Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Three Questions When Considering If Republicans Can Actually Lead This Country

1) Given - McSame suspended his campaign to help get the bail out legislation passed.
2) Given - George Bush wanted this bail out to pass and made a desperate plea to the people by shoveling more fear at us (read: the sky is falling, or the boy who cried wolf - your choice). By default we know that he should have been leading the vote gathering on all sides of the isles.
3) Given - Republicans in charge crafted the plan.
4) Given - There was compromise on the original three page Paulson blank check plan.
5) Given - The plan did not pass.

Question - If the Republican leadership cannot lead their own party members to vote for a plan they think is the only reasonable option, how can they lead the country that has been deeply divided by the W, Rove and Co over the last eight years?

And another thing, this is just some wild thinking on my part: Perhaps this economic situation is what bin Laden was hoping for when they ran the planes into the Trade Center. They knew that GWB would fuck things up so bad fighting the paper tiger in Iraq and that it would lead to further economic calamity.

No one could have guessed that there would be a proposal for a 700 billion dollar blank check to bail out the people who made bad bets in the financial markets. How are we to know that this is the right solution if we cannot define what it will solve. If we buy into the GOP Driven madness, we may be playing directly into bin Laden's hands, much like everything GWB has done.

Who would have thought four airplanes in 2001 would have led to such repercussions. If we make the move to accept a 700 billion dollar bail out, perhaps we will see what bin Laden was hoping for - a complete financial melt down of the American way of life.

Question - Would bailing out Wall Street actually solve the problem or fall right into the trap the terrorists hoped for when they ran their planes into the WTC and the Pentagon and Pennsylvania?

It seems to me that much like Luke Skywalker needs Darth Vadar, George Bush and the Republicans need bin Laden. With out the fear, there is no there there.

Question - Should we follow a party that predicates their every move based on fear?

What Do You Get For Your 700 Billiion Dollar Investment?

This is an interesting perspective:
Letters to the Editor, 29Sep08 Wall Street Journal

For $700 billion, Treasury could buy all the equity in the top 11 banks by market capitalization. Those banks have $7.95 trillion of assets representing 73% of all assets on publicly traded bank balance sheets. Or the Treasury could buy all the publicly traded banks except Bank of America and J.P. Morgan Chase. There is no compelling reason to buy just the bad assets.

James Lang
Brooklyn, N.Y.

Monday, September 29, 2008

Any Clearer Now?

Got this in my inbox this afternoon...Thought you all would enjoy this fair and balanced look at the issue at hand:
I'm a little confused. Let me see if I have this straight.....

* If you grow up in Hawaii, raised by your grandparents, you're "exotic, different."
* Grow up in Alaska eating moose burgers, a quintessential American story.

* If your name is Barack you're a radical, unpatriotic Muslim.
* Name your kids Willow, Trig and Track, and you're a maverick.

* Graduate from Harvard law School and be President of the Law Review, and you are unstable.
* Attend 5 different small colleges before graduating, you're well grounded.

* If you spend 3 years as a community organizer, create a voter registration drive that registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor, spend 8 years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, become chairman of the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, spend 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of 13 million people while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you don't have any real leadership experience.
* If your total resume is: local weather girl, 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people, 20 months as the governor of a state with only 650,000 people, then you're qualified to become the country's second highest ranking executive.

* If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising 2 beautiful daughters, all within Protestant churches, you're not a real Christian.
* If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and left your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you're a Christian.

* If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, including the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society.
* If, while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with no other option in sex education in your state's school system while your unwed teen daughter ends up pregnant, you're very responsible.

* If your wife is a Harvard graduate lawyer who gave up a position in a prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family's values don't represent America's.
* If your husband is nicknamed "First Dude," with at least one DUI conviction and no college education, who didn't register to vote until age 25 and once was a member of a group that advocated the secession of Alaska from the USA, your family is extremely admirable.

OK, much clearer now.

My Note to My Reps

Here's what I just sent to my congressional reps. Feel free to plagiarize and send to yours.
Dear Senator...,

It occurs to me that if Warren Buffet can invest in seriously discounted firms with the opportunity to earn a triple or more ROI, that we should require the same for any investments made on behalf of the American People. Bailing out Wall Street without getting an equity stake and placing some thorns in the legislation that allows us to extract blood from those who caused this mess is pointless.

Truly, can any one really define the problem definitively that the 700 billion dollars is to solve? If we toss 700 billion dollars onto George Bush's house of cards, it will fold because the house is built on wormwood and no oversight or regulation. What's plan B if the 700 dollars doesn't fix the problems but causes more?

Is this bill a lifesaver for the corporate fat cats or the American People? Fear of fiscal catastrophe is not a reason to vote for a bad solution. My hope is that you and your colleagues are able to find a solution that works for America, not Wall Street.

And finally, we should ensure that those who have made enormous sums of money working for these firms make the sacrifices that reflect their involvement in creating the problem. In other words, if you are the CEO of one of these failed firms and you made over 10 million dollars, you could stand to toss in 8 or so of those millions to rectify the problem no? Sure it's a lot of money, but they made the bad bets. Let's hold them accountable.

Thank you,
Blog on friends, blog on all.

Be A Fly On The Wall: Do You Care Where Your Slice Of The 700 Billion Dollar Bail Out Will Land?

The Debate on the 700 Billion Dollar Bail out for the GOP's rich pals is going on right now. Nancy Pelosi is talking at this moment. Click here to listen in if dare or care.If Warren Buffet can invest in seriously discounted firms and get equity and the chance to earn a serious ROI, why can't we get that for the American People?

Here's a suggested email that you may want to send to your congressional representative that a friend of mine sent to his. You can Form Mail to your representatives at senate.gov or house.gov.
There is NO problem extant that can't be postponed until the next presidency and the next congress. The problem with the economy hasn't been adequately described: a problem the dimensions of which can't be described can't be solved. Where is the spreadsheet model that says that $700b will prevent the dire result that not providing $700b is supposed to prevent? If nobody actually knows the dimensions of the problem, how is $700b the solution? If the government proposes to prop up a house of cards, the house of cards will fall regardless. What is Plan B?
Blog on friends, blog on all.

Saturday, September 27, 2008

One House Versus Seven: Who Has Your Best Interests In Mind?

Chris Rock has a valid point. Would you rather have some one dealing with economic issues who has one home or seven? McSame could lose half his homes and still sleep well at night. Is that the man you would like to have protecting your interests in the Whitehhouse?

Can I Get A Translation Here? Any One Know What The Hell Palin Is Saying



If that's not enough to get you worried about the Palin/McSame ticket, how about this?



