The Thursday ‘BushWhack’ing

I know I’m not a plumber, but couldn’t it have been ‘Kemp the plumber’?

• The final debate was last night and while Sen. McCain started out very strong (winning the first half hour in my estimation), he started losing steam as the night wore on and Sen. Obama. McCain needed a resounding victory in order to change the course of the campaign, and that did NOT happen. Having said that, with Election Day 19 days away, it’s still anyone’s game, so, as always, stay tuned. Some reality checks:
  
  
  • McCain argued that he wasn’t “President” Bush throughout the debate… keep in mind though that in 2005 McCain declared that “on the transcendent issues, the most important issues of our day, I’ve been totally in agreement and support of President Bush.” When you add that to the fact that McCain has voted with Bush 95% of the time and previously has stated that he agrees with Bush on all major issues, you get the idea that electing McCain is essentially four more years of Bush-style politics.
    
  • McCain suggested that his tax plan would help small businesses when in reality his tax plan would disproportionately benefit large corporations and give $46 billion dollars to the Fortune 200 companies. Per ThinkProgress, various tax loopholes in the tax code allow 2/3 of U.S. corporations to pay no taxes at all anyway, so perhaps we should fix that)
  • McCain brought up the "$3 million projector" again... honestly, does McCain talk to people in his campaign? Did no one tell him this was debunked many, many times after he said it at the last debate?
    
  • In one, of many, of the more blatant lies, McCain said that he “vigorously opposed” Bush’s conduct of the war in Iraq… apparently forgetting that this past April he said that “no one has supported President Bush on Iraq more than I have.”
  • McCain made the outrageous claim that he’s repudiated every “out of bounds” remark by a republican about Obama. If I need to explain to you that this is a lie, you’re in the wrong place and Re*Sta*e is over to the FAR right.
  • McCain uttered the conservative mantra about drilling now and said that if the US starts drilling offshore now, it will lower the price of a barrel of oil. Apparently no one told him that his own economic adviser, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, said last June that “new offshore drilling would have no immediate effect on supplies or prices.” Additionally, the Energy Information Administration says expanded drilling would NOT have a significant impact on domestic crude oil and natural gas production OR prices “before 2030.”
    
  • McCain’s healthcare plan would be a healthcare disaster of epic proportions as it would switch Americans from the employer-based system we currently have to the individual health insurance market that would result in American’s seeing a drastic increase of their out-of-pocket health expenses. Also, when McCain made mention that the average health care plan costs $5,800 he apparently doesn’t know that that average has increased and is actually $12,680…
    
  • Wow, that’s a talent that Obama voted against Supreme Court Justice Breyer when Breyer was actually nominated by President Clinton and Obama was not yet a US Senator. I would say that McCain meant Alito, who Obama did actually vote against – with good cause – but how the hell do you confuse Alito and Breyer?
    
  • Um… someone needs to tell McCain that his running mate has a son with Down syndrome and not Autism…
• Sheila Barr, Chairwoman of the FDIC, is NOT a fan of the federal bailout and as such criticized it for “failing to take more aggressive steps to prevent Americans from losing their homes, highlighting a rift between her and other senior U.S. officials over terms of the $700 billion rescue package. […] We’re attacking it at the institution level as opposed to the borrower level, and it’s the borrowers defaulting.”
• Just in case you didn’t know, Glenn Beck is still a tool…
• This election is not over until all votes have been counted, don't let your guard down...
• And have we mentioned? That McCain campaign manager Rick Davis is now attacking conservative dumb ass pundit Bill Kristol? After hearing Kristol call his campaign “pathetic” and that McCain should “fire his campaign” and “start over”, Davis has fired back saying; “Yes, well, you know, it’s a good thing Bill Kristol has never run a political campaign because he’d probably have to fire himself at least two or three times.” (Keep it up Rick, continue arguing with your own brethren and allow Obama to widen his lead.. thanks!)