What the Corporate Media Isn't Telling You About John McCain

HuffPo: President Bush licks frosting off of his thumb after holding up a birthday cake for Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., left, upon his arrival at Luke Air Force Base in Glendale, Az., Monday, Aug. 29, 2005. McCain turned 69 Monday.
dday at Hullabaloo: McCain's Terrible, Horrible, No-Good Very Bad Week

To summarize dday's excellent and very long post (read the whole thing at the link above):

1. Washington Post writes long story about his bad temper

2. "Forgotten Places" tour takes him

a. to an all-white crowd in civil rights landmark Selma, where he praises a ferry constructed with an earmark (he's against those, except when he's for them), and then

b. to Youngstown, Ohio where he praises free trade in front of a plant that closed earlier during George W. Clusterfuck's presidency, and said he didn't know what to do about the dumping of cheap foreign goods. And then he went to New Orleans.

c. New Orleans, the place McBush ignored on McCain's 69th birthday. While Smirky McAmericanCityDrowner was presenting McCain with a cake, it apparently didn't occur to John McLame to say, President Bush, turn on the TV! New Orleans is drowning! We should do something about that. Emptily, McCain now promises that no such thing will ever happen on his watch. Right.

Then his buddy and endorser the Reverend John Hagee (who can be seen on your local religious channel begging for money to support his lavish lifestyle; he's a Christian like John Gotti is a businessman) says once again that Katrina was God's punishment for a New Orleans gay pride parade. McHypocrite sputters "It's nonsense" like a guilty child eight times when asked about that.

Then McLyingSackofShit, Mr. We'll Never Let This Happen Again, says he didn't know if the Ninth Ward of New Orleans should be rebuilt. Like if one of his mansions got destroyed he wouldn't insist the feds rebuild it.

d. And lastly, the Forgotten Places tour went to Alabama, where the McCain campaign used PRISON LABOR to set up the hall. Prison labor.

Go, read the whole post, there's so much more, his mad dashes to the right on tax policy (he was against Bush's tax cuts for the millionaires, now he, multi-millionaire, embraces them), etc.

And don't forget McCain's position on equal pay for women. He's for it, he says. He just doesn't think there should be any legal remedy to enforce it. He is against the equal pay bill (which Senate Republicans defeated) and incredibly said the real problem is that women don't have enough job skills. We're just not equal enough to get equal pay yet. Fucker.

Obama Courts Indiana

On the basketball court, of course.



Hat tip to turnesq at dailykos.

And from the comments to that post, a bonus video for we Isiah Thomas haters: "The Worst Coach in the History of Basketball":

RIP Al Wilson

Boston Globe: Al Wilson, at 68; '70s soul singer

The Media Are A Serious Fucking Problem

TocqueDeville, dailykos: Why Obama Really Lost Pennsylvania

These are the people, more than any others, that shape American politics. The editorial boards of the major papers, a few columnists, and of course talk radio personalities have an influence. But nothing compares to this crowd. They set the tone and the terms of our national discussion. And they can move poll numbers like a toy.

And for the last two months, they have waged an all out assault on Barack Obama. It is unfortunate that the term "swiftboat", when used as a verb, is attributed to the small group of hacks that made a few videos lying about John Kerry's war record. Because the real swiftboating didn't come from them. It came from the crowd shown above.

There will always be political hacks. People who lie, and try to make mountains out of flag pins. But it is only with the amplification and distortion of the our political discourse, facilitated by the babbling class above, that these hacks are allowed to have an impact.

It is simply incredible to watch now, as pundit after pundit, including some of our allies, act bewildered as to why Obama didn't win Pennsylvania when he spent so much money, as though the last two months never happened. As though the Reverend Wright swiftboating never happened. As though the NAFTA ploy never happened. As though the "bitter" ploy never happened. As though the ABC "debate" never happened.

Of course it wasn't just the swiftboating of the media that worked against Obama. Kos accurately lays out a few other factors. But let's face it. We have a serious fucking problem on our hands. Even with the growing online movement, and expanding penetration of progressive-like media into the mass communications bubble, the power of the establishment media to manipulate public opinion is still beyond compare.

The Spin I'm In

The Republican gasbags (RGBs) who rule morning TV are spinning Pennsylvania as a huge loss for Obama. Hillary Clinton won 55% of the vote, and Obama 45%. There was lots of good news for the Democratic Party in the vote. Turnout in the Democratic primary was huge, over 2.3 million voters; three times as many Democrats voted as Republicans.

Yes, there was a Republican primary in Pennsylvania yesterday; John McCain took 73% of the vote, but 16% went for Ron Paul and 11% for Mike Huckabee. If I were to apply the silly frame the RGBs apply to the Democrats, I'd ask: What does it say about John McCain that over one quarter of Republican primary voters don't want to vote for him? Hmmm.

But I see this result as good news for Obama. In mid-February, the Quinnipiac University poll had the race 52-36 for Clinton. So Clinton won 3% of the undecideds to her side, while Obama won 9% of the undecideds. And let's face it; Pennsylvania is on average older, whiter and more female than the rest of America.

There are still many Reagan Democrats in Pennsylvania; people who are willing to vote against the very policies they believe in in the furtherance of their prejudices. Witness this breathtaking snippet from Dana Milbank's column in the Washington Post yesterday:

"I don't care too much for Obama," Maria Norgren, the daughter and granddaughter of steelworkers, said in the parking lot of the Giant Eagle shopping center here, near the Obama rally.

"I don't even think he's American," added her husband, Edward, who lost his job when the steel mills closed and now mans the counter at the Puff Discount Tobacco and Lottery shop next to the Giant Eagle.

"His father's from Nigeria, right?" asked Maria, wearing a Pittsburgh Steelers T-shirt.

Kenya, actually. But the point is the same: The Norgrens, who backed Al Gore in 2000 and John Kerry in 2004, will vote for Hillary Clinton on Tuesday. And if Obama wins the nomination, these Democrats say they'll vote for Republican John McCain, even though they want an end to the war in Iraq, where their soldier-son is about to start his third tour.

Obama will have his work cut out for him to win over such voters in November. $4 a gallon gas (currently $3.49 in my town, up 25 cents in the past week) and McCain's years of support for the Big Oil will help. So will all the new voters registered as a result of this extended primary campaign. The Obama campaign sent me a flyer that says that there are 165,449 newly registered voters in North Carolina; 75% of those are Democrats or Independents. The Republican brand is dying, except on morning TV where the last of the RGBs wheeze and shout.

"Older Than the Lincoln Tunnel!"

A funny video about how old John McCain really is:

The Fabulous Life of John McCain

hat tip to Progressive Media USA, via TowleRoad

McCain Delusional About Economy

Excellent new ad from the DNC, using McCain's own words:


I guess when you are a multimillionaire who married an heiress and owns eight houses, you can believe that Americans are better off than they were eight years ago, that unemployment is low, that inflation is low, that jobs have been created by George W. Bush's administration. But the problem with McCain's rosy picture of the economy is that none of those things are true.

In addition to his delusions about the economy, John McCain McSame McBush would be happy to see American troops in Iraq for the next 100 years. Wrong for 2008, wrong for America.