Can any one tell me why McSame finds this woman qualified for the gig?

Well, if you watched last night's debate, you would have found it basically a draw. Even so, the Republican Governor of Mississippi can't help but apply wide praise for Obama. He even said that both McSame and Obama are well qualified. That should put to rest those nutters who say Obama is not so.


Friday, September 26, 2008

"There's No One As Irish As Barak Obama"

While you are busy waiting for your slice of the 700 Billion Dollar Bail out (don't hold your breath) here's something to lighten your day:



This is the email I got from Shay Black that announces the posting of this tune:
At last, a song that chronicles in verse Barack Obama's historic journey to become the first Black Irish President of the United States.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EADUQWKoVek
Hit the little button that says "Watch in high quality."

Recorded on September 14th, 2008 at the Sunday night Irish music session at the Starry Plough pub in Berkeley, California.
http://www.starryploughpub.com/history/
This is an open music and song session, now running weekly for over thirteen years.

The basics of the song started with the Corrigan Brothers in Ireland. www.HardyDrew.com

Extra verse contributions (in some form) by Shay Black, Celia Ramsey, Chris Caswell, Walter Askew (Salty Walt), Craig Johnson, Tom Clancy, Barry Gleeson, Dave Sahn, Peter Heelan.

Please forward, and if you can't learn all the words, learn and sing the chorus.

Yes, we can.

~ Shay Black

In case you are wondering what the quote says behind the singer, here you go:

No revolutionary movement is
complete with out its poetic
expression. If such a movement
has caught hold of the
imagination of the masses,
they will seek a vent in song
for the aspirations, fears, and
hopes, the loves and hatreds
engendered by the struggle.
Until the movement is marked
by the joyous, defiant singing
of revolutionary songs, it lacks
one of the most distinctive
marks of a popular revolutionary
movement; it is the dogma of the few
and not the faith of the multitude

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Palin Speaks - Makes No Cents

Well, if you didn't follow the links to review Palin's answers to four or so questions from the press, here's what you get about the Fiscal Crisis.
JERSEY JOURNAL: What do you think of bailout package before congress?

A: I don't support that until the provisions that Sen. McCain has offered are implemented in Paulson's proposals.
Well, now that McSame has stopped his campaign and stepped into the mix, and Bush has weighed in, we have a solution now right? Nope:
Urgent efforts to lash together a $700 billion rescue plan for the national economy broke apart Thursday night, hours after key lawmakers had declared they had reached a deal.
I see, so if this represents the best efforts of McSame, we can see that they GOP is no good at building bipartisan support for critical situations. Looks like we have a good demonstration of the McSame/Palin leadership capacity right here unfolding before us.

Just A Quick Question

Given that Wall Street is poised for a major bail out - borderline social welfare for wealthy individuals - I just have one small question: Where's the 700 Billion Dollar Bail Out for America's public educational institutions?

It strikes me as odd that Americans would rather have their children in schools that are literally falling apart when they wouldn't ever consider working an 8 hour day in one of them. How about we swap out the financial industry facilities and have them go to work in our nations schools and let our children have the plush office spaces they obviously were not using ethically.

Just A Quick Question

Given that Wall Street is poised for a major bail out - borderline social welfare for wealthy individuals - I just have one small question: Where's the 700 Billion Dollar Bail Out for America's public educational institutions?

It strikes me as odd that Americans would rather have their children in schools that are literally falling apart when the wouldn't ever consider working an 8 hour day in one of them. How about we swap out the financial industry facilities and have them go to work in our nations schools and let our children have the plush office spaces they obviously were not using ethically.

Would You Get Paid Over Ten Million Dollars If You Ran A Failing Business?


The bigger question here about this financial industries mess that the W, Rove and Co. helped germinate, fertilize, and grow is why are not the Millionaires who own and run these companies bailing themselves out? They should have the cash.

There appears to be no upside for the taxpayer, but Wall Street is made whole? It's very clear to me that the GOP is not in it for me or us but for themselves. That's what the "Ownership Society" means. If you are a single parent raising three children working two jobs to make ends meet, but your home is being foreclosed, forget about Chapter 11 (because George Bush made it harder for you to do that), "you're on your own..."

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

McSame: Cuts And Runs

You may have heard that McSame wants to ditch Friday's debate to focus on his bit with the economic bail out that will cost the American Taxpayers dearly. Perhaps it's because he's protecting his own vital interests? Or, he really doesn't want to be called to the carpet as one of the people that helped get us into this mess.

Obama has a great point
"It's my belief that this is exactly the time when the American people need to hear from the person who, in approximately 40 days, will be responsible for dealing with this mess," Obama said at a news conference in Clearwater, Fla. "It's going to be part of the president's job to deal with more than one thing at once."
Really, if McCain can't run a campaign and deal with his congressional responsibilities, perhaps he should give up on one or the other. One thing is certain, the President will have to be able to juggle multiple weighty issues at the same time, with no time to cut and run on any one of them.

Calamity

Looks like George W. is going to speak to us again to try and scare us into giving him another blank check to rescue his pals in the financial industry. Should we bet that he and his team that brought us Iraq have a good idea about how to fix the economy they broke?
Meanwhile, Bush's chief spokeswoman, Dana Perino, revealed that the president is thinking about a national speech and said the country is at risk of a "calamity" without bold action to calm down the markets and soothe nervous Americans.
Well, they have one thing right, the W, Rove And Co. did bring us a number of calamities that have us in a number of irrevocable situations that if we actually had some smarter leadership they would never had put us in in the first place. The bigger question for me is how do we hold Bush and his pals accountable for the mess they brought us? Don't hold your breath.

Even so, given the past practice of Bush leading us by faith over fact and into a war based on faulty intelligence and sticking with the calamity that is Iraq as he was given a blank check to do whatever he damn well please (not the least of which was to totally disregard the Constitution in the process), should we hand him over another blank check to have him fornicate with our Economy some more?

You remember the old song by the Talking Heads...."Well, how did we get here...."

GOP: The Calamity Rendering Party - Calamity Means Profit For Us But Not For You.

Blog on friends, blog on all...

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

What Are They Afraid Of?

When some one squashes any questions about themselves by not allowing people in to ask any, it says to me two things: 1) they have something to hide, and 2) they are afraid of what questions will be asked as it may reveal the items in no. 1.
John McCain's presidential campaign has shielded the first-term Alaska governor for weeks from spontaneous questions from voters and reporters, and went to striking lengths Tuesday to maintain that distance as Palin made her diplomatic debut.

The GOP campaign, applying more restrictive rules on access than even President Bush uses in the White House, banned reporters from the start of the meetings, so as not to risk a question being asked of Palin.
Even more restrictive than Bush? Holy crap, that can't be better practice for America, can it?

