Mr. Straight-Talk, flat out liar

This is freaking unbelievable...yet it's Obama (as always with Democrats) that gets called a flip-flopper.

McCain is allowed to lie his dimply ass off and his beloved media entourage just chalks it up as Mavericky-goodness.

FLAT OUT LYING!

Nothing elite here...

Cindy McCain:

"In Arizona The Only Way To Get Around The State Is By Small Private Plane"

And the only real way to join the mile-high club is to marry a beer heiress.

The SKY is not falling

The latest Quinnipiac Poll:

With commanding leads among women and young voters and near unanimous support from black voters, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama has a 50 - 41 percent lead over Arizona Sen. John McCain, according to a Quinnipiac University national poll of likely voters released today.

Independent voters split 44 - 44 percent, the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University poll finds. Sen. McCain has a slight 47 - 44 percent edge among men voters and a larger 49 - 42 percent lead among white voters.

But black voters back Sen. Obama 94 - 1 percent, while women support him 55 - 36 percent. Obama leads 63 - 31 percent among voters 18 to 34 years old and 48 - 44 percent among voters 35 to 54, while voters over 55 split with 45 percent for McCain and 44 percent for Obama.

But in the internals are the truly fascinating numbers:

The economy is the single most important issue in their vote, 53 percent of American voters say, followed by 16 percent who list the war in Iraq and 11 percent who list health care.

Obama leads McCain 53 - 39 percent among those who list the economy, 65 - 27 percent among those who cite the war and 67 - 27 percent among those worried about health care.

And in the most revealing area of the poll, the most flabbergasting we see how the politics of "FEAR" plays out, McCain leads 87 to 7 for those who think "terrorism" is the most important thing.

There is your "He's a Muslim" emails and the biggest suckers in the world right there. Only 7% have that are their primary issue.

The economy is the top choice of 53%.

So, how many "TERROR ALERTS" is the Administration going to throw out there starting the week of the Democratic National Convention anyway?

Is that you Harvey?

John McCain greets his imaginary friend.

(AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Dry Rubbed

“He’s bordering on arrogance”

Those are the words of AP's new Washington Bureau Chief Ron Fournier about Barack Obama in March 2008. Ron, the word you were too timid to use but were thinking was "uppity".

Many of us in the blogosphere, most prominently Josh Marshall, have noticed a bizarre non-neutral reporting stance of many AP reporters, starting with Fournier and Liz "With Sprinkles" Sidoti. And now there are some items that are brining this general wankerosity to the forefront.

Yesterday, ABC News Reported:

White House officials interviewed as part of an investigation into the misleading information given to the public and the Tillman family in the weeks after the death of Corporal Pat Tillman have said they do not recall when they first learned that Tillman was killed as a result of friendly fire, according to a proposed report released today by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

The committee set out to determine when top officials at the White House and Defense Department learned that Tillman had been killed in a friendly fire incident. Tillman, a former NFL star and perhaps the most famous soldier to die in Afghanistan, was killed on April 22, 2004. His death was widely covered by the media and Tillman was posthumously awarded a Silver Star just days after his death.

It was not until over a month later, on May 29, 2004, that the public and Tillman's family were officially informed that his death was very likely due to friendly fire.

The committee says that in their quest to find out when officials first knew about the possibility that Tillman's death was not due to enemy fire, they were "frustrated by a near universal lack of recall," according to the report.

But they had a lot of outside help from people ready to give them the

New Yorker Cover

I don't know about you but I think the New Yorker needs to hire our very own Dr. Atta J. Turk - illustrator extraordinare - to do what certainly must be the cover parodying McCain since they now have a "parody" cover of Obama.  Because the editorial staff at the New Yorker will not want to appear partisan or anything so simple as jumping on a bandwagon.

Personally if I was going to do a parody cover, I would have went with either Shaft or Superfly -- let's make fun of the rampant racism in this country -- because in the end, how is something satire if its what some people are saying?  Satire is exaggeration not a true reflection and furthering of the right-wing attacks.  Parody is not silent condoning the meaningless attacks of the right-wing whack-a-doodles. 

But hey, I don't write for the New Yorker so I suppose the argument is that I don't understand or appreciate satire.  Of course, I have two words for the New Yorker on this and they are not happy birthday.  Is that satire?  Nope, but it feels good.

(And yeah, I know there are some terrific reporters and writers at the New Yorker, but I do have problem with the Obama cover). 

