Straight Talk Express Off Rails...Again, Again, Again
McCain is solidly pro-life. He does not have a pro-choice record of which to speak, so do not be confused by what you are about to read.
"I'd love to see a point where it is irrelevant, and could be repealed because abortion is no longer necessary," McCain told the Chronicle in 1999. "But certainly in the short term, or even the long term, I would not support repeal of Roe v. Wade, which would then force X number of women in America to [undergo] illegal and dangerous operations."
Er, what did you say? Let me clean my ears out. Come again?
“I do not support Roe versus Wade. It should be overturned,” McCain said during the South Carolina primaries.
That sounds better.
Fat Tax
Alabama is considering a "Fat Tax" of $25 per month. They say it's to pay for the extra health insurance.
Obama's Tax Cuts: Would You Save?
A great website that I hope will make the rounds. Tells you how much you'd save under Obama's plan compared to McCain's.
College Football TV Schedule
Because there must be at least one other person in the office who cares. Link.
McCain Lies
No, it's not just purposefully misleading. It's blatant lying. On matters this huge we ought not allow for there to be wiggle room between the two. If it's designed to mislead it's on par with lying. To what am I referring? McCain's latest attack ad.
Watch it here.
Read about it here.
Think about it here.
Laugh about it here.
And then enjoy this:
McCain, POW part 145
A long article in The New Republic about how John McCain became John McCain (answer: Cindy McCain) contains this little ditty from his inaugural run for Congress in the 70s: McCain's first television advertisement ended with him saying the following, "I can tell you, if you go for six years without being able to see the sunset or the sunrise, like I did, you can truly appreciate the beauty of what we have [in Arizona]."
Wind Power
The lead story on the homepage of the New York Times is about wind energy, specifically how the limits of our antiquated power grid are bumped up against by the necessity to transfer the energy created by turbines across distances. The technology for a massive increase in wind power is there, we just lack the infrastructure to deliver it.
The article cites $60 billion as the cost to overhaul the power grid to accommodate wind power. Sounds like a lot of money until you consider that we spend $60 billion in Iraq every six months. Wouldn't you rather see that money go back into our economy via the jobs rebuilding our power grid would require (can't outsource those), not to mention the long-term gains of having a modernize power grid?
Biden > McCain Re: FP
The former ambassador to Romania offers the following on Biden's foreign policy knowledge:
I got a chance to see his approach up close one day in early September 1999, when I was U.S. ambassador to Romania. In the aftermath of NATO’s success in stopping ethnic cleaning in Kosovo, Cabinet members and Members of Congress stopped in Bucharest to thank the Romanians for their support of NATO and get a feel for where the Balkan region was going in its aftermath.
Unlike some of the other visitors whose approach was helpful but remarkably relaxed, Biden was a whirlwind of inquiry, analysis and commentary from the time he landed at Otopeni airport.
On the 20-minute drive into the city, he quizzed me on Romanian attitudes, the status of various government leaders and the inside story on Romania’s foreign policy toward Slobodan Milosevic, who was still in power next door in Yugoslavia. Because Biden has known all the major Romanian leaders since the dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, the questions were Ph.D. level, not Romania 101. That was remarkable in itself since he is no specialist on Romania; he could do the same, landing in dozens of nations around the world.
Did I mention that John McCain, who was once a prisoner of war, confuses the geography of the Middle East and cannot remember the difference among the various sectarian tribes in Iraq? Because he does and he can't.
(H/T: Sullivan)
From The Man Who Knows
David Plouffe offers up some interesting tidbits. Highlights:
** If McCain doesn't win Colorado, "he has a 5% chance to win the election."
** He believes that they have "a slight edge" in Virginia.
** He said Obama is underperforming only among working class whites over 70 and pointed to a poll showing that Obama is over performing John Kerry with working class white voters under 50.
** Said that the campaign's target in Georgia is about 47% of the vote, owing to Ex-Rep. Bob Barr's ability to siphon votes away from John McCain.
** Said HIllary Clinton's speech "could not have gone better."
** Said the campaign "is really pleased" with where they are in Montana.
Smart Take on McCain's FP
The whole column is worth a read but here's a good quote:
Mr. McCain, a tempestuous Russophobe to the marrow, demanded that the U.S. accelerate efforts to bring Georgia into NATO, thus extending a trip wire for war with Russia to Moscow's southern border. Because, you know, having conquered Iraq and Afghanistan while barely breaking a sweat, we're rested and ready to let an adventurous Caucasus nation led by a nut shown on TV chewing on his cravat drag us into World War III.I'm not sure why McCain is considered the candidate with the foreign policy credibility -- oh wait, did someone mention he lived in captivity for five years? -- but it's increasingly clear that a vote for McCain is a vote for a third Bush term when it comes to a knee-jerk foreign policy based on an increasingly diminished in military force THAT IS ALWAYS STRONG BECAUSE WE ARE AMERICA.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
When Reality Cannot Be Topped
Allow me to quote the news story:
When 48-year-old Frankie Lewis couldn’t get any butter on Sunday from the buffet line, police say he took out a knife and threatened to slice parishioners.
