Extreme Makeover: GOP Edition

The first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem and I have to hand it to the Republicans for actually making it that far. With more people believing in ghosts than identifying themselves as a Republican, the party knows they've got some serious work to do if they're ever going to win another election and thankfully, they've decided it's time for a re-branding effort. When I heard about this, I thought it was great news, the party realizes they're at risk of becoming a fringe, opposition party, it's time to get some fresh faces out there to revitalize the party!

And then of course, they showed who the fresh faces are: Newt Gingrich, John McCain, Jeb Bush, Eric Cantor, Mitt Romney, Bobby Jindal, Sarah Palin and Haley Barbour. There's only one clichéd internet meme that can properly sum this up:


And to make matters worse, they're calling this the National Council for a New America. Wait a minute, "New" America? What's wrong with the old America? Well, they did break it, but still... why do they hate America so much that they need a new one? I guess after that whole Real America thing didn't work out, they just feel they need to start all over.

In all seriousness, these are the people you thought would reconnect the Republican Party with the average voter? Really? I'm pretty sure when you're trying fix a failed brand, you don't go with the people who messed it up in the first place. If a plumber makes your leaky pipes worse, you probably shouldn't trust him to do something about your flooded basement. Let's take a look at our future New American leaders:

Newt Gingrich - Newty is pretty much the poster boy for what screwed up America, the prelude to Bush Era neoconservatism which reignited the culture wars. God & guns, fear & smear, etc. As noted earlier this month, Gingrich (an admitted adulterer) reemerged as a national figure to call Barack Obama "anti-religious." When I think of who would make a great leader for this new and refreshed Republican Party, I can't think of a better candidate than the ultra-polarizing, 65-year-old ex-Speaker of the House who's been in politics since 1974.

John McCain - Excellent strategy Republicans, when looking for someone to revitalize your party after a crushing defeat in an election just six months ago, go for the guy that lost the presidency. I'm sure no one will remember the vile, disgusting campaign where he and his constituents essentially called our current president an anti-American terrorist who will kill your baby. No, he's definitely the key to winning over hearts and minds.

Eric Cantor - Hey, we finally found someone under the age of 65, so that's a start. Unfortunately, that's also the end. Cantor's pretty much like a male version of Sarah Palin - empty suit, emptier head. I suppose we could call him John Boehner in training. Here's Cantor really hyping up the whole re-branding process.

Haley Barbour - The governor of Mississippi. Good thing the GOP has him to rebrand their party, because I bet Mississippi would've been up for grabs in the next presidential election! I know the Republicans have been having some trouble with such a progressive, liberal state like MS, so I'm sure a southern, career politician over the age of 60 will give them a huge helping hand.

Bobby Jindal - Oh Bobby, you're a never-ending source of entertainment. I can understand why the Republicans are pushing Jindal, they want to show that they also have a young, charismatic non-white guy... or they're just big fans of 30 Rock, but "the Republican Obama," this guy is not. In reality, Jindal is just another neocon, he supports a constitutional ban on flag burning and he believes that he actually performed an exorcism (and no, I will never get tired of that story). Although I wonder if the Republican base will constantly refer to Bobby by his real name "Piyush" and demand to see his birth certificate, much like they do with "Hussein Obama."

Sarah Palin - The biggest embarrassment in American political history and the Republicans want to trot her around again? I know I've been sarastically joking throughout this list, but for Sarah, I need to just come right out and say it to the GOP - you're supposed to be re-branding, you morons! You don't revitalize your party by bringing out Governor Avon Lady! Look, I know she's Neocon stroke material and she likes to shoot things, but she is possibly the most disgusting politician in America today and I will never apologize for saying that. Sarah Palin epitomizes exactly what's wrong with today's Republican Party and if they're using her to reconnect with voters, they'll be in the history books right next to the Whig Party very soon.

Jeb Bush - But as bad of a choice as Sarah Palin is to fix your tainted image, at least her name isn't Bush! Really Republicans, REALLY?! You're going to try to go to this well for a third time? You're going to try to use Jeb Bush as a figurehead of the new GOP while his brother just finished up the worst... presidency... ever? Dubya's been out of office for 101 days and his approval ratings are still dropping and you're going to enlist his brother?! I believe that is the very definition of "balls." Or "completely detached from reality," I'm not sure which. Considering how popular Meghan McCain is, I think you'd have better luck using Jenna Bush instead.

There you go folks, this is what the Republican Party came up with - old white men, career politicians, empty suits, relatives of the worst president in history, people who believe in exorcisms and the hockey mom pitbull with lipstick. This is literally the best they can do, go even further to the right and say "good riddance" to folks like Arlen Specter. They believe losing moderates will "purify" their party as they set up shop in the idealogical fringe section of America. The party of Lincoln is long gone, hell, this isn't even the party of Reagan anymore, this is the party of wingnuts.

