Obama: McCain is "Erratic and Uncertain"

It's the economy, stupid, and the fundamentals of our economy are not strong.

Hillary: "Mavericks In Washington And On Wall Street Got Us Into This Mess"

Another McCain-:Palin Crowd Video

These videos are really stunning. I forget how narrow-minded many people are until I seem them all gathered together. My favorite epithet hurled at Obama: "European socialist!" Take that!

Bethlehem, PA, October 8, 2008:

Temper, Temper

And read this story about John McCain blowing his top at the gambling table when someone other gambler dares to ask him to take his hands off the edge of the table. "Do you know who I am? Do you know who I am?"

Michael Kinsley, The Daily Beast: At the Craps Tables With John McCain
How the Senator Lost it at a Puerto Rican Casino

New Obama Ad: "Tested"

McCain's mortgage plan would force us the taxpayers to buy bad bank loans at full value -- no matter what the value of the property is. So if a bank loaned a homeowner $300,000 to buy a house that's now worth $200,000, we the taxpayers would pay $300,000 to the bank for a $200,000 house. Net profit to the crooked bank: $100,000; same net loss to us. A terrible plan. I don't think this ad explains it very well.

Election Protection News, October 9, 2008

The New York Times reports today on vast purges of eligible voters from the voting rolls. Although the Times concludes that the purging does not appear to be coordinated by one party, since Republicans are always the party in favor of vote suppression, I doubt that this is just a coincidence. The Democrats have registered millions of new voters, and Republicans are carrying out a sustained campaign to disenfranchise as many as possible.

NYTimes: States’ Actions to Block Voters Appear Illegal

Tens of thousands of eligible voters in at least six swing states have been removed from the rolls or have been blocked from registering in ways that appear to violate federal law, according to a review of state records and Social Security data by The New York Times.

[]

States have been trying to follow the Help America Vote Act of 2002 and remove the names of voters who should no longer be listed; but for every voter added to the rolls in the past two months in some states, election officials have removed two, a review of the records shows.

The six swing states seem to be in violation of federal law in two ways. Michigan and Colorado are removing voters from the rolls within 90 days of a federal election, which is not allowed except when voters die, notify the authorities that they have moved out of state, or have been declared unfit to vote.

Indiana, Nevada, North Carolina and Ohio seem to be improperly using Social Security data to verify registration applications for new voters.

In addition to the six swing states, three more states appear to be violating federal law. Alabama and Georgia seem to be improperly using Social Security information to screen registration applications from new voters. And Louisiana appears to have removed thousands of voters after the federal deadline for taking such action.

Under federal law, election officials are supposed to use the Social Security database to check a registration application only as a last resort, if no record of the applicant is found on state databases, like those for driver’s licenses or identification cards.

The requirement exists because using the federal database is less reliable than the state lists, and is more likely to incorrectly flag applications as invalid. Many state officials seem to be using the Social Security lists first.

In the year ending Sept. 30, election officials in Nevada, for example, used the Social Security database more than 740,000 times to check voter files or registration applications and found more than 715,000 nonmatches, federal records show. Election officials in Georgia ran more than 1.9 million checks on voter files or voter registration applications and found more than 260,000 nonmatches.

Ignorance Is Bliss, and Filled with Hate

Pretty amazing video of people attending a McCain-Palin rally in Strongsville, Ohio with much ignorance and hatred on display. Several people call Obama a terrorist, and one man even calls him a one-man terror cell. I wouldn't watch more than once; it makes me feel dirty.

These are people at a McCain-Palin rally; that's not what everyone in Ohio thinks. Evidence here:

Vote for Hope

A musical interlude, by MC Yogi:


Obama '08 - Vote For Hope from MC Yogi on Vimeo.

"My Fellow Prisoners"

McCain is really losing it. Someone in my clay class today suggested that when McCain called Obama "That one" last night, it was because he forgot his name.

