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.

News Roundup, Saturday, October 25, 2008

The original Maverick

Washington Post reports that public perceptions of Sarah Word Salad are dropping precipitously. The more people know about her and the more they learn about her, her polls go down. And that's without ever giving a press conference!

The New York Times reports on a growth area in the Bush Economy: yard sales.

You can watch most of Bill Maher's show on HBO last night at this dailykos diary. The third clip is the most important (watch it here) as Tim Robbins warns of voting shenanigans and how to protect your right to vote.

Media Matters reports on the right-wing media losing their ever-loving minds.

John McCain's brother called 911 to complain about traffic (really!) and swore at the 911 operator when she chastised him for using 911 for this. Now he's withdrawing from the campaign. He can go hang around with Carly Fiorina, I guess.

A College Republican, volunteer for the McCain campaign, Ashley Todd, said she got attacked by a black man who carved a "B" on her face because she had a McCain sticker on her car. The McCain campaign jumped on the story and pushed it hard to reporters. John McCain and Sarah Palin even "called the family of the {sic} 'victim'". Problem: it was a hoax, in fine Karl Rove/Lee Atwater tradition, except for one thing -- the B was backwards, like, you know, a B would be if you tried to carve it on your own face in the mirror. She's been arrested and arraigned on charges of making a false police report.

This is your brain on dope:

How Low Than They Go?

Republican mouthpiece compares Marie Antoinette Palin's $150,000 clothing spree to Barack Obama going to visit his dying grandmother.

Looks up to see curb.

Help Spread the Truth About ACORN

Forward this video by Robert Greenwald's Brave New Films far and wide.



Brave New Films:

Host a house party: http://acorn.bravenewtheaters.com

In recent weeks, the McCain campaign has been attacking ACORN, a widely respected voter registration organization, claiming ACORN knowingly participated in "voter fraud." In reality, this is just another calculated attempt by the McCain campaign and the RNC to suppress new and marginalized voters.

You can help spread the truth about ACORN by hosting a house party. Have your friends over and make new friends while watching ACORN's video and Brave New Films' REAL McCain series to keep the dialogue going about these issues.

Republicans Were for ACORN Before They Were Against It

John McCain attends ACORN-sponsored conference, March 2006

HuffPo: ACORN: McCain And GOP Used To Be Supporters

Republican Presidential Candidate John McCain, Florida Governor Charlie Crist, Texas Governor Rick Perry, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, all have supported ACORN's work and appeared with members of the organization -- all in the past three years.

And now ACORN is the boogeyman, because Republicans don't have any issues to run on. Oh, and don't forget that many of the leaders of ACORN are black. Race-baiting, anyone?

Republican Zombie Lies Debunked - Part I

Obama, ACORN and "voter fraud" - dispelling the myths

Republican Zombie Lie #1: ACORN is going to steal the election through voter fraud.

Ridiculous. ACORN is an anti-poverty organization. They advocate for affordable housing (including a campaign against foreclosures by predatory lenders), better schools, a living wage, reform of immigration laws, health care, and paid sick days, among others. Here's a video that describes the work ACORN does. As part of their work they have launched a voter registration project along with Project Vote, another 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.

States and the federal government all require that voter registration be non-partisan. In most states, it is required that if you register voters, BY LAW you must turn in every registration form. (That's to keep a group from registering voters and then only turning in the registration forms for people they think will vote for their candidate, or the way they want them to.)

ACORN pays people to do voter registration, often people who are unemployed and have a hard time getting jobs otherwise. (Again, that's part of their mission, ending poverty. One way to do that is to give an unemployed person a job.) And sometimes, not often but sometimes, those people cheat and turn in forms with the entire roster of the Dallas Cowboys on them, or some other fakery. By law ACORN is required to turn in those registration forms, even if it knows they are fake.

And that's the only fraud involved here, voter registration fraud. The Dallas Cowboys do not show up to vote. Poor people are not going to the polls and pretending to be Tony Romo and Terrell Owens. The fraud is perpetrated by the paid help who cheat ACORN. ACORN actually flags bogus registrations when they turn them in to the states to alert them that there is a problem. Therefore, as this Cincinnati Enquirer column points out, bogus registrations are a pain, not a problem.

There are almost no cases of actual voter fraud where a voter voted frauduently. The Bush Administrations's push to crack down on (nonexistant) voter fraud has only resulted in 120 prosecutions -- and only 86 convictions -- in the past five years. That's not .00001 percent of the voting electorate. Infinitesimally small.

