ThinkProgress
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
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:
Updated: The video:
Paging Katherine Harris
Miami Herald: Gov. Crist extends early voting hours statewide
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.
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."
Callous rich fuck.
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.
Meet Charles Alexander
Inspiring story of an 86-year-old Obama volunteer getting to meet the man.
dailykos: Charles Meets Barack
dailykos: Charles Meets Barack
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:
Updated: The video:
Real, or CGI?
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.
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'
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.
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.
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.
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
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"
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.
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.
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:
Don't imagine she fired the makeup artist, either.
Watch Sarah Off-the-Reservation here:
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
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).
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.
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.
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
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."
Saturday, October 25, 2008
News Roundup, Saturday, October 25, 2008
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:
We Love Lists
Photograph: Danny Lehman/Corbis
Guardian (uk): 1000 artworks to see before you die
Photo Gallery: 21 artworks from Volume One
McCain-Palin Rallies: Document the Atrocities
Wow.
Denver, Colorado, October 24, 2008:
Kids pretending to be monkeys, calling Obama a monkey, Obama wears a turban, is a Muslim, a socialist, a communist. Your modern Republican Party.
Denver, Colorado, October 24, 2008:
Kids pretending to be monkeys, calling Obama a monkey, Obama wears a turban, is a Muslim, a socialist, a communist. Your modern Republican Party.
Friday, October 24, 2008
McCain Adviser Resigns, Votes For Obama
This is a big one in Republican intellectual circles. 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, resigned from the campaign and announced that he has voted for Obama by absentee ballot.
Why? Palin is not qualified to be President.
New Republic: Reagan Appointee and (Recent) McCain Adviser Charles Fried Supports Obama
Charles Fried, a professor at Harvard Law School, has long been one of the most important conservative thinkers in the United States. Under President Reagan, he served, with great distinction, as Solicitor General of the United States. Since then, he has been prominently associated with several Republican leaders and candidates, most recently John McCain, for whom he expressed his enthusiastic support in January.
This week, Fried announced that he has voted for Obama-Biden by absentee ballot. In his letter to Trevor Potter, the General Counsel to the McCain-Palin campaign, he asked that his name be removed from the several campaign-related committees on which he serves. In that letter, he said that chief among the reasons for his decision "is the choice of Sarah Palin at a time of deep national crisis."
The Real John McCain Opposes Clean Energy
Video from the League of Conservation Voters, contrasting McCain's sudden embrace of clean energy to his 20+ year record opposing clean energy.
LCV2008:
LCV2008:
The John McCain we know has repeatedly voted against national clean energy goals, against clean and efficient cars, and has accepted nearly $2 million from oil and gas interests.
Thanks, George W. Clusterfuck
Thanks for destroying our economy.
Thanks for destroying our reputation around the world.
And a serious thanks, for destroying the Republican Party in our time.
NYTimes: U.S. Stocks Dive After Rout Overseas
WaPo: Wall Street Falls After Slide on Global Markets
Who is the McCain Campaign's Highest Paid Staffer?
Why, Sarah Palin's makeup artist, of course. $22,800 for the first two weeks of October.
Words fail me.
Words fail me.
Out Here in the Wilderness
Big local news:
Worcester Telegram: Wild boar struck and killed on Rt. 2
Chester H. Hall III of Royalston was contacted to take away the carcass. Mr. Hall is known locally as a coyote hunter. He said he was offered what he was told was a pig for coyote bait.
“I went to pick up a wild pig and there was a full-blown Russian boar,” he said.
The boar was about 200 pounds, dark brown and slightly reddish in color. Mr. Hall said it looked to him like the classic image of a werewolf with a hump on its back and a long snout. The animal had tusks but they were barely visible because they were broken.
Mr. Hall said he was surprised because wild boars are not supposed to be found in Massachusetts.
“I spoke to a biologist and he said it’s only the third time he has heard of one in Massachusetts,” he said.
Mr. Hall said it is unclear where the boar may have come from. He said it might have been living in the Oxbow Wildlife area not far from where it was killed.
There are wild boar populations in New Hampshire, Vermont and Pennsylvania, but the animals are rarely seen in other parts of the Northeast.
