Who knew

Roger Cohen had it in him, the subsequent price of 9/11:

For the wreckage begat greed; and it came to pass that while America’s young men and women fought, other Americans enriched themselves. Beguiling the innocent, they did backdate options, and they did package toxic mortgage securities and they did reprice risk on the basis that it no more existed than famine in a fertile land.

Thereby did the masters of the universe prosper, with gold, with silver shekels, with land rich in cattle and fowl, with illegal manservants and maids, with jewels and silk, and with Gulfstream V business jets; yet the whole land did not prosper with them. And it came to pass, when the housing bubble burst, that Main Street had to pay for the Wall Street party.

For Bush ruled over the whole nation and so sure was he of his righteousness that he did neglect husbandry.

And he took his nation into desert wars and mountain wars, but, lo, he thought not to impose taxation, not one heifer nor sheep nor ox did Bush demand of the rich. And it came to pass that the nation fell into debt as boundless as the wickedness of Sodom. For everyone, Lehman not least, was maxed out.

Bush (with McCain's blessing) took advantage of 9/11 to financially rape most of us, deprive us of our rights and unleashed a torrent of lies and blather that many are still susceptible to today.

If McCain gets away with this rabid slander of a campaign it only goes downhill from here.

The Silly Party of wanton destruction will rule and rule and rule.

Angry Scotsman

Says cut the bullshit:




via Paddykraska

What Republicans hath wrought

I'd add cables news blowhards to the wage non-growth curve:

"Workers with professional degrees, such as doctors and lawyers, were the only educational group to see their inflation-adjusted earnings increase over the most recent economic expansion, adding to the concern that the economy has benefited higher-earning Americans at the expense of others.

Workers in every other educational group -- including Ph.D.s as well as high school dropouts -- earned less in 2007 than they did in 2000, adjusted for inflation, according to data from the Census Bureau. Data don't include 2008 earnings.

The recent data are the latest reminder of how college degrees, long seen as a path to the middle class, no longer guarantees fatter paychecks every year. The statistics also indicate how deeply economic divisions have grown despite the economic expansion that started in 2001."

Of course, the ONLY actual economic news we ever get is the Stock Market with morons like Larry Kudlow preaching GOP-talking points 24/7 -- and it's not like it's been an awesome stock market the last eight years either.

[fez tip to Hilzoy]

When life gives you lemons, Republicans take them and make lemonade.

If there is a way for them to profit from the mortgage foreclosure they helped create ... the GOP is up to the task.

The chairman of the Republican Party in Macomb County, Mich., a key swing county in a key swing state, is planning to use a list of foreclosed homes to block people from voting in the coming election as part of the state GOP’s effort to challenge some voters on Election Day.

“We will have a list of foreclosed homes and will make sure people aren’t voting from those addresses,” party chairman James Carabelli told Michigan Messenger in a telephone interview earlier this week. He said the local party wanted to make sure that proper electoral procedures were followed…

Carabelli is not the only Republican Party official to suggest the targeting of foreclosed voters. In Ohio, Doug Preisse, director of elections in Franklin County (around the city of Columbus) and the chair of the local GOP, told the Columbus Dispatch that he has not ruled out challenging voters before the election due to foreclosure-related address issues.

Don't say they can't get you coming AND going.

But wait, it gets EVEN better:

The Macomb County party’s plans to challenge voters who have defaulted on their house payments is likely to disproportionately affect African-Americans who are overwhelmingly Democratic voters. More than 60 percent of all sub-prime loans — the most likely kind of loan to go into default — were made to African-Americans in Michigan, according to a report issued last year by the state’s Department of Labor and Economic Growth.

And, as Eartha Jane Melzer, the person who discovered all this in the Michigan Messenger notes -- the GOP loves it when a plan comes together:

...the McCain campaign’s Michigan headquarters is located in the office buildiing of Trott & Trott, a law firm that specialized in foreclosures, whose founder is a major Republican fund-raiser.

Of course, John McCain is deserving of great credit in facilitating the measures that led to the foreclosure epidemic. So I guess he feels Maverickly-enabled to take advantage of the suffering he helped cause.

Republicans claim they love America. But they sure don't seem to like Americans much.

[Cross-Posted at Firedoglake]

The Carmella Soprano of the GOP

"The throat [Sarah Palin's] so hot to cut is that of all American women." --Cintra Wilson, Pissed About Palin

In comments to my Dear Twentysomething Women post, reader e points us to Cintra Wilson's Salon column about Sarah Palin. Wilson is right on the money, and after you would-be pieces of three-holed chattel read Eisenstadt, I suggest you read Cintra Wilson. Maybe then you'll wake the fuck up and realize what's at stake in this election.

Who's this guy talking about swine cosmetics?

John McCain, the really white meat.



And, of course there was THIS classic moment of McCain totally handling sexism:



We await your apology.

[Fez Tip Aravosis]

Dear Twentysomething Women,

Do you understand that, in our society, equality can only be achieved in a state of economic freedom?

Additionally, do you understand that, for women, economic freedom requires reproductive freedom?

Further, do you understand the reproductive freedom requires birth control?

No doubt you've heard (a) of the Bush administration's efforts to redefine birth control as abortion and (b) that highly influential segments of our society would like to see abortion go the way of the nickel subway ride?

Finally, do you understand that with birth control thus redefined, that the first case radical fundamentalist President Palin and her merry band of Pentecostalist pranksters will seek to overturn is a little number called Eisenstadt v. Baird?

If you haven't already read Eisenstadt, I suggest that you do so now.

Very truly yours,
res

When One Word is Enough!

Senator Barack Obama and two other prominent Democrats urged federal housing regulators on Tuesday to cut the golden parachutes of the ousted leaders of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, another sign that the government bailout of those mortgage giants could reverberate through the presidential campaign.

Yes!

The Right-Wing Brain

Oh, we really need to keep people like this propping up the GOP.

"Global Warming is a myth! But the new Super Collider might KILL US ALL!"

You cannot make this bullshit up.

Amazing and depressing

The local press organizations are actually able to perform the journalism on McCain and Palin the national media absolutely refuses to do:

The Alaska governor campaigned in 2006 on a build-the-bridge platform, telling Ketchikan residents she felt their pain when politicians called them "nowhere." They're still feeling pain today in Ketchikan, over Palin's subsequent decision to use the bridge funds for other projects -- and over the timing of her announcement, which they say came in a pre-dawn press release that seemed aimed at national news deadlines.

"I think that's when the campaign for national office began," said Ketchikan Mayor Bob Weinstein on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Weinstein noted, the state is continuing to build a road on Gravina Island to an empty beach where the bridge would have gone -- because federal money for the access road, unlike the bridge money, would have otherwise been returned to the federal government.

So thanks to Palin, they are still building a 'Road to Nowhere' linking to the place where there is no bridge at all.

No doubt, this eventually will lead to the 'Bridge to Nowhere' being built, because we cannot just have a road going nowhere sitting there. And it will cost a fuckload more.

Yes, a reformer with results indeed.

Obvious thought

"Lipstick on a Pig" gate.

Apparently there is NO line of GOP-Talking Point bullshit the press will fail to push into the ether. Hypocrisy be damned.

Meanwhile, the punditry is never inclined to actually ask candidates about policy, unless they have a capital "D" behind their name.

Of course, some of McCain's bullshit is sooooooooo thick some of the media eventually realize they've been played after they've pushed out the bullshit. But God forbid they might think this ahead of time...after all 1,053 straight prior instances of being played is still not enough of a trend.

McCain's Lucy, the press is the football and in this instance, the rest of us are forced to be Charlie Brown.

Kids...

Did the McCain/Palin ticket just accuse Obama of being overzealous in favoring sex education in schools?