Women's Soccer Olympic Draw

NBC: Abby Wambach
The USWNT, the defending gold medalists, will face Norway, Japan and New Zealand in group stage of the 2008 Olympics. This is a fairly easy draw for Team USA. Japan is always technically good, but their team is small and they have problems finishing. New Zealand qualified for the 2007 World Cup, but didn't score a goal in their three group games. Norway isn't the team of "Viking bitches" (Kristine Lilly) that won the 1995 World Cup anymore. Coach Mom & I saw them in Hartford summer 2007 and weren't very impressed. (The U.S. defeated Norway handily, 4-1, in the third place game of the World Cup.)

The group of death is definitely Group B, which besides defending World Cup champions Germany contains Brazil, with Marta the most feared offense in the world; Nigeria, who tied Sweden in the group stage of the World Cup and came within a goal of tying the U.S., always a tough, physical team; and North Korea, who tied the U.S. in the opening game of the World Cup, also a very tough, physical team.

The top seeds for the tournament are China, Germany and the U.S., which is why Brazil and Germany are in the same group. Also, according to the U.S. Soccer website, the U.S. could not have been in the same group with Brazil to open the tournament, as we are considered to be from the same region, the Americas I guess. Lucky for us, not so lucky for Germany.

2008 Women's Soccer Olympic Draw

Group A: China, Canada, Argentina, Sweden.

Group B: North Korea, Brazil, Nigeria, Germany.

Group C: Norway, Japan, U.S., New Zealand.

ussoccer: U.S. Women Drawn Into Group G at 2008 Olympics; Will Face Norway, Japan and New Zealand
- U.S. Will Play First Two Games in Qinhuangdao and Final Group Match in Shenyang
- USA's First Match of Group G Pits Last Two Olympic Champions

ussoccer: Quote Sheet: Players and Coaches Reaction To Olympic Draw

John McCain's Lavish Wealth, and Why Cindy McCain Must Release Her Tax Returns

John McCain released only the last two years of his personal tax returns last week, but his wife -- she of the $100 million net worth -- refused to release hers.
John McCain 2008 - scroll down for tax returns

This lead the media to commit all sorts of inanities, like silly Dana Bash of CNN claiming that McCain gave away 26% of his income to charity, while "the Clintons" gave 15%, and "the Obamas" gave away 6%. Well, you can't compare apples and oranges, but there goes CNN, comparing one half of a couple with two couples.

The tax return for the John and Cindy McCain Family Foundation shows that the foundation, founded and endowed by a couple worth $100 million, gave only $78,000 and change to charity last year. That's less than .1 percent of their net worth. That's like a person worth $250,000 giving less than $250 to charity. Not exactly generous.

And that isn't even getting to the issue of the fact that most of McCain's charitable donations go to the "John and Cindy McCain Family Foundation". So middle class. Set up your own charity and decide where your supposed charitable money goes. And where does their supposed charity go? To their own children's elite private schools.

Between 2001 and 2006, McCain contributed roughly $950,000 to the foundation. That accounted for all of its listed income other than for $100 that came from an anonymous donor. During that same period, the McCain foundation made contributions of roughly $1.6 million. More than $500,000 went to his kids’ private schools, most of which was donated when his children were attending those institutions. So McCain apparently received major tax deductions for supporting elite schools attended by his children.

The rest of us are buying wrapping paper, candy bars and magazines to support local public schools; the McCains use the tax laws to give their own money to their kids' elite private schools, and then get a tax break. Nice work if you can get it.

The McCains apparently reduced their charitable giving to their kids schools this year, perhaps anticipating that it wouldn't play so well with the taxpaying public. In 2006 they gave Brophy College Preparatory $50,500. At Brophy, you can walk through McCain Colonnade on your way to Charles Keating Hall (brings to mind "Thieves Like Us"). In 2006 they gave Christ Lutheran School (which their two youngest children, Jim and Bridget, attended) $42,629. This year they gave their daughter Bridget's school, Scottsdale Christian Academy, a measly $5,000.

As the media seem uninclined to do their job and pursue McCain's wife's tax returns, I decided to look to see what is out there in the public domain about their assets. I read somewhere that they own 8 houses. Where are they? I went looking, and this is what I found:

1) Phoenix. I started the list off with this house, as there are more pictures of it on the 'net than the others, but it's been sold:

Cindy McCain, through a family trust, sold the family mansion in Phoenix for $3.2 million and bought a $4.6 million Phoenix condo in 2006.

But, since I don't have any photos of the $4.6 (or $4.7) million condo, (the one with "6,000 square feet, [] mountain views, a rooftop pool, concierge service, and McCain’s extensive collection of naval memorabilia") I'll let you see the less expensive mansion they sold to buy it. The house was featured in Architectural Digest in 2005. This was the house Cindy McCain grew up in, although today it is much larger, as it was gut-rehabbed and expanded in the mid-1980s.




2 - 5) Hidden Valley, Arizona. The primary house on this property was featured on HGTV. There's no date on the piece, but in the photograph their children are all much younger, so it's at least 10 years old. At first, I was going to count this as three houses, as the HGTV article says

The McCains have not only made additions to the existing house but also built a separate nearby guest house and even purchased the house next door to expand their living and entertainment space.

But it turns out that this is the house that the media described as a "cabin" where McCain entertained them with BBQ last month. This article from CNN states

He said he built the first house on his property 24 years ago and now there are six houses on his lot.

Since this property is reported to include four houses worth $1.8 million, they must have built a fourth house. (The other two houses are reportedly owned by friends.)

The media who gathered for the BBQ agreed not to publish photographs of the ranch, so we are left with their print descriptions:

Nestled in a canyon at the end of a steep, winding road, the area is called "Hidden Valley Ranch," just like the salad dressing. The McCain family owns several cabins on the land, which is dotted with dozens of large old trees. The property sits adjacent to Oak Creek, a usually slow-moving stream that recently swelled its banks because of runoff from snow in the nearby mountains. (Newsweek)

...his rustic cabin in nearby unincorporated Cornville. [] ... the lush, tree-laden property is tucked away in a valley reachable only via a bumpy and at times precarious dirt road.(Arizona Republic)

McCain’s property is down a twisting, rocky dirt road, nestled at the bottom of a canyon between Sedona and Cottonwood. McCain and his wife, Cindy, and longtime family friends own a total of six homes on land that sits on the banks of the rushing Oak Creek, which recently overflowed. The extra homes are used as guest cabins for friends who come to visit, such as Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman and his wife, former Sen. Phil Gramm and Wendy Gramm, and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, among others. (Chicago Tribune)

6) It is widely reported that McCain lives in a condo in Arlington, Virginia while Congress is in session, although AP is nervous about stating that directly:

The couple may also jointly own a condo in Arlington, Virginia, assessed at $847,800. McCain's campaign and Hensley declined to say whether the couple has communal property.

They may own it, or some corporate entity they set up may own it, but it's where McCain lives while Congress is in session.

7 - 8) Two luxury condominiums in Coronado, California, on the beach beside the Hotel del Coronado.

Cindy McCain’s assets go beyond the family beer company.

She and her children own a minority stake in the Arizona Diamondbacks. The professional baseball team’s chief executive, Jeff Moorad, and former majority owner Jerry Colangelo are McCain fundraisers. Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling, a former Diamondback player, appeared in a New Hampshire campaign advertisement for McCain.