Slogans The McSame/Palin Campaign Pitched Because They Were Too Close To The Truth

I was out on my run this AM and some one had chalked a slogan across the pathway critical of the GOP - something to the affect: "The Republican Rape Continues."

Then I got to thinking...there must be some really good slogans out there that the McSame/Palin campaign pitched because, while pithy, were too close to the truth to use, and I got on a roll. So, I thought I would toss this out there as...Drum Roll Please....

Windspike's GOP Slogan Challenge

Come up with a pithy one liner that the GOP should be using if they were honest brokers of the truth and open about what they really stood for. Think of it this way: If you were to craft a slogan one-liner that accurately reflects what the GOP has come to mean to you over these last 8 years, what would it be?

I'll start, and you comment away....

1 - Bail Outs For Us, Foreclosures for you.

2 - Your Tax Dollars Put To Work Making The Rich Richer

3 - Social Welfare for Iraq, Screw America

4 - Just Say Yes To No Bid Contracts

5 - Pull Yourself Up By Your Bootstraps, It's Not Our Fault If You Have No Boots

6 - Screw The Economy, Blame The Dems

7 - Sending Your Sons And Daughters To The Slaughter To Feed The Wartime Profiteer Machine

8 - My Judges Are Right, Yours Are Activists

9 - GOP: The Anti-intellect

10 - Your Elitist If I Have To Use A Dictionary To Understand You

11 - Your College Degree Doesn't Mean Your Qualified

12 - I'm Qualified If I Believe I Am

13 - Leadership By Faith, Not Facts

14 - Trust Us, Because I Said So

15 - If You Trust Us With Iraq, You Can Trust Us With 700 Billion

16 - 700 Billion Dollars For Corporate America: Nothing For your Neighborhood Schools.

You get the idea...these things just keep pouring out of my keyboard.

Have fun and have at it...

Blog on Friends, Blog on all...

Monday, September 22, 2008

McCain = Bush: Is That Offensive?



Good question - For those of you that voted for Bush - twice - is it bad that McCain is the same? Why was this 61 year old library ushered off the property?

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Cruch All You Want, We'll Make More

Just one question for the President: Where are we going to get 700 Billion Dollars when we are hemoraging cash for the Welfare State we created called Iraq?
The Bush administration this morning formally asked Congress to grant sweeping new powers to the Treasury secretary to buy as much as $700 billion in deeply troubled mortgage-related assets as part of a herculean effort to clean up Wall Street's financial crisis.
Sounds like the Doritos commercial. Crunch all you want, we'll make more. The Fed is good at printing cash, but when it becomes so diluted, it's not worth much. The bigger question will be who wins with this bailout? Do you think the CEOs of the various companies making bad bets on bad mortgages will have to sell a house or two to cover their losses or simply get fired and given multi-million dollar severance packages?

Friday, September 19, 2008

Quote for the Weekend

It has often and confidently been asserted, that man's origin can never be known: Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: it is those who know little, not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science.
Some times folks much smarter than I nail it right on the head. Had Darwin ever met George W. Bush and his ilk, he would shake his head and shout Q.E.D. for the world to hear.

How Much Will Your Tax Bill Change Under Obama vs. McSame?


A friend tossed me this chart. I haven't checked the numbers myself, but when the Rightwinger Faithful are done taking another long, deep hit of the GOP crackpipe of lies and come up for some clean air, hit them with this dose of reality. Life isn't going to get better under McSame. And, Obama does more for cutting taxes of the ordinary working class than his counter part would have you believe.

Notice, in particular, how big the tax breaks are for the uber-wealthy under McSame, versus how big the tax break will be for the lower and middle classes under Obama. Sure, he's going to raise taxes for the super rich, but I think the McSame clan can afford to pony up a bit more than they are already pitching on the heap.

What say you blogosphere?

Blog on friends. Blog on all.

Just How Narrow Minded Are People In the GOP?

George W, proves once again that they are only interested in pushing their "morality" on us rather than protecting us. Instead of helping us, they inflict their values on us - which is contrarian to the principles these United States were founded under.

Again, they show us just now narrow they are and really, how uncompassionate these would be "compassionate conservatives" are.
LAST month, the Bush administration launched the latest salvo in its eight-year campaign to undermine women’s rights and women’s health by placing ideology ahead of science: a proposed rule from the Department of Health and Human Services that would govern family planning. It would require that any health care entity that receives federal financing — whether it’s a physician in private practice, a hospital or a state government — certify in writing that none of its employees are required to assist in any way with medical services they find objectionable.

Laws that have been on the books for some 30 years already allow doctors to refuse to perform abortions. The new rule would go further, ensuring that all employees and volunteers for health care entities can refuse to aid in providing any treatment they object to, which could include not only abortion and sterilization but also contraception.
Don't any of these right wing nut balls remember the days when women were flayed on unsterilized tables in the dark rooms of illicit abortion houses? Do GOP folks really want to go back to those dismal and lethal times?

The mission of the GOP to stop abortion show complete and utter contempt for the value of the women's lives.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

I'm Lucky But One Gets To Wondering

I've got a good job, and it's not in the banking industry, but I'm getting hit hard. One has to wonder...
"This has been the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. There is no question about it," said Mark Gertler, a New York University economist who worked with fellow academic Ben Bernanke, now the Federal Reserve chairman, to explain how financial turmoil can infect the overall economy.
...if we weren't spending billions of dollars a week on a war we really didn't need in Iraq, perhaps we may not be in this bind?

Fundamental Concerns Regarding Race and The Race for President In America

This is very interesting - a post stolen from BuzzFlash:
A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION
by Tim Wise

For those who still can’t grasp the concept of white privilege, or who are constantly looking for some easy-to-understand examples of it, perhaps this list will help.

White privilege is when you can get pregnant at seventeen like Bristol Palin and everyone is quick to insist that your life and that of your family is a personal matter, and that no one has a right to judge you or your parents, because "every family has challenges," even as black and Latino families with similar "challenges" are regularly typified as irresponsible, pathological and arbiters of social decay.

White privilege is when you can call yourself a "fuckin’ redneck," like Bristol Palin’s boyfriend does, and talk about how if anyone messes with you, you'll "kick their fuckin' ass," and talk about how you like to "shoot shit" for fun, and still be viewed as a responsible, all-American boy (and a great son-in-law to be) rather than a thug.

White privilege is when you can attend four different colleges in six years like Sarah Palin did (one of which you basically failed out of, then returned to after making up some coursework at a community college), and no one questions your intelligence or commitment to achievement, whereas a person of color who did this would be viewed as unfit for college, and probably someone who only got in in the first place because of affirmative action.

