Saturday, November 01, 2008

Video Heaven

Posting will become lighter and lighter as Election Day approaches, as campaign work takes precedence.

Today's Saturday funnies are two videos from the wayback machine - primary days.

Baracky I:



Baracky II:

Friday, October 31, 2008

My Friends - The Musical

By the makers of Baracky:



And for a blast from the past, The Empire Strikes Back:

We Love Lists

Times (uk): The Greatest US Presidents - The Times US presidential rankings

The Times is a right wing rag which is why they rank George H.W. Bush ahead of Clinton. Satisfying, George W. Bush and Richard Nixon are tied at 37th, fifth from the bottom.

Good News

The Albany Project: NY-29: CQ Politics Upgrades Race From 'No Clear Favorite' To 'Leans Democratic'

New Obama Ad: "Make History"

This is only running on the web.

In What Respect, Charlie?

The Improper


NYTimes: Growing Doubts on Palin Take a Toll, Poll Finds

A growing number of voters have concluded that Senator John McCain’s running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, is not qualified to be vice president, weighing down the Republican ticket in the last days of the campaign, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.

All told, 59 percent of voters surveyed said Ms. Palin was not prepared for the job, up nine percentage points since the beginning of the month. Nearly a third of voters polled said the vice-presidential selection would be a major factor influencing their vote for president, and those voters broadly favor Senator Barack Obama, the Democratic nominee.

And in a possible indication that the choice of Ms. Palin has hurt Mr. McCain’s image, voters said they had much more confidence in Mr. Obama to pick qualified people for his administration than they did in Mr. McCain.

The more she speaks, the more we realize how little she knows.

I really liked her energy speech at a solar plant yesterday where she said "Drill, baby, drill." At a solar plant. Genius!

Obama Interviewed by Rachel Maddow

Interview in two parts:



Global Warming: Weather Gets Weirder

Cars buried under three feet of hail stones in the town of Ottery St Mary


Daily Mail (uk): October's weird weather continues as hailstorm swamps one small town in 6ft drifts

New York News

RNC pulling out of all but two Congressional races in New York.

In the 20th Congressional District (Coach Mom's Congresswoman), no more money for Kirsten Gillibrand's opponent, Sandy Treadwell. This could be seen as conceding the race, but since Treadwell has sunk $6 million of his own money into the race, it may just be allocation of resources.

The two races where the RNC will continue to fund the Republican candidate are NY-29, Crazy Randy Kuhl (R-Shotgun) v. retired Admiral Eric Massa (D-Sanity), and the 26th District, where Democratic attorney Alice Kryzan is battling Republican Chris Lee to take the seat of retiring Republican (and Mark Foley coddler) Thomas Reynolds.

Thursday, October 30, 2008

McCain's Down To His Last Card

The race card.



B L A C K

That card shows you once again the Real John McCain style.

R A C I S T

hat tip to Ari at Oxdown Gazette, who noticed.

That's My Girl


Abby Wambach and nine other U.S. athletes were on a "troublemaker" list created by the Chinese government before the Olympics. China gave the list to the USOC in July, warning that the athletes (most were members of Team Darfur) might protest and disrupt the Games.

Click on the USA Today story to watch the video of Abby Wambach being interviewed in April 2008 about human rights in China.

Interesting that 9 of the 10 listed are women.

Way to go Abby, and all the athletes on the list. That's like Paul Newman being on Nixon's enemies list, an honor to have been blacklisted by an opponent so foul.

Christine Brennan, USAToady: China listed U.S. athletes as possible troublemakers

China's government was so concerned about the possibility of athlete demonstrations in the Beijing Olympics that it created a list of nine U.S. athletes and one assistant coach it thought might cause trouble at the Games, according to an internal U.S. Olympic Committee e-mail obtained by USA TODAY.

[]

"This may be the biggest compliment of my life," Wambach, a member of Team Darfur, said in a phone interview when informed of the list. "If they're worried about us, maybe we do have more strength as athletes and as people to speak out. This just gives me more empowerment."


BEIJING WATCH LIST

The 10 Americans on Beijing's watch list, not all of whom were actually Olympians:

Jessica Mendoza, softball.

Jennie Finch, softball.