Russian wild boars were introduced to New Hampshire in the 1890s at the 20,000-acre Corbin wild game preserve. Mr. Hall said some escaped when a fence was blown down during a hurricane.
Sarah Palin's "Executive Experience"
More like Cronys-R-US:
LATimes: Palin appointed friends and donors to key posts in Alaska, records show
100-plus jobs went to campaign donors or their relatives, sometimes without apparent regard to qualifications. Several donors got state-subsidized loans for business ventures of dubious public value.
She makes George W. Clusterfuck look like Einstein. Well, maybe that's giving Bush too much credit. She makes George W. Bush look smart. To be stupider than Bush, now there's an achievement.
LATimes: Palin appointed friends and donors to key posts in Alaska, records show
100-plus jobs went to campaign donors or their relatives, sometimes without apparent regard to qualifications. Several donors got state-subsidized loans for business ventures of dubious public value.
She makes George W. Clusterfuck look like Einstein. Well, maybe that's giving Bush too much credit. She makes George W. Bush look smart. To be stupider than Bush, now there's an achievement.
John McCain: Do As I Say, Not As I Do
Meeting without preconditions, palling around with terrorists, for John McCain, that's all Been there, Done that, Got the Armani t-shirt.
HuffPo: McCain's Private Visit With Chilean Dictator Pinochet Revealed For First Time
HuffPo: McCain's Private Visit With Chilean Dictator Pinochet Revealed For First Time
John McCain, who has harshly criticized the idea of sitting down with dictators without pre-conditions, appears to have done just that. In 1985, McCain traveled to Chile for a friendly meeting with Chile's military ruler, General Augusto Pinochet, one of the world's most notorious violators of human rights credited with killing more than 3,000 civilians and jailing tens of thousands of others.
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.
Bandwagon Jumpers
Republican/independent endorsements for Obama now that it is clear he will win (yes, I said it. It's ok, don't hyperventilate.)
William Weld ("The Orange-Headed WASP", as John Silber memorably derided him during the 1990 Massachusetts gubernatorial campaign)
Scott McClellan, former Bush Press Secretary
Arne Carlson, former governor of Minnesota
Barry Goldwater's granddaughter C.C. Goldwater
New York Times
GOP "Goner" List
The House Republicans are circulating a "goner" list of House members who will lose their races:
Running for reelection, expected to lose:
Reps. Tom Feeney (R-Fla.)
John R. Kuhl (R-N.Y.) [aka Randy Kuhl, NY-29, running against Eric Massa]
Don Young (R-Alaska
Tim Walberg (R-Mich.)
Republican rep has retired, seat loss expected:
Rick Renzi of Arizona,
Jerry Weller of Illinois,
Jim Saxton of New Jersey,
Mike Ferguson of New Jersey,
Vito Fossella of New York,
James Walsh of New York and
Tom Davis of Virginia.
Election Protection News, October 24, 2008
Good:
Indiana judge rejects Republican party lawsuit seeking to shut down early voting in Lake County, Indiana (Indiana's second-largest county).
Wisconsin judge rejects state Attorney General von Hollen's lawsuit trying to have all new registrations checked against flawed state databases. (No coincidence, von Hollen is a Republican and co-chair in Wisconsin for John McCain's presidential campaign.)
In Ohio, Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner has issued two directives: (1) election officials cannot challenge voters on Election Day or reject absentee ballots based solely on discrepancies from verifying new voter registrations, and (2) county election workers cannot uses mismatches as the basis for not counting an absentee ballot.
The Nevada Secretary of State has ruled against a Republican Party motion to have voter registrations invalidated for typos.
Bad:
Military ballots are thrown out in Fairfax County, Virginia because while they comply with federal law, they don't comply with a Virginia law requiring the voter's current address be on an absentee ballot.