And the current Republican obsession with ACORN? It's a made up issue. John McCain has supported ACORN over the years, including his appearance at an ACORN-sponsored event in March of 2006:

John McCain, in March of 2006, sitting beside Florida Rep. Kendrick Meek at an event ACORN co-sponsored in Florida.

That's right, John McCain was for ACORN before he was against it.

And here's John McCain extolling the virtues of ACORN in his address to the group. Remember, this is March of 2006, 2 1/2 years ago, John McCain was "telling immigration rights activists at a rally in Miami that they "are what makes America special."



Don't let the Republicans defraud you into believing that ACORN is going to steal the election, or that ACORN is a bad or scary group. They're just using this as an excuse to attack Obama, because they have no plan to fix the economy, and no other way to win the election other than lies and deception.

McCain Tangled In His Own Web

John McCain (and his running mate) spent the last week stirring up the crowds into a frenzy of anger and hate against Barack Obama. McCain stood silent as crowds cried out "terrorist" and "traitor" while he was speaking. He is running nothing but negative ads claiming that Obama associates with terrorists.

But then prominent Republicans began to criticize McCain, and Palin, and in a feeble attempt to save his reputation he told some poor woman that Obama is not an Arab. (See the video below for the media interview with the poor dotty woman, who is convinced that Obama is a dangerous Arab -- because she read it at the library.) And now the media is acting as though something has changed, as though McCain has repented. The negative ads are still on the air. His contemptible running mate is still whipping up the hate.

John McCain has fallen, and he can't get up.

Boston Globe: Supporters jeer as McCain calls Obama 'a decent person'
Promises civility after days of harsh attacks on rival

Obama Knew It Was Coming All Along

Watch Barack Obama -- in July -- predict to a T how the Republicans will campaign against him:

Election Protection News

A coalition of civil rights and voting rights groups has filed a motion to intervene in the Wisconsin Attorney General's suit against Wisconsin election officials. AG Van Hollen sued to force election officials to purge voter rolls if the election list does not match exactly with other databases, like those for driver's licenses and social security numbers.

The AG's suit would force election officials to remove someone from the list for typographical errors or minor differences like middle initials or titles.

For extra credit, guess the political party of Wisconsin Attorney General van Hollen? (First two guesses don't count; of course, he is a Republican!)

Alternet: Wisconsin Attorney General Sued To Stop Voter Purge

PDF: Amicus Brief, Van Hollen v. Government Accountability Board, et al., Case No. 08-CV-4085

The Campaign Legal Center

I Read The News Today, Oh Boy: October 7, 2008

McCain doubletakes -- then smiles -- as supporter calls Obama a terrorist.

Angry/Hater '08 are whipping their crowds and their supporters into a hate-filled, racist frenzy. John McCain asked the crowd in Albuquerque, New Mexico yesterday "Who is the real Barack Obama?" and a man shouted "terrorist". Watch the video above; McCain clearly heard the man yell terrorist, his facial expression changes to one of "whoops", but he does not denounce the statement. Just like when a supporter asked him "How do we beat the bitch" about Hillary Clinton in the primaries, and he didn't denounce that, either. He laughed it off, just like he did yesterday.

At Sarah Palin's rally in Florida, she claimed that Obama "palled around" with terrorists, and said nothing as one of her supporters yelled "Kill him!". At the same rally, Palin complained about the mainstream media at a campaign event, and her supporters:

...hurled obscenities at a camera crew. One Palin supporter shouted a racial epithet at an African American sound man for a network and told him, "Sit down, boy."

The head of the Pennsylvania Republican Party called Barack Obama "a terrorist's best friend".

Associations, associations, does the McCain camp really want to play that game? Palin held a fundraiser yesterday at the home of a corrupt Wall Street investment company exec, whose company paid a $72 million dollar fine in 2005. She and her husband belonged to a secessionist political party. She was blessed in church by a witch-fighting pastor who prayed to protect her from the "spirit of witchcraft" in 2005 (not 1605). She sat and listened in church while the founder of Jews for Jesus lambasted "Israelites".