Why yes, they did.

The ticket who has a member with a 17-year old pregnant child is seriously attempting to use sex education as a wedge-issue.

"It is shameful and downright perverse for the McCain campaign to use a bill that was written to protect young children from sexual predators as a recycled and discredited political attack against a father of two young girls - a position that his friend Mitt Romney also holds. Last week, John McCain told Time magazine he couldn't define what honor was. Now we know why."

You couldn't make this crap up.

And while we're on the subject of children:

Court records obtained by NEWSWEEK show that during the course of divorce hearings three years ago, Judge John Suddock heard testimony from an official of the Alaska State Troopers' union about how Sarah Palin—then a private citizen—and members of her family, including her father and daughter, lodged up to a dozen complaints against Wooten with the state police. The union official told the judge that he had never before been asked to appear as a divorce-case witness, that the union believed family complaints against Wooten were "not job-related," and that Wooten was being "harassed" by Palin and other family members.

Court documents show that Judge Suddock was disturbed by the alleged attacks by Palin and her family members on Wooten's behavior and character. "Disparaging will not be tolerated—it is a form of child abuse," the judge told a settlement hearing in October 2005, according to typed notes of the proceedings. The judge added: "Relatives cannot disparage either. If occurs [sic] the parent needs to set boundaries for their relatives."....

"It is the mother's [Hackett's] responsibility to set boundaries for her relatives and insure [sic] they respect them, and the disparagement by either parent, or their surrogates is emotional child abuse," Judge Suddock wrote....

Sarah Palin can now add emotional child abuser to her thin resume.

U.S.A.!
U.S.A.!

[hat tip AmericaBlog]

[Cross-Posted at Firedoglake]

Sarah Palin and the Third Wave

The greatest tragedy in mankind's entire history may be the hijacking of morality by religion. -Arthur C. Clarke, (1917-2008)

As is being reported on various blogs and by various watchdog organizations and as always is being ignored by the mainstream media at the same time... Sarah Palin is strongly connected to an extremist Pentecostal evangelical movement called Third Wave.

We can find more information on the Third Wave movement and additional links to the activities of Palin's churches on www.Talk2action.org in the following articles:

Sarah Palin's Churches and the Third Wave, Part One

Sarah Palin's Churches and the Third Wave, Part Two

The video is also available here.

Do the reading and tell your family, colleagues, co-workers, and friends.  Hell, tell your enemies.  Palin has some very scary extremist ideas.  And do not be cowed into submission because people who wrote the book on intolerance call you sexist or a religious bigot.  Fight them everywhere.  This is a fight for the nature of this country for our grandchildren.

Every Word She Says Is a Lie

...including "and" and "the".

More here.

The Palin Children Butter up Charley Gibson ...

Loose change you can believe in reimburse

Wow, the petty thieving is thick in this one:

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has billed taxpayers for 312 nights spent in her own home during her first 19 months in office, charging a "per diem" allowance intended to cover meals and incidental expenses while traveling on state business.

She's been Governor for about 570 days, she's been home about 60% of the time and she's still billing the state a per diem? She really is trying out to replace Bush isn't she?

Nice graft if you can get it.

On today's episode of "America's Concern Troll"

Li'l Dickie Cohen says what America needs is a real, unstable asshole with his finger on the button as opposed to a calm and unflappable, rational person.

America loves a good tantrum.

Like when Peter Jennings found out Cohen was screwing his wife.

That, was AWESOME!

Lies you can believe in

Still "straight-talkin'"

Back in 2006, John McCain lashed out at the Army, for its wasteful, bloated Future Combat Systems modernization program. Earlier today, it appears the Republican presidential nominee may have gone after his Democratic rival -- for opposing the very same program.

Rouse Grandpa Broder from his Matlock-induced coma!

Suddenly it all makes sense

Explains both Sarah Palin...and the last eight years:

For more than two decades, current Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was a practicing Pentecostal...

Palin's former pastor, Tim McGraw, says that like many Pentecostal churches, some members speak in tongues, although he says he's never seen Palin do so. Church member Caroline Spangler told CNN, "When the spirit comes on you, you utter things that nobody else can understand ... only God can understand what is coming out of our mouths."

George Bush is a Pentecostal.

Ready on Day One

If McBush can't keep his composure with the the chairman of the National Alliance of Families, how do you expect him to bear up in a meeting with Putin?



No worries. I'm sure deeply experienced "Hockey Mom" Sarah Palin will be able to step right in.

Predicted Charley Gibson Questions

Will ask Palin:

(1) Please tell us a series of tear-jerking stories of your decision to give birth to your Down Syndrome Child.

(2) Why are you so gosh darn popular?

(3) Isn't it awesome that your are a reformer, with results that I will not require evidence thereof?

(4) How do you feel about Barack Obama not always wearing a flag-pin?

(5) Tell us about your oldest boy serving in Iraq?

(6) How do you stay in such good shape?

(7) Tell us about the time you saved your family from a feral rampaging Moose with just an SUV, an AK-47 and mortar?

(8) Are you up for some drilling?


Questions that will NOT be asked:

(1) Why are you refusing to testify in an investigation of abuse of power now when you promised to testify before?

(2) Why did you inquire into your ability to ban books when you were Mayor?

(3) What books did you want to ban?

(4) Do you believe in the Theory of Evolution? Why or why not?

(5) Why do you opposed abortion even in case of rape or incest?

(6) Why did you say your daughter "chose" to keep her baby when you would opposed that sort of choice yourself?

(7) Tell me what specific decisions you made in regard to the Alaska National Guard?

(8) Tell me why your state's proximity to Russia gives you particular expertise towards that nation? And while were at it, who is the President of say Azerbaijan?

(9) Did you ever attend a convention of the Alaska Independence Party?

(10) Was your husband a member? Why? And why did you address their recent convention given their secessionist views?

(11) Do you believe in converting gays through prayer?

(12) Why were you in attendance at a church where the leader of Jews for Jesus justified bombings against Israelis because they had yet to accept Jesus?

(13) Why did you not walk out or protest? Do you believe this to be true?

Just A(nother) Thought

To follow-up on JMM's thought...

If John McCain wins, for all that has happened over the last eight years in Iraq and elsewhere, the Democrats really ought to think about getting out of the politics business.

(I'm sure that with their contacts they'll be able to carve out new careers sitting on various corporate boards and the like.)

"Judgment"

Jeebus...

According to McClatchy's report, in 1996, McCain was met in the Senate office halls by a group of family members of POW-MIAs who had been pressing him to pursue more information on their relatives.

Six people present have written statements describing what they saw. According to the accounts, McCain waved his hand to shoo away Jeannette Jenkins, whose cousin was last seen in South Vietnam in 1970, causing her to hit a wall.


As McCain continued walking, Jane Duke Gaylor, the mother of another missing serviceman, approached the senator. Gaylor, in a wheelchair equipped with portable oxygen, stretched her arms toward McCain.

"McCain stopped, glared at her, raised his left arm ready to strike her, composed himself and pushed the wheelchair away from him," according to Eleanor Apodaca, the sister of an Air Force captain missing since 1967.

McCain's staff wouldn't respond to requests for comment about specific incidents.

But IOKIYAR.

If there was such an incident in Obama's past, forget being a Democratic nominee, he'd have a felony conviction for assault.

Naturally, this will never make it to the august halls of modern cable news.

Leave it to Douchebag

MSNBC revisits the classic days of cancelling Phil Donohue to kiss right-wing ass. Thou shall not fail to sufficiently kiss Republican ass!

Name person of proper ass-kissing decorum to anchor future political coverage:

Disgusting

I guess if you cannot do FoxNews you might as well do Charles Gibson.

