GUILTY!

Alaskan republican Senator Ted Stevens has been found guilty on felony charges for making false statements.

It seems that the jury didn’t buy Stevens’ explanation that the former head of Veco, Corp., Bill Allen, gave him gifts he didn't want and was unaware of, and that he believed the $160,000 he gave to another contractor covered all costs for the home renovations.

According to the AP, Stevens could face up to five years in prison on each count… but considering federal sentencing guidelines, he’ll likely receive much less prison time if any at all.

But it almost certainly means an end to his senate career as Stevens is currently locked in what already has been a tough re-election campaign against Democrat Mark Begich.

Stay tuned for more…

101 Reasons to Vote Against John McCain: 80-71

No ado, here’s 80-71…

#80: John McCain graduated fifth from the bottom of his class at the Naval Academy. Out of 899 graduates, he was ranked 894.

#79: Cindy McCain criticizes Michelle Obama for not "always" being proud of her country. Guess what - John McCain said the same thing.

#78: John McCain does not have a good environmental record. The League of Conservation Voters gave him a zero rating when it comes to pro-environment votes.

#77: John McCain is more of a game show host than a candidate, offering up gimmick after gimmick. First it was the gas tax holiday, but now - he wants taxpayers to give $300 million to whoever develops the next new electric battery. Too bad the Japanese are already five years ahead of the US in developing the next generation battery.

#76: John McCain is a fear monger. Adviser Charlie Black suggested another terrorist attack would help McCain and the Republicans win.

#75: John McCain's healthcare plan would not help Americans. It would tax your healthcare benefits and leave working families at the mercy of big insurance companies.

#74: John McCain is an opponent of helping rail transit. When he chaired the Senate Commerce Committee, he opposed public financing of Amtrak - a service very important in this day of high fuel prices.

#73: John McCain is a tax cheater. Cindy McCain failed to pay property taxes on time - that is not the type of responsibility that we want in the White House.

#72: John McCain flip-flopped on swiftboat veterans. In 2004, he condemned the swiftboat veterans, now, he endorses them, with Bud Day back on the scene.

#71: John McCain is taking money from Swift Boat veterans. In 2004, he called them dishonest and dishonorable.

Tomorrow, 70-61

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…

8 Days to Go

With 8 days to go, here’s where the candidates will be today…

Sen. Obama has rallies in Canton, Ohio and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania…

Sen. Biden will be in Greenville & Greensboro, North Carolina as well as New Port Richey, Florida…

Sen. McCain will be flip-flopping in Kettering, Ohio and Pottsville, Pennsylvania…

Gov. Palin will be preaching hate in Leesburg, Fredericksburg and Salem, Virginia…

101 Reasons to Vote Against John McCain: 90-81

No ado, here’s 90-81…

#90: John McCain is a fake campaign finance reformer. Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) presented this reason during his in-studio visit, and believes McCains back-room dealings need to be exposed.

#89: John McCain voted with George Bush 89% of the time through his administration. Just more proof that if he's elected, it's more of the same.

#88: John McCain doesn't know anything about the economy. He himself said he doesn't know as much about it as he should.

#87: John McCain agrees with Bush's illegal wiretapping policy outside of FISA. At one point he did disagree with Bush on the subject, but he flip-flopped and now supports the President.

#86: John McCain won't repeal George Bush's tax cuts. This is another issue that he has flip-flopped on, and his plan will continue to put this country into a deeper budget deficit.

#85: John McCain doesn't care about women's interests. He wants to overturn Roe v. Wade (among other things) - Planned Parenthood gives him a zero lifetime voting record on women's issues.

#84: John McCain doesn't support prisoner's rights. The Supreme Court has ruled in favor of Gitmo detainees. John McCain says that the ruling "concerns" him.

#83: John McCain was part of the Keating Five. John McCain was part of the five Senators who were tied to dirty deal with Charles Keating.