White privilege is when you can claim that being mayor of a town smaller than most medium-sized colleges, and then Governor of a state with about the same number of people as the lower fifth of the island of Manhattan, makes you ready to potentially be president, and people don’t all piss on themselves with laughter, while being a black U.S. Senator, two-term state Senator, and constitutional law scholar, means you’re "untested."

White privilege is being able to say that you support the words "under God" in the pledge of allegiance because "if it was good enough for the founding fathers, it’s good enough for me," and not be immediately disqualified from holding office--since, after all, the pledge was written in the late 1800s and the "under God" part wasn’t added until the 1950s--while believing that reading accused criminals and terrorists their rights (because, ya know, the Constitution, which you used to teach at a prestigious law school requires it), is a dangerous and silly idea only supported by mushy liberals.

White privilege is being able to be a gun enthusiast and not make people immediately scared of you. White privilege is being able to have a husband who was a member of an extremist political party that wants your state to secede from the Union, and whose motto was "Alaska first," and no one questions your patriotism or that of your family, while if you're black and your spouse merely fails to come to a 9/11 memorial so she can be home with her kids on the first day of school, people immediately think she’s being disrespectful.

White privilege is being able to make fun of community organizers and the work they do--like, among other things, fight for the right of women to vote, or for civil rights, or the 8-hour workday, or an end to child labor--and people think you’re being pithy and tough, but if you merely question the experience of a small town mayor and 18-month governor with no foreign policy expertise beyond a class she took in college--you’re somehow being mean, or even sexist.

White privilege is being able to convince white women who don’t even agree with you on any substantive issue to vote for you and your running mate anyway, because all of a sudden your presence on the ticket has inspired confidence in these same white women, and made them give your party a "second look."

White privilege is being able to fire people who didn’t support your political campaigns and not be accused of abusing your power or being a typical politician who engages in favoritism, while being black and merely knowing some folks from the old-line political machines in Chicago means you must be corrupt.

White privilege is being able to attend churches over the years whose pastors say that people who voted for John Kerry or merely criticize George W. Bush are going to hell, and that the U.S. is an explicitly Christian nation and the job of Christians is to bring Christian theological principles into government, and who bring in speakers who say the conflict in the Middle East is God’s punishment on Jews for rejecting Jesus, and everyone can still think you’re just a good church-going Christian, but if you’re black and friends with a black pastor who has noted (as have Colin Powell and the U.S. Department of Defense) that terrorist attacks are often the result of U.S. foreign policy and who talks about the history of racism and its effect on black people, you’re an extremist who probably hates America.

White privilege is not knowing what the Bush Doctrine is when asked by a reporter, and then people get angry at the reporter for asking you such a "trick question," while being black and merely refusing to give one-word answers to the queries of Bill O’Reilly means you’re dodging the question, or trying to seem overly intellectual and nuanced.

White privilege is being able to claim your experience as a POW has anything at all to do with your fitness for president, while being black and experiencing racism is, as Sarah Palin has referred to it, a "light" burden.

And finally, white privilege is the only thing that could possibly allow someone to become president when he has voted with George W. Bush 90 percent of the time, even as unemployment is skyrocketing, people are losing their homes, inflation is rising, and the U.S. is increasingly isolated from world opinion, just because white voters aren’t sure about that whole "change" thing. Ya know, it’s just too vague and ill-defined, unlike, say, four more years of the same, which is very concrete and certain.

White privilege is, in short, the problem.

A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION

Tim Wise is the author of White Like Me (Soft Skull, 2005, revised 2008), and of Speaking Treason Fluently, publishing this month, also by Soft Skull.

Meanwhile, Uncle Karl Is Still Getting Away With It

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Karl Rove no longer works for W. So, he should be able to testify, no?
It has been nearly two years since Congress first began asking questions about the firing of nine United States attorneys, who appear to have been removed for partisan political reasons. Mr. Rove may have been directly involved in these possibly illegal firings, but he has not told Congress what he knows. In defiance of a legally binding subpoena, he refused this summer to appear before the House Judiciary Committee.
Of course, with all the philandering and fornication George Bush's Administration is doing with our economy, it's easy to get distracted.
There are real victims in this scandal. Don Siegelman, the former governor of Alabama, was sentenced to seven years in prison as a result of a prosecution that appears to have been politically motivated. Mr. Siegelman is free pending an appeal, but he has already served part of the sentence and could end up returning to prison.
Hmmm, a Governor in Alabama perhaps getting tossed in jail for political reason? Wonder why the W is interested in not letting this cat out of the bag?
A Federal District Court judge appointed by President Bush ordered them to comply with the subpoenas, but the administration appealed the ruling. Attorney General Michael Mukasey is also doing his best to block Congress from getting the testimony it is entitled to. Clearly, the administration’s goal is to run out the clock, to get out of town before the subpoenas are enforced.
We know this to be the modus operandi based on nearly 8 years expience with the GOP in charge of our Whitehouse.
There are many vital principles at stake, but none is more important than the power of Congress itself. In this era of expanding presidential authority, Congress is a critical check on executive branch abuses. It cannot perform this function if it allows members of the executive branch to flout its subpoenas and its oversight.
But we know George W. Bush is very good at one thing - well, okay two things - Ignoring the facts and action based on his perception of reality, and 2) flouting the authority of congress.

Don't hold your breath for anything to come of this.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Summing Up Sarah

I think this author has it right regarding the complete lack of understanding Governor Palin had about the Bush Doctrine:

How could she not know this? For the same reason I don't know anything about European football/soccer standings, player trades, or intrigue. I am not interested enough. And she evidently has not been interested enough even to follow the news of foreign affairs during the Bush era.

A further point. The truly toxic combination of traits GW Bush brought to decision making was:

1) Ignorance
2) Lack of curiosity
3) "Decisiveness"

That is, he was not broadly informed to begin with (point 1). He did not seek out new information (#2); but he nonetheless prided himself (#3) on making broad, bold decisions quickly, and then sticking to them to show resoluteness.

We don't know for sure about #2 for Palin yet -- she could be a sponge-like absorber of information. But we know about #1 and we can guess, from her demeanor about #3. Most of all we know something about the person who put her in this untenable role.
Read the whole article before commenting. It's short. Click if you dare.

Monday, September 15, 2008

Even Rove Says The McSame Camp Isn't Exactly Honest

Wow - when Rove says you haven't been truthful, you have got to wonder.
Wow.

On a lighter note.