Set the Record Straight

From the Obama campaign:

JOHN MCCAIN’S 17 LIES TONIGHT

1. MCCAIN PROPOSING NEW HOUSING PLAN. McCain today said he had a new plan to allow the Treasury to purchase and restructure mortgages. The truth is that this is not a new proposal and is already part of the rescue plan that was signed into law. It was Obama, not McCain who called for this move two weeks ago.

2. MCCAIN TAX PLAN IS BETTER. McCain said, “It is my proposal not Senator Obama’s” that will “take care of working families.” The reality is that even the Heritage Foundation agrees Obama will provide a middle class tax cut that studies have found is three times larger than under McCain’s plan. In contrast, the McCain plan’s benefits would overwhelmingly go to the wealthiest Americans and would leave out 101 million middle class households.

3. MCCAIN’S PLAN FOR HOUSING CRISIS. McCain said, “We have got to give some trust and confidence back to America” to solve the housing crisis. But Politifact agrees that McCain was taken by surprise by the mortgage crisis and was “a latecomer” to the debate. He even said “I don’t claim to be smart enough” to solve the housing crisis and newspapers have found that McCain “overstates” his past actions on housing regulation.

4. TIES TO FANNIE/FREDDIE. McCain talked about “Senator Obama and his cronies and friends in Washington” and blamed them for Fannie and Freddie, while news accounts have pointed out his “deeper” ties to the companies. His campaign manager Rick Davis fought against greater regulation for years, and then his firm was revealed to be taking $15,000 a month until this summer from Freddie Mac, after denying any recent ties.


5. MCCAIN WILL MAKE HEALTH CARE AFFORDABLE AND AVAILABLE. McCain said “We can do them all at once,” talking about affordability and availability of health care, but he failed to mention that experts say his plan may require some to pay more or get less coverage, that millions would lose their employer-based coverage, and that even he has admitted that his plan will raise taxes on some.

6. SMALL BUSINESS TAXES. McCain said Obama’s plan “will increase taxes on 50% of small business revenue,” when the Washington Post found similar attacks “untrue,” and studies show 97% of small business owners wouldn’t see higher taxes under Obama’s plan. Factcheck.org said the attack used “a false and preposterously inflated figure.”

7. TAX CUTS FOR THE WEALTHY. McCain said “I am not in favor of tax cuts for the wealthy.” While he once said that the Bush tax cuts were “too tilted to the wealthy,” now he wants to make them permanent.

8. 2005 ENERGY BILL. McCain attacked Obama for his vote for the 2005 energy bill, saying it had “billions for oil companies.” The truth is that FactCheck.org called this “an old canard” and a “false attack.” The non-partisan Congressional Research Service said the bill actually raised taxes on the oil and gas industry.

9. 94 VOTES FOR HIGHER TAXES…AGAIN. McCain once again repeated the attack that Obama voted 94 times for higher taxes, calling it “his record.” This attack has been debunked by the Associated Press, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, CNN, the New York Times and FactCheck.org, among others.

10. OBAMA RECORD ON NUCLEAR POWER. McCain said, “Obama is opposed to that,” when the reality is that this attack is “false” according to FactCheck.org. Obama supports nuclear as long as it’s “clean and safe.”

11. HEALTH COVERAGE FOR PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS. McCain said his health care plan would let people cross state lines to get plans, suggesting it would improve care and not telling Americans that it would weaken patient protections and does nothing to require insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions. McCain’s plan would create a situation the GOP chair of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners said would cause a “race to the bottom.”

12. HIGHER HEALTH CARE COSTS FOR SMALL BUSINESSES. McCain attacked Obama’s health care plan, suggesting that Obama will fine small businesses and make health care more expensive for them. ABC pointed out that he was “omitting key details about Obama’s plan to mitigate costs” for health care for small businesses. McCain also omitted his record of voting repeatedly against tax credits for small businesses to help with health care costs and that the majority of members of the National Federation of Independent Businesses oppose his plan.

13. JUDGMENT ON IRAQ. McCain said that he had “the judgment” to make national security decisions, ignoring his record of misguided statements during the course of the Iraq war. In 2005 he said the war would be over within 18 months. In 2003 he said “we will be welcomed as liberators,” and that “we will win it easily.”