#82: John McCain is in favor of offshore drilling for oil. Of course, this is AFTER he was opposed to it. Drilling for oil off the shores of the United States WON'T ease the gas burden.

#81: John McCain uses scare tactics. John McCain accuses Barack Obama of having a "September 10" mentality. We've heard this before from George W. Bush. Republicans have NO problem using September 11 for political gain.

Tomorrow, 80-71

Ka-boom!

Tee Hee…

With 10 days until Election Day, long-brewing tensions between GOP vice presidential candidate Gov. Sarah Palin and key aides to Sen. John McCain have become so intense, they are spilling out in public, sources say.

Several McCain advisers have suggested to CNN that they have become increasingly frustrated with what one aide described as Palin "going rogue."

A second McCain source says she appears to be looking out for herself more than the McCain campaign.

“She is a diva. She takes no advice from anyone," said this McCain adviser. “She does not have any relationships of trust with any of us, her family or anyone else. […] Also, she is playing for her own future and sees herself as the next leader of the party. Remember: Divas trust only unto themselves, as they see themselves as the beginning and end of all wisdom.”

Implosion, thy name is gop…

101 Reasons to Vote Against John McCain: 101 - 91

Each and every day, political commentator Bill Press has been listing the “Top 101 Reasons to Vote Against John McCain.”

Because the list is dead-on and 100% accurate, and because our desire is to see McCain lose worse than anyone before him, we’ve decided to list them, 10 a day, up to Election Day.

Without further ado, here’s 101 to 91.

#101: John McCain's connection with Lobbyists. Special Interests, Special Interests. Ouch. The prime connection is Thomas Loeffler - who resigned from McCain's campaign because of his lobbyist connections.

#100: John McCain will try to stir up war with Iran. We've seen this with his recent exchange with Barack Obama, saying we shouldn't talk - we should just bomb, bomb, bomb Iran.

#99: John McCain doesn't want to change anything about our relationship with Cuba. He is attacking Barack Obama's willingness to meet with Raul Castro.

#98: John McCain doesn't know Shiite from Shinola. Even Joe Lieberman corrected him when he mixed up Shiites and Sunnis.

#97: John McCain has bad judgment related to the people he cozies up to. He was endorsed by, and was good friends with John Hagee - it took him three months to reject the endorsement! What other type of people might he get close to when he's president?

#96: John McCain does not support the GI Bill. He's against giving our veterans full scholarships to college upon returning from service.

#95: John McCain is too old to run the country. He'll be 72 this year. Back in 2000, he admitted to PBS's Jim Lehrer he's too old to be President!

94: John McCain will be nothing but a third term of George Bush. He wants to continue the same policies that have failed for the last eight years, as Barack Obama pointed out.

#93: John McCain supports the war in Iraq. He stated he would stay in Iraq for 100 years.

#92: His bad "comb-over," that he won't admit to. He won't just be honest and admit he's balding - what else won't he be honest about?

#91: The Supreme Court. John McCain himself has said he wants to appoint clones of Alito and Roberts to the high court. With that, Roe v. Wade and other important decisions will go right out the window.

Tomorrow; 90-81

The Weekly Rewind

Question: could Joe Lieberman be any more of a treacherous turncoat? Follow-up question: do you think he understands how politically insignificant he will be if Sen. Obama wins in 11 days?

‘The Weekly Rewind’ starts… right now!

Applaud: to Sen. Obama and his Grandmother… our thoughts and prayers are with you.