Saturday, September 13, 2008

One More Summary of the Fundamental Flaws With The Palin McSame Ticket

In case you don't read the New York Times because you think they are an arm of the liberal wing - whatever that is - their editorial sums up much of the fundamental problem with Palin & by deduction, McSame for choosing her. I've cut and pasted the whole thing because it's short.
As we watched Sarah Palin on TV the last couple of days, we kept wondering what on earth John McCain was thinking.

If he seriously thought this first-term governor — with less than two years in office — was qualified to be president, if necessary, at such a dangerous time, it raises profound questions about his judgment. If the choice was, as we suspect, a tactical move, then it was shockingly irresponsible.

It was bad enough that Ms. Palin’s performance in the first televised interviews she has done since she joined the Republican ticket was so visibly scripted and lacking in awareness.

What made it so much worse is the strategy for which the Republicans have made Ms. Palin the frontwoman: win the White House not on ideas, but by denigrating experience, judgment and qualifications.

The idea that Americans want leaders who have none of those things — who are so blindly certain of what Ms. Palin calls “the mission” that they won’t even pause for reflection — shows a contempt for voters and raises frightening questions about how Mr. McCain and Ms. Palin plan to run this country.

One of the many bizarre moments in the questioning by ABC News’s Charles Gibson was when Ms. Palin, the governor of Alaska, excused her lack of international experience by sneering that Americans don’t want “somebody’s big fat résumé maybe that shows decades and decades in that Washington establishment where, yes, they’ve had opportunities to meet heads of state.”

We know we were all supposed to think of Joe Biden. But it sure sounded like a good description of Mr. McCain. Those decades of experience earned the Arizona senator the admiration of people in both parties. They are why he was our preferred candidate in the Republican primaries.

The interviews made clear why Americans should worry about Ms. Palin’s thin résumé and lack of experience. Consider her befuddlement when Mr. Gibson referred to President Bush’s “doctrine” and her remark about having insight into Russia because she can see it from her state.

But that is not what troubled us most about her remarks — and, remember, if they were scripted, that just means that they reflect Mr. McCain’s views all the more closely. Rather, it was the sense that thoughtfulness, knowledge and experience are handicaps for a president in a world populated by Al Qaeda terrorists, a rising China, epidemics of AIDS, poverty and fratricidal war in the developing world and deep economic distress at home.

Ms. Palin talked repeatedly about never blinking. When Mr. McCain asked her to run for vice president? “You have to be wired in a way of being so committed to the mission,” she said, that “you can’t blink.”

Fighting terrorism? “We must do whatever it takes, and we must not blink, Charlie, in making those tough decisions of where we go and even who we target.”

Her answers about why she had told her church that President Bush’s failed policy in Iraq was “God’s plan” did nothing to dispel our concerns about her confusion between faith and policy. Her claim that she was quoting a completely unrelated comment by Lincoln was absurd.

This nation has suffered through eight years of an ill-prepared and unblinkingly obstinate president. One who didn’t pause to think before he started a disastrous war of choice in Iraq. One who blithely looked the other way as the Taliban and Al Qaeda regrouped in Afghanistan. One who obstinately cut taxes and undercut all efforts at regulation, unleashing today’s profound economic crisis.

In a dangerous world, Americans need a president who knows that real strength requires serious thought and preparation.

Friday, September 12, 2008

Why People Vote Republican

This is a very, very interesting perspective on the titular question and helps us understand why the GOP Faithful remain so despite evidence that they should not (if you dare click over, it's a long but worthy post):
...We psychologists have been examining the origins of ideology ever since Hitler sent us Germany's best psychologists, and we long ago reported that strict parenting and a variety of personal insecurities work together to turn people against liberalism, diversity, and progress. But now that we can map the brains, genes, and unconscious attitudes of conservatives, we have refined our diagnosis: conservatism is a partially heritable personality trait that predisposes some people to be cognitively inflexible, fond of hierarchy, and inordinately afraid of uncertainty, change, and death. People vote Republican because Republicans offer "moral clarity"—a simple vision of good and evil that activates deep seated fears in much of the electorate. Democrats, in contrast, appeal to reason with their long-winded explorations of policy options for a complex world...

...But with pleasure comes seduction, and with righteous pleasure comes seduction wearing a halo. Our diagnosis explains away Republican successes while convincing us and our fellow liberals that we hold the moral high ground. Our diagnosis tells us that we have nothing to learn from other ideologies, and it blinds us to what I think is one of the main reasons that so many Americans voted Republican over the last 30 years: they honestly prefer the Republican vision of a moral order to the one offered by Democrats...

...Unity is not the great need of the hour, it is the eternal struggle of our immigrant nation. The three Durkheimian foundations of ingroup, authority, and purity are powerful tools in that struggle. Until Democrats understand this point, they will be vulnerable to the seductive but false belief that Americans vote for Republicans primarily because they have been duped into doing so.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Oh, And By The Way, It's September 11th.

Looks like the GOP is still using September 11th for their own political gain, why else would Palin offer to get her "interview" started on this day?

Trouble is this - I'm stealing this post out right:

If somebody had told me on September 11, 2001 that seven years later Osama bin Laden would still be alive, and that the principal accomplishment of the U.S. military over the past seven years had been to install some theocratic Iranian allies in power in Baghdad, and had done so at the cost of 4,500 American and between a quarter of a million and a million Iraqi lives, I would have simply refused to believe them.

I would have said: "No. I have a very low opinion of George W. Bush. But even my opinion of him is not that low."

I did not then know what Bush said on August 6, 2001, to the briefer who warned him that Osama bin Laden was determined to strike inside the United States: "All right. You've covered your ass, now."

We remember September 11, 2001. We will never forget.
Pop over to Brad's location to comment.

More Bad News For Palin & McSame: Why GOP Faithful Still Like This Woman Is Beyond Me



Well, isn't that nice. Sounds like the kind of ethics that GOP Faithful like to teach their children? Why do they still support this ticket?

Oh, and by the way, if you are a woman, you may want to seriously consider electing a woman with this kind of track record:
If on her watch Sarah Palin allowed women to be charged for rape kits, she has some serious explaining to do...

...In a state with the highest sexual assault rate in the nation, nearly three times the national average, she allowed sexual assaulted victims the opportunity be victimized twice: once by their attacker and again by the cold concept of justice (or lack thereof) that Wasilla offered.
Does that sound like compassionate conservatism?

Sarah Palin Speaks To The Press, And The Only Thing We Learn About Her Possible Policy Agenda Is That She's Up For War Against Russia

ABC has some excerpts from the televised interview that is slated for tonight. Of course, the whole thing has already been taped. We won't get any live interaction, but the splices from here.