McCain has his own set of unsavory affiliations. For one, G. Gordon Liddy, the convicted Watergate burglar, is an old friend of McCain's, and McCain appeared on his radio show in November of 2007. Liddy is a convicted felon who spent 4 1/2 years in jail for Watergate, and who has admitted plotting to kill, firebomb, and kidnap American citizens who disagreed with his radical conservative views. In addition, during the 1980s, McCain "served on the board of a far-right conservative organization that had supplied arms and funds to paramilitary organizations in Latin America", the U.S. Council for World Freedom, an organization with ties to Nazi sympathizers.

The debate tonight will be interesting to say the least. If I were Obama, I would be tempted to put McCain on the spot and ask him, "Do you think I am a terrorist?" Because McCain is a coward. He says these things behind Obama's back, but never has said them to his face. Even if he says yes, McCain won't dare look at Obama, and we will see who the real Alpha Dog in the race is. The fear of looking his opponent in the face betrays McCain's weakness.

Will McCain continue his angry rants in front of a group of undecided voters? I doubt it, but my record as a prognosticator isn't very good. We'll see tonight.

New Obama Ad: "This Year"

I would have called this ad "Erratic".



Offense wins headlines, but defense wins championships. While defensive, this ad also aggressively paints McCain as erratic and out-of-touch. Two thumbs up from me.

I love the shots of McCain coming down the walkway of his private plane, or riding in the golf cart with George H.W. Bush.

Deep Thought

If John McCain is suspending his campaign, why is he giving his campaign speech (being shown uninterrupted on CNN, the stupid news network) at the Clinton Global Initiative?

Oh, yeah, it's a transparent political stunt. I forgot.

This "Crisis" Is Very Suspicious

Open Left - There Is No Crisis -- Summary

I'm calling my Senators and Congressman this morning to tell them they cannot vote yes on any plan unless John McCain does. Don't get p*wned.

Did The Light Bulb Go On?

ABC is reporting that Democrats won't vote for the bank bailout plan unless McCain votes for it.

Stephanopoulos: McCain Holds Key to Administration's Bailout Passage on Capitol Hill

A Democratic leadership source says that White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten has been told that Democratic votes will not be there if McCain votes no -- that there is no deal if McCain doesn't go along.

McCain would be just the guy to lead the Dems on, then leave them twisting in the wind. They should hold his feet to the fire. (Enough cliches for ya there?)

Some Worst Case Scenarios

A lot of doom and gloom on the liberal blogs today. Unfortunately, I think they're right.

thereisnospoon, dailykos: DON'T TAKE THE BAIT: How to Lose an Election in 10 Easy Steps - The Republicans are setting up the Democrats to take the fall.


Billmon (he's back!), dailykos: Things Become More Serious - The Great Depression looked like this.


Jim Kuntsler, Clusterfuck Nation: Falling Into Fall - We are now a much poorer nation, and that will have many bad consequences.

Be Forewarned

The Republican/McCain plan is to get the Democrats to bail out the GOP's Wall Street friends and then run against them for doing it.

- Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo

The first blogger to call this? Duncan Black (Atrios), of course:

And Because It's So Obvious

If the Democrats pass this piece of shit, look for Republican challengers to run against them on it.

Republican Vote Suppression Comes to Virginia

The RNC is sending fake "Vote by mail" applications to Virginia voters. The woman who received it took to a local election official, who told her this:

1. He had heard about similar fake applications being mailed out in other states.

2. The envelope contained the second part of the application for absentee voting, but not the first--a cover letter explaining exactly what the procedure was and who was eligible.

3. Most disturbing were the instructions on the inside flap of the envelope telling people to "vote early by mail." Virginia DOES NOT have either EARLY VOTING or VOTE BY MAIL. The envelope tells potential voters they can complete and sign a card, place a stamp on it, and drop it in the nearest mailbox.

I'm sending this to my sister who lives in Virginia (and who is leading the family contest to register new voters). Get the word out.

The official told my husband the RNC had been specifically told not to do this, and apparently they mailed them out anyway.

dailykos: Fake Vote-By-Mail Applications in Virginia

McCain Campaign Goes Racist: All Aboard the Willie Horton Express

McCain found a black man to be the face of an anti-Obama ad. Franklin Raines never even advised Barack Obama. But there is a reason his face is in this ad, rather than someone who actually advised Obama: Franklin Raines is black.

This ad is straight out of the Lee Atwater/Karl Rove racist playbook. The Straight Talk Express has detoured to Racism Alley. Disgusting.