More Sarah Palin/Tina Fey on Thursday SNL
FERRELL/BUSH FEY/PALIN TRANSCRIPT:
WILL FERRELL AS PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH - "Hello, my fellow Americans. I have chosen to schedule this impromptu address at night because quite frankly every time I speak during the day, the Stock Market goes in the crapper. So, sorry, Asian markets. You take the hit on this one. I come to you tonight in the midst of a very important election between two very qualified candidates: the hot lady and the Tiger Woods guy. Both candidates are heavily patriotized and display much characterization. And yes, I did have three Xanax and a Silver Bullet about a half-hour ago. I'm out of here in a few months, so screw it. But before I leave I wanted to help Sarah Palin and John McCain by giving them what every candidate wants most: a prime-time heavily publicized network endorsement from George W. Bush. Hey, don't pinch yourself John, you are awake!"
FERRELL AS BUSH (CONT'D) -- "Now I tried to do this several months ago but somehow it kept getting pushed to a written press release or a shouted sentence as I walked to the helicopter. I began to suspect that they didn't want my endorsement to be too public. But now with the country on a big upswing and my numbers on the rise, I thought it was time to give a proper, large scale 'much love' to McCain and Palin..."
(WILL FORTE, as an AIDE enters and whispers in BUSH's ear)
FERRELL AS BUSH (CONT'D) - "What? Really? Why didn't you tell me Jeff? I've just been told by my trusted aide Jeff, that the country is actually in a horrible downward spiral and that my approval numbers are lower than ever. That one's on me. Four months ago, I declared the Oval Office a bummer-free zone. So... You know what, let's bring on Senator McCain and Governor Palin."
(TINA FEY as GOVERNOR SARAH PALIN enters smiling and waving and sits next to BUSH on the front the desk)
TINA FEY AS GOVERNOR SARAH PALIN - "So nice to meet you, Mr. President. I've seen you on TV."
FERRELL AS BUSH - "Where's McRage?"
FEY AS PALIN - "You know, John McCain and I have been so busy travelin' around this great country of ours talkin' about change and energy independence and William Ayers, and doin' a little shoppin', but unfortunately Senator McCain, upon hearing you wanted to give him a super public endorsement, cannot be found. He was last seen travelin' on foot through the Adirondacks. But my husband and two of his drinkin' buddies are in pursuit on snowmachines.
FERRELL AS BUSH - "Well, We'll smoke him out. George Bush always finds his man save for one huge exception."
FEY AS PALIN - "We are gonna get 'er done."
FERRELL AS BUSH - "My God you are folksy."
FEY AS PALIN - "Why thank you Mr. President. I like to think I'm one part practiced folksy , one part sassy and a little dash of high school bitchy."
FERRELL AS BUSH - "For a little while I was trying to be folksy but after a bit, it just came off douchey. All right, let me get into my endorsement for you as Vice President. As you know America, the office of Vice President is the most important office in the land. The Vice President decides when we go to war, how we tax the citizens and how we interpret the Constitution. The President can do nothing without checking with the Vice President. That is why Sarah Palin..."
FEY AS PALIN - "Actually, Mr. President, I don't want to go all Katie Couric on you, but I think it's actually the other way around. I think the Vice President reports to the President."
FERRELL AS BUSH - "Really? That's not what Dick Cheney told me when he sat me down on the first day."
(DARRELL HAMMOND as SENATOR JOHN MCCAIN is brought in, struggling with JASON SUDEIKIS as TODD PALIN in a snowsuit.)
SUDEIKIS AS TODD PALIN - "We out-mavericked the maverick!"
HAMMOND AS MCCAIN - "Good evening, my friends. Mr. President, always a pleasure."
FERRELL AS BUSH - "Good to see you, John. Hey let's get a photo of this; it'll really help your campaign out. Now let me do this: I, George W. Bush, endorse John McCain and Sarah Palin with all my heart..."
(MCCAIN tries to drift out of frame but is pulled back by BUSH)
FERRELL AS BUSH (cont'd) - "John was there for me ninety percent of the time over the last eight years. When you think of John McCain, think of me, George W. Bush. Think of this face. When you're in the voting booth, before you vote - picture this face right here. A vote for John McCain is a vote for George W. Bush.
(to MCCAIN) You're welcome. So, I want to be there you, John for the next eight years."
FEY AS PALIN -The next sixteen years!
FERRELL AS BUSH - (to an off-camera photographer) "Let's get a safety. I think I blinked on that last shot. Thumbs up, everybody. But most of all I support them because...Live from New York...It's Saturday Night!!!!