Is This The Kind Of Leadership We Can Expect From A Vice President Sarah Palin?

When she claims to have done great service to the State of Alaska by securing (and having people pray for) the money for a pipeline, one need only dig a bit deeper to find out how successful she is in actually making what she says happen.


Certainly she proved effective in attracting developers to a project that has eluded Alaska governors for three decades. But an examination of the pipeline project also found that Ms. Palin has overstated both the progress that has been made and the certainty of success.

The pipeline exists only on paper. The first section has yet to be laid, federal approvals are years away and the pipeline will not be completed for at least a decade. In fact, although it is the centerpiece of Ms. Palin’s relatively brief record as governor, the pipeline might never be built, and under a worst-case scenario, the state could lose up to $500 million it committed to defray regulatory and other costs.


I've said it before, but we cannot afford the kind of leadership by faith over fact that the Palin/McSame ticket offer America. Come to your senses GOP faithful. If you need to have a come to Jesus moment to understand the problem here, then by all means, go ahead and have one.

Remember: WWJD?What Would Jesus Do?

Obama Sits With Letterman. Will Sarah Palin Do Likewise?

Any one taking odds as to if Palin will sit with Letterman like this?



Of course they won't have Palin answer question on Letterman. They will just decide that he was part of the "liberal media." Let's all just not bother accepting that excuse right now and call them what they are; afraid to do interviews with people who might disagree with them.

Dear Ms. Palin,

If you had nothing to hide, why do you need so much coaching on what to say?

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

What's Really Wrong With Sarah?

Given that ever since the GOP Convention, the McSame campaign has been keeping Palin under wraps says to me two things: 1) they are prepping her to meet the press, and 2) she's got something really nasty to hide that she really needs the preparation. If she was really as remarkable a candidate as they say she is, she wouldn't need the rehearsal. Really, that she hasn't even stepped in for an interview with the right wing nuts at Fox News is saying something. What is it that they are hiding from us? It looks an awful lot like they are trying to get their stories straight so that she looks less culpable in the police line up.
Palin, Davis said, "will do interviews, but she'll do them on the terms and conditions" dictated by McCain's campaign -- which is to say, according to a standard that applies to no other candidate for office anywhere in the country.
When you can't even go to answer questions straight up, this says to me that you are prepping for the lies because if you simply stick to the truths, you wouldn't need all the preparation and rehearsal to synch up the stories.

Perhaps the "liberal" media should exert some chutzpah of their own and boycott any kind of interview and "news" events at which Palin is at. Really, the Palin/McSame modus operandi does not lend itself to the exercise of a free press, upon which some Revolutionaries fought for our right to have. It demonstrates a complete disdain for the free press and a real need to control the message. And you thought you lived in a free country.

Spinning The News Media: GOP's Prime Expertise - Sub Title: Do You Want A President Who Can't Tell The Difference Between Slander And a Cliche?

The GOP political propaganda catapult has been pulled out so often to try and polish up the seriously lousy news generated by their inability to run the government and make wise decisions on the behalf of the people, they have perfected their skills in delivering "catnip" for the media to distract us from what really matters.
The McCain campaign on Wednesday issued an Internet ad that said Obama was talking about Palin and said of Obama: "Ready to lead? No. Ready to smear? Yes."

Obama began a discussion of education at a Norfolk high school on Wednesday by assailing McCain's campaign.

"What their campaign has done this morning is the same game that has made people sick and tired of politics in this country. They seize on an innocent remark, try to take it out of context, throw up an outrageous ad because they know that it's catnip for the news media," Obama said.
Remember the game we used to play in grade school, derogatorily labeled "smear the queer?" Rarely did we ever correctly identify the "queer." In fact, some of the "queers" were actually hiding as bullies. The smear worked really well to ostracize the target of the slander.

This is exactly the weakness that the GOP exploits time and again. It doesn't matter if the slander is true because once it is out there, it's out there. What McSame's campaign actually has done, effectively, was try to smear Obama with the above statement. Of course, that's the point. They know how the blame game works and they play it quite well. But shut up if you play it as well, you cursed fool liberal!

Any one else out there sick of the childish games the GOP continue to use to exploit the willingly fooled American people? THE DAYS OF LEADERSHIP BY FAITH OVER FACT ARE OVER. We need to stand up and tell these "blame gamers" to sit down. If you cannot come up with a credible point that helps us understand your position on the issues that matter to us, then take your name calling back to the rock you crawled out from under. And, if you are overly sensitive to the use of common vernacular or sayings, expressions that we all know to be cliche but useful, do you have the temerity to stand up to the evildoers who are saying much more egregious things about you and are actually going to act on them? I don't think so.

Are the republicans running for office so weak as to not be able to take what is said in context and understand it's meaning? Obviously, based on the McSame's message today, not a chance. It's offensive and foolish. Or they are insulting us by thinking we can't tell the difference and try to play us to vote for them. Either way, it smacks of downright lunacy.

Do you want a President in the Whitehouse who cannot tell the difference between slander and a cliche? I think not. Really, it's the same kind of deductive reasoning that leads us into wars we don't need (e.g. George W. Bush and Iraq). This mistake made by the McSame folks is just one minor example of the kind of logic and deductive reasoning that they will deploy if they are placed in the Whitehouse. And frankly, we should not stand for it. This country cannot afford to appoint people who make such foolish mistakes.

Here's Obama speaking for himself about this concern

Tuesday, September 09, 2008

The Bridge to Nowhere Goes Nowhere, but Shoot, Let's Build A Road To It Anyway

Why? Because Palin was great at getting earmarks for her State and they were going to spend it otherwise they would have to turn it back to the Fed.
Meanwhile, Weinstein noted, the state is continuing to build a road on Gravina Island to an empty beach where the bridge would have gone -- because federal money for the access road, unlike the bridge money, would have otherwise been returned to the federal government.
Hmm, does that sound like a Woman who is bent on earmark reform?
Unlike McCain, though, Palin has not been a purist on earmarks. As Alaska governor, she sought and obtained hundreds of millions of dollars in earmarks for the state, and as mayor of Wasilla, she hired lobbyist and former Stevens staffer Steve Silver to steer federal money to her town. Some of her own earmark projects even landed on McCain's list of questionable congressional pork barrel spending when she served as mayor from 1996 to 2002.
And if that incongruity isn't enough to toss the GOP Faithful for a loop, how about her practice of charging the people for her nights 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.
Well, does that sound like the kind of ethical practice you want a heart beat away from the Presidency? I think we all aught to make the Anchorage Daily News a regular part of our reading in the lead up to the election.