Natasha Watley, softball.

Amanda Freed, softball.

Karen Johns, softball assistant coach.

Laura Goodwin, golfer.

Abby Wambach, soccer.


Jonathan Page, cyclist.

Jen Howitt, Paralympic basketball.

Cheri Blauwet, Paralympic wheelchair racer

Stood Up

John McCain calls on Joe the Plumber to take a bow, but the Republican mascot stood up McFail. Sad.

Two New Obama Ads: "Something" and "Rearview Mirror"

"Something"


"Rearview Mirror"


I love the rearview mirror ad. There's nothing that most Americans want more than to put the sight of George W. Bush out of their minds.

Dance Fever (Election Style)

Funny:

Election Protection News, October 30, 2008


Colorado: Voting rights activists and the Colorado Secretary of State reached an agreement that will allow an estimated 20,000 voters removed from the election rolls in the 90 days prior to election day to vote. They will have to vote by provisional ballot, but those ballots will be given priority and counted ahead of other provisional ballots. Not much of a deal in my estimation.

Florida: Election officials are in full revolt over terrible new voting laws, and many are allowing voters to cast full ballots after signing affidavits of residence, rather than forcing voters to vote by provisional ballot.

Ohio: The Justice Department will not intervene in the Ohio registration dispute, despite a request from George W. Bush to do so.

Virginia: There will be a hearing today in the NAACP's suit against the Commonwealth of Virginia asking for more voting machines and longer poll hours in minority precincts on Election Day. Virginia has also decided to count military ballots that don't contain a line for witness signature, a technicality required under a 2002 Virginia law that is not required under federal law.

Obama on The Daily Show

Interviewed by Jon Stewart:



Will Obama's white half suffer the Bradley Effect?

Smells Like Desperation

McCain is being forced to run robocalls in his home state of Arizona to save his home state.

I don't think Obama is spending any money in Illinois.

Egad!

In a shocking display of political gamesmanship, the Alien has switched his allegiance from Obama to McCain. I think that like McCain, The Alien has underestimated the power of early voting. It's too late!

Weekly World News: OCTOBER SURPRISE: UFO ALIEN NOW ENDORSES McCAIN!

I must acquire this issue to add to my "Dewey Defeats Truman" collection. And for the Photoshops. The hottub is the best.


Uncovered photos suggest that in a last ditch effort to help her husband’s failing campaign, Cindy McCain seduced and then blackmailed the Alien for his endorsement.

I Love These Kids

A different performance of "Vote However You Like" by the Ron Clark Middle School students. Every time I watch this I smile.

Barack Obama's Infomercial



Inspiring. I received this email from a friend tonight:

Did you see the informercial?

Man, I'm sold. I am sold through and through.

This is not en election where I'm choosing between the lesser of two evils. It is like this guy emerged and now I am absolutely convinced that he is the man who was born to lead America. Sorry to sound so naive.

But now I want to hear it and see it: "Ladies and gentlement, the President of the United States of America." Hail to the chief plays, and then walking through the door, Obama. Man, I want to see that.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Rogue Elephant

Sarah Palin publicly contemplated her future in the Republican Party in an interview today - implicitly conceding that she and McCain are going to lose on Tuesday. I'm sure McCain was thrilled when he heard that. Maverick! (Dope.)



Wolf Blitzer: And this just coming into the "Situation Room," the Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin now speaking out openly about her intentions in 2012 if, if she and John McCain were to lose this contest next Tuesday. In an interview with ABC News, Sarah Palin is now saying, she would be interested in remaining a serious national political figure, going ahead to 2012. She was asked what happens in 2012 if you lose on Tuesday, would you simply go back to Alaska? Elizabeth Vargas of ABC News asked her and Palin said this, and I will read it to you verbatim according to an ABC News transcript: "Absolutely not," Sarah Palin says. "I think that, if I were to give up and wave a white flag of surrender against some of the political shots that we've taken, that ... that would ... bring this whole ... I'm not doin' this for naught," and that is a direct quote from Sarah Palin. Clearly, leaving open the possibility that she would be interested in leading the Republican Party in 2012 if she and John McCain were to lose this presidential contest right now. Let's go to Dana Bash. She has been covering the McCain campaign reaction from the rather blunt statement from Sarah Palin that she would in fact be interested in leading the Republican Party going forward after Tuesday if they lose?