Oh, wait, that didn't come out quite right.

The McCain campaign and Palin have deigned to do her first interview outside of a quicky with People Magazine. And if that's the case why not do the interview with they guy who so completely botched the Democratic Debate last Spring.

Maybe Charley and Palin can talk about how $200,000 a year is a typical-middle class income? Maybe he'll ask questions about her patriotism? Maybe he'll dwell on all the gossip? And I hope she passes that baby around in a flag-draped diaper or he'll have a fit.

Aw, Who am I kidding? -- it's going to be softballs and soft-lighting. Maybe he can dig out the Barbara Walters questions?

The McCain Campaign itself proclaimed no press interviews with Palin until the press were deferential enough. And nobody is more deferential to Right-Wing talking points than Charles Gibson.

Josh Marshall found the tell in just how wretched this interview will be:

"Palin will sit down for multiple interviews with Gibson in Alaska over two days, most likely Thursday and Friday, said McCain adviser Mark Salter."

Political interviews are never done like this. Because it makes the questioning entirely at the discretion of the person being interviewed and their handlers. The interviewer has to be on their best behavior, at least until the last of the 'multiple interviews' because otherwise the subsequent sittings just won't happen. For a political journalist to agree to such terms amounts to a form of self-gelding. The only interviews that are done this way are lifestyle and celebrity interviews. And it's pretty clear that that is what this will be.

We can all imagine McCain watching creepily as Gibson kisses Palin's ass.

So many reasons to barf early in the morning.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Bill O'Reilly he's just that stupid

Atlanta Journal Columnist Cynthia Tucker deigned to criticize Orally for his hypocrisy on Jamie Lynn Spears vs. Bristol Palin. Bill-O's ambush mavens were sent out against her and merely compounded the douchebags problem...in hilarious fashion.

As Tucker stopped outside her house to pick up her mail, the Fox camera crew emerged out of a car parked across the street and advanced on her, yelling questions. At this point, I’ll turn the account over to Tucker for the blow-by-blow account, as she recalls it:

O’Reilly guy: “Cynthia, in your column, were you comparing Bristol Palin to Jamie Lynn Spears?”

Cynthia: “In my column, I was criticizing Bill O”Reilly. And I stand by that.”

O’Reilly guy: “Bill pointed out that Jamie Lynn Spears was running around unsupervised. You know that. So you were saying that Bristol Palin was running around unsupervised.”

Cynthia: “If I said that, read that part. You’re holding the column (in your hand). Read where I said Bristol Palin was running around unsupervised.”

O’Reilly guy: “You inferred it.”

Cynthia: “I inferred O’Reilly is a hypocrite. And I stand by that. Good day, gentlemen. I’m going inside to finish my Saturday chores.”

Does O'Reilly really want to take the position that Sarah Palin supervised her own daughter's pre-marital sex and pregnancy at the age of 17?

Creepy.

MATLOCK!!!

Yes, David Broder "Change is Coming".

And in your case it is coming at 7 a.m.; 11 a.m.; 3 p.m.; and finally 8:00 p.m. when you are finally tucked into your pod for the evening.

Conservatives Pray for McCain's Death

So here is my three point plan:
1. Vote Constitution Party. (I vote my conscience and cannot support McCain even with Palin.)
2. Pray for Sarah Palin to win. (I am an idealist, but also a realist!)
3. Pray for John McCain's salvation and speedy death.

I kid you not!  Conservatives are praying for McCain's death.  That's some pretty weird support you have their John!  Is that why your campaign had the author edit the site after this was posted?  The link I give is to the original post before it was altered, cached by Google.

I know our own Atta J. Turk mentioned this the other day but I want to discuss this in some more detail.  How strong is the coalition behind your candidate when a sizable proportion wants you dead?  Is it just me or is politics getting stranger and stranger?

What's next national crucifixions of candidates at conventions to get sympathy votes?

Something for all you whiners out there

Hey, make sure you thank McCain's buddy Phil Graham and the others who's policies have made this such an AWESOME economic era:

The government is expected to take over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as soon as this weekend in a monumental move designed to protect the mortgage market from the failure of the two companies, which together hold or guarantee half of the nation's mortgage debt, a person briefed on the matter said Friday night...

The news also followed a report Friday by the Mortgage Bankers Association that more than 4 million American homeowners with a mortgage, a record 9 percent, were either behind on their payments or in foreclosure at the end of June...

A government takeover could cost taxpayers up to $25 billion, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Why is there a Bush in office every time this shit goes down?

Except you have actual responsibilities

How'd Ol' Nanook of the North do on that front?

The biggest project that Sarah Palin undertook as mayor of this small town was an indoor sports complex, where locals played hockey, soccer, and basketball, especially during the long, dark Alaskan winters.

The only catch was that the city began building roads and installing utilities for the project before it had unchallenged title to the land. The misstep led to years of litigation and at least $1.3 million in extra costs for a small municipality with a small budget. What was to be Ms. Palin's legacy has turned into a financial mess that continues to plague Wasilla.

"It's too bad that the city of Wasilla didn't do their homework and secure the land before they began construction," said Kathy Wells, a longtime activist here. "She was not your ceremonial mayor; she was in charge of running the city. So it was her job to make sure things were done correctly."

This is the MOST elementary aspect of governing. Like being President and not starting a needless war.

No wonder McCain picked her.

By the way, he also thought "Walter Reed Middle School" was just another house he owned.

Log Cabin Republicans

Could there be a bigger bunch of saps?

Gov. Sarah Palin's church is promoting a conference that promises to convert gays into heterosexuals through the power of prayer.

"You'll be encouraged by the power of God's love and His desire to transform the lives of those impacted by homosexuality," according to the insert in the bulletin of the Wasilla Bible Church, where Palin has prayed since she was a child.

Palin's conservative Christian views have energized that part of the GOP electorate, which was lukewarm to John McCain's candidacy before he named her as his vice presidential choice. She is staunchly anti-abortion, opposing exceptions for rape and incest, and opposes gay marriage and spousal rights for gay couples.

Yet, these morons still endorsed McCain.

Bzzzzzzzz....

Hard-hitting baseless speculation, shit-stirring, and bitchy gossip analysis from one of the wannabes in MoDo's hive top political reporters at the NYT.

Huh?

Vanity Fair is throwing parties at the RNC? And Republicans are attending, after all the crap Graydon Carter has written about them?

That shit/those canapes must be tasty.

Oh well, I wasn't reading it anyway.

How to Manage Palin

Slate's Jack Shafer actually has it quite right.

Keep her under wraps, avoid the media and attack the media at the same time.  Ah the ghost of Nixon must be somewhere laughing and laughing... then choking.  But smiling just the same.

Actual Image Capture

From here.

They Think You're Stupid

And if you vote for them again, I just might have to agree.

Random Convention Thoughts

When did 'community organizer' become a racial epithet?  I know many coded words among the racist right but this is a new one for me.

When did the so-called 'religious' right decide that they loved John McCain more than Chimpy McWarinmypants?  Watching and listening to the GOPers convention was strange for me.  Cindy was presented as a warm and fuzzy teddy bear and McCheat was apparently beatified.  And elevated by the same people who stopped him dead in his tracks a few years ago.  Cognitive dissonance for me.

I have to agree with our own Atta J. Turk and others, McCain was blinking a lot and seemed sweaty to me.  Is he feeling alright?

When did the Republican party become concerned with women's equality?  That can't sit well with many of the religious extremists right? Shoot, the Baptist Convention has some strange policies about the role of the sexes.  How they going to mend bridges there?

Following up on the last thought... isn't this the same party that attacked Hillary Clinton for having a career?  What gives?  I welcome the move in recognizing a woman is a man's equal and just as capable, I am just not sure they believe it.