Heckle: to Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson for admitting this in a NY Times interview this past week; “I could have seen the subprime problem coming earlier… but I’m not saying I would have done anything differently.” (Yes…heaven forbid someone in this administration do their damn job and try to keep the country afloat… dumbass)

Applaud: to the news that Sen. Obama now has the poll-lead on two traditionally-republican issues, taxes and family values. According to the latest Ipsos/McClatchy poll likely voters now prefer Obama over McCain by a margin of 8 percentage points, even though the McPalin campaign had been trying to paint Obama as a tax-and-spend liberal who would raise taxes on everyone. Regarding family values likely voters in the poll now prefer Obama over McCain by 8 points, up from 3 points in mid-September. (you know things are going bad for the republicans when Democrats are showing better than them in some of their key areas… makes me cautiously optimistic about November 4th, though I wont celebrate anything until all the votes are cast and counted – properly)

Heckle: to early-voter intimidation. Earlier in the week Washington Times reporter Christina Bellantoni stopped by a polling place in North Carolina and reported that a group of “loud and angry protestors” were shouting and mocking early voters. Bellatoni noted that the people were shouting about conservative talking points, yelling the word ‘terrorist’ and complaining that Sundays are for church, not voting… (suppose the invoking of church while yelling and screaming hateful things is lost on these people? I would guarantee none of them would see the irony in it… hatred has a tendency to make people stupid, and these people just proved that perfectly)

Applaud: to the fact that at last count 26 papers that supported “President” Bush in 2004 have moved their allegiance to the Democrats and Sen. Obama. Opposite of that, a mere four that supported Sen. Kerry have made the jump to McCain. (Granted, we don’t put much stock into newspaper endorsements, but this is still a staggering number to see…)

Heckle: to the continuing trend of this administration screwing the environment. The EPA weakened a rule on airborne lead standards at the last minute last week, meaning that fewer polluters (60% less) would have their emissions monitored… did I mention this happened after the White House intervened? Once again, the White House shows a great disdain for the environment in order to pad the pockets of big business… 1/20/09 can NOT come soon enough…

Applaud: to Sen. Ted Kennedy. Despite being treated for a brain tumor, Sen. Kennedy has still been working, specifically coordinating meetings with lobbyists and lawmakers from both sides of the aisle in order to craft legislation that would greet the new president with a plan to provide affordable medical coverage to all Americans. Labeled ‘the cause of my life.’” Kennedy’s goal is to introduce the bill as soon as the new Congress convenes in 2009… (God speed Mr. Kenney, God speed…)

Heckle: to Ashley Todd. She’s the young (white) woman who said that she was mugged at an ATM and when the mugger (who was black) saw her car with the McCain sticker, he beat her up and carved a letter "B" in her face with a knife (who must have been dyslexic because the "B" was carved backwards). The attack signaled to all the lemmings out there that people who support Obama were violent and crazy. Well, not surprisingly, it was all a lie… Ms. Todd has confessed that she made the whole thing up. (I, personally, think she should be held accountable for the money the local police spent on the investigation. She also needs to appear on TV and apologize to the nation for being an idiot wingnut. And what does it say about HER that she carved an initial into her face in order to paint Obama supporters as vicious?)

Applaud: to another example of McCain flip-flopping to showcase… we all know that the rnc spent $150,000 to “clothe and accessorize” Gov. Palin and her family… but did you that on the Senate floor in 1993 McCain supported restrictions on the use of campaign funds for “inherently personal purposes” in which he specifically denounced the use of such funds on… wait for it… “clothing purchases” (expect flip-flopping from McCain in five, four, three…)

Heckle: to reports that the republican National Committee spent $4,716.49 on hair and makeup for Gov. Palin last month, plus an additional $150,000 for clothing and accessories. Still, the 4K is less than half of what they spend on makeup for Sen. McCain, shelling out $8,672.55 for his make-up last month by celebrity makeup artist Tifanie White. (Sad…

Applaud: to telling the truth about McCain’s housing plan that would have the government pay the difference between the balances of troubled mortgages and what homes are now worth. Apparently Liberals with a brain aren’t the only ones that think this plan is bad. Steve Preston, Bush’s Secretary for Housing and Urban Development, criticized McCain’s plan earlier this week, saying; “I have a very grave concern about that. […] I don’t think we can suffer that big of a loss. … That is not invested money. That is just a loss.” (Okay…when someone in THIS administration – which is sure to go down in the books as ONE of the worst if not THE worst administration ever – is criticizing your plan, shouldn’t you look into a new plan? I’m just askin’…)

Heckle: to more negative economic news. According to the Department of Labor, the number of U.S. workers laid off last month climbed to the highest level since the days following Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and marks the first time that employers cut work forces en masse at this quick a rate since September 2001… and yet we’re still not in a recession.

