In a very prominent position on the McCain/Palin website is a button that takes you to a petition to tell Barack that "it's not 2004."
Why, if you were concerned about the country and trying to be elected president, would you waste valuable time and space on your homepage for people to sign this petition? This is just one reason why McCain is a fucking idiot.
Something that confuses me
Since when do robbers carve presidential picks on their victim's faces?
Apparently, they don't.
From CNN:
"A woman who told police she was assaulted by a man angered about a John McCain bumper sticker on her car admitted she made up the report, the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, assistant police chief said Friday."
Friday, October 24, 2008
Nov. 4 event in Grant Park
The Obama campaign is hosting what will hopefully be a victory celebration in Grant Park.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
McCain defends robocalls
McCain continues to talk about Bill Ayers, although the American people are obviously sick of it. In an interview with the CBS Early Show, he defended the robocalls that link Obama with Ayers.
From the New York Times Caucus blog:
“That robocall is absolutely accurate,” Mr. McCain told CBS’s Harry Smith. “And, by the way, Senator Obama is running robocalls as we speak. He’s running an ad that’s untrue about my immigration position, about stem cell research and about several other issues.”
Mr. McCain added: “He was friends with a terrorist and his wife and we need to know the full relationship.”
When Mr. Smith asked Senator McCain about comments his running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin made that were critical of the robocalls, Mr. McCain replied: “Sarah is a maverick.”
David Sedaris and the Election
I was lucky enough to go see David Sedaris last week. He read this column from the New Yorker about undecided voters, which I believe just went live today. He offers an interesting perspective on being undecided in 2008:
To put them in perspective, I think of being on an airplane. The flight attendant comes down the aisle with her food cart and, eventually, parks it beside my seat. “Can I interest you in the chicken?” she asks. “Or would you prefer the platter of shit with bits of broken glass in it?”
To be undecided in this election is to pause for a moment and then ask how the chicken is cooked.
I mean, really, what’s to be confused about?
......And a little bit on being a maverick, in 1976:
The choice that year was between Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford. Most of my friends were going for Carter, but, as an art major, I identified myself as a maverick. “That means an original,” I told my roommate. “Someone who lets the chips fall where they may.” Because I made my own rules and didn’t give a damn what anyone else thought of them, I decided to write in the name of Jerry Brown, who, it was rumored, liked to smoke pot. This was an issue very close to my heart—too close, obviously, as it amounted to a complete waste. Still, though, it taught me a valuable lesson: calling yourself a maverick is a sure sign that you’re not one.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Palin as President
If this is already up here, I apologize, but it is too funny:
http://www.palinaspresident.us/
Paul Krugman on the GOP and Ohio's plumbers
I heart Paul Krugman. I'm so glad a high-profile economist is pointing out the specious claims from McCain and the Republican party. For years I've been telling my extended family members from my home state of Ohio, and who are Republicans, that the Republican party is not the party for middle-income working Americans. Read Krugman's op-ed today in the New York Times.
Tribune Endorsement
This is a few days old, but it's still pretty cool. The Chicago Tribune endorsed Obama, which is the first time in the paper's history that it's endorsed a Democrat. Here's a snippet about the paper's decision to break with history:
McCain failed in his most important executive decision. Give him credit for choosing a female running mate--but he passed up any number of supremely qualified Republican women who could have served. Having called Obama not ready to lead, McCain chose Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. His campaign has tried to stage-manage Palin's exposure to the public. But it's clear she is not prepared to step in at a moment's notice and serve as president. McCain put his campaign before his country.
Read the rest of the endorsement here.
Obama's Moment
Obama talks with Rolling Stone about how George W. Bush screwed up, why John McCain turned ugly and what he's learned from Bill Clinton.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Joe the plumber's house
I know we're all tired of hearing about Joe the plumber, but the Daily Show aptly satirized the media frenzy surrounding the whole thing. Very funny.
Friday, October 17, 2008
To Atlantic Monthly readers/public radio supporters
Chicago Public Radio, as part of its Fall pledge drive (which has been shortened because of their Buy Back the Drive effort), is offering free subscriptions to the Atlantic Monthly if you make a pledge of any amount today.
Plus, at a $150 One-time pledge amount, you can get an iGo Car Share Membership for one year.
Five Minutes With Tom Brokaw
Including the following exchange:
From M L Staats: Are there times when a new development emerges that you feel a need to want to call Mr. Russert and get his opinion?
Tom Brokaw: Several times every day I say aloud, "Timmy, where are you? We need to talk."Read the rest, here.
One more for Joe
I'm sure everyone's tired of reading about Joe the Plumber, but I couldn't help drawing some attention to this article from Politico.com:
NEW YORK — John McCain hung his final presidential debate performance on an Ohio plumber who campaign aides never vetted.