Educating Sarah Palin

GOP gal pal and newly beatified McCain vice-presidential candidate, Sarah Palin, had a much more diverse experience in higher education than has been previously reported in the media. 

Apparently she has attended at least five colleges in six years (final count might reach six in six).  Normally, that is not a good sign of someone who is academically ready for college or in any way studious.  Actually that kind of record is indicative of some serious problems or academic expulsion.  Perhaps the media will do its job and examine this issue.

The Associated Press reported that Palin, a first-term governor of Alaska with only experience as a mayor prior to that, began her college career at Hawaii Pacific University, where she studied for one semester in the fall of 1982.  Just one.  Did she go there to party?  Did she discover that she did not care for spam?

Then she spent two semesters at North Idaho College, a two-year institution that normally helps under prepared youth get into a four year university.  After that she had two semesters at the University of Idaho; one semester at Matanuska-Susitna College, a two-year campus of the University of Alaska at Anchorage; and her three final semesters back at the University of Idaho, where she completed her bachelor’s degree in journalism in 1987.

Isn't there a normal media investigation of the education, career, and activism of major party candidates?  Does Governor Palin have a body of journalistic work that can be examined? Remember that Senator Obama's written work has been closely reviewed in the media.  At least, we know his two books—actually written by him—are still on the bestsellers list.  There is no reason to not know what he says he thinks. Let’s see what the mainstream media do about discovering Palin's views and experience as well.

The more important issue here is whether or not she will fully understand the importance of science and technology at a sophisticated level.  Will she appreciate the value of a broad liberal arts education and give support and money to these enterprises?  We all recognize that education is not very high on the Republican agenda in general (look at the cuts education and education initiatives have taken in the past eight years). Furthermore, Palin herself does not have respect for scientific evidence as demonstrated by her suggestion that we teach creationism alongside evolution as equally viable points of view.  Governor Palin does not realize that one is science and the other is faith.  This does not bode well for higher education if she has a hand in setting education strategy and policy.

The economy John McCain says has "strong fundementals"

We're minutes away from the new jobs report for August. Here's how Bush/McCain's economy stacks up so far this year:

UPDATE:

Economy shed jobs in August for the 8th straight month - down a larger-than-expected 84,000. Unemployment surges to 6.1%.

The Worst Lie Ever Told

Yesterday Republican Moron of Georgia dropped the pretense of "elitist" and "arrogant" when applied to Obama and came right out and dropped the term they always want to say, "UPPITY".

When called on this blatant racist attack (as opposed to the "respectable" [apprently] implied one) Westmoreland had the "audacity" to say this:

U.S. Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R-Ga.), who was born and raised in the South, said Thursday he’s never heard the word "uppity" used in a racially loaded fashion —- and meant nothing more than "elitist" when he applied it to Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama and his wife.

Uh-huh.

Yeah, that's about right...

I apologize in advance, but c'mon how can I pass that one up?!

REUTERS/Mike Segar

So...it's very macabre but rather true

When was the last time, if ever, a major party managed to nominate as its Standard Bearer a guy a frightening number of delegates hope gets elected...so he can have the "decency" to pass away...enabling his Vice-President to assume his office?

Ruh-Roh

I'll ignore whatever sloppy knob-job Liz Sidoti or Ron Fournier are "sprinkling" on John McCain this morning to focus on this:

NBC News reports that the police officer's union of Alaska has filed an ethics complaint on behalf of Mike Wooten, the trooper who was embroiled in a dispute with the Palin family, and who the governor is alleged to have attempted to have fired.

According to NBC News:

The complaint alleges that the governor or her staff may have have improperly disclosed information from Wooten's personnel records. The complaint alleges "criminal penalties may apply."

In responses, believe it or not, they admit they used these records...because Todd Palin got them through his sister-in-law's divorce attorney.

Um, when does a client's brother-in-law so easily get access to the legal files from his sister-in-law's lawyer?

The answer I guess is when his wife is the governor.

I'm not sure of the legality of this arrangement (which "probably" violates a confidentiality/protective order in the divorce case [i.e. hard to believe the records were released by the State without such an Order] -- and definitely does if access was obtained another way).

But it stinks of abuse of power to high heaven.

Return of the White Cottage Cheese in the Lime Jello...

Now THAT was a pedestrian effort!

Rare is the incredibly memorable nomination acceptance speech. Usually, it's the vibe we remember. Obama's speech was hard-hitting, substantive and prosaic, but years from now no one will remember its verbiage, they'll remember how it felt. Love it or loathe it (and count me in for the latter) Palin was such a completely blank slate her more than competent delivery of a rather generic attack speech will be remembered as better than it actually was.

But while the words of a nomination acceptance speech are rarely long-remembered, they are almost always "good" speeches, among the best the candidate has ever delivered. This is usually true even of rather poor public speakers as candidates. Gerald Ford, Bush Sr., Walter Mondale, John Kerry, even Doofus Tiberius Boosh all gave speeches that were considered surprisingly good upon review by the pundits in the immediate afterglow. It always helps a speech to be delivered to a throng of cheering people willing to act like they adore the speaker for a half-hour at least.

It also helps to have a rather low-bar, and Lime-Green Jello & Cottage Cheese McCain's bar is pretty much buried underground already.

So I say with some incredulity, how could his speech -- which he had MONTHS to work on and was written especially for him (as opposed to Palin's being adapted for her) SUCK. SO. VERY. MUCH?!

Only a few themes:

Actual quote, "I'm not running for president because I think I'm blessed with such personal greatness that history has anointed me to save our country in its hour of need." Seriously, you're going to try to pull this one off at your own faux coronation? Riiiiight.

Oh, and who doesn't love this line?

I fell in love with my country when I was a prisoner in someone else's. I loved it not just for the many comforts of life here. I loved it for its decency; for its faith in the wisdom, justice and goodness of its people. I loved it because it was not just a place, but an idea, a cause worth fighting for. I was never the same again. I wasn't my own man anymore. I was my country's.

Other than the first time he used it on the original Mrs. McCain, of course. But you have to admit, it's the most patriotic version of "I've found myself a young beer heiress" you ever heard.

"Please allow me to be the candidate of change, by supporting every GOP platform plank of the last several elections" -- okaaaaaaaaaaaay.

And, of course, it's always a good idea for a person that isn't a dynamic speaker to have a speech that goes on way too long.

The Horror, The Horror!

(pic via TPM of a place apparently intended to be Walter Reed Hospital...but is actually a middle school...again, nice vetting!!!)

Seriously

I don't mean this to be snark and this will read like I'm trying to start trouble and it means little given my complete lack of medical training. But watching the speech last night McCain was blinking a LOT. And sometimes more on one side than another.

Now, a lot a blinking can indicate "lying". And there was more than a little of that.

But a lot of blinking on one-side or another can indicate neurological stuff...it is a condition he should be well-familiar with given what happened to his wife a few years ago.

But then again, I'm no doctor (other than of celebrity pediatry) and I presume he can get medical attention and does fairly regularly. Also, it's not like there wasn't any pressure on him or anything.

It looks like I'm not the only one who thought of this.

McCain's Notes for Speech Tonight

Only through some frightening scary efforts -- do you want to walk anywhere near Cindy McCain? -- we have secured some notes from McCain's Speech tonight.  Our intrepid investigator is still shaking from the experience getting around Mary Matalin.  We will ask about it after the detoxification.

The notes translated:

1. Mention experience 1100 times.

2. Call everyone "My Friends" at the end of every sentence.

3. Give a big shout out to the Religious Right who sunk my candidacy the last time we went round this campaign thing.  Without their sycophantism I would never have gotten this far.