Daily Inspiration
LATimes:
"Fading Scroll," a huge metal tapestry by El Anatsui that has graced the lobby of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art's Ahmanson Building for several months, has been jointly purchased by LACMA and the Fowler Museum at UCLA. The acquisition, made with support from the Broad Art Foundation, gives the two museums a major work by a leading African artist who was born in Ghana in 1944 and has lived and worked in Nigeria since 1975.
Like many of Anatsui's works, in museum collections around the world, "Fading Scroll" is constructed of metal castoffs. In this case, the artist has gathered thousands of liquor bottle wrappers and tops and stitched them together with copper wire.
The Fowler introduced Anatsui to Los Angeles last year in a critically acclaimed traveling exhibition. "Fading Scroll" will remain on view at LACMA until Nov. 2. Its next appearance will be at the Fowler in "Transformations: Recent Contemporary African Acquisitions," Feb. 22 to June 14.
You can click on the picture for a larger version. Coach Mom & I saw an entire exhibit of El Anatsui's work -- I think at one of the Smithsonian Museums -- and they are very fascinating, huge, powerful and fluid from a distance, incredibly detailed up close. Plus they're made of consumer refuse so they're recycling projects.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Mayberry for Obama
Ron Howard, Andy Griffith, and Henry Winkler reprise their old roles (complete with wigs) for Barack.
I Wish There Were Video
But this is a great story, sent by a Cincinnati reader to Ben Smith at Politico:
Upon arriving at the Hamilton County Board of Elections in Cincinnati to vote early today I happened upon some friends of my mother's — three small, elderly Jewish women. They were quite upset as they were being refused admitance to the polling location due to their Obama T-Shirts, hats and buttons. Apparently you cannot wear Obama/McCain gear into polling locations here in Ohio.... They were practically on the verge of tears.
After a minute or two of this a huge man (6'5", 300 lbs easy) wearing a Dale Earnhardt jacket and Bengal's baseball cap left the voting line, came up to us and introduced himself as Mike. He told us he had overheard our conversation and asked if the ladies would like to borrow his jacket to put over their t-shirts so they could go in and vote. The ladies quickly agreed. As long as I live I will never forget the image of these 80-plus-year-old Jewish ladies walking into the polling location wearing a huge Dale Earnhardt racing jacket that came over their hands and down to their knees!
Mike patiently waited for each woman to cast their vote, accepted their many thanks and then got back in line (I saved him a place while he was helping out the ladies). When Mike got back in line I asked him if he was an Obama supporter. He said that he was not, but that he couldn't stand to see those ladies so upset. I thanked him for being a gentleman in a time of bitter partisanship and wished him well.
After I voted I walked out to the street to find my mother's friends surrouding our new friend Mike — they were laughing and having a great time. I joined them and soon learned that Mike had changed his mind in the polling booth and ended up voting for Obama. When I asked him why he changed his mind at the last minute, he explained that while he was waiting for his jacket he got into a conversation with one of the ladies who had explained how the Jewish community, and she, had worked side by side with the black community during the civil rights movements of the '60s, and that this vote was the culmination of those personal and community efforts so many years ago. That this election for her was more than just a vote ... but a chance at history.
Mike looked at me and said, "Obama's going to win, and I didn't want to tell my grandchildren some day that I had an opportunity to vote for the first black president, but I missed my chance at history and voted for the other guy."
Fake Russians Mock Palin
Funny.
Phonetic transcript:
soon as i wayk up in the morning
i go to my window
i made this teliscop myself out of duck tape and the thing that holds the rapping paper
so i can see if ur there
i fix it on ur howse in Alaska
my next door neybor here in moscow
what r u doing rite now lets see
r u and todd ok?
u say u can see me and my country from ur state well im looking at u evry day!!!
misses palin!
i want to fly into ur Airspase!
misses palin!
i want to reer my little Head!
misses palin!
why wont You reply to my Emails?!!