Assets held by Cindy McCain alone or with her children also include Anheuser-Busch stock; two condominiums along the California coast worth a total of at least $3 million and Arizona investments in rental medical offices and a parking lot, according to property records and John McCain’s latest financial disclosure reports.

Cindy McCain describes their properties as:

We have a place at Coronado Shores, right next to the Hotel del Coronado.

Asked by a magazine if this will be the McCain Western White House, she replies:

Absolutely. I love Coronado. Listen, to me there’s nothing better than waking up and seeing the sun come up over the water on the bay there. And watching the Navy SEALs run up and down the beach. And walking along the beach and then watching the sun set over Point Loma. That’s a great way to live.

If you look up the Hotel del Coronado on GoogleEarth, there are several huge condominum complexes overlooking the beach just to the southeast of the hotel, which must be what she is talking about. Coronado Shores.



And that's just their houses. I'm sure they own lots of stocks and bonds. McCain is proposing that Bush's tax cuts for millionaires be extended forever. He is likely to make a lot of money if his policies are enacted. Voters have a right to know how much he would profit. Since Arizona is a community property state, Cindy McCain's assets are John McCain's assets. John McCain, who was quick to call Barack Obama an elitist, lives a lavish life, with opulent homes from coast to coast. His life is funded by his wife's massive wealth. Which is why it is absurd that she has not released her tax returns.

Hillary Clinton Disses Me

Me! I'm starting to feel like a sucker for my many years of support of Bill and Hillary Clinton. I thought I was supporting them because they were good Democrats, who believed in the same liberal things I do, like ending poverty and war. I've been on MoveOn's email list for many years. Do you know where the name "MoveOn" came from? It was originally called "Censure and Move On", and the group was formed to get the Republicans and the media to stop obsessing about Bill Clinton's penis (The Clenis) and where it had been and to return to the real issues of government. The media hates the Clintons and has attacked them at every turn since Bill Clinton's campaign for the Presidency in 1992.

I'm a member of MoveOn. And I'm a unity Democrat. It's my position in this election (even though I support Barack Obama) that I will vote for whichever Democrat is nominated. It's important that we take back the White House and the Congress and reinstate a democratic form of government in this country.

Hillary Clinton is trying very hard to move me off my unity perch. Remember when she and Bill decried "the politics of personal destruction"? Now she is indulging in them, piling on with the ABC moderators in a McCarthy-ish claim that Obama is a bad person because he served on the board of a community organization with a person who did bad things 40 years ago. Really despicable stuff.

And now it comes out that Hillary Clinton slammed the members of MoveOn in a private fundraiser after Super Tuesday, saying this:

"Moveon.org endorsed [Sen. Barack Obama] -- which is like a gusher of money that never seems to slow down," Clinton said to a meeting of donors. "We have been less successful in caucuses because it brings out the activist base of the Democratic Party. MoveOn didn't even want us to go into Afghanistan. I mean, that's what we're dealing with. And you know they turn out in great numbers. And they are very driven by their view of our positions, and it's primarily national security and foreign policy that drives them. I don't agree with them. They know I don't agree with them. So they flood into these caucuses and dominate them and really intimidate people who actually show up to support me."

HuffPo: Clinton Slams Democratic Activists At Private Fundraiser

Factually inaccurate (MoveOn never opposed the U.S. war in Afghanistan) and truly meanspirited. But, yes, it is about foreign policy. I support Obama because he opposed the Iraq war, and I don't support Hillary Clinton because she voted for Bush's stupid war. But to claim that MoveOn supporters are intimidating voters at caucases? Doesn't she realize most members of MoveOn are card-carrying recipients of that radical program, Social Security? Not the WWF.

I wish she'd just drop out and go back to the Senate and get back to work doing something positive. Tearing down fellow Democrats on her way to the nomination is not doing much for the Clinton legacy.

Guess What?

Every Elite Media Pundit on George Stephanapolous show thinks the stoopid questions Georgie Peorgie Hannity asked at the debate were not only OK, they were GREAT! Those are the REAL ISSUES!

Flag pins! Patriotism! Capital gains taxes!

Our real opponent in the 2008 election is not John "Bad Temper" McCain. It's the media.

If Drudge Ruled Their World, 1858 Edition

Obsidian Wings: The Lincoln-Douglas Debates of 1858 (Slight Return)

STEPHANOPOULOS: I’m sorry to interrupt, but do you think Mr. Douglas loves America as much you do?

LINCOLN: Sure I do.

STEPHANOPOULOS: But who loves America more?

LINCOLN: I’d prefer to get on with my opening statement George.

STEPHANOPOULOS: If your love for America were eight apples, how many apples would Senator Douglas’s love be?

LINCOLN: Eight.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Proceed.

LINCOLN: In my opinion, slavery will not cease, until a crisis shall have been reached and passed. "A house divided against itself cannot stand." I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Excuse me, did an Elijah H. Johnson attend your church?

LINCOLN: When I was a boy in Illinois forty years ago, yes. I think he was a deacon.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Are you aware that he regularly called Kentucky “a land of swine and whores”?

LINCOLN: Sounds right -- his ex-wife was from Kentucky.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Why did you remain in the church after hearing those statements?

LINCOLN: I was eight.

DOUGLAS: This is an important question George -- it's an issue that certainly will be raised in the fall.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Do you denounce him?

LINCOLN: I’d like to get back to the divided house if I may.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Do you denounce and reject him?

LINCOLN: If it will make you shut up, yes, I denounce and reject him.

hat tip to BoingBoing

I Approve This Message

Global Warming: Not Important Enough for ABC Debate

If he were running today, ABC would ask: "Where's your flag pin, Abraham? Do you love your country more than Stephen Douglas?"

Charlie Gibbon and Georgie Peorgie Hannity couldn't be bothered to ask about global warming at the debate this week. (Shame on ABC or All the News That's Fit to Miss) There were flag pins to discuss! And McCarthy-ish guilt-by-association charges to be made! Drudge rules their world and you better not forget it.

Meanwhile, back on Planet Rational, we have these headlines:

TorontoStar.com: Ward Hunt Ice Shelf destined to disappear

WARD HUNT ISLAND, Nunavut–New cracks in the largest remaining Arctic ice shelf suggest another polar landmark seems destined to break up and disappear.

Scientists discovered the extensive new cracks in the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf earlier this year and a patrol of Canadian Rangers got an up-close look at them last week.

"The map of Canada has changed," said Derek Mueller of Trent University, who was amazed to find how quickly the shelf has deteriorated since he discovered the first crack in 2002.

(At ABC, Gibbon and pal are chanting, Flag pin! Flag pin! Flag pin!)

ScienceDaily: Jet Streams Are Shifting And May Alter Paths Of Storms And Hurricanes

Storm paths in North America are likely to shift northward as a result of the jet stream changes. Hurricanes, whose development tends to be inhibited by jet streams, may become more powerful and more frequent as the jet streams move away from the sub-tropical zones where hurricanes are born.

(At ABC, the chanting has turned to a shouted refrain: Ayers! Ayers! Ayers!)

NOAA: The second warmest March on record

[NOAA's National Climatic Date Center report says that] Based on preliminary data, the globally averaged combined land and sea surface temperature was the second warmest on record for March and the January-March year-to-date period ranked eleventh warmest.

