not in the best health, his VP is very likely to become the Prez. They'll still throw out the "but you're voting for Obama to become president immediately" line. Alternatively, you can try to point out the facts, explaining how Barack's experience actually far outweighs hers, but we all know the futility of debating with or using "facts" or "reality" with that crowd. They'll just put their fingers in their ears and chant USA! USA! USA! as if that makes them better Americans than anyone else.
I'm offering a third option. It's not about experience. It's about character and judgement. It's about things like not breaking the law while you're the governor, and not "flip-flopping". It's about things like not wanting to secede from the country you're asking the voters to elect you to lead. It's about a lot more than just experience.
To that end, here are some fun facts about Sarah:
Three times in recent years, McCain's catalogs of "objectionable" spending have included earmarks for this small Alaska town, requested by its mayor at the time -- Sarah Palin. LA Times
She was FOR the "bridge to nowhere" before she was against it, and her assertion that she rejected Congressional funds for the so-called "bridge to nowhere" has upset many Alaskans. Reuters
GOP vice-presidential candidate Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin touts her record as a reformer who worked to end the "abuses of earmark spending in Congress." But Palin has embraced earmarks from early on in her career as a mayor of Wasilla to the governor's mansion in Juneau. Just this year she sent to Sen. Ted. Stevens a proposal for 31 earmarks totaling $197 million - more, per person, than other state. Seattle Times
Palin owned a carwash that was shut down by the state of Alaska for failing to follow state regulations. Guess who was governor and had her name on the top of the letter that ordered the closure. Wash Post
After taking over as Mayor of the small town of Wasilla, Palin fired the longtime local police chief.... because he stepped on the toes of Palin's campaign contributors. ABC News
Speaking of firing police officers for personal reasons..... Associated Press
Like a good republican, she's has no problem shamelessly lying to the American people Associated Press
As mayor of Wasilla, "She asked the library how she could go about banning books" Time
She has proposed legislation and cash incentives to encourage aerial wolf gunning, the controversial practice of shooting wolves from an aircraft. Slate
She and her husband were members of a group pushing for the secession of Alaska from the United States. Isn't that called "treason"? ABC News
But I suppose I'm being sexist by pointing out these things. So I'll end this on a positive note for the bubbleheaded bimbo (hey, if I'm going to be called sexist, then dammit, I'm going to be sexist).
How is he reacting to the criticisms (pronounced "vetting") of his vice presidential pick? In typical McCain fashion. He's throwing one hissy fit after another.
They were right about John Edwards... posted by
Dookie The Webmaster 7:57 PM
McCain Camp Knocks Down Enquirer's Palin Rumor
John McCain's campaign threatened legal action against the National Enquirer today for running a story about McCain's running mate, Sarah Palin, allegedly having an affair with her husband's business partner.
"The smearing of the Palin family must end. The allegations contained on the cover of the National Enquirer insinuating that Gov. Palin had an extramarital affair are categorically false. It is a vicious lie," said McCain senior adviser Steve Schmidt.
"The efforts of the media and tabloids to destroy this fine and accomplished public servant are a disgrace. The American people will reject it."
The Enquirer also alleges that Palin unjustly fired a public safety official while she was governor of Alaska, but the story is based entirely on unnamed sources. The Enquirer has also paid sources in the past to speak with them, something mainstream media outlets do not do.
This is just too fun... posted by
Dookie The Webmaster 8:45 AM
McCain had criticized earmarks from Palin
For much of his long career in Washington, John McCain has been throwing darts at the special spending system known as earmarking, through which powerful members of Congress can deliver federal cash for pet projects back home with little or no public scrutiny. He's even gone so far as to publish "pork lists" detailing these financial favors.
Three times in recent years, McCain's catalogs of "objectionable" spending have included earmarks for this small Alaska town, requested by its mayor at the time -- Sarah Palin.
Now, McCain, the likely Republican presidential nominee, has chosen Palin as his running mate, touting her as a reformer just like him.
McCain has made opposition to pork-barrel spending a central theme of his 2008 campaign. "Earmarking deprives federal agencies of scarce resources, at the whim of individual members of Congress," McCain has said.
But records show that Palin -- first as mayor of Wasilla and recently as governor of Alaska -- was far from shy about pursuing tens of millions in earmarks for her town, her region and her state.