I made a teliscop for YOU and i luv u so
we share a small merry-time border but the borders of r harts is thick
u dont like news-papers well neether of us can say or reed english
we are madw for eachuther!!!
so fly ur playn my way
i live at 45454 RUSSIA AVE
repeet misses palin chorus
I say dog gone it you betcha you betcha dog gone it you betcha dog gone it say it aint so joe you betcha dog on it etc
Musical Interlude
Inspiring song parody by 7th graders at Ron Clark Academy, at the Coca-Cola Leadership Conference in Atlanta, Georgia:
"We Can Vote However We Like"
I'm still humming "Obama on the left, McCain on the right, so we can talk politics all night, and you can vote however you like!"
"We Can Vote However We Like"
I'm still humming "Obama on the left, McCain on the right, so we can talk politics all night, and you can vote however you like!"
Poll Candy
Taegan Goddard's Political Wire: Quinnipiac: Obama Leads in Big Three
With 12 days to go, a new Quinnipiac poll finds Sen. John McCain is narrowing the gap in Florida, but fading in Ohio and barely denting Sen. Barack Obama's double-digit lead in Pennsylvania.
Florida: Obama 49%, McCain 44%
Ohio: Obama 52%, McCain 38%
Pennsylvania: Obama 53%, McCain 40%
Said pollster Peter Brown: "As we enter the home stretch, Sen. Obama is winning voter groups that no Democrat has carried in more than four decades, and he holds very solid leads in the big swing states. If these numbers hold up, he could win the biggest Democratic landslide since Lyndon Johnson in 1964."
Jon Stewart on Palin Wardrobe: "Project Beltway"
I loved this because he called the Palins "The Grifters" (I called them that two days ago!) and described the grifter technique thusly (my rough transcript):
My God! They're a family of grifters! I know how they're doing it. The hot one finds an elderly victim...yeah...all right...or a mark, if you will. And then she seduces him with her unfancy talk and once he pulls out the checkbook, BOOM, here come the relatives. The old fart never had a chance. Seriously, they're grifters.
What's Wrong With This Picture?
I agree! Vote Democratic.
Forget the Constitution, she doesn't even know the symbol of her own party.
Republicans for Obama
Interesting interviews with life-long Republicans and conservatives who are going to vote for Obama. via dailykos.
Compare and Contrast
Sarah Palin's $150,000 wardrobe v. the Obama wardrobe. So who's the real elitist? The woman with the $150,000 wardrobe or the guy who has his shoes resoled? You decide.
dailykos
Photo by Callie Shell, 3/1/08
More from HuffPo:
Photo by Callie Shell, 3/1/08
Here's what the photographer said about this photo: "Senator Obama was doing press interviews by telephone in a holding room between events. Sometime later as he was getting ready to begin his event, he asked me if I was photographing his shoes. When I said yes, he told me that he had already had them resoled once since he entered the race a year earlier. Providence, R.I., 3/1/2008."
More from HuffPo:
In early July the Obama family sat down for an interview with Maria Menounos of "Access Hollywood." One of the topics discussed was Barack's status as a style icon, which amused his wife and daughters because, as Michelle points out in the interview, his belt and shoes need replacing, and his pants are 10 years old ("I hate to shop," he explains). Michelle also reveals that the sundress she's wearing is from the Gap: "Fortunately now they make really pretty stuff at all price ranges... [Barack] will be happy to know that this is, like, a $30 dress." Her husband then high-fives her, and daughter Sasha announces "Mommy buys everything from Gap!"
Congressional Updates
1. Eric Massa, Democrat trying to take NY-29 from crazy mofo Randy Kuhl, is up in the polls (yeah) and is getting a little help from his opponent, who said this
and now Markos Moulitsas, of dailykos, is asking dailykos readers to contribute to Massa's campaign. You can, too. Eric is a good guy, served under Wes Clark, very smart and very progressive.
Eric Massa for Congress
P.S. If you live in New York, check your voter registration status. New York has purged 1.6 million names from the voting rolls this year; mistakes have surely been made. Make sure your vote counts. If you find out now that you've been purged, you may be able to avoid voting by provisional ballot on election day. They can fix it now; they're not going to have the time on election day.
2. The national Republican Party has pulled all its funding from the race of Joe McCarthy-channeling Michelle Bachmann (MN-6). Ha. Guess she will have to investigate the un-American members of Congress by herself - from home after she loses her seat.