March 2008 missed the record for the warmest March (2002) by a whopping 0.07°F. March 2008 was the warmest March over land in the record, beating the previous record by nearly 0.3°F. And it was the warmest March over land and sea in the northern hemisphere on record by 0.2°F .

(ABC's shouts have turned to screams: Reverent Wright! Tuzla! Polls! Electability! We know best! Pay no attention to the weather! Flag pins! Flag pins! Flag pins!)

Bye Bye!

NYTimes: The Isiah Thomas Era Ends
The team was also plagued by off-the-court embarrassments like a tawdry sexual harassment suit brought by Anucha Browne Sanders, a former Knicks executive. Thomas spoke after the verdict.
Photo: John Marshall Mantel/Associated Press

Isiah finally fired. Don't let the door, etc. On second thought, I hope the door does hit him in the ass. Jerk.

NYTimes: Isiah Thomas fired as coach of New York Knicks

Obama: "I Will Come Right Back At Them"

You have a choice: be a fighting liberal or sit quietly. I know what I am, what are you?

- Steve Gilliard, 1964 - 2007

I love to see Obama fighting back. We have too many polite Democrats. If you don't fight, you don't win.

mspicata@dailykos.com: Obama just turned last night's debate into a campaign issue: w/video

"I will tell you, it does not get much more fun than these debates. They are inspiring events," Mr. Obama quipped. "Last night, I think we set a new record because it took us 45 minutes before we even started talking about a single issue that matters to the American people. It took us 45 minutes!"

"Forty-five minutes before we heard about health care. Forty-five minutes before we heard about Iraq," he continued. "Forty-five — 45 — minutes before we heard about jobs. Forty-five minutes before we heard about gas prices."

"But not this time. People will not be distracted this time. If the Republicans come at me, I will come right back at them. And I will come back at them hard. You know, I'll be honest with you. I'll be honest with you. It's a little harder to do with a fellow Democrat, because, I'm trying to, be, uh, show some restraint. I won't have as much restraint with the Republicans."

Wall To Wall Ugly

Talking Points Memo has helpfully distilled the horrid ABC debate into 9 horrid minutes. They call it "Wall to Wall Ugly". What I think will get this blog banned by even more nanny software. Fuck ABKKKKKKKKKK, fuck Charles Gibbon, fuck George Stepheneneneospoiasfhj;posdih;o. Fuck Sean Hannity who fed some of the horrid questions to Georgie Peorgie. Fuck all of them.

All Hail Obama

BagNewsNotes

Robert Koehler, Huffpo: The Done Deal

If politics is the art of saying nothing, then Barack Obama is sure blowing it, isn't he?

His latest "gaffe," to proclaim at a private fundraiser in San Francisco (of all places) that small-town Americans are bitter and cling to guns and God in lieu of financial security -- these words purveyed to the American public by way of a scratchy, Osama-quality recording -- triggered such heartfelt hypocrisy from his opponents.

"It is hard to imagine," said John McCain, "someone running for president who is more out of touch with average Americans."

I almost agree with this. Obama is definitely out of touch with something. However, it isn't "average Americans" -- who, it turns out, really are bitter in large numbers -- so much as what I would call "the tacit covenant of presidential politics."

Serious presidential candidates aren't supposed to go there, see. That's what makes them "serious" -- their understanding that American politics is settled, a done deal. The deal is this: While real Republicans can drift, unchecked, to the dark side of empire and neofascism, Democrats are supposed to campaign and govern as moderate, "responsible" Republicans.

We live, in other words, in a corporate state, the basic terms of which are no longer open to debate. The "class struggle" is over. What about this do you not understand, Candidate Obama?

All hail the (invisible) corporate state and its sacred fetishes: God, guns, flag. All hail the cliche that is America, with its hard-working little people who get the job done. All hail the McWorkers of the new economy, who roll up their sleeves and vote for one smiling liar or another on their way to their second job. All hail the dearth of health care, the children left behind, the endless billions for war and most of all the fact that these matters are not -- I repeat, NOT -- open for discussion in this presidential election year or, God willing, the next one or the next.

Free Ride McCain

Media Matters Action Network: McCain's Free Ride
Media Myths of McCain

So far there are only eight; the next one, #9: "The media honeymoon with John McCain is over," will be released on April 21st.

Go to the original post to see why these statements, repeated over and over and over by the corporate press, are myths:

1. John McCain is a maverick.

2. John McCain is a moderate.

3. John McCain is a straight-talker.

4. John McCain is a reformer.

5. John McCain doesn't do things just
because they're politically expedient.

6. Just about all you need to know about
John McCain's character is that he showed
courage as a prisoner of war in Vietnam.

7. John McCain has too much integrity
to use his war record to his political advantage.

8. John McCain is the lobbyist's biggest enemy.

McLame: Too Old To Be President

Sez someone who knows: Rep. John Murtha, age 75.

AP: Murtha says McCain too old to be president

When is he going to release his tax returns? Maybe he forgot.Besides being too old, John McCain McSame McBush, would be happy to see American troops in Iraq for the next 100 years. Wrong for 2008, wrong for America.

What Really Matters in This Election

dailykos

I tried to watch the Democratic debate last night. I really tried. But there was no there there. The moderaters, faux journalists Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos, asked questions about trivial bullshit for the first hour. Here's what they, and ABC (owned by Disney) think matter: Who will run for vice president, Bittergate, Snipergate, American flag lapel pins, knowing a former member of the Weather Underground, polls, Reverend Wright.

What really matters: The war, the economy, healthcare, the housing market, food prices, gas prices, climate change, torture, war crimes, outsourcing America, restoring America's moral core, and so much more.

We got almost nothing of the latter, and way too much of the former, from the debate.

It was almost unbearable to watch. Bizarrely, Charlie Gibson reserved his most withing contempt for the candidates refusing to agree not to raise the capital gains tax. What, did he sell stock this year?

If you'd like to let ABC know how disappointed you are in how execrably poor the debate monitors were, you can

- call them: ABC Switchboard: 212-456-7777

- email a response: ABC News Network Programming Feedback

- or call or email these honchos

ABC NEW YORK NEWSROOM: (212) 456-5100 newsradio@abc.com Newsroom Fax Machine 212.456.5150

Peter Salinger (THE MAN IN CHARGE OF ELECTION COVERAGE) Director, Special Events & Sports 212.456.5105 peter.salinger@abc.com

Cristi LandesManager, Programming 212.456.5107 cristi.d.landes@abc.com

Wayne Fisk Director, Programming 212.456.5327 wayne.fisk@abc.com

Jeff Fitzgerald Executive Director, Operations 212.456.5554 jeffrey.t.fitzgerald@abc.com

Heidi Oringer Executive Director, Entertainment 212.456.5541 heidi.b.oringer@abc.com

Jon Newman News Coverage 212.456.5100 jonathan.m.newman@abc.com

Joyce Alcantara Assignment Manager 212.456.5106 joyce.a.alcantara@abc.com

Jim Kane Deputy D.C. Bureau Chief 212.222. 6604 james.f.kane@abc.com

Andrew Kalb Executive Director, Programming 05.567.2269 andrew.l.kalb@abc.com

Robert Garcia Executive Director, News & Sports 212.456.5103 robert.garcia@abc.com

Tom Shales, Washington Post: In Pa. Debate, The Clear Loser Is ABC

Greg Mitchell, HuffPo: The Debate: A Shameful Night for the U.S. Media

Jason Linkins, HuffPo: Worst. Debate. Ever.