Monday, September 08, 2008

Two Disperate Points, Same Conclusion


Have a gander at this graph of our wonderful employment numbers, sponsored by your current GOP leadership. BTW, did you ever wonder why, when the number goes down the politicians always claim a causal relationship between what they have done and the number dipping, but when the number goes up there is an increase in denial of responsibility?

But what I found interesting in this trend chart is the ebb and flow of it. If you look over the Clinton Years, the number was extremely high at the start, but shrunk substantially and continuously over his 8 years. In direct contrast of the last 8, it's been rocky. I don't see four more years of republican rule fixing that trend.

On another note, you have to wonder about the credibility of a candidate who can't even get the small details correct.
McCain himself said yesterday, "You know what I enjoyed the most? She took the luxury jet that was acquired by her predecessor, and sold it on eBay -- and made a profit!"

Someone should really tell McCain to be more careful with his words:
In fact, the jet did not sell on eBay. It was sold to a businessman from Valdez named Larry Reynolds, who paid $2.1 million for the plane -- shy of the $2.7 million purchase price -- according to news reports at the time. Reynolds contributed to Palin's campaign in 2006.
Palin, so far as I can tell, has precisely said she auctioned the plane on eBay, without confirming whether or not it actually sold.
Selling planes at a discount to your campaign contributors? Sounds rather fishy and more in line with the GOP culture of corruption than some upstanding individual I want to hold up as a role model for my children.

Who has whose hands in whose pockets? Does the Palin/McSame ticket sound like the party for the ordinary citizen and representation, "of the people, for the people, and by the people?" Not to me.

Mesasge, Vote OBAMA.

Friday, September 05, 2008

Just A Quick Note On The GOP Convention

Just quickly, on last night's speechifying by McSame - One has to wonder when the message of the GOP is about change when it has been in charge for the last 8 years is really authentic. Truly
It's like staging a revolution against yourself -- saying that the Republicans have got to go so the Republicans can move in and clean up the mess.
I find no means by which McSame/Palin will fix what they and their party led us into these past years. When they suggest:
I fight to restore the pride and principles of our party. We were elected to change Washington, and we let Washington change us. We lost the trust of the American people when some Republicans gave in to the temptations of corruption. We lost their trust when rather than reform government, both parties made it bigger. We lost their trust when instead of freeing ourselves from a dangerous dependence on foreign oil, both parties and Senator Obama passed another corporate welfare bill for oil companies. We lost their trust, when we valued our power over our principles.
The only message I carried away from the GOP convention was that it will be impossible for McSame and Palin to change in such as a way as to change what their party created. Indeed, Einstein may be right here - we cannot solve the problems we have using the same thinking we used to create them. The true measure of the McSame/Palin ticket will be to prove to us that they will be different than the last four years. So far, they have only given us more of the same, not the change they promise.

The Vetting of Sarah Palin: The GOP Celebrity Gambit

The Days of Leadership By Faith Over Fact - perfected by the W, Rove and Co - are over. Yet, the McSame campaign has foisted enough mojo on the GOP faithful to make an Evangelist faint. So, instead of the buying the insipid rhetoric spilled out over the anticlimactic GOP convention, we must examine whether McSame and his Gal Pal Palin are qualified to do the job based on their actions thus far.

Indeed, actions speak louder than words - Don't tell us. Show us that you will be good for America, if you can, by doing good things for America. If the vetting of Sarah Palin is an indication of how good the McSame administration will be going forward, there is large room for improvement and plenty of evidence as to why we should not trust them to do the job.

Remember how easy it was for the W, Rove and Co. to fondle their way around the intelligence to prove we needed to invade Iraq? I'm sure that was a complicated boondoggle. If McSame and his cronies can't even find a Veep candidate with less blemishes than Palin, we are in for deep, deep shit under a McSame/Palin administration and some dangerous decision making.

Take a look at this news, I just discovered in an email from a friend:
Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin attended five colleges in six years before graduating from the University of Idaho in 1987.
In almost all the college admissions programs I know, Palin would have a terrible time getting into graduate school with that track record. Five schools in six years? That is a clear indication that there is something up with Palin, something amiss in her ability to accomplish difficult tasks and sticking with them. Some one who cannot last more than a few semesters in any one school is a clear indication of some one with many issues, let alone five different institutions in as many years.

Does this fact cast a pall of suspicion over her qualifications to do the Veep Job? For me, yes. Even more important, it says to me that the McSame modus operandi is to not do a thorough job and make hasty decisions based on politics over qualifications. Certainly, his decision to select Palin was a, cold, hard ball, intentionally political one. Had he really thought he was putting "Country First," I can think of a dozen or so other Veep candidates in the GOP that would have been better suited for the job. Instead, they traded quality for celebrity. But I thought they were anti-celebrity, clearly demonstrated by their ruse to taint Mr. Obama as such.

So, why are the GOP not outraged here? Perhaps they are caught up in the "Celebrity" of Sarah Palin. I would challenge those who are thinking Republicans - and even those who believe Reagan was a better President than George Washington - to conduct their own diligence on Palin. As to if she is truly qualified for the job of Veep? I don't think so. As to that she has elevated herself to Celebrity Status, most definitely. If the Cult of Celebrity is not a reason to vote for a President (according to McSame and his army of propagandists), it should be likewise for Vice Presidents.

Should we vote for a vice president that, perhaps, has dropped or been kicked out of four colleges before actually finding a sympathetic institutions from which to graduate? I don't think so.

Who should we put in the next advertisement next to her for her comparison? Like they painted Paris Hilton next to Barak Obama, it would be Palin next to....I don't know....who should we put there....

Blog on friends, blog on all.

Wednesday, September 03, 2008

GOP: The New American Jingoists

Is it me, or does any one else find the use of a Navy Seal's heroic story to sell us a President and Vice President a reprehensible practice? Of course, the W, Rove and Co perfected this tactic long ago - using slain soldiers as rationale to toss more flag draped bodies onto the C-130's headed for American soil. The McSame/Palin camp are following the well worn GOP political playbook.

This nasty political practice is not only real dirty, a ruse to spur patriotism among ordinary people, but outright offensive. The piece that makes the use of Michael Monsoor's story particularly despicable is that Mike Monsoor died in Iraq when he really didn't have to - Iraq is the war we didn't need, shouldn't have entered, and was brought to you by the GOP.




That Michael Monsoor is a hero is not in doubt. Indeed he was. But using his story for political gain? Disgusting. Showing this video at the GOP convention has obvious political aims. In short, it demonstrates how shameless those leading the GOP are. They are using a hero's story to foist their political agenda. Instead of standing on the shoulders of great men, they are stepping on the boddies of our fallen heros. For that, I say, shame on them.