Applaud: to Chris Matthews for saying what we’re all thinking. Responding to Palin’s misguided thought that the VP is in charge of the Senate, the MSNBC host suggests that someone give Palin a copy of the Constitution so she can learn what the VP actually does… but that would require her to read, and considering the length of the Constitution, her lips would be awfully tired after doing all that reading…

Heckle: to FEMA for handing out formaldehyde-laced trailers AGAIN. After this summer’s flooding in Iowa, FEMA handed out trailers for those affected… unfortunately, like post-Katrina, the trailers have unsafe levels of formaldehyde… FEMA took responsibility and will immediately offer new trailers to everyone effected… just kidding, they’ve blamed the residents for creating the formaldehyde by “cooking” or “smoking.”… (FEMA could very well go down as the WORST political agency in history; bar none)

Applaud: to more proof that President Clinton was better for the economy than “President” Bush ever was or could hope to be. Under Bush, 4.8 million jobs were created… under President Clinton however, 23 million jobs were created. (the first troll to suggest that was due to Presidents Reagan or Bush I will get a swift kick to the groin…)

Heckle: to the news that, in the past few weeks, Gov. Palin has talked to the media more than McCain. (This shouldn’t surprise anyone… with his big talking at the last debate, he essentially painted himself into a corner as he says he wants to run a campaign based on issues but the actions of his campaign paint a starkly different picture. If he were to take questions from reporters, someone might call him on it… and he can’t have that

Applaud: to suffering the consequences of NOT vetting your running mate and dramatically overestimating the allure of a woman candidate just because she’s a woman . According to a new ABC News/Washington Post poll, 52% of Americans say that McCain’s choice of Palin as his running mate has “made them less confident in the kind of decisions he’d make as president.” That’s a 13 point jump since the days after Palin’s selection… (McCain was trying to make a play for Clinton supporters but dramatically underestimated EVERYTHING… serves him right)

Heckle: to speaking out of one’s ass. Despite earlier desires to close the American prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba,, Bush has decided to alter course (flipflop) and NOT close it, revealing now that he never considered proposals drafted in the State Department and the Pentagon that outlined options for transferring the detainees elsewhere. Bush is now certain that the prison will remain open not only for the rest of his presidency but also “well beyond.” (Wow, Bush went back on his word? I am shocked and appalled, I never would have seen that coming…and by that I mean I DID see this coming...)

Applaud: to the Iraqi parliament’s largest political bloc for doing something that this administration and McCain have been wont to do; make a call for US troops to leave Iraq. The bloc called for all American troops to leave Iraq in 2011 as “a condition for allowing the U.S. military to stay here beyond year’s end.” (I’ve said it before here, I don’t think the US can just up and leave quickly as that would have a detrimental effect on the region… but a timed, measured pull-out is needed. With a new president coming into office combined with this action by this bloc, it looks as though it might actually happen…)

Heckle: to wild spending this election cycle. The Center for Responsive Politics reported earlier this week that this seasons political campaigns is on pace to hit an unprecedented $5.3 billion. The report did go further and say the $2.4 billion cost for the presidential race alone still pales in comparison to the $2.6 billion that Coca-Cola spent on advertising in 2006… and I guess someone at the Center thought we should all know that…

Applaud: to the news that, last weekend police and state investigators in California arrested the owner of a firm that the California republican Party had hired to register voters this year on suspicion of voter registration fraud. A long list of voters say that Mark Jacoby duped them into joining the California Republican Party by making them believe they were signing a petition to toughen penalties against child molesters…(I like to think there's a special place in Hell for those that screw with our right of voting... if not, let them learn a new meaning for 'polling the electorate.')