Hunter, dailykos: The Collapse Of The National Press

Michelle Obama on Colbert Report

Michelle Obama: Cool and on message.

USWNT News

USA celebrates penalty shot victory over Canada, 4/12/08
SanDiego.com: Change blowin' in the wind for women's team

Besides the news that Kate Markgraf is the team co-captain (yea Kate!) this article contains this interesting outline of Pia Sundhage's challenges:

Plenty of wrenching decisions, though, lie ahead.

There is goalkeeper Hope Solo and the scars from her much-publicized banishment at the 2007 World Cup last September. Solo and her teammates have worked to mend their tattered relationship, but Solo also has admitted “there are still some people who I realize I may never be close to again.”

There is the fitness level of hefty defender Cat Whitehill, a starter in the 2003 and '07 World Cups and 2004 Olympics. Sundhage has already made a subtle statement by benching Whitehall through most of the Algarve Cup and Olympic qualification.

There is the disposition of 5-foot-11 forward Abby Wambach, who is the team's most gifted player and whose abrasive personality can (and does) rub teammates and coaches the wrong way. She was the focal point in former coach Greg Ryan's bang-it-forward system, but Sundhage's offensive diversification ultimately means fewer touches for the No. 5 scorer in U.S. history.

There is the leadership void created when Kristine Lilly, the lone remaining link to the 1991 World Cup title, took the year off to start a family.

I am not surprised that Whitehill's fitness is an issue. One of the nightmares of Greg Ryan's foolish tactics was having Whitehill come forward to take all throw-ins, when she struggled to get back into position. Hopefully Sundhage will put her on the Juande Ramos diet.

I don't know about Wambach rubbing anyone else the wrong way, but I wager that she's had a few run-ins with this reporter. Is he trying to say that Abby is crabby because she's not getting the ball as much? I bet she's happy to be winning in a system that lets the team play soccer, not bootball.

ussoccer: U.S. Women's National Team Downs Canada in Penalty Kick Shootout to Win 2008 CONCACAF Women's Olympic Qualifying

Captain Christie Rampone with CONCACAF Trophy after win over Canada, 4/12/08

Jon Stewart Skewers "BitterGate"

Yes, I am not in the mood to write today.

Obama's Hoop Roots

Bryant Gumbel interviews Obama on Real Sports:

Stupid Republican Tricks

John McCain is a little confused about foreign policy. Again. McCain said he would leave the decision about whether to shift troops from Iraq to Afghanistan to General Petraeus. Apparently, McCain is unaware of the parameters of the job of "Commander in Chief". Petraeus had just testified before Congress last week that, well, that's not his job. That's the CIC's job. For which McCain is abundantly unqualified.

Rep. Geoff Davis (R-Ky), member of the House of Representatives, calls Barack Obama "boy". As Americablog notes, that's southern for n*gger. I believe Representative Davis shortened his name from the original: Jefferson Davis.

Stephen Hadley, Bush's National Security Advisor, repeatedly referred to Tibet as Nepal while appearing on ABC on Sunday. Repeatedly! Heckuva job, Stephen. (Helpfully, AP (Administration Puppets? Absurd Pack? Assignment: Parliament? then purged the transcript to make it look like this Bush stooge knew what he was talking about.)

Joe LieRepublican sez, it's a good idea to ask if Barack Obama is a Marxist. I ask, why does Joe LieRepublican still chair a committee in the Democratic-controlled Senate? What will it take for him to get his walking papers? He is a Republican now, Connecticut for Lieberman be damned.

On John McCain's presidential campaign website, there are recipes contributed by Cindy McCain (the woman who stole drugs from a charity). Problem: the recipes are lifted from the Food Network website. Once a thief, always a thief.

Now I'm Bitter

Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., eyes her shot of Crown Royal with Bronko's owner Nick Tarailo, right, as she stops at the bar during a campaign stop at Bronko's restaurant in Crown Point, Ind., on Saturday, April 12, 2008.
(AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

I'd like to write an omnibus post about the total ridiculousness of the other candidates reaction to, and the media's running gleefully with, Obama's "bitter" comment, but I'm too busy. (Work going into the electric kiln tomorrow! Whoo-hoo!) So here's an unresearched, unlinked post. Just my opinion.

The triviality of it all, the very same week that we learn that Smirky McConstitutionFucker PERSONALLY ENDORSED TORTURE, the press spends the entire weekend calling Barack Obama an out-of-touch elitist. Barack Obama, child of a single mother. Obama, who went to Harvard -- because he earned a scholarship. And then spurned hundreds of offers to work for corporate law firms, to work as a community organizer. Real elitist.

Multi-millionaire John McCain, owner of eight houses, son of an admiral, dumped his first wife to marry a multi-millionaire heiress twenty-five years his junior, he calls Obama an out-of-touch elitist. Multi-millionaire Hillary Clinton, who together with her husband earned $109 million in their seven short years out of the White House, graduate of Wellesley College and Yale Law School, has lived either in the White House or a tony suburb of New York City since 1992, she calls Barack Obama an elitist.

It's all bullshit! He wasn't insulting anyone, and they know it, and the media knows it. And Hillary Clinton, who is supposed to be a Democrat, attacks Obama like he's just admitted he authorized the United States military to start torturing prisoners. Oh, that's wrong. She attacks Obama like he's her real opponent, not John McSame, the Republicans and George W. Clusterfuck. Hillary, keep your eyes on the prize. It's not about defeating Obama. It's about beating McCain and taking back the White House in November. Shooting the other Democrat in the race is not helping.

Annie Oakley Clinton then claimed that her father taught her to shoot when she was a little girl (my mother said, my father showed me how to shoot when I was a little girl, but he didn't give me the gun. It was too big. It would have knocked me over.) And she'd gone duck hunting. Funny, I don't remember her ever mentioning that before. As a matter of fact, I'm pretty sure she was a big opponent of guns when she ran for Senate in 2000.

I looked her father up on wikipedia. The house where he supposedly taught her to shoot? It was a vacation house they owned on a lake in Pennsylvania, and Hillary spent her summers at the summer house. Real working class, summers at the second house.

Then she got photographed in a bar in Indiana throwing back a shot and a beer on Saturday night. What next? A campaign appearance with Clint Eastwood where they both drawl "Go ahead, make my day" and she shoots a paper cutout of Obama? Then goes out for a beer and a shot with McCain where they both laugh about having passed the commander-in-chief threshold? You may have guessed that I'm pretty sick of Hillary Clinton's shtick. Drop out now, Hillary, I would write in the sky over her events. If you can't say anything nice about the Democrat, don't say anything.

So, I said I wouldn't link, but this addendum to a Glenn "Glenzilla" Greenwald post pretty well summed up my opinion of the media's role in the whole debacle. (Go buy his new book, Great American Hypocrites.)