3. The Rethugs are also pulling out the races of Tom Feeney (FL-24) and Marilyn Musgrave (CO-4). I only wish Angie Paccione, who lost a close race to Musgrave two years ago, was her opponent this time; but Democrat Betsy Markey seems likely to win this seat.
I firmly believe the Democratic majority wants the American public to suffer and to hurt so that they can make some political gains at election time and I think that's wrong.
and now Markos Moulitsas, of dailykos, is asking dailykos readers to contribute to Massa's campaign. You can, too. Eric is a good guy, served under Wes Clark, very smart and very progressive.
Eric Massa for Congress
P.S. If you live in New York, check your voter registration status. New York has purged 1.6 million names from the voting rolls this year; mistakes have surely been made. Make sure your vote counts. If you find out now that you've been purged, you may be able to avoid voting by provisional ballot on election day. They can fix it now; they're not going to have the time on election day.
2. The national Republican Party has pulled all its funding from the race of Joe McCarthy-channeling Michelle Bachmann (MN-6). Ha. Guess she will have to investigate the un-American members of Congress by herself - from home after she loses her seat.
3. The Rethugs are also pulling out the races of Tom Feeney (FL-24) and Marilyn Musgrave (CO-4). I only wish Angie Paccione, who lost a close race to Musgrave two years ago, was her opponent this time; but Democrat Betsy Markey seems likely to win this seat.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Don't Ask Sarah Palin What A Precondition Is
'Cause she does not know. She did not know that vocabulary was going to be a precondition for the vice presidency!
Asked what a precondition is, she tries "diplomatic strategy", which doesn't even get partial credit.
You can watch Part 1 of the Brian Williams interview (a little over 11 minutes) here. Lots of Sarah Word Salad at play.
Asked what a precondition is, she tries "diplomatic strategy", which doesn't even get partial credit.
You can watch Part 1 of the Brian Williams interview (a little over 11 minutes) here. Lots of Sarah Word Salad at play.
Obama: "We All Love This Country"
Obama is the anti-McCain. Anti-hate, anti-small thinking, anti-hopelessness. This clip from his speech in Richmond, Virginia today is inspiring.
At a defining moment like this, we don't have the luxury of relying on the same political games, the same political tactics, that we've become accustomed to. This slash-and-burn politics that divides us from one another... which the challenges and crises we face right now, we can't afford to divide this country. By race, by class, by region, by who we are, by what policies we support. Let me tell you something, because I know you've been hearing a lot of stuff lately. There are no real parts of the country and fake parts of the country. There are no pro-America parts of the country and anti-America parts of the country. We all love this country. No matter where we live. Or where we come from.
[]
I'm asking you to believe. Believe in yourselves, believe in each other, believe in the future we can build together.
McCain/Palin: "They Know They're Losing"
Dumb and dumber appeared together for an interview with Brian Williams, and this is what NBC political director Chuck Todd thought:
Chuck Todd: Well, Chris, I wouldn’t blame Brian for wanting to say this. There was a tenseness between, first of all, between the two. There’s no chemistry. I couldn’t see chemistry between John McCain and Sarah Palin. It was.....I felt as if we grabbed two people and said ‘here sit next to each other, we’re going to conduct an interview.’ There wasn’t, they’re not, uuugh, not comfortable with each other yet.
The other thing about it is that you can tell they know that they’re losing. There’s an intensity there, they’re drained, the entire campaign staff is drained. The two candidates seem guarded, they seem on edge. It’s not as if they were rude or anything. It’s not as if they weren’t trying to be forthcoming. It’s just, they just seemed, it’s a negative intensity. I don’t know how else to describe it. But you’ll see that when you see the two of them together, the chemistry is not all there.....you do wonder "is John McCain starting to blame her for things, blaming himself, is she blaming him?" You just wonder what’s going on inside their heads are they upset with how the other has treated them and is that why her the numbers low? It’s just a negative vibe that you get in that room.
John McCain: For Socialism Before He Was Against It
From ThinkProgress:
The problem with switching every position you've ever held in your life for an election -- in the YouTube age -- is that every prior position is on videotape.
And sadly, look how much younger John McCain is in this 2000 townhall meeting.