Traitor Joe must go. posted by
Dookie The Webmaster 6:43 AM
Michael Moore Responds to Joe Lieberman
Dear Joe:
John McCain IS just another partisan Republican -- so that must mean you ARE my favorite Democrat!
But how can you be my favorite Democrat when you are no longer a Democrat? This is very confusing. I was in the middle of taking out the garbage and, all of a sudden, there you were, trash-talking me in front of thousands of cheering (mostly) white people on TV.
What is it with you and your Republican friends always bringing me up? Can't you stop thinking about me? It's starting to sound like a fetish! Stop it! Four years ago at the last Republican Convention, John McCain, in his convention speech, also trashed me, calling me a "disingenuous filmmaker" because I called all of you out in "Fahrenheit 9/11." The crowd at Madison Square Garden went berserk. McCain didn't know I was sitting above him in the press box, and the crowd wouldn't stop screaming at me, so I flashed them the "Big L" loser sign and, well, nine of New York's finest had to help me get out of there alive.
With all the problems facing the world, why is valuable time being wasted reviewing a movie and attacking a filmmaker? And now you, Joe, tonight. Do you think you're energizing the "base" by attacking me? Better take a look at the scoreboard. While your side has spent years trying to make me the boogeyman, let's see how it's worked:
** 2006 Congressional elections: Republicans lose 30 seats in the House and 6 seats in the Senate;
** States That Have Lost a Republican Governor (and elected a Democrat) since 2002: Kansas, Montana, Wyoming, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Arkansas, Kentucky, Oklahoma and Tennessee -- EACH ONE OF THEM A RED STATE!;
** Latest Gallup Poll: Obama hit 50% yesterday for the first time for either candidate, 8 points ahead of McCain!
Do you see the trend?
Putting me in your convention speeches, attacking me nonstop on talk radio and Fox News -- and thinking that this helps you -- shows just how out of touch you all are.
Two-thirds of the country agree with my position on the war, two-thirds of the country agree with my position on a single-payer universal health care system, two-thirds believe in some form of gun control -- name the documentary, pick the issue, and the American public agrees with Michael Moore. So get over me, will ya? You're only hurting yourself. And I've got to finish taking out the garbage.
"... if John McCain is just another partisan Republican, then I'm Michael Moore's favorite Democrat. And I'm not. And I think you know that I'm not." Now click your heels together and say, "There's no place like home on the Republican minority side of the aisle."
Not just any woman will do! posted by
Dookie The Webmaster 6:20 AM
Obama Gains Among Former Clinton Supporters
The Democratic convention appears to have helped solidify support for Barack Obama among former Hillary Clinton supporters, with the percent saying they will vote for Obama in November moving from 70% pre-convention to 81% after the convention, and the percent certain to vote for Obama jumping from 47% to 65%.
Other pre and post comparisons show that Obama gained modestly in his positioning against John McCain on several dimensions, including the perception that he is better able to handle terrorism and the situation in Iraq, and that he is a strong and decisive leader.
Republican National Committee co-chair Jo Ann Davidson gave an early, opening speech talking about the significance of women in the party. It was at the party's 1892 convention, also in Minnesota, when two female delegates were seated for the first time.
"How fitting," she said, to be back in Minnesota as we nominate "Sarah Pawlenty, our next vice president."
The crowd went wild. She got it right on a subsequent reference: Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.
State Republican Party chairman Ron Carey attributed the malapropism to the pressure of being in the spotlight when "your tongue and your brain don't mesh."
Republican John McCain, whose running mate disclosed that her unmarried 17-year-old daughter is pregnant, has opposed proposals to spend federal money on teen-pregnancy prevention programs and voted to require poor teen mothers to stay in school or lose their benefits.
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's announcement Monday about her daughter, Bristol, was aimed at rebutting Internet rumors that Palin's youngest son, born in April, was actually her daughter's. Palin said her daughter intends to raise her child and marry the baby's father, who was identified only by his first name, Levi. The baby is due in late December.
McCain's record on issues surrounding teen pregnancy and contraceptives during his more than two decades in the Senate indicates that he and Palin have similar views. Until Monday, when the subject surfaced in a deeply personal manner, teen pregnancy and sex education were not issues in the national political campaign.
Palin herself said she opposes funding sexual-education programs in Alaska.
"The explicit sex-ed programs will not find my support," she wrote in a 2006 questionnaire distributed among gubernatorial candidates.