[On weekend television] there was virtually no discussion, at least on any of the news shows to which I was exposed, of the obviously consequential revelations of the President's direct involvement in the creation of America's torture regime. Instead, the vast bulk of attention was paid to depicting Barack Obama as an effete, elitist, deceptive enemy of the Regular Guy -- exactly the way that every national Democratic politician in recent memory has inevitably been depicted (including Hillary Clinton, particularly when the media and the Right thought last year that she would be the nominee).

Our elections are dominated by the same tired personality script, trotted out over and over and over. Democrats and liberals -- no matter how poor their upbringing, no matter how self-made they are, no matter how egalitarian their policies -- are the freakish, out-of-touch elitists who despise the values of the Regular Americans. Right-wing leaders -- no matter how extravagantly rich they are by virtue of other people's money, no matter how insulated their lives are, no matter how indifferent their policies are to the vast rich/poor gap -- are the normal, salt-of-the-earth Regular Folk. These petty, cliched storylines drown out every meaningful consideration and dictate our election outcomes, and they are deployed automatically.

It doesn't matter what the candidates actually say or do. The establishment press just waits for the right episode and then reflexively and eagerly fills in the gaps in the shallow script -- the script with which they are intimately familiar and which serves as their only framework for talking about and understanding political disputes.

John McSame: Four More Years of Bush

This 30 second ad is now running in DC, targeting insiders:

If The Beckhams Lived in Oklahoma

Photoshop rules.

From Wintrest, via Who Ate All the Pies?

Obama Comes Back Fighting

BAGNewsNotes
Yesterday a reporter released audiotape of remarks by Barack Obama at a fundraiser in California in which he said

"But the truth is, is that, our challenge is to get people persuaded that we can make progress when there's not evidence of that in their daily lives. You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."

Both McCain and Hillary Clinton jumped on Obama. McCain said the remarks showed Obama was "out of touch" with American voters. Clinton said he was being condescending.

Here's how Obama responded. (Sorry for the terrible audio; I've included the transcript below.)

“When I go around and I talk to people there is frustration and there is anger and there is bitterness. And what’s worse is when people are expressing their anger then politicians try to say what are you angry about? This just happened – I want to make a point here today.

“I was in San Francisco talking to a group at a fundraiser and somebody asked how’re you going to get votes in Pennsylvania? What’s going on there? We hear that’s its hard for some working class people to get behind your campaign. I said, “Well look, they’re frustrated and for good reason. Because for the last 25 years they’ve seen jobs shipped overseas. They’ve seen their economies collapse. They have lost their jobs. They have lost their pensions. They have lost their healthcare.

“And for 25, 30 years Democrats and Republicans have come before them and said we’re going to make your community better. We’re going to make it right and nothing ever happens. And of course they’re bitter. Of course they’re frustrated. You would be too. In fact many of you are. Because the same thing has happened here in Indiana. The same thing happened across the border in Decatur. The same thing has happened all across the country. Nobody is looking out for you. Nobody is thinking about you. And so people end up- they don’t vote on economic issues because they don’t expect anybody’s going to help them. So people end up, you know, voting on issues like guns, and are they going to have the right to bear arms. They vote on issues like gay marriage. And they take refuge in their faith and their community and their families and things they can count on. But they don’t believe they can count on Washington. So I made this statement-- so, here’s what rich. Senator Clinton says ‘No, I don’t think that people are bitter in Pennsylvania. You know, I think Barack’s being condescending.’ John McCain says, ‘Oh, how could he say that? How could he say people are bitter? You know, he’s obviously out of touch with people.’

"Out of touch? Out of touch? I mean, John McCain—it took him three tries to finally figure out that the home foreclosure crisis was a problem and to come up with a plan for it, and he’s saying I’m out of touch? Senator Clinton voted for a credit card-sponsored bankruptcy bill that made it harder for people to get out of debt after taking money from the financial services companies, and she says I’m out of touch? No, I’m in touch. I know exactly what’s going on. I know what’s going on in Pennsylvania. I know what’s going on in Indiana. I know what’s going on in Illinois. People are fed-up. They’re angry and they’re frustrated and they’re bitter. And they want to see a change in Washington and that’s why I’m running for President of the United States of America.”

While his initial statement was inartfully phrased, that's going to happen to everyone who spends 18 hours a day talking. (Only a Democrat would be attacked this way. McCain has confused Sunni and Shia repeatedly in the past few weeks, with barely a mention in the media.) I'm happy to see Obama fighting back and fighting back immediately. I remember 2004 when the Republicans would throw out some ridiculous argument against Kerry, and it would sit there, being repeated over and over and over in the media, for hours and then days, before the Kerry campaign, lumbering like a battleship changing course, finally deigned to answer the charge. And they were always too late to stop the bleeding.

When is Hillary Clinton going to stop campaigning against Obama and start campaigning against McCain? This is why I wish she'd drop out of the race. Democrats always relish in beating up each other. Beating the Republicans is my goal here.

McCain Flips His Housing Stance

March 26, 2008: McCain warns against hasty mortgage bailout

April 11, 2008: McCain reverses himself on mortgage position

These two headlines from the International Herald Tribune tell most of the story. The rest of the story is that McCain's mortgage bailout plan is all smoke and mirrors. His plan is limited to those he calls "deserving homeowners"; almost all of whom are already covered by the existing federal program:

So to be clear, McCain thinks that millions of Americans are going to lose their homes, and all but a few hundred thousand are just getting what they deserve. Specifically, he's prepared to step forward and help only those who:

-Took out a subprime loan after 2005

-Can prove they were "creditworthy" at the time

-Are unable to pay that subprime loan

-But could pay a 30-year fixed rate loan

Of course, pretty much all those folks already qualify for assistance under the existing FHASecure program.

So it's like a double backflip with extra difficulty. McCain is maneuvering by changing his position entirely on the surface -- without changing his position at all, in reality.

That's John McCain McSame McBush, who'd also be happy to see American troops in Iraq for the next 100 years. Your Republican party candidate to replace the Master of Disaster, George W. Clusterfuck, the man McCain has supported wholeheartedly for the past 8 years.

Around the Blogroll

flickr: SI Neg. 92-96. Date: 1992...Snake motif pottery. ..Credit: Laurie Minor-Penland (Smithsonian Institution)

A few matters I've been meaning to write about:

(1) I've been looking at pottery on the internet lots lately, and found a great post on Emily Murphy's Pottery Blog listing 63 blogs that she reads. 63! Eventually I need to add a category of pottery blogs to my blogroll, but not today as taxes loom.

(2) Alas, the best women's soccer blog, USA Women's Soccer, is no more. That's good news for the blogger, however, as she's been hired by the new Women's Professional Soccer League and will be maintaining the WPS website.

(3) Don to Earth is back! Still not updating a lot, but I love the world's oldest blogger's take.

Go Directly to the Dock at the Hague

ABC reports that war criminals Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, George Tenet and John Ashcroft discussed and approved of specific methods of torturing prisoners during meetings in the White House situation room. And though the reporters do not mention him, I have no doubt that the Master of Disaster himself, the psychopath-in-chief George W. Clusterfuck was right in there with them, gleefully discussing violating the most fundamental of human rights, the right not to be tortured.

Under the rules of their own religions, they will certainly go to hell. Before, that, I hope most sincerely that they are taken to the Hague in shackles and paraded in front of the world as the monstrosities that they are. I think the fact that each of these church-going hypocrites approved of torture proves that there is no God, for if there was a God, surely she would have struck each of them down by now.

