Trickle-down Effect

The hatred that the sad, pathetic and dishonorable McPalin campaign is riling up is now trickling down to down-ticket races.

Consider this from Georgia;

The fury and loathing of Obama being whipped up largely by McCain-Palin-GOP rhetoric about the Illinois Senator is now spilling into down-ticket races, specifically the battle between GOP incumbent Saxby Chambliss and his Dem challenger:

Thursday's debate took place in front of a highly partisan crowd in the GOP stronghold of Middle Georgia.

Chambliss supporters waved "Saxby" signs and offered up a sustained "boos" when Martin mentioned Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama.

"Bomb Obama," one woman hollered.

Stupid... classless... and pathetic.

Can we talk about issues now?

Just in case you don’t know why I will be voting Obama on November 4th… while McCain spews hatred and accusations, Obama is speaking on the issues of the day, specifically the economy.

Sen. Obama today (the bolding is mine, the words are his);

“I know these are difficult times. I know folks are worried. But I believe that we can steer ourselves out of this crisis because I believe in this country. Because this is the United States of America. This is a nation that has faced down war and depression; great challenges and great threats. And at each and every moment, we have risen to meet these challenges - not as Democrats, not as Republicans, but as Americans. With resolve. With courage.

We have seen our share of hard times. The American story has never been about things coming easy - it's been about rising to the moment when the moment is hard; about rejecting panicked division for purposeful unity; about seeing a mountaintop from the deepest valley. That's why we remember that some of the most famous words ever spoken by an American came from a President who took office in a time of turmoil - "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

Now is not the time for fear. Now is not the time for panic. Now is the time for resolve and steady leadership. We can meet this moment. We can come together to restore confidence in the American economy. We can renew that fundamental belief - that in America, our destiny is not written for us, but by us. That's who we are, and that's the country we need to be right now.

[…]

It's easy to rile up a crowd by stoking anger and division. But that's not what we need right now in the United States. The times are too serious. The challenges are too great. The American people aren't looking for someone who can divide this country -- they're looking for someone who will lead it.

We're in a serious crisis -- now, more than ever, it is time to put country ahead of politics. Now, more than ever, it is time to bring change to Washington so that it works for the people of this country that we love.

I know my opponent is worried about his campaign. But that's not what I'm concerned about. I'm thinking about the Americans losing their jobs, and their homes, and their life savings. We can't afford four more years of the economic theory that says we should give more and more to those with the most and hope that prosperity trickles down to everyone else.”

To Sen. McCain I say this; ‘it’s STILL the economy stupid.’ The World economy is going to hell in a hand-cart, and here you and your surrogates are, throwing accusations and innuendos about Mr. Obama rather than tackle the issues.

Game over Mr. McCain… game over.

What the hell are these people smoking?

One thing stands out about the plethora of conservative pundits extolling Gov. Palin’s performance during last night’s debate.

They didn’t come out this strongly after the presidential debate… and I chalk that up to the fact that Palin was NOT as good as advertised last night as she evaded answering some questions… she tried to use her “folksy” charm WAY too often and it didn’t work… and she couldn’t think off her feet nor go off the cards to save her life.

All of this makes these conservative comments about her performance even funnier…

Joe Lieberman, on Fox “News”: “She hit it out of the ballpark. She proved that she is ready to be John McCain's Vice President. She was strong, she was competent, she was informed, she was very genuine. She was humorous.” (What the hell was Joe watching? And smoking while watching?)

Andy McCarthy of National Review; “Palin's a star. Her instincts are practical and conservative, so I wish she weren't so bound to McCain. (McCain should wish that too — that's what's made her so popular and given him a shot.) Watching her is fun. It's like watching a rookie who's taken the league by storm and is hitting .290, and you just know that in two years, she'll be hitting .340 ... while Biden is hitting .210 and belongs back in Double A.” (Riiiiiiight…)

Pat Buchanan on MSNBC said that Palin “wiped the floor” with Joe Biden. (Again, like Lieberman; What the hell was Pat watching? And smoking while watching?)

Rudy Giuliani speaking to Fox "News" host Sean Hannity; "One of the very best debate performances I've ever seen by anyone. And only the liberal media could deny her this victory". (That...or a brain...)