Time.com: McCain Plays the Race Card

When politicians interject race into a campaign, they seldom do it directly. Consider McCain's new ad, which the campaign says it will be airing nationally:



This is hardly subtle: Sinister images of two black men, followed by one of a vulnerable-looking elderly white woman.

Let me stipulate: Obama's Fannie Mae connections are completely fair game. But this ad doesn't even mention a far more significant tie--that of Jim Johnson, the former Fannie Mae chairman who had to resign as head of Obama's vice presidential search team after it was revealed he got a sweetheart deal on a mortgage from Countrywide Financial. Instead, it relies on a fleeting and tenuous reference in a Washington Post Style section story to suggest that Obama's principal economic adviser is former Fannie Mae Chairman Frank Raines. Why? One reason might be that Johnson is white; Raines is black.

And the image of the victim doesn't seem accidental either, given the fact that older white women are a key swing constituency in this election.

After the McCain campaign introduced the ad, the Obama campaign responded with this statement:

Statement from Frank Raines on the ad: "I am not an advisor to Barack Obama, nor have I provided his campaign with advice on housing or economic matters."

"This is another flat-out lie from a dishonorable campaign that is increasingly incapable of telling the truth. Frank Raines has never advised Senator Obama about anything -- ever. And by the way, someone whose campaign manager and top advisor worked and lobbied for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac shouldn't be throwing stones from his seven glass houses," said Obama-Biden campaign spokesman Bill Burton.

Republican Vote Suppression Goes On

I confidently reported a few week ago that the Veterans Administration had rescinded its policy against allowing voter registration drives in VA hospitals and care facilities.

Guess what? They were lying. The VA has a new policy: anyone trying to register voters has to be screened. Guess what? That screening won't be completed in time to get these veterans registered to vote. Because they might vote Democratic.

Alternet: VA Voter Suppression Continues
Despite a new policy, the Department of Veterans Affairs is still blocking voter registration efforts.

Just because victory is declared in Washington does not make it so.

One week ago, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced a new policy to allow voter registration drives on VA campuses, responding to pressure by lawmakers and the media that the VA was suppressing the vote of wounded former soldiers. That new policy was greeted with 'mission accomplished' press statements by members of Congress who have been pushing the VA to change its policy for several years.

But on Monday, as the Senate Rules and Administration Committee held a hearing in Washington on a bill to ensure veterans living at VA facilities could be helped with voter registration, a legal motion was being filed in federal court in California alleging the VA was still blocking efforts to register voters in time for the 2008 presidential election.

Following last week's announcement of VA's new voter registration policy, a VA facility in San Francisco blocked a non-profit group, Veterans for Peace, from registering voters, the legal motion said. The filing said the VA was seeking to require Veterans for Peace members to go through the process of screening VA volunteers, a process that would delay registration efforts. In contrast, the VA does not require screening for most other visitors.

"The VA has disenfranchised veterans and interfered with the freedom of political parties and nonpartisan groups to associate with their members and with other citizens who reside on VA campuses," the motion said. "This Court should prohibit further interference with voter registration at any VA campus for the imminent federal election."

Scott Rafferty, the Washington-based attorney who filed Monday's motion on behalf of a California labor organizer who in 2004 was blocked from registering voters on another VA facility in California, said there were political reasons behind the agency's refusal to register veterans.

“Veterans’ experience in war gives them a powerful voice," Rafferty said. "The VA wants to stop them from using their right to speak out and to vote. The VA knows that many veterans oppose the Administration’s conduct of the War, the overextension of the military, and its inadequate support for returning warriors.”

Despicable ratfuckers.

McCain Smears Obama, Push-Polls in Florida Claim Obama Funds PLO

No Blood for Hubris: Roveian Push-Poll Targets FL Voters to Smear Obama

PT Key West resident Joelna Marcus received a phone call today. She was asked if she is Jewish, and she replied in the affirmative.

She was asked if she was religious.

She was then asked if her opinion of Barack Obama would change if she knew that Obama had given lots and lots of money to the PLO.

Sounds like liar John McCain's Smear-Talk Express, not unlike Ol' Man River, just keeps rollin' along.

How low can McCain go? He's hired the Karl Rove team that smeared him in South Carolina in 2000, and is using them to smear Obama in 2008. What's next? A commenter at Making Light has an idea:

Maybe next McCain can circulate rumors that Barack Obama has fathered a black child.

Obama must stop saying that McCain is an honorable man. It is no longer true.