Heckle: to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for claiming in an interview with BBC this past week that the US economy is “big and strong.” (Um… okay?)

Applaud: to former Massachusetts governor William Weld for endorsing Obama and calling him a “once-in-a-lifetime candidate who will transform our politics and restore America's standing in the world.” Did I mention the former governor is a republican? I didn’t… oh, well… now you know. Haw Haw!

Heckle: to this unnerving news. The new GI Bill passed by Congress is called the “Post-9/11 GI Bill,” but unfortunately the new legislation won’t take effect until Aug. 1, 2009, and by that time, some who served in Iraq or Afghanistan will have already graduated from college and, because the bill is not retroactive, won’t help them at all.

Applaud: to more proof that Gov. Palin just doesn’t get it. Giving her first policy speech of the election, she claimed that Congress spends “some $18 billions on earmarks for their political pet projects” before slamming the infamous “Bridge to Nowhere” earmark that she strongly supported; “Congress spends some $18 billions on earmarks for their political pet projects. And that right there is more than the shortfall to fully fund IDEA. … You guys have heard some of the examples of where those dollars go. You’ve heard about the bridges, and you’ve heard about some of these pet projects that really don’t make a lot of sense.” (FAIL… again…)

Heckle: to White House press secretary Dana Perino. During a press briefing on Air Force One this past week she dismissed concerns about the state of the economy, saying; “I think what [Lazear] was saying is that there are parts of our country that are hurting right now.” I’m sorry, what? It’s not “some regions” of the nation that are “hurting” you ditz… it’s the entire country WORLD. The stubbornness of this administration to accept the state of the economy is both sad and pathetic…

Applaud: to Karl Rove getting caught in his own blatant foolishness… again… and I doubt for the last time… when he echoed things that he had attacked Obama for months ago; that people in Pennsylvania “really do cling to their guns and their faith.” (Dumb. Ass.)
And this week we had another tough week for choosing the conservative Tool of the Week, but in the end we decided on a package deal.

First, a question; what do Michelle Bachmann, Robin Hayes, Randy Kuhl and Virginia Foxx all have in common?Answer: they haven’t grasped the concept that there’s this invention called video that can record what people say and do…

This past week so Minnesota’s Michele Bachmann attack the patriotism of Sen. Barack Obama saying; “I’m very concerned that he may have anti-American views. […] That’s what the American people are concerned about.” Bachmann continued, suggesting that all liberal views are “anti-American.”

It saw Virginia Foxx of North Carolina say that Democrats were for “anti-American energy, just as many other things that they support seem to be anti-American power and anti-American control.”

It saw Robin Hayes, also of North Carolina, say that “liberals hate real Americans that work, and accomplish, and achieve, and believe in God.”

And it saw Randy Kuhl of New York say; “I firmly believe that the Democratic majority wants the American public to suffer and to hurt so they can make some political gains at election time, and I think that's wrong.”

After seeing the backlash that their inane comments made, they all tried to backtrack and say they didn’t actually say those things… problem is, there’s video and audio of each of them.

So when that didn’t work, they claimed that they were railroaded into saying these things.

Bullshit. These are all adults with, as far as we know, complete control over their actions and words…

Because of the nefarious things they said, coupled with the complete stupidity in their backtracking, Michelle Bachmann, Robin Hayes, Randy Kuhl and Virginia Foxx are this week’s Tool(s).. of the Week.

And finally...

In case you hadn’t heard, 96-year old essayist Studs Terkel and Democratic Strategist James Carville had some of the best quotes this week.

Carville on Joe the Plumber; “The reason Republicans are happy about Joe the Plumber is they're glad they got somebody hanging around a toilet other than Larry Craig.”