McCain communications director Jill Hazelbaker; “Tonight, Governor Palin proved beyond any doubt that she is ready to lead as Vice President of the United States. She won this debate, putting Joe Biden on defense on energy, foreign policy, taxes and the definition of change. Governor Palin laid bare Barack Obama's record of voting to raise taxes, opposing the surge in Iraq, and proposing to meet unconditionally with the leaders of state sponsors of terror. The differences between the Obama-Biden ticket and the McCain-Palin ticket could not have been clearer. The American people saw stark contrasts in style and worldview. They saw Joe Biden, a Washington insider and a 36-year Senator, and Governor Palin, a Washington outsider and a maverick reformer. Governor Palin was direct, forceful and a breath of fresh air.”

Charles Krauthammer on Fox “News” praised Palin’s performance, but said “I wasn’t impressed by the depth of her answers or the breadth of her knowledge.” (Probably because she doesn’t have any knowledge Chuck)

Electing McCain, and thus making her a 72-year old heartbeat away from the presidency would be the biggest disaster to his the US in a very long time.

Let’s make sure that doesn’t happen… Vote Obama.

McCain's Keystone Kampaigning

Sen. McCain’s inane posturing about suspending his campaign went over like a lead balloon… spewing forth that he would stroll into town on his white horse, sheppard the economic crisis through Congress while collecting bipartisan support.

Well, as if he hadn’t already made himself and his campaign looked amateurish, this latest development will.

Speaking at a rally today, McCain took credit for helping the bailout bill pass, as did his surrogates…

Mitt Romney; “[T]his bill would not have been agreed to had it not been for John McCain. ... But, you know, this is a bipartisan accomplishment, a bipartisan success. And if people want to get something done in Washington, they just watch John McCain.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham; “But here are the facts, and I’m not overselling anything. The fact is that the House Republicans were not in the mix at all. John didn’t phone this one in. He came and actually did something. ... You can’t phone something like this in. Thank God John came back.”

Senior McCain adviser Steve Schmidt; “Earlier in the week, when Senator McCain came back to Washington, there had been no deal reached. ... What Senator McCain was able to do was to help bring all the parties to the table, including the House Republicans.”

Got that? McCain helped to get his republican colleagues in Congress to go along with the plan.

Well… apparently someone forgot to tell his colleagues, as the bailout plan failed today, with 133 republicans voting against the bill and a scant 65 voting for it.

McCain certainly did a good job, didn’t he?

McCain’s campaign more and more looks like the Keystone Kops.

Do you suppose there’s anyone actually running the campaign, or is it more so the fact that the campaign’s surrogates just go out and say anything at anytime.

How else can one explain the complete disarray of a once formidable campaign?

And finally…

Remember last month when McCain surrogate John Goodman said that, because of E.R.’s, there was no such thing as “uninsured Americans”?

After being hidden from the press (and one imagines Mr. McCain himself) for a few weeks, he’s back at it again, saying yesterday that he was only being “tongue-in-cheek” and that anyone “on the left” who was upset had “no sense of humor.”

So there you have it, it was all a joke… nothing to see here, move along citizen.

Give me a break.

Honestly, how do dumb do these people think we are?

If it were indeed said in jest, would he have disappeared faster than Carly Fiorina?

Unlikely... if this were indeed said “tongue in cheek”, he would have been highly visible the last few weeks rather than being in absentia.

Apparently everything is a joke to McCain’s surrogates… but unfortunately, with McCain running for president, the joke is on us.

John McCain’s ‘Al Gore Moment’?

We all know how fervidly the republicans screamed in 1999 when Al Gore said (read: implied) he invented the internet (McCain himself made fun of Al Gore back then).… well, Sen. McCain’s done it this time, implying that he invented WiFi, the Cell Phone, and the Blackberry.

No lie.

Yesterday McCain told scienceblogs.com; “Under my guiding hand, Congress developed a wireless spectrum policy that spurred the rapid rise of mobile phones and Wi-Fi technology that enables Americans to surf the web while sitting at a coffee shop, airport lounge, or public park.”

Uh-huh…

Consider these examples of McCain’s ‘guiding hand’ from Daily Kos’ Devilstower, the emphasis’ are my own;

With the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the Senate passed the first major revision to telecommunications law in 62 years which provided the foundation for much of the cell phone and Internet regulation over the next decade. The bill passed 81-18 and was signed into law by President Clinton. McCain voted against the act.