A day after making Joseph Wurzelbacher famous, referencing him in the debate almost two dozen times as someone who would pay higher taxes under Barack Obama, McCain learned the fine print Thursday on the plumber’s not-so-tidy personal story: He owes back taxes. He is not a licensed plumber. And it turns out that Wurzelbacher makes less than $250,000 a year, which means he would receive a tax cut if Obama were elected president.
Read the rest of the story here.
Shoot. Me. Now.
Personally, I think maybe Obama was talking about Condi becoming Secretary of State, but in an effort to be bipartisan....
Show Dick Some Love
During the past two debates, McCain has started his address with a "someone is in the hospital" moment.
Debate # 2: Ted Kennedy.
Debate # 3: Nancy Regan.
But ironically, Dick Cheney was hospitalized before the 2nd debate, too, but he didn't get a bit of love from the Mav.
Check it out.
Liddy On Hitler
When he [Liddy] listened to Hitler on the radio, it "made me feel a strength inside I had never known before," he explains. "Hitler's sheer animal confidence and power of will [entranced me]. He sent an electric current through my body." He describes seeing the Nazis' doomed technological marvel the Hindenberg flying over New Jersey as an almost religious experience. "Ecstatic, I drank in its colossal power and felt myself grow. Fear evaporated and in its place came a sense of personal might and power."
Read the rest here, courtesy of mediamatters.org.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
G. Gordon Liddy
Thanks to Letterman for pointing out something we've all forgotten about: John McCain's relationship with G. Gordon Liddy.
From the Chicago Tribune:
What McCain didn't mention is that he has his own Bill Ayers -- in the form of G. Gordon Liddy. Now a conservative radio talk-show host, Liddy spent more than 4 years in prison for his role in the 1972 Watergate burglary. That was just one element of what Liddy did, and proposed to do, in a secret White House effort to subvert the Constitution. Far from repudiating him, McCain has embraced him.
How close are McCain and Liddy? At least as close as Obama and Ayers appear to be. In 1998, Liddy's home was the site of a McCain fundraiser. Over the years, he has made at least four contributions totaling $5,000 to the senator's campaigns -- including $1,000 this year.
Last November, McCain went on his radio show. Liddy greeted him as "an old friend," and McCain sounded like one. "I'm proud of you, I'm proud of your family," he gushed. "It's always a pleasure for me to come on your program, Gordon, and congratulations on your continued success and adherence to the principles and philosophies that keep our nation great."
Which principles would those be? The ones that told Liddy it was fine to break into the office of the Democratic National Committee to plant bugs and photograph documents? The ones that made him propose to kidnap anti-war activists so they couldn't disrupt the 1972 Republican National Convention? The ones that inspired him to plan the murder (never carried out) of an unfriendly newspaper columnist?
Liddy was in the thick of the biggest political scandal in American history -- and one of the greatest threats to the rule of law. He has said he has no regrets about what he did, insisting that he went to jail as "a prisoner of war."
All this may sound like ancient history. But it's from the same era as the bombings Ayers helped carry out as a member of the Weather Underground. And Liddy's penchant for extreme solutions has not abated.
In 1994, after the disastrous federal raid on the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, he gave some advice to his listeners: "Now if the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms comes to disarm you and they are bearing arms, resist them with arms. Go for a head shot; they're going to be wearing bulletproof vests. ... Kill the sons of bitches."
He later backed off, saying he meant merely that people should defend themselves if federal agents came with guns blazing. But his amended guidance was not exactly conciliatory: Liddy also said he should have recommended shots to the groin instead of the head. If that wasn't enough to inflame any nut cases, he mentioned labeling targets "Bill" and "Hillary" when he practiced shooting.
Given Liddy's record, it's hard to see why McCain would touch him with a 10-foot pole. On the contrary, he should be returning his donations and shunning his show. Yet the senator shows no qualms about associating with Liddy -- or celebrating his service to their common cause.
Hire Those Writers!
Obama gets off a number of funny lines at the Alfred E. Smith dinner. This list compiled by Marc Ambinder:
"People tell me I share the politics of Alfred E. Smith and the earns of Alfred E. Neumann"
"I was originally told that we would able to move this outdoors to Yankee Stadium. Can someone tell me what happened to the Greek columns I requested."
"On the Waldorf Astoria: They tell me, from the doorstep, you can see all the way to the Russian Tea Room."
To Al Smith IV: "I obviously never knew your grandfather, but from everything Sen. McCain has told me..."
Mayor Michael Bloomberg's term limits maneuverings caused Bill Clinton to say: "You can do that?"
The housing crisis "has been eight times harder on John McCain."
"The last few weeks, John's been out on the campaign trail asking the question Who Is Barack Obama. I've got to admit, I was surprised by the question: the answer is right there on my Facebook page."
"I was not born in a manger. I was actually born on krypton...."
"I got my name Barack from my father.... it's actually Swahali for "That one."
My middle name, it's not what you think. It's actually "Steve."
"There was a point in my life when I started palling around with a pretty ugly crowd.... that's right... I've been a member of the United States Senate."
"Fox News accused me of fathering two African-American children in wedlock."