Terkel on Gov. Palin; “She's Joe McCarthy in Drag!”

Sometimes the snark writes itself… this is one of those times.

Think McCain knows what could lie ahead?

Has anyone else looked at Sen. McCain's plans for election night?

They don't look like plans for someone planning a celebration but rather like plans for someone planning to slink away to lick their wounds.

Don't get me wrong... I continue to urge everyone to continue the fight... the last thing I want is for us to get complacent and get beat in a few weeks.

Having said that, I still think something's amiss here... but don't take my word for it (as awesome as my words are) but judge for yourself...

Via AP;

John McCain's election night watch party might be missing John McCain.

Instead of appearing before a throng of supporters at the Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix on the evening of Nov. 4, the Republican presidential nominee plans to deliver postelection remarks to a small group of reporters and guests on the hotel's lawn. Aides said Thursday that the arrangement was due to space limitations and that McCain might drop by the election watch party at some other point.

Space limitations? Seriously? If space is truly limited, wouldn't it make more sense to un-invite one or two, I don't know... journalists and NOT make the guest of honor, you know – the candidate himself – remove himself from the list of attendees all because of space limitations?

More from AP;

McCain's remarks will be piped electronically into the party and media filing center, aides said. Only a small press "pool" — mostly those who have traveled regularly with the candidate on his campaign plane, plus a few local Arizona reporters and others — will be physically present when he speaks.

Thomas Patterson, a government professor at Harvard's Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy, called the arrangement "unusual" but said the campaign may simply be bowing to the reality that the candidate's remarks are geared toward the televised audience rather than those in the hall.

Hmmm… there just has to be another explanation for such an inane choice.

Again, this is just me, but I don’t think his actions seem apropos for someone planning to celebrate a hard-fought victory or a hard-fought loss. In fact it seems to have the feel of something being thrown together by a person that’s ready for the game to be over with so they could hibernate for a few weeks while thinking of what COULD have been.

It’s almost sad…especially when you consider the opposite as Sen. Obama has plans to address a giant outdoor celebration in Chicago’s Grant Park on Election Night… win or lose.

Again, I’m not calling for complacency or smugness as I more than understand that this race isn’t done until all the votes have been cast and counted… but you have to admit it’s strange.

And… a little enjoyable.

The {Abbreviated} Friday ‘BushWhack’ing

TBWA rejects labels… except for Ms. Palin

• In response to global markets diving overnight, the Dow Jones industrial average futures fell 548 points this morning that lead to a freeze on sales… (Fasten your seatbelts, it’s gonna be a bumpy ride…)
• Karl Rove is STILL a tool, now trying to blame the current economic crisis on Sen. Obama…
• Per a new CBS News/New York Times poll, 35% of Americans are now “very concerned” that they or someone else in their household will be out of work and looking for a job within the next twelve months, up 12 points from last week. (Again, as above; fasten your seatbelts, it’s gonna be a bumpy ride…)
• As the campaign starts to wind down, the campaigns are making a final push for states that, usually, are not in play this late in the process. One of those is North Carolina…
• Neither Sen. Obama nor Sen. McCain has touched the third rail of Social Security in this campaign, mentioning it in fleeting glances only.
• Former Bush(whacked) Administration press secretary Scott McClellan endorsed Obama yesterday…regardless if it makes an impact or not, it’s still fun to write.
• And have we mentioned? That Gov. Palin is giving her first policy speech today in Pittsburgh? According to the campaign the speech will highlighting her commitment to families with special needs… despite her past record of NOT committing herself to families with special needs. The curious thing about this is that one of her campaign briefs say she’s slated to be in Springfield, Missouri today. Perhaps the campaign has hired a doppelganger…

12 Days To Go

With 12 days to go, here’s what the candidates are doing today…

Sen. Obama is in Hawaii with his ailing grandmother…

Sen. Biden is campaigning in Charleston, West Virginia & Martinsville, Virginia……

Sen. McCain is in Denver and Durango, Colorado…

Gov. Palin is in Springfield, Missouri…

And finally…

In case you hadn’t heard, Sen. Orrin Hatch (r-UT) is a tool.