4. Run as close to the Bush people without actually embracing them and their philosophy.  And ask Karl... what is the philosophy again?  What do they believe in?

5. Mention bucking the trends, being an outsider, stuff like that all the while I have been an insider and a GOP loyalist -- don't slip up on this point.  Damn, this lying stuff is fun.

6. Thank Charles Keating for all of his invaluable support over the years.  Um, wait... no... what was it Karl said??  Oh yes, do not mention I was one of the Keating Five.

7. Mention Cindy without actually looking at her.  Uh oh, scary. Might be important to do that about that scary unknown governor from Saskatchewan they paired me with.

8. Talk about drilling our way to energy independence.  The oil guys who run the party will love that one.  Um, this one is important - Do not laugh like a school boy over the use of the word "drilling."

9. Lie.  Lie about everything.  Then lie some more.  Remember in case of emergency - lie.

10. Remember not to worry about the media's interpretation of the speech and the convention overall.  Karl said we have them in our pockets.  And at half the price, we expected.  Time for another house... but where to build...

11. Mention the word America as many times as possible.  Oh, flag is good too.  Work that in... like, We Americans love the Flag.  Ok, ok... we're on to something here.

12.  I wonder if I can borrow some 9-11 from Giuliani?

Sweet Jesus, Am I Sick of Guys Like This

"Guys like what, res?" you ask. Like this. Guys who wag their fingers, shake their heads, and tell Democrats that we've got to be properly respectful of the "pent up indignation and yearning" and the "deeply wounded pride and groping loyalty" of the "ordinary people" Republicans who voted in the jerks, losers, incompetents, and criminals who have screwed up everything for the last thirty years as we try to wrest control of the country back from their death grip. Republicans hear crap like this and guess what they do? Turn around, buy purple heart band-aids, and roll right over us. I'd bet every dime I have that not one person in that auditorium last night is interested in my pent up indignation and yearning, and I am long past giving a damn about theirs. And let me tell you something else, if their "folksy common-sense, defiant courage, and religious faith" haven't spurred them to hop on board the the clue train at some point in the last eight years, I highly doubt they're going to hop on board now.

I keep thinking of Dr. Meade's exasperation with Aunt Pittypat as General Sherman bore down on Atlanta in "Gone With the Wind" -- "Good heavens, woman! This is a war, not a garden party!"

Dude, do us all a favor and channel your energy into something productive, like getting people who may not drive to the polls on election day. That's what this "smart ass" will be doing. Sheesh.

For Fans of Battlestar

John McCain is a Cylon.

(laughed so hard I nearly fell out of my chair, thanks to 4/29Truth for the good laugh this morning)

postscript - for those who know not of this Battlestar... Check out the reboot of Battlestar Galactica on the Sci Fi Channel.  Great stuff.  And not overly fuzzy and optimistic like the original.  I know we are all laughing over most of the Sci Channel's offerings but this show is good.

One Simple Question

With all of this attack the media convention posturing, I still want one very simple question answered:  Why is the media so happy and energetic about Palin's mediocre speech when this so-called liberal media said almost nothing about Hillary Clinton's great speech?  Or more correctly, this labeled liberal media derided Senator Clinton for not saying "the right thing?" Or "not supportive enough."

I don't know about all of you but Palin's speech was useless... and many of her remarks troubled me and seemed just a series of pasted together one-liners and throw away jingoisms. 

Of course, the speech was not written by her or originally even for her.  So, why is the media salivating over the fact that Palin can read off the teleprompter when words are broken down for her, words like nuclear.

Can I have an answer?

Reflecting on making baby a campaign prop:

I am surprised they didn't have it choreographed down to Cindy McCain presenting her teat for the baby to suckle.

Seems about reich, er, right

/CNN

In case you haven't seen it

Brilliant and a thorough ass-whoopin'

Never decided anything

Not everyone at the AP is Ron Fournier or Liz Sidoti -- they actually "report" rather than buy the doughnuts:

When presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain introduced Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate last Friday, the Arizona senator emphasized her role as the commander in chief of the Alaska National Guard .

Later, when questions were raised about Palin's lack of experience in national and international affairs, the McCain campaign pointed again to her military command experience as governor. Some reporters have tried to follow up.

"Can you tell me one decision that she made as commander in chief of the Alaska National Guard ?" CNN journalist Campbell Brown asked Monday while interviewing McCain campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds . "Just one?"

Bounds couldn't, because Palin has never personally ordered the state guard to do anything.

But what about disaster stuff within the State, surely she's made some decisions there?

Did Palin directly approve each of those activities?

No, Campbell said. The governor has granted him the authority to act on his own in most cases, including life-or-death emergencies — when a quick response is required — and minor day-to-day operations.

And here is some more "actual" reporting, as opposed to Fourniercation.

A little analysis from Roland Martin

And good for him!

Here's Mud in Your Eye

Gee, I hope this review is "withering" enough. I'll never get a job as a bloviating cable pundit now...

As Sarah Palin demonstrated she's very good at reading other people's speeches once the proper pronouns are cut and pasted. Now, the Republicans put forth the kind of campaign they will run.

It is, to be fair, one based on an ideal.

That Americans are stupid, base, resentful and bigoted. That if one can scream and bloviate loudly enough you can keep your Party in power even when it is about as popular as chlamydia. How Mavericky!

Scream how much you love Jesus, and also Israel who you are sure will one day also especially love Jesus -- on pain of death. Nice flag pin...got one that doesn't pander so overtly? Finally, deliver a good speech as your calling card while saying that all Obama can do is deliver a good speech. Do this and you are apparently golden and you'll manage to get 50 percent plus one vote, or at least have the Supreme Court say "close enough!". After all, John McCain spent five and a half years as a P.O.W. (in case you haven't heard) -- all so he could protect the freedoms that one day would allow him to call half of this Country traitors. Now that's positive leadership!

So much for the "United" in the United States of America. And if Todd and Sarah Palin had their druthers so much for one State in the United States of America for that matter.

Never mind what your will actually do once in power other than fire those not beholden to you and, oh yes, DRILL, DRILL, DRILL. Never mind policies, it is, after all, from your point of view, all about the personalities and not the issues. And to get there we must stop criticizing your children so you get a full on chance to exploit them? When does little Trig get passed to the loving arms of Tom DeLay anyhow?

No wonder the consistent look on the face of John McCain's mother was one of badly repressed horror.

Will it work, or better put, will it work again?

To give you some sense of optimism, quite likely not:

In two different focus groups of Clinton-supporting Nevada women -- married and unmarried -- conducted immediately after Gov. Sarah Palin's Wednesday night speech to the Republican National Convention, a few common reactions quickly took shape.

First, women in both groups were impressed with Palin's speaking ability and poise. But they were hardly convinced that she was qualified to be vice president, or that she truly represented the "change" they were looking for, especially in light of what was deemed an overly harsh "sarcasm" pervading her address...

In the "married" group, when one attendee kicked off the discussion by saying "she's a good speaker, and a crowd pleaser," the rest of the room articulated their agreement. "I didn't expect to be as impressed as I was," said another respondent. But then another woman added: "Once she started mudslinging, I thought, it's the same old crap as other politicians. McCain used her to get the women's vote. And she's using McCain."

"Thank you," another woman responded. "That really upset me; there was no need for that. It was snippy."

The unmarried group also voiced similar objections to the harsh, partisan edge of Palin's remarks. "I'm not impressed with her at all as a person," one said, citing her "finger pointing" and general sarcasm after the group had generally agreed that she was a talented public speaker.

It's just a small focus group of people targeted by campaigns as swing voters. Palin's got the GOP base who was bound and determined to finally have a reason for jump for joy at something.

But that may be all she has -- and for all their complaining, McCain had all of those folks in the bag anyway.