Dana Bash: I just got off of the phone, Wolf, with a senior McCain adviser and I read this person the quote and I think it is fair to say that this person was speechless. There was a long pause and I just heard a "huh" on the other end of the phone. This is certainly not a surprise to anybody who has watched Sarah Palin that she is interested in potentially future national runs, and she is being urged to by a lot of people inside of the Republican Party if they do lose, but it is an "if" and people inside of the McCain campaign do not want any discussion that has an "if" in front of it six days before the election, they don't want any discussion at all, any kind of hypothetical talk about running for the next time around. So certainly, this is not at least initially being received well inside of the McCain campaign.

Wolf Blitzer: I am not surprised, not surprised at all. It is one of those "wow, she is talking about 2012 if we lose," that is not supposed to be something that you say. You are supposed to say, "well, I'm not looking ahead, I'm not looking ahead only to Tuesday," and those are the talking points she's supposed to be saying, but she is obviously blunt and she is looking ahead if something were to happen on Tuesday that she wouldn't be happy with.

Number 17



The Boston Celtics get their 17th NBA Championship Trophy and the players get their rings. Paul Pierce was overcome -- then went on to lead the Celtics to victory over LeBron James and the Cavaliers.

McCain's Lies About Obama's Tax Plan

Here's the truth:

Anonymous McCain Aide Said It First



ThinkProgress

New Obama Ad: "His Choice"



Devastating. Palin's a winker and McCain's a fool for choosing her.

Sherman Alexie on Colbert (Updated)

Here's the link to the entire show; Sherman Alexie comes on at @16.00 minutes, after the second blank bar on the bottom line. You can push the play button there to watch. (You have to watch a 30-second ad, and the play button jumped around on me, but it's worth it.)

Updated: The video:

Paging Katherine Harris

Miami Herald: Gov. Crist extends early voting hours statewide

Declaring a state of emergency in Florida because of long voting lines, Gov. Charlie Crist on Tuesday extended early voting hours across the state to 12 hours a day.

The executive order comes after record early voting turnout has contributed to long lines at polling sites.

Current Florida law allows for early voting to be conducted eight hours a day each weekday and for a total of eight hours during the weekends. With Crist's order, early voting sites will be open the rest of this week from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. They will be open a total of 12 hours on Saturday and Sunday, the last day of early voting.

''It's not a political decision,'' Crist said moments after signing the order. ``It's a people decision.''

Crist said he made the decision after seeing numerous news reports about long lines and after he had a conversation with state House Democratic leader Dan Gelber of Miami Beach. Crist's appointed secretary of state, Kurt Browning, had rejected the idea of extending the early voting hours earlier this week.

Speculation is that Charlie Crist is putting it to McCain because after he got married to prove his I'm-not-gay conservative cred, McCain still picked Palin instead of Crist.

Regardless of why, it's refreshing to see a Republican come out in favor of voting instead of vote suppression. Especially in Florida.

The Real John McCain

The real John McCain cares nothing for anyone who's not rich. Should we increase the minimum wage? "Of course not."

BARTIROMO: What about a minimum wage increase? Would you consider?

MCCAIN: As long as we take care of small businesses. Small businesses right now -- I see them every day -- they say, You increase the minimum wage, I lay off workers. Is that what we want to do right now? Of course not.

Callous rich fuck.

Sounds Good to Me

ABC News:
Movement to Scrap 401(k)s Gains Traction
Net Gains: Guaranteed Retirement Accounts Are Getting Attention in Washington

Meet Charles Alexander

Inspiring story of an 86-year-old Obama volunteer getting to meet the man.

dailykos: Charles Meets Barack


No Kidding

Keith Obermann to Sarah Palin: You, governor, are a fraud.

Duh!

Two of a Kind

Bush = McCain, Palin = Cheney

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Sherman Alexie Silences Colbert (Updated)

I will post video when it's up. Sherman Alexie! (A favorite author.)

Updated: The video:

John McCain Is No Maverick

New video from Brave New Films:

Real, or CGI?