Everyone reading this blog knows that since George W. Bush ascended to his perch in the Oval office the world standing of the United States has taken a beating.

Everyone can see it, except apparently for Hatch.

Appearing on Fox “News” earlier in the week Hatch denied that America’s standing in the world had fallen under Bush and insisted that world opinion of the US is as strong as it ever was and instead labeled other countries feelings of malaise towards us as “jealousy.”

Said Hatch; “There’s a lot of jealousy of the United States, especially in Europe, and France in particular and some of the other nations as well. So naturally they’re constantly poking holes at the United States. […] Yeah there’s some irritation with the United States but mainly it’s because we’re so powerful and strong militarily and economically and otherwise.”

I’m sorry, what? It has nothing to do with jealousy you pompous ass… it’s frustration, frustration with the absurdity of a George Bush presidency… and one only needs to take a glance at a handful of polls for verification and support.

A 2007 Pew study not only found that the level of distrust of the US has greatly “intensified across the world” but that feelings of anti-Americanism have intensified since 2002.

Another poll, this one done by Readers Digest earlier this year, polled residents of 16 countries and out of those, only five reported higher percentages of people that label themselves “pro-American government” with a majority labeling themselves as “anti-American government.”

And just in case you need more, another study was done more recently that gives the best documentation of just how much damage the Bush presidency has done to world opinion of the United States… easily seen in this handy-dandy graph we borrowed from The Guardian:

We all know Hatch is trying to shill for McCain now, but trying to put a positive spin on this is like putting $150,000 worth of designer clothes on a pitbull.

It may make it look more attractive, but in the end it still has a brain the size of a peanut…

Slander... Really?

Some would think that, eventually, someone who has been a republican tool his entire life would top out somewhere, right? Hit the ceiling and cease going higher and higher with his buffoonery and tool-ish behavior…

You’d be wrong.

Case in point: former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

Speaking on F*x “News” last night, the erstwhile tool claimed that the skits mocking Gov. Palin on SNL were “vicious” and a “total distortion of who Governor Palin is.”

But it gets better… Gingrich then said that one particular skit that mocks reporters for pursuing unsubstantiated claims about the Palin clan were “slander and were worthy of a lawsuit.”

Sigh.

Note to Newt; SNL is a comedy show (such as it is)… it’s satirical… it’s lampooning… it’s farcical...you know, like your political career.

And, if I’m not mistaken, Ms. Palin appeared on the show last weekend; wouldn’t that be an endorsement of the alleged slander? For God’s sakes… she sat at the Weekend Update desk, dancing and raising the roof while Amy Poehler rapped about shooting a moose…

And you have the gall stupidity to come out and accuse SNL of slander?? It’s not slander when they’re using Palin’s own words.

I’m just sayin’…

Here we go again...this time, let's meet his challenge

Sen. McCain has either been sniffing glue, or the rigors of the campaign have taken a toll on his mental acuity (what little of it remained) as he’s once again daring people to point out his flip-flopping

Unfortunately, the traditional media didn’t pick up on the story the first time, so let’s make sure they do THIS time.

During an interview yesterday with a local DC the reporter doing the interview told McCain that some “commentators” and even some “personal friends” have asked; “Where is the John McCain from 2000?”

McCain took umbrage with the question and claimed that nothing had changed since 2000, saying; “You’ll have to tell me what’s changed. I love it when they say, “Oh McCain has changed.” And I say, “What have I changed on?” They can’t name a single issue or they’ll name an issue and it’s false. I’m the same guy. I’m proud of our campaign.”

Well, well, well… here we go again.