14. RUSSIA AND GEORGIA. McCain said Obama “was wrong about Russia when they committed aggression against Georgia” when Obama had condemned Russia’s actions and called for an immediate ceasefire.

15. SURGE IN IRAQ. McCain again attacked Obama on the surge, when news accounts show that Obama “said at the time” that the increase “could improve security in certain neighborhoods but that it would not solve the long-term political strife.” Meanwhile McCain said only 10,000 troops would do the job.

16. NEGOTIATIONS. McCain attacked Obama on diplomatic engagement, but the Washington Post has said McCain is “distorting history when he suggests that Barack Obama is bucking American presidential tradition in expressing a willingness to meet with the leaders of countries hostile to the United States” and that McCain is “incorrect.”

17. SOMALIA. McCain held up Somalia as an example of failed American foreign policy, saying “we ended up having to withdraw in humiliation.” McCain ignored the amendment he introduced in 1993 to cut off funding for troops in Somalia.

New Obama Ad: "Taketh"

Good, as McCain's healthcare plan is horrid.

Already Commercialized

I'm voting for that one!

McCain loses the debate in 3 seconds:

Obama Defeats McCain

Poll porn

Down goes McCain! Down goes McCain! Down goes McCain!

Awesome photo diary on the debate:

dailykos: ------ LANDSLIDE !!! ----- Barack CRUSHES McSame --- By 2 to 1 Margin --- (UPDATED w Mega Eye Candy)

New Slogan

I'm with that one.

hat tip to Andrew Sullivan, who I still haven't forgiven for saying of me and other liberals "The decadent left in its enclaves on the coasts...may well mount...a fifth column." after 9/11. Dumb fuck.

Contempt

McCain calls Obama "That one"



McCain refuses to shake Obama's hand:



McCain's treating Obama with contempt makes me feel contempt for McCain.

John McCain Wrote Letter Supporting State Trooper Who Murdered Civil Rights Protestor

Anniston (AL) Star: McCain wrote on behalf of ex-trooper now awaiting trial in civil rights slaying

pdf: McCain's letter to State Department

The murder of Jimmie Lee Jackson inspired the Selma March in 1965.

Jimmie Lee Jackson was part of a march protesting against restrictions to voting, and the jailing of a civil rights worker. He was shot at such close range that there were powder burns on his abdomen.

An all-white jury declined to indict state trooper James B. Fowler in 1965.

Fowler admitted in an 2005 interview that he shot Jackson, but claimed self-defense.

Fowler's trial was scheduled to start this month, but was delayed by the judge.

McCain wrote a letter to the State Department in 1991 supporting Fowler, who at the time was in prison in Thailand awaiting trial on heroin distribution charges.

Being a black Republican is like being a Log Cabin Republican or a pro-choice Republican. There is no place for you in the party of hate.

Election Protection News

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

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

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

Alternet: Wisconsin Attorney General Sued To Stop Voter Purge

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

The Campaign Legal Center

Call the Wahhhmbulance for the Angels

Nominee for Best Postseason W(h)ine (California vintage)


Joy of Sox: Schadenfreude 64 (A Continuing Series)
Special Los Angeles Angels Edition!


Read the whole post at Joy of Sox, it's hilarious.

The Angels feel they should have won the series. That would have required better fielding, pitching and hitting. And less whining.

There's no crying in baseball.

See you next year, weenies.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sleeping With The Enemy

Sarah Palin accuses Obama of "palling around" with terrorists, but her husband was a member of the secessionist Alaska Independence Party for a decade; she's their candidate; and she addressed their convention just last year. Watch the video for a short but hardhitting expose of AIP.

As Jed asks, if Sarah Palin wasn't a secessionist, why was she palling around with them? (And I ask, sleeping with them?)

So here's the question: when will Sarah Palin ever explain what she was doing palling around with the Alaskan Independence Party secessionists? When will she explain why Todd Palin -- who plays a huge role in her administration -- was a member of the party for so long?

Does she oppose secession now, if so, when did she change her mind?