ABCNews: Top Bush Advisors Approved 'Enhanced Interrogation'
Detailed Discussions Were Held About Techniques to Use on al Qaeda Suspects

ABC cited a top official as saying that Ashcroft asked aloud after one meeting: "Why are we talking about this in the White House? History will not judge this kindly."

Reuters: Top Bush aides approved interrogation tactics: report

"Highly placed sources said a handful of top advisers signed off on how the CIA would interrogate top al Qaeda suspects -- whether they would be slapped, pushed, deprived of sleep or subjected to simulated drowning, called waterboarding," ABC reported.

In addition to Rice, the principals at the time included Vice President Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Colin Powell, CIA Director George Tenet and Attorney General John Ashcroft, the report said.

The Sisyphean War in Iraq

Q: How do you get to 100 years in Iraq?

A: Six months at a time.

From moveon.org

We Love Lists

#1: "Dead Parrot", Monty Python, 1969

nerve.com: The 50 Greatest Comedy Sketches of All Time

hat tip to BoingBoing

#12: "The Racial Draft" Chappelle's Show

If Woody Allen's monologue qualified as a sketch, I'd add "The Moose" (1965) to the list. The Berkowitzes! The moose is furious!

McCain Still Delusional About Iraq

Remember McCain's "stroll" through a Baghdad market? When he dared to say it was safe to go to the market, when he went there with 100 armed men and 5 combat helicopters?

He's still nuts. He gave a speech on Iraq yesterday extolling the progress of the surge.

Coverage of the speech was interrupted by news reports of bombings of the Green Zone in Baghdad.

Keith Olbermann parses the speech & McCain's delusions:

Obama Has All The Best Videos

Obama's Everywhere:

The Real John McCain

A nasty, cruel man.

Two examples:

(1)

In 1998, at a Republican Party fundraiser, McCain told this joke:

"Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly?
Because her father is Janet Reno."

At the time, Chelsea Clinton was 13 years old.

(2)

Reported in Cliff Schecter's new book, The Real McCain (via firedoglake):

In his 1992 Senate bid, McCain was joined on the campaign trail by his wife, Cindy, as well as campaign aide Doug Cole and consultant Wes Gullett. At one point, Cindy playfully twirled McCain's hair and said, "You're getting a little thin up there." McCain's face reddened, and he responded, "At least I don't plaster on the makeup like a trollop, you cunt." McCain's excuse was that it had been a long day.

And those are things he felt comfortable saying in public.

Bush Finally Wins Something

History News Network: HNN Poll: 61% of Historians Rate the Bush Presidency Worst

Women's Final Set

NYTimes: Candice Wiggins (11), the ebullient guard who was named national player of the year by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association, delivered 25 points, 13 rebounds and 5 assists for Stanford.
Photo: Al Messerschmidt/Getty Images


Stanford will play Tennessee for the national championship on Tuesday night. Ice v. Ace, that is, Candice Wiggins of Stanford, the Wade Trophy player of the year winner, v. Candace Parker of Tennessee, AP Player of the Year. And for the fourth year in a row, both coaches in the final are women. No male coach has gotten his team into the final since Geno did it last with Taurasi in 2004. (This isn't an issue in the men's game as men's basketball is still segregated by gender on the coaching side.)

Stanford did a great job on Connecticut (box score), in an exciting and watchable semi last night. (Except for the ever-annoying announcers, the self-important Doris Roberts and half-dead Mike Patrick. Anyone else, please, ESPN.) Connecticut didn't get much from its frontcourt (Hunter 0, McClaren 2, Charles 9, Houston 10) and that was that. Stanford played an outstanding game, got assists on over 75% of its baskets (28 baskets, 20 assists), outrebounded Connecticut 43-37, and shot lights out down the stretch. Wiggins had 25 points and 13 rebounds from the guard position.

The second game was a dreary affair of missed shots and free throws (box score). The end was exciting, but a great final 10 seconds didn't make up for the tediousness of the whole game. The leading scorers were Parker for Tennessee (who shot 6 for 27 from the floor) and Fowles for LSU (a blistering 10 for 24). Ugly.

I'll be rooting for Stanford to knock Tennessee off its perch as national champions.

Harvey Araton, NYTImes: At Peace With Memory of Father’s Fall

Harvey Araton, NYTimes: The Top 10 Reasons to Cover the Women’s Final Four

Baby Heads

Reuters: Visitors look at a sculpture by Spanish artist Antonio Lopez Garcia in front of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts April 1, 2008, ahead of an exhibition of the artist's work that opens April13. Titled "Day and Night", the bronze sculptures of two babies' heads are modeled after the artist's grandchildren and weigh 1.65 tons each.
REUTERS/Brian Snyder (UNITED STATES)
Boston Globe: A slow, steady hand
A methodical Spanish painter has his first major US show at the MFA

The Media's False Narrative on McCain

Two peas in the media pod
Glenn Greenwald, HuffPo: Great American Hypocrites: McCain's Old Packaging

An excerpt from Greenwald's new book, Great American Hypocrites: Toppling the Myths of Republican Politics. Think about this when you hear the media say, reflexively, the buzzwords they have adopted to help brand McCain: maverick, iconoclast, foreign policy credentials, convictions, truthteller, etc.

The press's veneration of McCain as "a different type of Republican" has echoes of how George Bush was built into an iconic hero. In 2000, we were inundated with claims that Bush was a departure from the hard-core, Gingrichian right-wing Republican. Bush was no mere conservative, but a "compassionate conservative," someone who, exactly like McCain, combined the most admirable virtues of the conservative man with a streak of idiosyncratic independence that rendered him substantially different -- better -- than the standard right-wing Republican.

And exactly like the media's hero worship of McCain now, Bush in 2000 was presented as the sole figure capable of healing our partisan rift. He was a "uniter, not a divider," who venerated solutions above partisan bickering. Bush would reach across the aisle, recruit Democrats to his side, and just as he changed the tenor of politics in Texas, so, too, would he bridge the partisan divide in Washington after eight long years of Clintonian divisiveness.

Here is how then-RNC chairman Jim Nicholson put it during his 2000 Convention speech: "My friends, this is going to be a different kind of convention for a different kind of Republican." Bush spokesman Ray Sullivan mouthed a similar line during the campaign: "Gov. Bush has shown time and time again that he is a different kind of Republican."

Replace "McCain" in 2008 with "Bush" in 2000, and the cliché-ridden script has barely changed. Both then and now, the GOP nominee, despite a virtually unbroken record of standard conservative orthodoxy, is depicted as far too honorable and independent to be considered an ordinary politician, let alone a standard conservative partisan. Both the 2000 Bush and the 2008 McCain were mavericks -- inspiring, honest figures who transcend partisan warfare and piously float far above the muck of traditional politics.