In the end, the "America or Country First" slogan places jingoism at the fore of the whole Republican modus operandi. But using it to tout their candidates as the best for America is also offensive. This is more of the dualistic practice perfected by the W, Rove and Co. political propaganda machine of the "you're either with us, or against us" fame (where did that put Switzerland in 2001, btw?).

The implication the GOP convention slogan is that if you are not for McSame and Palin, you are not for America. Don't fall into that trap people. It's a simple political parlor trick. Add the slogan to the shameful use of heroes (our war dead and injured, caused by a war we didn't need) into the political cocktail the GOP are pouring in Minnesota over this week, and you have a lot of drunk republicans: the New American Jingoists, who believe George Bush was Right (despite all evidence to the contrary), and McSame and Palin can do no wrong as long as it's in the name of "America" or "Country First."

This political practice (using soldiers for political gain) is shameful and the slogan is divisive set out to polarize our great nation even further. I'm not for McSame or Palin, but I'm definitely for America, but don't hate me because I disagree with you (but I expect some of you will, which is just QED).

I'll leave you with this report just for fun...

The Trouble Is That The Laws A Vice President Palin Would Vote For In Congress Would Inflict Her "Morality" Into Our Private Lives

I think this sums up the fundamental problem with the GOP Platform regarding the boondoggle Bristol Palin put her family in:
The point is that the Palins were able to make all these decisions according to the dictates of their own consciences, formed by their own religious convictions, within the privacy of their own family and according to its values and traditions. What they decided is nobody's business but theirs; the fact that they were free to arrive at their own decision is everybody's business.

The particular brand of social conservatism in which Sarah Palin quite evidently believes deeply would deny other American families and other American women the freedom to make these same intimate decisions according to the dictates of their own consciences, religious convictions and traditions.
So you see, the hypocrisy is clear. It's okay for the Palin Family to make such dramatic decisions in private. The GOP position is clear as well. They don't want you to have the same liberty. I suggest a new slogan for the GOP: Vote GOP: The Anti-Liberty Party.

Tuesday, September 02, 2008

What's Wrong With The Big Dick?

Any one else out there wondering why Dick Cheney is not slated to speak at the GOP love-fest for McSame and Palin?
Republicans awarded one-time Democratic vice presidential candidate Joseph Lieberman, a Connecticut senator, a prime-time speaking slot Tuesday night as they courted millions of independent voters essential to McCain's presidential hopes.

Bush — not so much.

And Vice President Cheney not at all.
You have got to wonder what's up with the GOP when they can't trot out their own leadership for fear of losing an election. Since when has a sitting president and Veep become a liability? When they have the track record of Bush/Cheney.

A Sign Of The Times



Snapped this picture today. In case you can't read the sign, it says, sadly:

We have discontinued complimentary coffee and tea
Due to State Budget Cuts
In order to use funds to offer students as many courses as possible.
Hot & Cold water are available
Thank you for understanding these tough budget choices.

What If You Were Mitt or Joe?

Just wondering at this point, given McSame's super quality pick for Veep, what it might be that Mitt and Joe were feeling given they lost the post to Palin. Or any other of the possible Veeps on the short list, for that matter:
Two senior Republican officials close to Mitt Romney and Tim
Pawlenty said they had both been rudely strung along and now "feel manipulated."

"They now know that they were used as decoys, well after McCain had decided not to pick them," one Republican involved in the process said.
The subliminal message of McSame's selection of Palin is that the others on the list were of a lesser quality. Imagine that? What could be so offensive about Mitt, Lieberman or the others that put Palin ahead of them? I wouldn't want to guess.

The trouble is that there is a legion of self-righteous right wingers who were quick to label teens who were pregnant as something like the spawn of Satan, and now have jumped to the aid of McSame and Palin obviating their own hypocrisy. Of course, if you criticize Palin for her position, the reichwingers are in full tilt trying to spin you as some kind of loon. For example, just look at the title of this news paper article I found linked on johnmccain dot com:
Ignore the Chauvinists. Palin Has Real Experience.
So, if I don't think that Palin is fit to be Veep, I'm a chauvinist by default? I don't think so. Of course, those who were bashing Hillary would not stand for being labeled as such, but insist on flogging those who don't like Palin with much more demonizing terminology.

Did you ever wonder why that when the GOP types get criticized about their decisions they feel they need to use derogatory labels to foist upon us their holier than thou stance? I'm constantly mystified as to that line of argument, but I understand the tactic. The reason they use it is because they have no plausible line of argument to pursue. With out slinging the hate, they have nothing on which to stand.

Monday, September 01, 2008

Abstinence Only Education At Work

Just wondering, in light of Palin's latest news, if she really believed in Abstinence only education now?
Bristol Palin, one of Alaska Gov. Palin's five children with her husband, Todd, is about five months pregnant and is going to keep the child and marry the father, the Palins said in a statement released by the campaign of Republican presidential candidate John McCain.
Obviously, it didn't work in this case.

Meanwhile...Back At The GOP Convention....

Bush finds a convenient reason to back out of the speechifying to save his McSame pal from being too closely associated with the W, the Sitting Hero of the GOP.
The marquee act for opening night just canceled, but some Republicans couldn't be happier.

All year, Republican strategists have worried about showcasing President Bush at the Republican National Convention when his standing with the public lies at a near-record low.

A day late and a dollar short, he's backing out to prepare for a hurricane that has already landed on our shores.
Hurricane Gustav has crashed into the all-but-deserted Louisiana coast. The eye has landed southwest of New Orleans.
Don't you think that, given Gustav has already landed, the President should have been ready to respond weeks ago? Looks like Gustav is working to save W and McSame from being painted even closer together than their infamous hug.

More Proof The Repulbicans are Opperating With a Seriously Different Percieved Reality


Take a look at this chart and you will see why my prior post about the selection of Palin will polarize the already separated country even further is dead on correct. The reason why republicans view the McSame/Palin ticket is just the cure for George W's mess is that they are perceiving the same situation extremely differently.

And, we all know that truth is a slave to perception, not vice versa. Which is exactly why polarizing the country even further is the single best strategy for GOP to play right now. We have seen it work for them in 2004, and they are gambling that it will work again to collect the Presidential trifecta - three terms of the current modus operandi.

If you ask your typical republican if things are all dandy under George W., you can understand why they love McSame. "Give us another steaming helping of war in Iraq, profit for the war time machinery we know as Blackwater and Halliburton. Give is more foreclosures and bail outs of corporate America while screwing the little guy who cannot afford health insurance even though they need a quadruple bypass."