Tag: John McCain

The Gods Must Be Crazy

Cross posted at dkos

After the stellar week that was the Democratic Convention it was only natural that the following week would be a profound disappointment.

Every day of the Democratic Convention went off without a hitch. Each speech was better than the last. Each speaker gave the speech of a lifetime. The fireworks went off on cue unlike the memory of the balloons that got stuck, and people cried with joy, happiness and pride for what their country could produce.

I watched every day and was enthralled by the ability of every speaker to deliver a well-crafted, inspiring speech.

The Republicans could not match it.

Bill O’Reilly’s Favorite Outrageous Things

The bottomless fount of hilarity that is Bill O’Reilly has erupted once again. After MSNBC displayed humorous text on screen during a story about John McCain’s inability to remember how many houses he owns, Bill O’Reilly went nuts declaring that it was…

“…one of the most outrageous things that I’ve ever seen in my 35 years of journalism.”

Never mind that O’Reilly hasn’t spent 35 seconds in journalism, he still selectively ignores the much more offensive (and not humorously intended) examples of Fox News’ broadcasts:

A NewsCorpse.com Video:

Obama, Biden Talk Politics – 60min- Video

Last night Barack and Joe spoke, and even though a short interview they covered alot of ground.

In their first interview together as running mates, Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Joseph Biden discuss their roles and strategies for the upcoming presidential election. Steve Kroft reports.

McCain: No one could have anticipated Hurricane Sarah

John McCain is focusing on the wrong disaster.

The Category 3 that’s about to hit isn’t off the Gulf Coast, and it isn’t named Gustav.

It’s seated in the Gulfstream IV next to him, and it’s named Sarah.

Bush and McCain’s Greatest New Orleans Hits

cross posted from The Dream Antilles

Hurricanes aren’t the only things that spiral out of control.  Rethuglican politics spiral too.  They go round and round and round, reprising their greatest hits, trying to revise and rewrite and edit out their greatest failures.  Trying to help you forget.

Who doesn’t remember this as Katrina was destroying New Orleans:

Photobucket

What do the VP picks add to their tickets?

What exactly was the point of last week’s announcements for vice presidential picks?  On one hand we have a shell of a candidate promoting “change” but doing everything in his power to establish himself as an establishment candidate, picking a Washington, D.C. insider with a record of corporate whoring and unquestioning support for U.S. imperial policy.  Small wonder Barack Obama is either neck-and-neck with or trailing John McCain in the polls; he insists on turning off the very people he needs to put him over the top, including the Clinton supporters.  On the other hand we have the Republican candidate picking a “hockey mom,” with even less political experience than his Democratic counterpart (the very thing he chides his rival for), just so he can pander to the bloc of Clinton supporters inclined to vote for McCain out of spite.

In all the hype and bluster, though, one important question remains: what does either VP pick actually add to the ticket?  Joe Biden, a typical DLC insider with a hawkish foreign policy record and a habit of voting for bills that hurt working Americans, is just the sort of candidate likely to further alienate progressives – the very people Obama needs to put him over the top against McCain.  Assuming progressives will get behind the Democratic nominee simply because he and his followers choose to deny any other alternative exists has always been a recipe for disaster.  Just ask Al Gore and John Kerry.  Obama has done everything he can to blow this election by turning off all those who put their faith and hopes in him thinking he represented a departure from the DLC.  Picking Biden, though it allows for a tough yet compliant attack dog in the general election who makes up for a perceived lack of experience, really does nothing for the Democratic nominee’s chances.

Then there’s Sarah Palin.  I get that she was tapped to be McCain’s veep because of her youth and sex, but those are really the only two things she has going for her as a candidate.  As Michael Moore explained to Keith Olbermann the other night, McCain’s cynical pander is based on the assumption that American women are stupid – that they’ll vote for a woman because of her gender and not her politics.  Her record and positions are typically extreme right-wing: opposed to abortion rights, opposed to gay marriage, supports tax cuts for the wealthy and police state thuggery, among other horrendous policies.  None of those qualities, however, have won a presidential election – not for the past sixteen years, anyway (the last two were rigged, so they cannot be counted on as legitimate examples of right-wing extremism winning anything).  Women who actually care about their reproductive rights and are offended by Stepford wife-type politicians may be galvanized to vote against McCain and his so-called “hockey mom.”  There’s also her firing of Alaska’s public safety director, Walter Monegan, for refusing to fire her former brother-in-law.  This scandal is so outrageous there that the Alaskan legislature is investigating what the Washington Post is dubbing Palin’s own “trooper-gate.”

This may be the first time since George H.W. Bush lost to Bill Clinton that a Republican candidate blew an election by dubious virtue of being dumber than his Democratic counterpart, but don’t count McCain out yet; there are plenty of caging lists, hackable electronic voting machines, and bought state secretaries with which to steal this election, along with a Democratic rival who insists on replaying the Kerry campaign.

Governor Palin is McCain’s Dan Quayle

Hello, douchebags!

Not exactly a winning way to start a conversation, is it?

Yep. Too bad Dems haven’t learned a fucking thing about dis-respecting folks on the basis of gender.’Beauty queen’, ‘virgin’, and ‘no-nothing’ from `bum-fuck` Alaska is how a mother of five is being greeted by many of the morally and intellectually superior souls ‘transforming’ America for the better.  Faking a down-syndrome pregnancy? Openly comparing Gov. Palin to older porn stars? The bumper crop of crap at Huffpo is my favorite.