Our own Blog Boy Atta would be perfect for this work.  Just think of all the great visuals he has done over the past year here on this lil' ol' Blog.  Hey, as the person nominating Atta for this, I expect a 10% finders fee.

So, I think we should all write in to The New Yorker and demand some current parodies of Bush, Cheney, and especially McCain, and more.  Besides parody does not know partisan divide, right?

Way to Go Bush!

Banks at greater risk to fail while Bush wants to prop up Freedie Mac and Sallie Mae.  When do individuals get this kind of care and support?  So, apparently to get any attention from the Bush mistake we all need to become corporations, preferably corporations on the verge of collapse. 

And you are all about to tell me how essential these financial institutions are because they loan money to average citizens.  And of course at terms favorable to the company not to people.  How long will you be paying back your student loans? 

Just remember everything Bush does is because of compassionate conservatism and his values.  Yeah, love corporate America and dislike everyone else.  So, this is the trusting people president?

Cindy McCain

Now officially distributing foreign owned mind altering substances.

In GOP-Speak this makes her just like the Medellín Cartel. No wonder McCain went to Colombia.


(Hey, look it's the GOP Convention!)

CNN: Classy

Actual headline:

Cerebral palsy boy mows lawns

Um, okay. There are better superhero names...

Hey CNN, many people with "CP" can actually, you know, do stuff.

Next up...

"Blind girl eats grapes"

There is a difference

Instead of bald heads, McCain will take the rare opportunity to rub people who are older than him.

Viva Viagra (covered by Medicaid and most insurances)

(AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Bush's

America remember.

Everytime you elect a Bush:

1. We invade Iraq.

2. The economy goes into the toilet.

3. We have to bail out the nation's financial institutions because you ran out of readily available money for them weasel you out of in any other way.

(fez tip Firedoglake commenter Nomolos)

Republicans! Blather rinse repeat

Modern America:

Late 1980s:

WE MUST DEREGULATE BANKS!


Mid-1990s:

YAY, We've Deregulated Banks and we're exploiting the masses to become richer than ever!


EARLY 2000s:

Look at how awesome De-Regulating the banks has been, you people criticizing it are engaging in class warfare! All these bankruptcies are abusive of us rich people, we need to make those laws tougher...WE NEED TO REGULATE THE MASSES!


About 2007:

Nothing is wrong except the masses are suckers, don't blame us. We're rich. They need to pay off their loans. Good thing we made bankruptcy so hard for 'em.


Mid- 2008:

GODDAMN, WE'RE IN TROUBLE, WE NEED THE MASSES TO BAIL US RICH FOLKS OUT OR WE'RE TAKING ALL OF YOU BASTARDS WITH US!!!!!!!!!!

WHY DID YOU LISTEN TO US THE FIRST TIME?

Not corrupt at all

Naturally this is reported in a BRITISH newspaper:

The Sunday Times reports Stephen Payne, a Bush pioneer and a political appointee to the Homeland Security Advisory Council, was caught on tape offering access to key members of the Bush administration inner circle in exchange for “six-figure donations to the private library being set up to commemorate Bush’s presidency.”

In an undercover video, Payne is seen promising to arrange a meeting for an exiled leader of Krygystan with Dick Cheney or Condoleezza Rice. (Not President Bush because “he doesn’t meet with a lot of former Presidents these days,” Payne says. “I don’t think he meets with hardly anyone.”) All it will take for him to arrange this high-level meeting, says Payne, is “a couple hundred thousand dollars, or something like that”

And yes, the link HAS THE VIDEO.

Watch it get absolutely no play over here, other than from us Dirty Fucking Hippies.

How about that...

I sure wish the media would keep telling me about John McCain's strength in foreign policy and security matters:

For look who said this about one year ago:

The U.S. should shift troops from Iraq to pursue al-Qaida along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said Saturday.

He said President Bush's war-fighting policies have left the United States at greater risk from terrorists. The first-term Illinois senator said decisions by the Republican president had allowed Osama bin Laden and his deputies to elude capture.

"We cannot win a war against the terrorists if we're on the wrong battlefield," Obama said. "America must urgently begin deploying from Iraq and take the fight more effectively to the enemy's home by destroying al-Qaida's leadership along the Afghan-Pakistan border, eliminating their command and control networks and disrupting their funding."

And look what the NY Times says the Bush Administration is thinking of doing now:

The Bush administration is considering the withdrawal of additional combat forces from Iraq beginning in September, according to administration and military officials, raising the prospect of a far more ambitious plan than expected only months ago.

Such a withdrawal would be a striking reversal from the nadir of the war in 2006 and 2007.