Indeed, the central praise typically heaped by journalists on McCain -- that no matter what one thinks of his views, he always says what he thinks, because he is a man of real conviction -- is exactly the marketing package in which George Bush was wrapped, particularly when he ran for reelection. Just compare McCain's media reputation as a plain-spoken, truth-telling maverick with the crown jewel of George Bush's 2004 GOP Convention acceptance speech:

THE PRESIDENT: In the last four years, you and I have come to know each other. Even when we don't agree, at least you know what I believe and where I stand.
[applause]

The depiction of McCain as a truth-telling, apolitical maverick is just about as accurate as previous similar depictions of Bush were. On virtually every policy issue of significance, McCain's positions -- not his rhetoric but his actual positions -- ultimately transform into those held by the dominant right-wing faction of the Republican Party and, even more so, are identical to the positions that shaped and defined the failed Bush presidency.

Pat Buchanan, Equal Opportunity Hatemonger

FAIR Report: PATRICK BUCHANAN -- IN HIS OWN WORDS

February 26, 1996 Contact: Steven Rendall

In the flap over Larry Pratt and other unsavory characters associated with the Patrick Buchanan campaign, journalists typically framed the question: Is Buchanan linked to extremists and bigots? But there is a more basic question journalists should ask: Is Patrick Buchanan himself an extremist and bigot?

Here is a sampling of Buchanan's views.

I just chose one paragraph (of many) per hated group from the original, well-documented article.

ON AFRICAN-AMERICANS

On race relations in the late 1940s and early 1950s: "There were no politics to polarize us then, to magnify every slight. The 'negroes' of Washington had their public schools, restaurants, bars, movie houses, playgrounds and churches; and we had ours." (Right from the Beginning,
Buchanan's 1988 autobiography, p. 131)

ON IMMIGRANTS AND PEOPLE OF COLOR

"If we had to take a million immigrants in, say Zulus, next year, or Englishmen, and put them up in Virginia, what group would be easier to assimilate and would cause less problems for the people of Virginia?" ("This Week With David Brinkley," 1/8/91)

ON JEWS

Buchanan was vehement in pushing President Reagan -- despite protests -- to visit Germany's Bitburg cemetery, where Nazi SS troops were buried. At a White House meeting, Buchanan reportedly reminded Jewish leaders that they were "Americans first" -- and repeatedly scrawled the phrase "Succumbing to the pressure of the Jews" in his notebook. Buchanan was credited with crafting Ronald Reagan's line that the SS troops buried at Bitburg were "victims just as surely as the victims in the concentration camps." (New York Times, 5/16/85; New Republic, 1/22/96)

ON GAYS

On AIDS, Buchanan wrote in 1983: "The poor homosexuals -- they have declared war upon nature, and now nature is extracting an awful retribution (AIDS)." (Los Angeles Times, 11/28/86) Later that year, he demanded that New York City Ed Koch and New York Gov. Mario Cuomo cancel the Gay Pride Parade or else "be held personally responsible for the spread of the AIDS plague." "With 80,000 dead of AIDS, our promiscuous homosexuals appear literally hell-bent on Satanism and suicide," Buchanan wrote in 1990 (syndicated column, 10/17/90). In the 1992 campaign, he declared: AIDS is nature's retribution for violating the laws of nature." (Seattle Times, 7/31/93)

ON WOMEN

"The real liberators of American women were not the feminist noise-makers, they were the automobile, the supermarket, the shopping center, the dishwasher, the asher-dryer, the freezer." (Right from the Beginning, p. 149)

ON DEMOCRACY

In a January, 1991 column, Buchanan suggested that "quasi-dictatorial rule" might be the solution to the problems of big municipalities and the federal fiscal crisis: "If the people are corrupt, the more democracy, the worse the government." (Washington Times, 1/9/91) He has written disparagingly of the "one man, one vote Earl Warren system."

I just don't understand why such an evil, vituperative person has a prominent position on MSNBC. (MSNBC is owned by GE, my brain answers.)

Media Massage of McCain Continues

100 Year Video
The foul odor of media-in-the-can-for-McCain and the Rethugs hangs over the 2008 campaign. McCain sez: It's fine with me if we're in Iraq for 100 years. The media sez: He didn't say that!

The Washington Post charges Democrats are "distorting" McCain by saying, well, that he said what he said. The New York Times says Democrats are misharacterizing and distorting McCain, by saying, well, that he said what he said. Again, the facts the media is trying so hard to ignore: McCain said he'd be fine if we stayed in Iraq for 100 years. After all, he said (you can watch it here on YouTube),

QUESTIONER: Yes, please. President Bush has talked about our --

McCAIN: Please, please, please start over.

QUESTIONER: President Bush has talked about our staying in Iraq for 50 years --

McCAIN: Maybe a hundred.

QUESTIONER: Is that -- is that --

McCAIN: We've been in South Korea -- we've been in Japan for 60 years. We've been in South Korea for 50 years or so. That'd be fine with me as long as Americans --

QUESTIONER: So that's your policy?

McCAIN: -- As long as Americans are not being injured or harmed or wounded or killed, then it's fine with me. I hope it would be fine with you if we maintain a presence in a very volatile part of the world where Al Qaeda is training, recruiting, and equipping and motivating people every single day.

But no, the media cries: He didn't really mean it! Stop picking on our Johnny Boy! They want so badly for their pal John McCain, McSame, McLame, McBush, etc., to take them on BBQs at his "cabin" (read, rich man's estate) in Sedona for the next four years.

Media Matters: When McCain cries foul, the media are eager to agree

And what other zombie lies has the media been feeding us? The bowling prowess, or lack thereof, of Barack Obama is a very significant story, according to graduates of the country's finest schools of journalism. Glenn Greenwald sums it up:

In the past two weeks, the following events transpired. A Department of Justice memo, authored by John Yoo, was released which authorized torture and presidential lawbreaking. It was revealed that the Bush administration declared the Fourth Amendment of the Bill of Rights to be inapplicable to "domestic military operations" within the U.S. The U.S. Attorney General appears to have fabricated a key event leading to the 9/11 attacks and made patently false statements about surveillance laws and related lawsuits. Barack Obama went bowling in Pennsylvania and had a low score.

Here are the number of times, according to NEXIS, that various topics have been mentioned in the media over the past thirty days:

"Yoo and torture" - 102

"Mukasey and 9/11" -- 73

"Yoo and Fourth Amendment" -- 16

"Obama and bowling" -- 1,043

"Obama and Wright" -- More than 3,000 (too many to be counted)

"Obama and patriotism" - 1,607

"Clinton and Lewinsky" -- 1,079

And as Eric Boehlert documents, even Iraq -- that little five-year U.S. occupation with no end in sight -- has been virtually written out of the media narrative in favor of mindless, stupid, vapid chatter of the type referenced above. "The Clintons are Rich!!!!" will undoubtedly soon be at the top of this heap within a matter of a day or two.

As I write this, "Clinton Tax Returns" google search returns 4,320 news results. "yoo torture" returns 172 results. "mukasey 9/11" 45 results.

The media is dead. Long live the servile, corrupt and shameless corporate media.

As Stephen Colbert said:

But, listen, let's review the rules. Here's how it works: the president makes decisions. He's the decider. The press secretary announces those decisions, and you people of the press type those decisions down. Make, announce, type. Just put 'em through a spell check and go home. Get to know your family again. Make love to your wife. Write that novel you got kicking around in your head. You know, the one about the intrepid Washington reporter with the courage to stand up to the administration. You know - fiction!

Replace "president" with "McCain" and you have the current behavior of the media.