At an October 2000 town hall on MSNBC’s Hardball, an audience member asked Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) about why the rich pay higher taxes than the middle class. McCain defended progressive taxation, stating, “I think it’s to some degree because we feel, obviously, that wealthy people can afford more”:[T]he very wealthy, because they can afford tax lawyers and all kinds of loopholes, really don’t pay nearly as much as you think they do when you just look at the percentages. […]
So, look, here’s what I really believe, that when you are — reach a certain level of comfort, there’s nothing wrong with paying somewhat more. … And frankly, I think the first people who deserve a tax cut are working Americans with children that need to educate their children, and they’re the ones that I would support tax cuts for first.
The problem with switching every position you've ever held in your life for an election -- in the YouTube age -- is that every prior position is on videotape.
And sadly, look how much younger John McCain is in this 2000 townhall meeting.
Sarah Palin starring in "The Grifters"
Sarah Palin took her kids along to public events to which they were not invited, and charged Alaska taxpayers for the kids' travel expenses. On August 6th, after Alaskan reporters questioned those expenses, she amended the forms to say "First Family attended" and "First Family invited", even to events the organizers say the kids were not invited to.
She's a real Republican, all right. A liar and a tax cheat.
She's a real Republican, all right. A liar and a tax cheat.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Gov. Sarah Palin charged the state for her children to travel with her, including to events where they were not invited, and later amended expense reports to specify that they were on official business.
The charges included costs for hotel and commercial flights for three daughters to join Palin to watch their father in a snowmobile race, and a trip to New York, where the governor attended a five-hour conference and stayed with 17-year-old Bristol for five days and four nights in a luxury hotel.
In all, Palin has charged the state $21,012 for her three daughters' 64 one-way and 12 round-trip commercial flights since she took office in December 2006. In some other cases, she has charged the state for hotel rooms for the girls.
Help Spread the Truth About ACORN
Forward this video by Robert Greenwald's Brave New Films far and wide.
Brave New Films:
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.
Barbie Needed A New Wardrobe
Sarah Palin, in a red leather jacket, waves as she steps on stage before a crowd at a baseball field in Grand Junction, Colo., on Monday.
The RNC spent more than $150,000 putting lipstick on Sarah Palin. Might have been better off sending her to a crash course on civics. I think the 2004 President Barbie (above, left) is more qualified than Sarah Word Salad.
Politico:
The Republican National Committee appears to have spent more than $150,000 to clothe and accessorize vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and her family since her surprise pick by John McCain in late August.
According to financial disclosure records, the accessorizing began in early September and included bills from Saks Fifth Avenue in St. Louis and New York for a combined $49,425.74.
The records also document a couple of big-time shopping trips to Neiman Marcus in Minneapolis, including one $75,062.63 spree in early September.
The RNC also spent $4,716.49 on hair and makeup through September after reporting no such costs in August.
Best comment on this story, by David Kurtz at TPM:
Nothing says Main Street quite like Saks Fifth Avenue.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
New Defenders of WIldlife Ad: "Polar Bears"
From Defenders Action Fund:
Rather than working to save our polar bears, Governor Sarah Palin has launched an all-out effort to block protections for them. According to the Anchorage Daily News, Palin covered up evidence from her own scientists showing the need for polar bear protections. Now shes doing the bidding of the oil companies and trophy hunters in a lawsuit to prevent the government from listing of our polar bears as a threatened species. As governor, Sarah Palin has been a disaster for polar bears, wolves and other wildlife. A heartbeat away from the presidency, she could do even worse.
Dazed and Confused
HuffPo: McCain Accidentally Agrees: Western Pennsylvania Is Racist
It's kind of sad watching John McCain these days.
New Obama Ad: "Erratic"
I saw this ad at Politico, which calls it an "unreleased ad" yet says it has already run once in Virginia.
I don't really like these completely negative ads, but this one is accurate. From the "The fundamentals of our economy" statement on, McCain has been bouncing around like a pinata. And the ad is smart in that it takes the criticisms directly from the press.