ThinkProgress has identified a plethora of issues that McCain has flip-flopped on and I, as I’ve done before, am proud to present my Top Ten McCain Flip-Flops:

10. John Hagee, Rod Parsley. Jerry Falwell. All three are ‘controversial’ (read: idiotic) religious leaders who have either said outrageous and inane things or done outrageous and inane things. First he didn’t want their endorsement… then he did… then he didn’t again, but still kept the endorsement. Confused? Imagine how McCain feels…

09. Lobbyists. Back in May of this year McCain approved a ban on lobbyists working for his campaign… months later in July his campaign changed their mind and said lobbyists could work for his campaign.

08. Roe v Wade. First he said he would NOT repeal it, now he says the exact opposite.

07. Immigration. McCain announced in February 2008 that he would vote against his own bill. (Voting against your own bill is damn near the definition of flip-flopping. You can also see is own lobbying-reform legislation from 1997 that he crafted yet now opposes as another example of voting against a bill he created)

06. Taxes. McCain was against Bush’s tax cuts for the very wealthy before he was for them and vowing to keep them in place.

05. Social Security. First he defended the “privatizing” of Social Security and now he says he’s against privatization when in reality he still supports it. Also, at first he said he would not, under any circumstances, raise taxes… not soon after he said “nothing off the table” regarding an increase in the payroll tax.

04. McCain was against expanding the GI Bill to the point he offered his own version that was panned by every veteran’s group dating back to the Peloponnesian war… how he’s for it AND taking credit for it. And to add to his delusion, he maintains that veteran’s groups support him and give him their highest grades; they don’t…

03. McCain believed the U.S. should engage in diplomacy with Hamas, he now believes the opposite. He also believed the U.S. should engage in diplomacy with Syria, he now believes the opposite. He also supported normalization of relations with Cuba… he now believes the opposite. (Do you sense a trend here?)

02. Torture. How in God’s name a former POW who was tortured over a course of five years can support waterboarding is anyone’s guess. But this past February McCain did just that and reversed course on the banning of waterboarding.

And the number one McCain flip-flop can STILL be summed up in one word: Iraq.

McCain’s claimed in the past that he was the “greatest critic” of Rumsfeld’s failed Iraq policy, apparently forgetting that in December 2003 McCain praised Rumsfeld’s strategy as “a mission accomplished.” He echoed that thought in March 2004 when he said, “I’m confident we’re on the right course.” Follow that up with his remark in December 2005 when he said; “Overall, I think a year from now, we will have made a fair amount of progress if we stay the course.”

Additionally, McCain said before the war in Iraq that the US will “win this conflict. We will win it easily.” Four years later McCain said he knew all along that the war in Iraq war was “probably going to be long and hard and tough” which proves that republicans have trouble grasping the concept of video recording.

As if that wasn’t enough, McCain has also changed his mind about a long-term U.S. military presence in Iraq many, many many, many times… coming to the different conclusion that a Korea-like presence is both a good and a bad idea.

These aren’t even counting the facts that he opposed a holiday to honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., before he supported it… or that he endorsed intelligent design creationism in 2005 before saying the opposite a year later and then months after that saying that he was for and against creationism… or the fact he opposed a variety of measures on equal pay for women but then, this past July, said that he’s “committed to making sure that there’s equal pay for equal work. That, is my record and you can count on it” (not on my life would I count on ANYTHING this man says)… or how he changed course on Bush’s warrantless-wiretap program circumventing the law… or the fact he was all for closing the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, now not so much.

As I’ve said on this blog many times, in the right circumstances I would have voted for the 2000 version of John McCain as he was, at the time, individualistic and went against the thoughts of his own party… but after getting his clock cleaned by Bush in 2000, he changed to someone who has now raised the flip-flop to an art form…

Once again McCain is challenging people to show examples of how he’s flip-flopped.

I saws let’s show him… and hopefully the traditional media decides to stop fellating the McCain campaign and does the same thing.

Though I won’t hold my breath.