One factor in the consideration is the pressing need for additional American troops in Afghanistan, where the Taliban and other fighters have intensified their insurgency and inflicted a growing number of casualties on Afghans and American-led forces there.

And I'm betting John McCain will declare this his victory -- and the fawning media will let him.

Oh those alternative realities

On the one hand:

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Sunday that Israel and the Palestinians have never been closer to a peace deal than now.

I'm sure this will really move that forward:

President George W Bush backs Israeli plan for strike on Iran

There is simply nothing funnier than this

No not the snark from Thers...though it's obviously quite fine.

No...it's the fact that 'No Quarter' is simply the dumbest bunch of blogging trolls in the Universe.

It's like mistaking George W. Bush as capable of putting of tying his own shoes.

They're making Confederate Yankee look almost sentient.

Replace Nancy Pelosi

With Cindy Sheehan, that is... check out here position on many issues.  I really wish she was the Speaker of the House right now... just look at some of her positions:

*Restore Workers' Rights to Organize & Bargain Collectively/Repeal Taft-Hartley, Restore the Right to Strike Repeal All "Free Trade" Agreements

*For Single-Payer Healthcare and Affordable Housing

* We should bring our troops home from all countries where our troops are deployed to promote occupation, corporate greed and empire.

* No Child Left Behind -- a Democratic as well as Republican plan -- should be repealed, and teachers, schools and school districts should be free to respond to the needs of their classrooms and communities and not be limited to teaching to stringent performance-based tests in order to receive federal money.

* Deregulation of airlines, telecommunications, media, energy, banking, insurance and other industries has created a dangerous and unhealthy environment for working people and for our entire society. The deregulation of these industries has allowed the corporate profiteers to destroy proper oversight and health and safety regulations.

* The deregulation of the media and telecommunications industry has not only cost hundreds of thousands of jobs, it has intensified the monopolization of the media. The media conglomerates (Fox, Murdock, Clear Channel and others) are able to manipulate the media and destroy local programming. This has prevented the public from getting independent news and information, particularly on the effects of deregulation, privatization and war.

* I will oppose multiple ownership of newspaper, cable, broadcast, internet and all other media operations.

* I also support federal funding for public labor-community broadcast and internet systems, including Wi-fi and other technologies, to allow the use of these new communication technologies for all working people, especially for low-income workers.

* I support the U.S. Postal System and oppose all efforts to privatize it through contracting-out operations, including joint ventures with private corporations. I will support Congressional investigations, with managers and workers placed under oath, to examine the health and safety conditions in the USPS that have led to the "going postal" incidents across the country, including in San Francisco.

* I support legislation making it illegal to force workers into jobs with independent contractors in which employers such as FedEx use the "independent contractor" status to prevent unionization and to transfer the costs of unemployment, social security and workers' compensation to the individual worker.

*  For a National Energy System, For a Mass Transit System

I could go on... but do check her out and support her.

We may have disagreed...

While we may have disagreed with... well, everything that Mr. Snow represented in his conduct as a Fox "news" talking head and as a White House press secretary, we still send our best wishes to his family on his untimely passing.

I'm no statistician

In fact, statistics is one substantial reason I'm not Atta J. Turk, Ph.D.

However, even I think that Newsweek really needs to figure out what the fuck they are doing in their polls.

In their June poll Obama was up by 15, now he's up by an insignificant 3.

Alarming?

Well, not really when you look at the sampling.

June:

231 Republicans sampled, 23%, 36% with "lean Republican" included
324 Democrats sampled, 38%, 55% with "lean Democratic" included
307 Independents sampled, 35%

July:

315 Republicans sampled, 28%, 42% with leaners
324 Democrats sampled, 35%, 47% with leaners
357 Independents sampled, 33%

Imagine that, when you poll the same number of Democrats, but 84 more Repoublicans (increasing their number by about 25%) and 50 more Independents, McBombBomb does better.

I think the first Newsweek Poll was pretty much overstating bullshit; and the second is almost a mirror image of bullshit.

I think PEW or Gallup or some other period polls are far more reliable then this wacky and unweighted variance.

Polls should be much more forthcoming about their sampling.

Family Feud

This is funny. Failed CEO and McBush economic adviser and surrogate Carly Fiorina says robber baron and McBush economic adviser and surrogate Phil Gramm is the chief culprit in the mortgage meltdown. (Okay, technically she implied it, but do these McBush people think before they speak? Doesn't seem so. And I hope that's standard operating procedure going forward to November.)