Telegraph: A green-crowned hummingbird feeds on a heliconia flower Photo: GETTY


Real!

Telegraph (uk):
Costa Rica: on cloud nine with the most exotic birds
Monteverde, in the heart of Costa Rica, is home to some of our brightest feathered friends, says Barbara Noe.

The Gambler

This ad is being run by Campaign Money Watch in Virginia and Florida:



hat tip to Seeing the Forest

Tee Hee

McCain aide calls Palin a "whack job".

I've been calling her that for weeks!

New Obama Ad: "Steel"



Strong ad, painting McCain as lying, erratic, a Bush clone, and risky.

Election Protection News, October 28, 2008


The New York Times reports on the army of lawyers being deployed to protect the vote. Most numbers, quotes and anecdotes are from the Obama campaign; the McCain campaign and the RNC refuse to give any numbers, probably because they pale in comparison to the Obama juggernaut. Obama as usual has a better strategy than McCain, which is why the Democrats have won so many of the electoral challenges in court so far.

Georgia: A three-judge federal panel ruled that Georgia violated federal law by flagging voters ineligible, using a system that had not been approved by the Justice Department beforehand. This could affect as many as 55,000 voters statewide.

Virginia: A phony flier is circulating telling voters the election has been postponed to November 5th. It hasn't been postponed, and all voting takes place on Tuesday, November 4th. From the Virginia Pilot:



Virginia: The NAACP sued Virginia Governor Tim Kaine for not being adequately prepared for election, and asked the court to (a) reallocate voting machines to precincts likely to have the longest lines, and (b) order the polls to remain open an additional two hours.

New Mexico: The Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund and the ACLU have filed suit to stop the Republican Party from harassing and intimidating voters. This all stems from the Republicans hiring private investigator Al Romero who went to the homes of two newly registered voters last week.

The Real Terrorists in This Country

This report and video will scare the shit out of you. The Guardian (uk) continues its excellent series of reports on the ugly racism in our country. The skinheads, the neo-nazis, The Order, Aryan Nation, the KKK, these are the people Sarah Palin is inciting when she accuses Barack Obama of palling around with terrorists. These whackjobs are the real terrorists. And they make no bones about it. Watch the video.

Guardian (uk):
Fourteen Words that spell racism
The prospect of an African-American president is bringing white supremacist subculture in the US out of the shadows


Guardian (uk): Video: 'You hear them say Obama will be assassinated'

McCain-Palin Rallies: Document the Atrocities

Pottsville, Pennsylvania yesterday:



Video by Keystone Progress.

(POTTSVILLE, PA)—In what has become a regular occurrence, dozens of supporters of Senator John McCain shouted racist and hate-filled speech at about 100 demonstrators yesterday in Pottsville, Pennsylvania.

One of the McCain supporters was caught on video shouting "Bomb Obama!" repeatedly. When asked what he meant, he said "Get rid of him. I've had a number of people in the... when he gets in the White House..."

He then formed a gun with his hand and made a shooting sound.

The incident was reported immediately to Pottsville Police Captain Richard Wojciechowsky, who said it did not sound serious.

The video later was shown to the Secret Service.

Yesterday’s video, and similar videos from McCain and Palin rallies around Pennsylvania, were shot and produced by Keystone Progress. Keystone Progress is a multi-issue progressive advocacy organization that combines cutting edge online organizing and communications with rapid and hard-hitting earned media strategies.

Michelle Obama on Tonight Show

Jay Leno interviews Michelle Obama last night:



It's Basketball Season

Once the Red Sox season ended, baseball ended for me and basketball season started! Tonight the Boston Celtics raise their 17th championship banner at the Garden. (formerly known as the Fleet Center Enema, and many other blasphemous names, but all true Celtics fans just call it the Garden. Or the new Garden. But not any of that other crap.) To get you pumped for basketball season, watch this great new ad with Kevin Garnett: "Boston is a Brotherhood":


I still cannot believe that I barely knew who Kevin Garnett was until the Celtics traded for him last summer.

Monday, October 27, 2008

While I Was Out



Guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty: Senator Ted Stephens of Alaska found guilty on all seven counts in corruption case. How was he supposed to know that doubling the size of his house and jacking it up to add an additional floor cost $250,000? Sheesh. (under Alaska law, Stephens cannot vote for himself next week as he is now a convicted felon.)