Can Obama get the others? Look at the clip of his shortened speech on Labor Day and tell me who is the better and more genuine speaker?

The answer is pretty damned evident -- It is a true Bobby Kennedy moment.

And for that reason, the Republicans can have all the Sarah Palin moments they want, she'll never top the authenticity of that moment on Monday.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Mystery Guest?

Who is the tall dude with the long hair next to Huckabee? Oops. My mistake. Sorry to those I have offended.

The Plan

Anyone wonder if the plan all along was to attack the media, then blame the media, and criticize the media rather than run any real campaign?  When you really are more of the same in a situation where the economy is crashing, military adventurism is at an all time high, and your party is to blame - what can you possibly do?  You criticize the media for any scrutiny of yourself, your party, and your campaign.

What do you do?  You need to set up the media for rounds of endless attacks... so you pick a running mate with many problems... so you can attack the media for the audacity to do their job.

Is that the plan so far?

Live-Blogging "Project Runway"

I am having a lot of trouble with my internet connection this evening, so if this live-blog goes dark midway through "PR" don't think that I've been taken out by an fabric-shears-wielding wanna be designer or something.

So I missed last week and just watched the re-run and was happy to see Keith, who like Daniel before him, has a crummy, whining attitude. So you worked hard and didn't get the recognition you deserved, welcome to the rest of the world's world. It happens to all of us. And if living in Utah is constraining, well, move!

And now that I've poured myself a fortifying glass of wine, onto the show.

(Whoa! MSNBC "Convention Update" before "PR". Oy. I love you, Keith Olberman, but I've extended my pundit blackout until the end of September. Get offa my TV!)

9:01: Ooo, Stella looking good in her rocker chick black bra (or is that a bikini top)?

9:03: I don't know that he qualifies as a "very special guest," but I do love Tim Gunn.

9:05: And here's Diane von Furstenberg looking chic and fab. A few weeks ago, my friend D told me he thought I'd look good in one of her wrap dresses. Note to self: find DvF wrap dress or (more likely) a reasonably priced facsimile thereof.

9:08: Does anyone besides me think that Kenley is the treacherous one among this group?

9:11: Oy vey, Suede is talking in the third person again. res is irritated that suede does this all the time.

9:12: Yo Joe! Do not diss Terri. You've had one really outstanding outfit and she's had at least three. I think she may go all the way.

(Commercial. I am officially sick of Sarah Palin.)

9:18: As Jerrell is speaking I realize that he may not even have been aware of Marlene Dietrich before this challenge. These people are young.

9:23: Joe's red and magenta combo -- kinda counterintuitive, but I saw this in (I think) a Gucci ad in Vogue the other day.

9:30: I'm a little worried about my girl Stella tonight. That vest does not look very DvF.

9:33: This is the week where the trash talking begins in earnest, huh? Even Leanne is trash talking people.

9:39: Hey! Heidi is finally wearing a skirt of age-appropriate length. And it looks great!

9:39: OMG! Where is my friend Nina Garcia? I have heard people at my hair salon gossping about Fern Malis and how horrid she is.

9:41: Terri delivers again, as does Leanne and Korto. I don't know what Blayne is wearing on is head, but his design is one of his better ones. Suede's skirt is sort of oddly shapped. There might be a bit too much Stella in Stella's Shanghai thing. Kenley's dress is nice, but I'm not sure she did the assignment.

9:42: Terri, Jerrell, Blayne... they've got to be in....and they are.

9:45: What the heck is Kenley wearing on her shoulders? Sort of droopy feather epaulets? I think she's going to get away with not doing the assignment.

9:45: Stella ... I'm scared. I knew DvF would not like the cape. Oy, "Dracula." Top American Designer Michael Kors™ says the crotch is "every woman's nightmare." Does this mean cameltoe? If that's the case, he should have excepted Laura Bush.

9:47: I knew they would not like the shape of Suede's skirt! I am learning here, people!

9:49: Something tells me that Joe or Stella is gone tonight.

(Commercial: I am still sick of Sarah Palin.)

9:56: Leanne wins again? Didn't she win last week? Kenley is pissed. Can't say I'm entirely sad about that. She was a little too confident.

9:57: So who has a better body of work to build on? Stella or Joe? I think the former, but we'll see what Heidi and company say.

9:58: Oh no! Stella goes home to Astoria! Bummer. I really think Joe was more inconsistent than Stella, but what do I know? Stella, if I decide to add some rock and roll bondage gear to my wardrobe, you're definitely going to be my go-to girl. In any case, you're cool as lightweight leathuh undulating in the breezes left in the wake of the summer's most dramatic thunderstorm, lady. xxx...

Caption This

(from Getty Images)

Go ahead, what's your caption?

Coming this fall to FOX...

WHEN BOTOX...

...GOES BAD!

Although y'know, I loved her in 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas'.

Oh, oh, one more...

"WHY SO SERIOUSSSSSSS?"

By Alex Wong/Getty

So tell us you what you REALLY think!

When the cameras are off on MSNBC Mike Murphy & Peggy Noonan tell you what they really think of the choice of Sarah Palin:



"It's BULLSHIT!" and "It's OVER!"

That WSJ Editorial from Peggums is going to be more explicitly full of lies than usual.

UPDATE:

Peggy's most recent WSJ column, published today:

Because she jumbles up so many cultural categories, because she is a feminist not in the Yale Gender Studies sense but the How Do I Reload This Thang way, because she is a woman who in style, history, moxie and femininity is exactly like a normal American feminist and not an Abstract Theory feminist; because she wears makeup and heels and eats mooseburgers and is Alaska Tough, as Time magazine put it; because she is conservative, and pro-2nd Amendment and pro-life; and because conservatives can smell this sort of thing -- who is really one of them and who is not -- and will fight to the death for one of their beleaguered own; because of all of this she is a real and present danger to the American left, and to the Obama candidacy.

Secessionist to become GOP Candidate for Vice President

One of the things I have commented upon and many of us who read this blog have repeatedly noted is the mainstreaming of extremist political views though establishment candidates.  Nancy Reagan's recognition of David Duke is but one well worn example of the weird story of how extremists have made in-roads into the Republican party machinery.  While Duke was ultimately unsuccessful as a person, his ideas about immigration, for example, have been embraced by the party.  Last I heard the GOP was the party of the new wall.

Many of us are again raising this question on whether extremists are now taking over the GOP.  We have to ask if this is occurring again with John McCain's odd selection of Sarah Palin as his Vice Presidential running mate.  In his efforts to reach disgruntled Hillary Clinton supporters, we ask a question that must be answered:  Is McCain energizing extremist factions who have used the label of the GOP to further their own damaging agenda?  Does this sound familiar?  (And this not even considering how out-of-touch much of the GOP is when compared to the electorate.)

Every once in a while the  media (especially some well known newspapers) in Canada and England go full bore on a story that mainstream American news media will not touch because their corporate bosses will not let them or to do so will "offend readers."   

This article from the Guardian is one of those moments of clarity provided by reporting from outside the United States.  We are well aware that some extreme right-wing elements have periodically erupted with campaigns to have one or more states secede from the Union (remember the Republic of Texas folks?).  While these groups often have different agendas, their goal is always the same and that it to throw off the perceived "tyranny" of the federal government by dismantling it.

One example of this bizarre rhetoric are the actions of the late Rep. Helen Chenoweth who represented the first district in Idaho for three terms. Or the electoral victories of David Duke in Louisiana or Thomas Metzger in Fallbrook, California would be other unfortunate examples examples of noxious extremist efforts to supposedly dismantle the state to save the state.   Ugly extremism cannot be changed by setting it up in a pretty dress?