Lewis eventually went to put the knife away, but that’s when a church member hit him with a wooden board, according to authorities.
Lewis then rode away on a bicycle, but police quickly caught him.
Perfect Match
Mitt Romney and John McCain, POW, would make a great pair
Trying to hit Barack Obama for not standing up to Russia as aggressively as McCain after the invasion of Georgia, Romney twice referred to "the Soviets," prompting a reporter to point out his mistake. "I'm sorry," Romney said. "Excuse me for the slip; if I said Soviets, I meant the Russians." But then he went on. "Poland is in NATO," he said. "And if the Soviets were to invade Poland, we might be in armed conflict. But the Soviets are not going to invade Poland, because Poland is in NATO."Source.
Anti-Christ, Schmanti-Christ
I'm sure we've all heard the ridiculous comments that Obama is akin to the anti-christ, so I thought you all might like to read what Snopes.com had to say...
Swift Boating John McCain
The same folks who swift boated John Kerry are now targeting John McCain, who was once a prisoner of war. This is disgusting. Absolutely disgusting.
Interesting Re: Health Insurance
Link.
More people have health insurance now than a few years ago and the state with the biggest increase is Massachusetts, which has adopted an aggressive health care reform agenda for public insurance offerings. A template for a national reform perhaps?
Keeping the VP Secret
Behind the scenes with the aides who were entrusted with keeping the VP selection a secret.
Evangelical Liberalism
The benediction for the DNC on Monday night.
Father God,
This week, as the world looks on, help the leaders in this room create a civil dialogue about our future.
We need you, God, as individuals and also as a nation.
We need you to protect us from our enemies, but also from ourselves, because we are easily tempted toward apathy.
Give us a passion to advance opportunities for the least of these, for widows and orphans, for single moms and children whose fathers have left.
Give us the eyes to see them, and the ears to hear them, and hands willing to serve them.
Help us serve people, not just causes. And stand up to specific injustices rather than vague notions.
Give those in this room who have power, along with those who will meet next week, the courage to work together to finally provide health care to those who don’t have any, and a living wage so families can thrive rather than struggle.
Help us figure out how to pay teachers what they deserve and give children an equal opportunity to get a college education.
Help us figure out the balance between economic opportunity and corporate gluttony.
We have tried to solve these problems ourselves but they are still there. We need your help.
Father, will you restore our moral standing in the world.
A lot of people don’t like us but that’s because they don’t know the heart of the average American.
Will you give us favor and forgiveness, along with our allies around the world.
Help us be an example of humility and strength once again.
Lastly, father, unify us.
Even in our diversity help us see how much we have in common.
And unify us not just in our ideas and in our sentiments—but in our actions, as we look around and figure out something we can do to help create an America even greater than the one we have come to cherish.
God we know that you are good.
Thank you for blessing us in so many ways as Americans.
I make these requests in the name of your son, Jesus, who gave his own life against the forces of injustice.
Let Him be our example.
Amen.
Have Some Respect For Gravity!
Love the new ad campaign from Jack Daniels, from which this image is taken. That said, in what freaking universe would the liquid in the glasses be at the same angle as the glasses themselves (assuming the liquid is not frozen)?!?! Shit should be parallel to the ground. Hello, gravity.
Nuance
Sullivan with a smart take on the difference between McCain and Obama w/r/t the Middle East and Iraq war.
McCain, POW
It never stops:
LENO: Welcome back, Sen. McCain, for one million dollars, how many houses do you have?
MCCAIN: You know, could I just mention to you, Jay, and a moment of seriousness. I spent five and a half years in a prison cell, without—I didn’t have a house, I didn’t have a kitchen table, I didn’t have a table, I didn’t have a chair. And I spent those five and a half years, because—not because I wanted to get a house when I got out.
How We're Different
Our old website just sort of died one day. The Republik, a North Carolina ad agency, has invited you to kill their website. Your options are a .44 Magnum, a shotgun, or a sniper rifle. Select your weapon and then fire bullet holes into the homepage of their old site. Once you kill it you're redirected to another page that I didn't really explore much, but whatever. I got to shoot holes into a website! Awesome!
This is all to generate buzz for their new user-customizable website, which they're launching soon.
I have to say, on all ends and from all angels this is infinitely cooler than what we did and have done.