Nice pick Johnny posted by
Dookie The Webmaster 6:13 AM
Sarah Palin was once a member of the Alaskan Independence Party, its officials have said.
The party has lobbied since the 1970s for the right to hold a referendum on whether Alaska should secede from the United States. Its motto, "Alaska First", contrasts sharply with the John McCain campaign slogan: "Country First."
It seeks "the complete repatriation of the public lands, held by the federal government, to the state and people of Alaska" and aims to be "self-sufficient" by using profits from Alaskan oil and gas resources. It claims that the vote held in 1958 which led to Alaska becoming the 49th state of the US was corrupt and did not offer a proper choice.
While it is thought that Mrs Palin officially left the party to become a Republican in 1996, she recorded an address for its convention earlier this year in which she said: "I share your party's vision of upholding the constitution of our great state" and told members to "keep up the good work".
.....
In a video recorded at this year's party convention, Dexter Clark, the party's vice chairman, can be seen telling delegates: "The situation is completely out of hand, the decay of the federal government is totally complete."
He tells them that in order to propagate AIP policy they "should infiltrate" mainstream parties. "Whichever party in that area you can get something done, get into that political party, even though it does have its problems," he says.
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the GOP vice presidential candidate, is being represented by an attorney in the investigation into the firing of her public safety commissioner.
The Legislature is investigating whether Palin fired public safety commissioner Walt Monegan after he refused to fire a state trooper who had divorced Palin's sister.
The Legislature's investigating committee disclosed the attorney's hiring on Monday. The committee released an e-mailed letter it had received from the lawyer on Friday, the day McCain announced she would be McCain's running mate.
"We have been hired to represent the Governor and the Governor's Office" in the investigation, Anchorage attorney Thomas V. Van Flein wrote. "We fully welcome a fair inquiry into these allegations. ... Please know that we intend to cooperate with this investigation."
Let's Get Ready to Rumble! posted by
Clyde 3:28 AM
Dutch withdraw spy from Iran because of 'impending US attack'
According to reports in the newspaper De Telegraaf, the country's intelligence service, the AIVD, has stopped an espionage operation aimed at infiltration and sabotage of the weapons industry in Iran.
"The operation, described as extremely successful, was halted recently in connection with plans for an impending US air attack on Iran," said the report.
"Targets would also be bombed which were connected with the Dutch espionage action."
"Well placed" sources told the paper that a top agent had been recalled recently "because the US was thought to be making a decision within weeks to attack Iran with unmanned aircraft".
Another success story brought to you by the supporters of "Abstinence Only" education posted by
Wally 11:07 AM
Another reason for the fundies to love Sarah Palin.
John McCain's running mate: Sarah Palin's unmarried teenage daughter is pregnant
The 17-year-old daughter of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is pregnant, the Alaska governor said today, in an announcement which could anger the extreme Christian right within her party.
Bristol Palin, one of John McCain's running mate's five children with husband, Todd, is five months pregnant and is going to going to keep the child and marry the father, the Palins said in a statement released today.
Senior McCain campaign officials said the presidential candidate knew of Bristol's pregnancy when he selected Mrs Palin last week and that he decided that it did not disqualify the 44-year-old governor in any way.
However, sceptics of Mr McCain's choice will raise questions of how thoroughly he vetted Mrs Palin before choosing her.
Mr McCain has already admitted to having met Mrs Palin, who has only been a governor for 20 months, just once.
There's your "family values". She can't be bothered to raise her children to be responsible (or at least careful and not stupid), but she wants to run the country. Take this little tramp spawn of a tramp, along with the Bush sluts, and compare them to Chelsea, and then talk to me about morals and family values and how to raise a family.
What does the old testament of the bible say should be done about adulterers again? Oh yeah...
Note: I couldn't care less that the girl's preggo. It happens. What pisses me off is the hypocrisy of these holier than thou fundamentalists questioning my morals and ethics and telling me how to live my life while they're off getting knocked up, or tap-dancing thru the Minneapolis airport (like anti-gay rights Senator Larry Craig), or picking up underage congressional pages (like chairman of the Missing and Exploited Children's Caucus, Rep Mark Foley), or cheating on their wives before dumping them for younger women (I'm talking to you John McCain, and Newt Gingrich, and Rush, and Ronnie Reagan, and of course Falafel Bill O'Reilly).