Speaking of dressing up bad ideas.  We have Sarah Palin.  While Palin does not come from Louisiana or Texas, she does come by her extremism from Alaska.  And in the case of Alaska, the goal is to sequester the state's oil wealth.  What makes this extremist fringe efforts in Alaska significant is that John McCain has selected a proponent of this bizarre rhetoric a running mate.  Sarah Palin IS a proponent of Alaska's drive for separation from the rest of the country.  She's a separatist with ambitions.

New revelations about Palin — including her membership of a party that wants Alaskans to vote on becoming a separate country — are raising questions for any thinking person about how thoroughly John McCain's campaign vetted her background before adding her to the ticket.  If in their effort to siphon votes away from Obama, if they vetted her at all.

Palin was a member of the Alaskan Independence party (AIP) before becoming an elected Republican official, according to party members, and recorded a video message for the AIP convention this year.  The AIP's chief goal is securing a vote on whether or not Alaska should secede from the United States, a goal that party leaders believe the state was denied before it became part of the union almost fifty years ago.

We must also note that the LA Time also covers the story, but the lead is the effort among the Republicans are making to hide Palin's extremist past despite her featured appearance as recently as last winter at a conference of AIP - Alaskan Independence Party.  Talk about the Nancy Reagan shuffle.

Tonight, Sarah Palin will be nominated as the Republican Party's choice for vice president of the United States. But back home, she has cheered the work of a tiny party that long has pushed for a statewide vote on whether Alaska should secede from that self same United States.  This must make for some confusion to say the least.

Was It Over When the Germans Bombed Pearl Harbor?

Dear Senator McCain,

With regard to your campaign's declaration that "this nonsense" [re Palin and her Tammanyesque government and Springeresque clan] "is over", see below.

xxx...res

Query

Which country is Todd Palin most proud of this morning?

Remember the stink about Michelle Obama...well this guy was happily a member of a group that curses the American Flag, America itself, and wants to secede. Leaving only when his wife (who attended conventions of the same group and addressed them as Governor) ran for Lt. Governor in 2002.

And it's the liberal media, eh?

Banned Words of 2009™

Because it's never too early to put the world on notice...

1. Superdelegate
2. Bitter
3. Presumptuous
4. Denounce/Renounce/Reject/Repudiate
5. Surge
6. PUMA
7. Lunchpail voter
8. Subprime
9. Miley Cyrus
10. Clinton, Davis (Lanny), Ickes, Wolfson
11. Lieberman
    
12. Vet/Vetted/Vetting
13. POW (pansypoo from comments)
14. Staycation (Anonymous from comments)
15. Hockey Mom (Athenawise from comments)
    

Stay tuned. I'm sure there will be dozens more before this year's out.

A "real" record of reform

Another day another skeleton in the closet:

After taking over as Mayor of the small town of Wasilla, Palin fired the longtime local police chief. The former police chief, Irl Stambaugh says he was fired because he stepped on the toes of Palin's campaign contributors, including bar owners and the National Rifle Association.

Stambaugh's lawyer, William Jermain, says the chief tried to move up the closing hours of local bars from 5 a.m. to two a.m. after a spurt of drunk driving accidents and arrests.

"His crackdown on that practice by the bars was not appreciated by her and that was one reason she terminated Irl," said Jermain.

In his 1997 lawsuit, Stambaugh also alleged that his stand on restricting concealed weapons upset the NRA.

"Mayor Palin has stated on several occasions that the National Rifle Association encouraged her to fire Chief Stambaugh because of his stance against the concealed weapons legislation," the lawsuit claimed.

Palin says she was up against entrenched insiders when she was elected mayor of Wasilla in 1996.

"We had a lot of people that were kind of dead wood," said Colleen Sullivan Leonard, a staff member in Palin's office. "We needed people with new energy and a new vision."

A new vision like staying with the old vision and letting Bars stay open until 5 in the fucking morning and letting the NRA tell you what to do?

You can't beat reality

From the Great Orange Satan, an untouched picture of the marquee of the Wasilla theater. Once again, the jokes write themselves:

Gonzo

Nobody could have failed to anticipate:

Former attorney general Alberto Gonzales improperly handled classified information about some of the government's most sensitive national security programs

Golly, where'd he pick up those bad habits?

"Because I can't say UPPITY" Watch

"Senator Obama is a gifted and eloquent young man..."

Barack Obama is 47 years old.

At least Joe didn't call him "boy".

Nice job Connecticut.

Nice Job Joe,

Your beloved Maverick just nominated a gal who two weeks ago sat blissfully through a sermon that said this:

Brickner also described terrorist attacks on Israelis as God's "judgment of unbelief" of Jews who haven't embraced Christianity.

"Judgment is very real and we see it played out on the pages of the newspapers and on the television. It's very real. When [Brickner's son] was in Jerusalem he was there to witness some of that judgment, some of that conflict, when a Palestinian from East Jerusalem took a bulldozer and went plowing through a score of cars, killing numbers of people. Judgment — you can't miss it."

Film Review

Wow, what an awful tribute to the first Bush. While I am no fan of the family, at least the elder Bush has an impressive resume, but you wouldn't know it by the tribute film they made for him. The films we saw of all the speakers at the Democratic convention were so well done they could have made Attaturk look like an old softy. The film done for the first Bush was just awful. More please.

This needs to go viral...

How could you NOT vote for this guy?

So eloquent, so moving.

"Soulmate"

Just to add to what Res mentioned below;




Only Cindy isn't laughing at him now. She just glaring...though admittedly all the botox can make it hard to tell.

That Sound You Hear ...

...is the sound of the rest of the world laughing at us.

Thanks Sarah Palin, John McCain, George W. Bush, and the Republican party for making us the laughingstock of the planet.

Sarah Palin -- First Amendment Advocate

In Time Magazine --

Stein says that as mayor, Palin continued to inject religious beliefs into her policy at times. "She asked the library how she could go about banning books," he says, because some voters thought they had inappropriate language in them. "The librarian was aghast." The librarian, Mary Ellen Baker, couldn't be reached for comment, but news reports from the time show that Palin had threatened to fire her for not giving "full support" to the mayor.

McCain is trying to lose, there's no other logical reason for such an incredibly ham-handed and miserable choice.

She's BAAAAAAck!

I guess the GOP has had enough excitement for one day. They've dropped Rudy "A Noun, a Verb, and 9/11" Guiliani off the speaking schedule in favor of GrandpaDaddy Fred Thompson. But while old Fred's snoozing speaking, I'll be on the lookout for Jeri, who was second only to graspy little Judi Stich Ross Nathan Giuliani in her sense of Republican high style. I'm sure she'll wear something that reflects well the party of teenage pregnancy family values.

With Friends Like These

Janet Kincaid, "longtime friend and political ally" of Alaska governor and Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin:

“I just thought, poor Sarah,” said Mrs. Kincaid, who has 28 grandchildren and children. “There is always one that knocks the socks off of you and keeps you humble just when you think you’re the greatest mom.”

Sounds like Sarah Palin has a lot of "friends":

In Ms. Palin’s circle in Alaska, some had heard of Bristol’s pregnancy before the public announcement on Monday. Janet Kincaid, Ms. Palin’s longtime friend and political ally, heard a few weeks ago. A man who was doing some work for her, she said, knows the baby’s father and told her. Then she heard it from others.
...
Family friends said the couple has had some discipline problems with Track, who recently joined the Army. “Track was a big hockey star, and when you’re a jock in high school there’s a certain amount of ego and problems that goes with that,” Mrs. Kincaid said. “But that’s normal. They are a normal American family with all the joys and problems.”

I'm guessing Ms. Kinkaid's invite to the White House Easter Egg Roll is going to get lost in the mail.