Change for the better?

If that means Andrew Sullivan on the front page of the Good Ship Lollipop insulting Governor Palin  as a ‘beauty queen’ you can keep it.

Forget that fact that Sarah Palin almost certainly knows a lot more about firing a gun than Sully. Or that Sully’s notion of ‘taking on the elements’ is a day on a P-Town beach without sunscreen; or an afternoon of rugby in wet underpants that really bunch.

Andy also seems to have forgotten that the last candidates he deemed fit to lead America created Abu Ghuraib. Not exactly a record of objective judgment to be proud of. Silly Sully still creams at the mention of murderous Maggie Thatcher and the man who did so much to bring the bomb to Pakistan: Ronald Reagan. But I digress.

Sarah Palin is a Governor for fuck sake. And Gov. Palin enjoys an 85% approval rating from her many constituents, which is a lot better than the candidate for change and the grandfather he drafted to butch up his campaign with ‘experience’ and ‘bare-knuckle’ toughness.

Governor Palin is a flake? Well, the flake sure is generating a lot of ink for a soul so light and facile. And if Dems are breathing an enormous sigh of relief, they’re doing a stupendous job of hiding it.

Given the enormous amounts of energy expended attacking McCain’s game-changing VP pick in just the last 48 hours, it seems Dems finally understand that McCain just might win the White House fair and square, unless Dems can make the charges of ‘racism’ stick. Dems may have already gone to the well once too often with that canard.

I was never going to support Obama. The cynicism of all three leading Dem candidates was a wake-up call for me. Edwards lied his fucking face off about banging his campaign staff while using his wife’s cancer as a shield to fend off pesky reporters, all the while bilking good, honest folks out of their nickels. Talk about a new standard in low.

Forget 75,000 screaming fans. America already has. The point is: Gov. Palin has shaken the Dems to their core. Dems can’t wait to pile on, and pile on the manure. Nice temple, btw.

Everyone is talking about Gov. Palin and the twist she puts in the race. You can smell Dem fear and the reason is simple: paint Gov. Palin as you like: Sarah Palin still represents a side of American life many of us love, respect and admire.

Gov. Palin is John McCain’s Dan Quayle? Maybe, but not quite yet. Truth be told, Gov, Palin still has to live up to that ‘high’ standard. Which makes the current panic all the more telling.

At first glance Gov. Palin more than fits the bill. Gov. Palin looks and sounds the same as Dan; and will definitely appeal to many of the folks who supported Hillary Clinton. The only one around here who really seems to understand the dynamics, and to be willing to talk openly about the threat Palin poses is Jay Elias. No surprise there.

As for the rest, whistling past the ice-cream stand, ask yourself this: how exactly did Dan Quayle spend the years 1988-1992? And if Palin really is McCain’s Quayle, what does that say about grandpa Biden, his thirty years in Congress, and the message of change?

Crack off about McSame all you like. That kind of comment hasn’t dented McCain’s support a bit; or raised Obama’s numbers.

Planning to volunteer in Obama’s wars to restore America’s image abroad in Pakistan or Afghanistan? Better give that one some thought, cause preaching peace Obama ain’t. More people are likely to end up dead with Obama trying to act tough than with McCain.

One thing for sure, should team ‘change’ carry the day: Obama’s daughters and family aren’t going to get any closer to combat than Dubya’s did. That job will fall to you or your kids.

McCain and Palin will stay the course and provide the support the Carter doctrine demands for US troops in the Middle East. Obama and Biden will tell Americans that the war in Iraq is over/lost and that American troops are leaving Iraq.

Problem is Obama and Biden will be sending US troops straight into Afghanistan and beyond.

Suck on that.

Poor Sarah Palin . . .

Poor Sarah Palin . . .

Look at her up there smiling.  They always smile before they realize what’s about to happen to them.

Sarah Palin is about to become a human sacrifice to the electoral gods.

Happy Birthday John Fossil Fool McCain

Happy Birthday to the fool enamoured with fossil fuels whose policy concepts merit not “McSame” but McWorse ….

Older than modern wind turbines … older than ocean energy systems … Older than hybrid cars …

Even older than his romantic dalliance … nuclear power.

Show this picture everywhere

Tomorrow, the whole world will watch as John McCain introduces and appears with his running mate as the Republican ticket in public for the first time. The timing of the announcement is meant to achieve four key goals for the McCain campaign:

1) Keep Obama/Biden from getting the kajillion point bounce they need for the Democratic National Convention to be considered a success.

2) Dominate the weekend news cycle.

3) Generate a little excitement for the moribund Republican Party heading into their dirgefest national convention.

4) Distract us all from an important anniversary.

A Noun, A Verb and POW POW POW POW …..

*** I reworked my original diary and added more to it, the first one was unplanned, a work in progress. ****

First of all I want to say this diary is not about denigrating the service of our military or making light of the heroism of our POWs. There are things about McCain’s POW experiences that need to be put into perspective, because being a POW like John McCain doesn’t automatically make one presidential material or particularly heroic. If this is true of any POW it is true of McCain in spades. Follow me below the fold for some straight talk.

Was McCain a POW?

The megamedia seem to be catching on that McCain was a POW…cause that answer comes up again and again and again with McCain.  

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