The feds broke up a neo-nazi plot to assassinate Barack Obama and kill an additional 102 black high school students.

40 call center workers
walked off the job in Indiana rather than read a sleazy attack on Obama from the McCain campaign.

Jimmy Johnson, one of the original founders of NASCAR, endorses Obama.

GM is going to eat fellow automaker Chrysler. The Bush economic plan has worked out so well, hasn't it.

Cool

Crystal forest: People clambering through the cave of crystals wearing suits and backpacks of ice-cool air to cope with the 112F temperature


DailyMail (uk): Pictured: The Cave of Crystals discovered 1,000ft below a Mexican desert

Former McCain Adviser Charles Fried: Sarah Palin Is "Ignorant and Inexperienced"

Charles Fried, Ronald Reagan's Solicitor General, former Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, current Harvard Law Professor and, until this week, McCain adviser.


More on Charles Fried's endorsement of Barack Obama by the conservative legal scholar and former McCain advisor. It's all about Palin.

HuffPo: Conservative Legal Icon Charles Fried Elaborates on His Obama Endorsement

In a letter to the McCain campaign, he asked that his name be removed from their legal advisory committee, explaining that the key reason "is the choice of Sarah Palin at a time of deep national crisis."

I asked Professor Fried to elaborate on what, if anything, this says about Obama and abortion. He responded to me with this email:

"There are many issues facing the country that are more important than what the President says or believes about abortion. I suspect that there are a great many things that Obama believes and will do with which I will disagree -- starting with his judicial nominees, but in a time of economic and foreign policy crisis I found the risk of promoting to the presidency a person as ignorant and inexperienced as Sarah Palin -- natural political talent though she is -- unacceptable."

There's not enough lipstick in the world to cover up vast ignorance and inexperience.

Crazy

Guardian (uk):
Election revelations: 666 reasons not to vote for Barack Obama
GuardianFilms election road trip, day 15: While the Guardian's Ed Pilkington was researching a story on biofuels in Missouri, the general manager of an ethanol plant told him why he could never vote for Obama


Watch this video of a Guardian reporter interviewing an ethanol plant manager in Craig, Missouri. The reporter is shocked when the official begins telling him that he cannot vote for Obama because he believes he is the anti-Christ. [The reporter is wearing a jacket that comes up around his mouth, but it is pretty clear that he is trying not to laugh as the man very seriously tells him that Obama is a Muslim, and he should read Revelations 13.]

There a lot of crackpots out there in the good old U S of A.

Clueless

John McCain said on Meet the Press yesterday that he and George W. Bush share a common philosophy. Obama pounced:



McCain = Bush and four more years of failed Republican policies.

The Empress's New Clothes

Sarah Palin gave a speech yesterday in which she claimed that the lavish wardrobe the RNC purchased for her are not her clothes, that she had nothing to do with the $150,000 worth of clothing that she happily wore for six weeks before the price came out, and that she will go back to shopping in consignment stores after the election (because, I suspect she realizes she is not going to DC, she is going back to Alaska).

Hilariously, this was off-the-reservation stuff from The Wasilla Diva, because later that day a reporter had this exchange on the McCain side of the campaign:

A senior adviser to John McCain told CNN's Dana Bash that the comments about her wardrobe "were not the remarks we sent to her plane this morning." Palin did not discuss the wardrobe story at her rally in Kissimmee later in the day.

Don't imagine she fired the makeup artist, either.

Watch Sarah Off-the-Reservation here:

Endorsement

Financial Times, not exactly a bastion of socialism, goes for Barack Obama. (The Financial Times is that weird peach-colored newspaper that gets left on the first class seats of airplanes.)

[A} campaign is a test of leadership. Mr Obama ran his superbly; Mr McCain’s has often looked a shambles. After eight years of George W. Bush, the steady competence of the Obama operation commands respect.

[]

In responding to the economic emergency, Mr Obama has again impressed – not by advancing solutions of his own, but in displaying a calm and methodical disposition, and in seeking the best advice. Mr McCain’s hasty half-baked interventions were unnerving when they were not beside the point.