Lovely

The McCain campaign hired Tucker Askew, one of those lovely folks that in 2000 dragged McCain through the mud about his "illegitimate black daughter" in one of the great execrable moments of American politics...because John McCain puts country first.

Askew's job is to prepare Sarah Palin Tall (fez tip Watertiger) for her next round of public exposure.

And Tucker, as ever, delivers what he's paid for:

“We are going to flush the toilet,” said Tucker Eskew, who is a senior adviser to Ms. Palin, describing the campaign’s plans for Labor Day, when much of the nation was busy with family and social activities.

Classy with a "K".

I'm sure Bridget McCain is D-E-L-I-G-H-T-E-D

Ratings Spectacular!!!

Tonight's Prime-Time GOP Speakers:

- Fred Thompson (OMG! a Celebrity)

- Rudy Giuliani

- Joe Lieberman

and, of course,

- George W. Bush (by Video apparently)



AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How could the American public NOT watch so much charisma on display?

Bobo's Premature Ejaculation

D'oh!

The Palin pick allows McCain to run the way he wants to — not as the old goat running against the fresh upstart, but as the crusader for virtue

I'd write something snarky, but really, why embellish a statement so perfectly and profoundly hilarious?

Let's see McCain do this

Obama last night in Milwaukee:

Every once in a while somebody’s going to go through some hard times. When we least expect it tragedy may strike. And what has always made this country great is the understanding that we rise and fall as one nation, that values and family, community and neighborhood, they have to express themselves in our government. Those are national values. Those are values that we all subscribe to. And so that the spirit that we extend today and in the days to come as we monitor what happens on the Gulf that’s the spirit that we’ve got to carry with us each and every day. That’s the spirit that we need in our own homes and it’s the spirit that we need in the White House. And that’s why I’m running for president of the United States of America.

Because if there’s a poor child out there, that’s my child. If there’s a senior that’s having trouble, that’s my grandparent. If there’s a guy who’s lost his job, that’s my brother. If there’s a woman out there without healthcare, that’s my sister. Those are the values that built this country. Those are the values we are fighting for.

You know, America hasn't had a President with the soul of a poet since Lincoln...

That guy turned out pretty good.

Plus, you know when Sarah Palin and Alaska try to secede he'll be ready!

"Hey, Don't forget Cheney!"

HUGS, ALL AROUND!

ABC’s George Stephanopoulos reports: After skipping the opening day of the Republican National Convention to personally check the emergency response to Hurricane Gustav, President George W. Bush will keep his appointment with the party faithful.

Bush will speak to the RNC Tuesday in St. Paul, one day after the convention opened to an abbreviated schedule due to the storm.

(pic from Roy Goodwin)

The Party of Lincoln

Finally comes full circle and nominates a secessionist.

Confirmed: Palin was member of the "Alaska Independence Party".

No, USA!
No, USA!
No, USA!

Heavy Vetting

Various newspapers are full of stories of the level of vetting the McCain campaign performed before picking Sarah Palin:

One Republican strategist with close ties to the campaign described the candidate's closest supporters as "keeping their fingers crossed" in hopes that additional information does not force McCain to revisit the decision. According to this Republican, who would discuss internal campaign strategizing only on condition of anonymity, the McCain team used little more than a Google Internet search as part of a rushed effort to review Palin's potential pitfalls. Just over a week ago, Palin was not on McCain's short list of potential running mates, the Republican said.

For some reason

Campbell Brown seems bitter and resentful towards GOP-Press Flacks...


Wonder what would lead to such profound disappointment?

Oh, yeah.

It's a brand new day

What will we learn about Sarah Palin and the McCain Campaign today?

And let's leave Track, Bristol, Tungsten, Crowbar and Distributor Cap out of this.

The vetting of Palin and how John McCain picked her sounds eerily familiar, as McCain aides involved in the process say:

"We came out of it knowing all that we could know at the time,"

Which is a little like McCain's post-hoc justifications for whatever "preemptive" military incursion he is trying to justify.

What McCain is really going to need is a Condi Rice-like spokesman who can say "Nobody could have Anticipated" with conviction. I'm pretty sure Dan Senor's wife was telegraphing a strong signal about this to the campaign yesterday. She really needs to get him out of the house.

I believe that Palin is scheduled to speak on Wednesday night, though maybe they'll move that up. Whatever the situation, she better manage to make the speech of her life.

Maybe she should talk about her little dog "Checkers" and her husband's "sensible" Republican tricked-out snowmobile?

No pressure though.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Ladies and Gentlemen,

McCain 2008's Official Vetter:




Aw hell, somebody thought of this joke first.

CHOOSING to keep the baby

That's nice. I'm sure that the daughter of a mother who doesn't believe in abortions even in the case of rape or incest had NO influence on that decision.

But even it was left to "her" to make the decision, this cannot help but make clear that a McCain Presidency would make sure THERE WOULD BE NO CHOICE TO MAKE.

Taking "Juneau" (as opposed to "Juno") a little too literally

Apparently you can get pregnant from just a little bit of 'HEAVY VETTING"

McCain's campaign needs a laugh track or at least a something akin too...


TONIGHT, ON A VERY SPECIAL EPISODE OF 'BLOSSOM'


Update, from the Eagle Forum questionnaire discussed yesterday:

"3. Will you support funding for abstinence-until-marriage education instead of for explicit sex-education programs, school-based clinics, and the distribution of contraceptives in schools? '

Palin: Yes, the explicit sex-ed programs will not find my support."

D'oh!

Whole Lotta Love

Photo: James Watson/Getty Images

Nice Vetting, Part II. Sarah Palin, Secessionist

Which is you know, a variant of treason if you want to make it plain:

This next clip is the 1st of 2 parts from the convention itself. About half way through the speech(at 6:00), the Vice Chairman of the AIP, Dexter Clark, says this of Palin: "Our current governor who I mentioned at the last conference, the one we were hoping would get elected, Sarah Palin, did get elected . . . .and there was a lot of talk about her moving up. She was an AIP member before she got the job as mayor . . . "

The AIP’s main aim is to secede from the United States, becoming either a territory or a sovereign nation. They aim to be entirely "self-sufficient" using profits from the oil and gas resources of the state.

I wonder if anyone - affiliated with what passes for a press corps will bother to ask?

I almost wish I didn't know the answer to that question.

Nice Vetting!

Welcome to the fabulous historical realm of Sarah Palin -- yeah, she's qualified enough for the GOP:

2006 Alaska Primary Questionnaire Sent out by the Eagle Forum,

11. Are you offended by the phrase “Under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance? Why or why not?

Sarah Palin : Not on your life. If it was good enough for the founding fathers, its good enough for me and I’ll fight in defense of our Pledge of Allegiance

Yep. Pledge of Allegiance, written 1892, by Francis Bellamy, a Christian AND and a Socialist. But definitely not a founder.

Of course, even then, "Under God" wasn't part of the Pledge that Bellamy wrote. Those words were inserted in 1954 when Ike and the Congress wanted to show those Commies in the Kremlin that we could make up our own oaths, only with the Almighty in them. "Hey Comrade! Suck. On. That." USA! USA! USA!

This kind of history, of course, is hard to know. What with it being public record and easily available in such remote locales as "The Google". But, I guess, if you want to stretch the definition of the word "Founder" enough it could start with George Washington and end with the debut of "The Transformers" no one can stop you. And that is just what Sarah Palin is willing to do. She's that qualified. She's already manufacturing her own reality.

She was on the PTA and everything!

Huzzah.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Maybe it's not so much he should retire

As David Broder is the embodiment of Ol' Yeller -- near the end of the story.

Just one pathetic McCain knobjob after another.

Here's your "Maverick" Palin story Broder, she lies like a Republican.