In 2002, McCain authored the "Consumer Broadband Deregulation Act of 2002" which eliminated the requirement of the 1996 law that telecommunication companies provide access to competitors. It didn't pass.

In 2003, the Internet Tax Freedom Act was passed, putting in place a moratorium on taxes for activities on the Internet. The bill had 11 cosponsors – McCain wasn't one of them. He did vote for the bill, but since it passed 97-3, that's definitely "guiding" with a small 'g.' Granted, this wasn't directly a bill about wireless, but since McCain doesn't seem to have authored any law on wireless technology, I'm having to search for connections.

Of pending legislation, McCain is not a sponsor of the "Connect the Nation Act" – though Senator Obama is. McCain is not a sponsor of Senator Rockefeller's call for a universal next generation broadband by 2015 – though Senator Obama is. And of course, McCain isn't a sponsor of the "Internet Freedom Act" that would ensure net neutrality – though Senator Obama is. That last is no surprise. McCain has repeatedly opposed net neutrality, saying that companies have a right to restrict speed or even limit access to sites "when you control the pipe you should be able to get profit from your investment."

So, McCain's "guiding hand" seems to consist of opposing the legislation that laid the groundwork for the communications we have today, and authoring failed legislation designed to benefit big carriers. Of course, we should probably be glad that John McCain really didn't invent the cell phone or WiFi, otherwise we'd all be getting our wireless services from one monolithic company free to restrict our access to only the pages that pay for the privilege. And we'd all be using "Jitterbugs."

So his ‘guiding hand’ consisted of being one of 97 total votes for the Internet Tax Freedom Act that put a moratorium on taxes for activities on the Internet.

While we try and wrap our minds around how that constitutes helping to create WiFi, consider this from McCain’s top economic adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin. While holding his Blackberry up in the air, Holtz-Eakin said; “He did this. […] Telecommunications of the United States is a premier innovation in the past 15 years, comes right through the Commerce committee so you’re looking at the miracle John McCain helped create and that’s what he did.”

Wow! A United States Senator is responsible for helping to create a product born in Canada… created in Canada... and founded using Canadian technology… now that’s talent and we should ALL be grateful to Sen. McCain for not only lending his ‘guiding hand’ in helping to create WiFi, the Blackberry and cell phones… lest we all be using cell phones the size of a small dog.

It’s so hard to express sarcasm in the written form.

Former FCC chairman Reed Hundt sees McCain’s contribution to society differently, telling ThinkProgress; “John McCain is so out of touch with America his economics adviser says he deserves credit for creating the Canadian company that invented the Blackberry. Message to Republicans: it’s American entrepreneurship our President is supposed to encourage.”

So… McCain doesn’t know how to use technology…admittedly doesn’t like technology… has to have his wife use technology for him… but he’s now taking credit for a bit of technology that changed our lives forever.

Interesting isn’t it that when Gore said that about the internet, the traditional media went agog and crucified him mercilessly…

I’ll be waiting for that to happen to McCain.

Hat tip to Think Progress for this handy guide to a few choice responses from Gov. Quayle Palin in her first, and likely judging from her performance, last, one-on-one interview.

The quotes were pulled from TP, the snark is all mine…

On National Security Credentials: “Let me speak specifically about a credential that I do bring to this table, Charlie, and that’s with the energy independence that I’ve been working on for these years as the governor of this state that produces nearly 20 percent of the U.S. domestic supply of energy.”

(Uh-huh… you work on energy independence and that qualifies you to handle our national security issues… how? I don’t know whom I’m more disgusted with; Palin for this ridiculous answer or Gibson for NOT> asking what I just did. Way to be a journalist there Chuck)

On Alaska National Guard: “GIBSON: Have you ever given any kind of command decision to the Alaska National Guard?PALIN: We have called up National Guardsmen to help in other states who have gone in emergency status. We have assisted there.

(Oh, then we were wrong. She’s called up the National Guard, she’s more than qualified to lead… it’s so hard to express sarcasm in the written form)

On Traveling Outside The Country:

GIBSON: Had you ever traveled outside the country prior to your trip to Kuwait and Germany last year?PALIN: Canada, Mexico, and then yeah — that trip was the trip of a lifetime to visit our troops in Kuwait and stop and visit our injured soldiers in Germany.