On foreign policy, where the candidates have often conspired to exaggerate their differences, this contrast in temperaments seems crucial. For all his experience, Mr McCain has seemed too much guided by an instinct for peremptory action, an exaggerated sense of certainty, and a reluctance to see shades of grey.

He has offered risk-taking almost as his chief qualification, but gambles do not always pay off. His choice of Sarah Palin as running mate, widely acknowledged to have been a mistake, is an obtrusive case in point. Rashness is not a virtue in a president. The cautious and deliberate Mr Obama is altogether a less alarming prospect.

Sad News

** This is an undated file photo provided by HarperCollins of author Tony Hillerman. Hillerman, author of the acclaimed Navajo Tribal Police mystery novels, died Sunday, Oct. 26, 2008, of pulmonary failure. (AP Photo/HarperCollins/Kelly Campbell/FILE) (Kelly Campbell - AP)


No more Jim Chee or Joe Leaphorn novels; their creator, Tony Hillerman, has died.

WaPo: Acclaimed author Tony Hillerman dies at 83

International Herald-Tribune: Tony Hillerman, novelist, dies at 83


Biography of Tony Hillerman

wikipedia: Tony Hillerman

More Poll Candy

Obama up over McCain by 8 points in Virginia, mostly because he leads in Northern Virgina by a 2-1 margin. (Unreal Virginia).

Poll Candy

Obama up 15 in New Hampshire, 54-39.

Analysis: salon.com: Where the road ends for John McCain
His Straight Talk Express bolted out of New Hampshire eight years ago. Now the candidate is running on empty.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

McCain Lies About Bush and the Iraq War

McCain supported Bush and Bush's disastrous war in Iraq until, well, until he went on Meet the Press this morning, when he offered a false history.

Jed Lewison put together this short video contrasting McCain's statements today with his previous statements.

"On the transcendent issues, the most important issues of our day, I have been totally in agreement and support of President Bush" (June 2005) becomes "I was the harshest critic of the failed strategy in Iraq" today.

He was either lying then, or he's lying now. Doesn't matter. He's lying.

New Obama Ad: "Try This"



Go to TaxCutFacts.org to see what effect the Obama plan will have on your taxes.

Are You A Better Reporter Than a Fifth Grader?

I doubt it! Watch this report on a Palm Beach, Florida Joe Biden rally by fifth-grader Damon Weaver. And Biden manages to tell him what the Vice President really does (he doesn't "run the Senate", Sarah).

Sunday Morning News Round-Up

Can't get enough of Peek-a-Boo Panda


George W. McConstitutionFucker would like to steal one more election, so has directed his Justice Department to intervene in the Ohio fight to force new voters to vote by provisional ballot if their registration conflicts with some other database (disenfranchisement by typo). Now we'll find out if the Democratic morons who voted for AG Michael Mukasey were right, or if he's just a Republican hack like all the rest. (And remember that Bush is asking the Justice Dept. to do the same thing that they fired all the U.S. Attorneys for refusing to do, bring false charges of voter fraud. There ain't any.)

McCain's circular firing squad aims at Palin: she's "going rogue" and a "diva". McCain faces a Palin insurgency! Teehee.

Another endorsement for Obama: Anchorage Daily News (again, tee hee).

Republican dirty tricks: The Pennsylvania state Republican Party sent out an email to 75,000 Jewish voters saying that if you vote for Obama, there will be a second Holocaust.

Oregon Senator Gordon Smith(R-Pretending to be a Dem This Year) owns a frozen food company that supplies 10% of the nation's frozen vegetables. They irrigated their fields with sewage. Or as Dr. Murphy says at firedoglake, "Gordon Smith's Menu for America: Eat Sh*t And Die". Ewwwwwwwwwww.

If you have the stomach for it, watch the video from the Las Vegas Sun of this angry, fearful and racist group outside a Palin rally. These people are frightening.

And one completely nonpolitical topic: Isiah Thomas OD's on sleeping pills [suicide?], 911 got called and took him to the hospital; then he tried to say it was his 17-year-old daughter who needed help. Except for the local police chief who said, hey, it was him, not her. As the police chief said, "[W]hy they're throwing her under the bus is beyond my ability to understand."