The Monday ‘BushWhack’ing

Over the weekend…

• After visiting his gravely ill grandmother, Sen. Obama got back on the stump Saturday
• On Sunday Sen. Jon Kyl (r-AZ) appeared on CNN’s Late Edition and made the outrageous claim that claimed “President” Bush’s economic agenda had nothing to do with the current financial crisis while insisting defiantly that Bush “doesn’t run the economy”…riiiiiight... so I guess it wasn’t Bush that initiated massive tax cuts for the wealthy, which have contributed to record inequality and historic deficits and debt, and it wasn’t his administration that gutted several financial regulations that helped plunge Wall Street into its current mess. Apparently Kyl has drank so much Bush Kool-Aid that it’s made him blind to the obvious.
• Karl Rove and Bill Kristol threw Sen. McCain’s campaign staff under the bus for the failings of his campaign… calling them disloyal and ill-serving. (If Rove wants to see the primary reason for the collapse, he should look in the mirror. If the rumors are true and Rove steered McCain to Gov. Palin instead of Joe Lieberman or Mitt Romney, Rove is as much to blame, if not more, than McCain’s staff…)
• One also needs to look at McCain himself to find out how the wheels came off. Over the weekend a rumor about Obama broke when a New York Times story made the unsubstantiated claim that Center for American Progress President John Podesta had written an inaugural address for Obama. Rather than wait until people could verify it, McCain used it in a stump speech in New Mexico to rally his supporters. Podesta himself and the NY Times have said the story was NOT true but rather than admit he was wrong, which I think the 2000 version of McCain would have done, McCain has ignored it the problem.
• NBC News’ Brian Williams said that the McCain campaign “steered” the media to the Ashley Todd story. Over the weekend, Todd said that she was upset with the media for blowing this into a political firestorm… (give me a break Ms. Todd. You created the story, you created the aftermath, you created the fallout. There is NO ONE to blame for this but yourself… your misguided attempt to help the McCain campaign backfired, and you deserve what ever criticism you receive)
• Gov. Palin is a diva, but you already knew that, didn’t you…

Monday, already??

• CNN worry-mongering headline of the day; “Wall Street Keeps Dropping”
• The corruption trial of republican Sen. Ted Stevens is expected to get back under way today with an alternate juror.
• As the campaign comes into the final stretch, Sen. Obama plans to give ‘closing argument(s)’ this week that describe the differences between McCain and himself while stating that he is the only candidate who can restore “our sense of common purpose, of higher purpose.” (It's pretty damn clear who the only choice for president is. With his running mate choice, McCain has proven he cares more about the office than the country. He assures us of four more years of Bush-style politics, and a never-ending presence in Iraq. The clear choice...the ONLY choice... is Sen. Obama)
• And have we mentioned? That the U.S. military has given Iraq an ultimatum? The US told the Iraqi government that it will shut down military operations and other vital services throughout the country on Jan. 1 if the Iraqi government doesn’t agree to a new agreement on the status of U.S. forces or a renewed UN mandate for the American mission in Iraq. Iraq’s vice president, Tariq al Hashimi, said that many Iraqi politicians see the ultimatum as “akin to political blackmail.” Perhaps, but maybe it will finally force the Iraqi government to actually, I don’t know, DO something…