Sarah Palin Is Stupid
I mean, really, really stupid. Shouldn't you know at least a little about what the job you're running for entails? Watch this fool:
From ThinkProgress:
If someone came in to interview for a paralegal job, and told me she was looking forward to filling in for me in court, I'd smile at her and show her the door. Hopefully America will do the same with Stupid Palin.
Q: Brandon Garcia wants to know, “What does the Vice President do?”
PALIN: That’s something that Piper would ask me!.... [T]hey’re in charge of the U.S. Senate so if they want to they can really get in there with the senators and make a lot of good policy changes that will make life better for Brandon and his family and his classroom.
From ThinkProgress:
Article I of the Constitution establishes an exceptionally limited role for the Vice President — giving the office holder a vote only when the Senate is “equally divided”:
The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no vote, unless they be equally divided.
Moreover, the U.S. Senate website explains that the modern role of Vice Presidents has been to preside over the Senate “only on ceremonial occasions.” ThinkProgress contacted Senior Assistant Paliamentarian Peter Robinson, who also disputed Palin’s characterization of the Vice President’s role:.
In modern practice the Vice President doesn’t really control the Senate. … If anyone has a responsibility to try to govern the Senate, it’s the responsibility of the two leaders
If someone came in to interview for a paralegal job, and told me she was looking forward to filling in for me in court, I'd smile at her and show her the door. Hopefully America will do the same with Stupid Palin.
Obama to Visit Ailing Grandmother
NYTimes: Obama Leaving Trail to Visit Ailing Grandmother
If I were advising Obama I'd tell him to leave now. You can't predict the course of a serious illness. The campaign will take care of itself. The organization he built can take over for a few days. And what will McCain do, go on the stump and attack Obama as a socialist terrorist while he's at the bedside of his grandmother? That will hurt McCain far more than leaving the campaign trail will hurt Obama.
Here's an ad from the primary campaign that features a brief appearance by Obama's grandmother, Madelyn Dunham:
If I were advising Obama I'd tell him to leave now. You can't predict the course of a serious illness. The campaign will take care of itself. The organization he built can take over for a few days. And what will McCain do, go on the stump and attack Obama as a socialist terrorist while he's at the bedside of his grandmother? That will hurt McCain far more than leaving the campaign trail will hurt Obama.
Here's an ad from the primary campaign that features a brief appearance by Obama's grandmother, Madelyn Dunham:
Duh
Rachel Maddow on the set of her new program for MSNBC.
America is a liberal country (sorry Jon Meacham, you are eight ways of wrong). Put a wicked smart liberal on TV, people watch!
NYTimes: Fresh Face on Cable, Sharp Rise in Ratings
Hope You Didn't Miss Last Night's Daily Show
I couldn't stop laughing.
Jon Stewart on "pro-America" parts of the country:
The Daily Show goes to Wasilla, Alaska. Hilarious!
Jon Stewart on "pro-America" parts of the country:
The Daily Show goes to Wasilla, Alaska. Hilarious!
Election Protection News, October 21, 2008
John McCain has hired veteran Republican fraudster and vote suppressor Nathan Sproul to do voter registration, paying his company $175,000 in June alone.
The website of Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner was hacked into yesterday, part of a campaign of intimidation. "[It's] the latest in a string of recent harassing efforts to disrupt the election....in recent weeks, phone lines and e-mail channels have been barraged, even in the business filings section of the office, with menacing messages and even threats of harm or death. Last week, a suspicious package covered with threatening messages and containing an unidentified powder was mailed to the Secretary of State's office..."
Voting machines in Jacksonville and elsewhere in Duval County, Florida broke down on the first day of early voting yesterday. Optical scan voting machine problems were reported in Leon County (Tallahassee) Florida.
More West Virginia voters have come forward to report voting machines flipping their votes from Democrat Barack Obama to Republican John McCain.
PBS and YouTube have started a new channel on YouTube called "Video Your Vote" so voters can document any problems they have voting. Warning, in some states it is illegal to film within the polling place, so check local laws before filming.
Note to readers, posting will be slower today as I have a busy schedule.
Monday, October 20, 2008
New Obama Ad: "Golden Years"
I love the combination of attacking McCain's {crappy) healthcare plan with reminding the voters that McCain is a gambler -- electing him would be a crapshoot.
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