(Ok, new question: ‘have you ever traveled outside the American continent prior to your trip to Kuwait and Germany last year?’)

On Visiting With Foreign Head Of State:

GIBSON: Have you ever met a foreign head of state?
PALIN: I have not and I think if you go back in history and you ask that question of many vice presidents, they may have the same answer.

(Seriously? That’s your answer?)

On Russia:

PALIN: We’ve gotta keep an eye on Russia. … You can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska.
GIBSON: What insight does that give you into what they’re doing inside Georgia?PALIN: Well, I’m giving you that perspective of how small our world is and how important it is that we work with our allies to keep good relations with all of these countries, especially Russia.

(And we have yet another instance of the ‘Inane Palin Talking Point That Won’t Die’…she’s qualified to deal with Russia because you can see Russia from Alaska... aaaahhh, the stupid, it burns!

Seriously, has there ever been a worse performance by a VP candidate before; not counting Admiral Stockdale?)

How stupid do they think we are?

The stupidity of McCain’s surrogates keeps getting better and better…

Today it’s Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. He appeared on ABC This Week this past Sunday and had the balls to take Sen. Obama to task for being absent on so many Senate votes, saying; “Sen. Obama’s been gone more than he’s been here.”

Apparently either someone forgot to tell Graham or he’s too narrow-minded to see the truth… which is that McCain remains THE MOST absent member of the senate… missing 63.8% of senate in the 110th Congress compared to Obama missing 45.5%.

So either Graham didn’t read up on his facts or he’s simply making them up… as conservatives are prone to do as this is hardly the first time that McCain or his surrogates have tried to paint a picture that Obama is ignoring his senate duties… and each time it’s mentioned that McCain is ignoring his senate duties as well, just at a higher level because he’s missed MORE.

McCain slammed Obama for missing a vote that HE ALSO MISSED…

McCain said he hasn’t missed any votes on energy legislation…EVEN THOUGH HE HAS…

McCain said he supports Sen. Webb’s GI Bill (he didn’t) and to show how much he supports it, HE SKIPPED THE VOTE…

So once again Lindsey is employing the gop’s tactic of not letting facts get in the way of a good talking point.

And McCain surrogates with the last name of Graham weren’t finished as senator Phil Gramm has talked his way into trouble yet again.

(Yes, I know they spell them differently, but they both pronounce them the same and both share a tendency to say incredibly stupid things… a feat in and of itself)

After saying in July that the US has “become a nation of whiners” the McCain campaign allegedly stopped soliciting assistance from Gramm…well, that didn’t happen, and now Gramm’s stepped in it once again.

Speaking to McCain supporters are a Financial Services Roundtable during the convention, Gramm said; “If you’re sitting here today, you’re not economically illiterate and you’re not a whiner, so I’m not worried about who you’re going to vote for.”

He’s right… McCain supporters aren’t whining… because they’re going to get tax breaks up the wazoo if McCain is elected why the Middle Class gets screwed with their pants on.

Again.

No way. No how. No McCain. No Quayle Palin.

Fallout from yesterday's 'stupid thing said by McCain surrogate' continues

I posted yesterday (“McCain staffer says something stupid”) about McCain’s healthcare architect John Goodman saying that there aren’t any “uninsured” people in the US because all Americans have access to emergency rooms.

Anyone with common sense can see why that’s a bad idea… but today the American College of Emergency Physicians has gotten in on the debate, issuing a statement that calls Goodman’s statement “reckless.” The statement reads; “We urge the McCain campaign to rethink the reckless suggestion by Mr. Goodman that the tragedy of uninsured patients can be erased by the magic of emergency departments. […] Emergency physicians can and do perform miracles every day, but taking on the full-time, medical care for 46 million uninsured Americans is one miracle even we cannot perform. Access to care in the emergency department is no substitute for the comprehensive health care reform policy that should be at the heart of the platform of any presidential campaign.”

Ignoring the fact that his campaign’s health care plan is, in the words of The New Republic’s Jonathan Cohn, “perfectly consistent with Goodman’s statements”, they still claim that Goodman’s healthcare beliefs and philosophies are “out of step with John McCain.”

Now with pressure from ACEP, one has to wonder how long until McCain disavows Goodman… Because it worked so well when he did that with Gramm, didn’t it?