I'm a Uniter, Not a Divider

Wow.

Despite all the ranting over the last few months, I never thought things would turn out like this. Ohio, Florida, North Carolina, Indiana, Colorado, New Mexico, Virginia, Nevada and Iowa all turning and giving Barack Obama a decisive victory - a landslide - in this election. It still hasn't quite sunk in yet that Barack Obama will be the next President of the United States - the same United States that looked like an entirely different country four years ago. I remember coming home from work the morning after the 2004 election and just having this sinking feeling in my stomach that the Neocons were going to hang onto government for decades, but here we are, just four years later and the world is an entirely different place.

I'm writing today, not to gloat, not to rub it in anyone's face, but just to be happy. I know I've written some harsh things about John McCain in the last few months and I stand by every word, but the man gave a powerful concession speech last night and should be commended for his gracious and classy exit from the race. As I watched McCain last night, it got me thinking about where it all went wrong for the Arizona senator; now there will be plenty of time to place blame, and I will, but there's only one thing that really held him back - he wasn't John McCain.

Think back to the primaries, who was McCain running against? A borderline theocrat, Mike Huckabee; a Bush clone, Mitt Romney; and a cross-dressing, egomaniacal, scumbag, Rudy Giuliani. All three Neocons in every sense of the word and would undoubtedly continue many (if not all) of George W. Bush's policies. Why did McCain win that primary? Because Republican voters came out and voted for the guy that would be least like Bush and given McCain's history, he was the most logical choice. Republicans, Democrats, the entrie country was done with Bush and that's why McCain won the primary, but then as the campaign heats up and Obama gets the Democratic nomination, McCain becomes Bush.

I loved John McCain, I would have voted for him in 2000 if he got the nomination and I would have likely voted for him in 2004 against John Kerry, but that John McCain was not around in 2008. I've been over this numerous times and I'm not going to beat the dead horse, but I honestly don't know what McCain was thinking when he surrounded himself with "Bushies." Hindsight is always 20/20, especially when America overwhelmingly rejects the policies of the last eight years, but these people do this for a living, how could they not have seen this coming? Neoconservatism is dead... I wouldn't be surprised to see them try one more time in 2012 with someone like Palin, but that's another discussion for another day; as it stands now, Americans are done with Neocons.

So let's move forward. Obama supporters - I know after the last four years, you're dying to just let loose and go crazy, but we still have a lot of work to do. Getting him elected was just step one, if we sit back and kick our feet up, then Obama's presidency will be about as effective as Bush's second term. The far-right got Bush re-elected and just figured that everything would be fine and dandy and look where it got them four years later. We have to prove to our opposition that Barack Obama was the right man for the job. When someone calls you a socialist or a baby killer for voting for Barack, instead of just calling them an idiot, tell them why they're wrong. If someone makes an inaccurate statement about Obama, politely correct them. When someone tells you America is doomed, tell them why you voted for Barack.

Non-Obama supporters - I hope you can look at this presidency with an open mind. It was ugly campaign, no question and you may have heard a lot of misconceptions about Barack Obama, I ask that you give him a shot. I know our side freaked out when Bush got re-elected, but we already had four years of the guy, we were pretty sure what was going to happen. Obama's brand new, give him a chance to sink or swim, don't let the blowhards on talk radio sabotage him before he's even inaugurated. They did the same thing to Clinton in 92, but we turned out okay over the next eight years, right? We don't know if Obama will be a good president or not, but we're all in this together and it's not going to help anybody if we let the far-right destroy his presidency before it begins.

Barack Obama ran a campaign unlike any other presidential candidate in history - he took the high road, he surrounded himself with people who weren't the typical Washington insiders, he didn't take a dime from corporate lobbyists, and he ran on a message of hope and change rather than fear and smear. Supporters, let's make our president-elect proud and show the world that we support Obama in a fashion similar to how he campaigns. Those on the other side, we welcome you with open arms and we'd be happy to do whatever we can to inform you about the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama.

The Top 10 Hypocrisies From the John McCain Campaign

If you asked me to name what it is about the Republican Party that I hate the most, it would undoubtedly be their shameless hypocrisy. So with only two weeks left in the campaign, I figured it would be nice to recap some of the most infuriating double-standards in the 2008 presidential election. Of course, there are only two weeks left, so that gives the Republicans plenty of time to add another dozen or so to this list.

10. "Robocalls are despicable... now listen to my Robocall about Barack Obama!"
In the 2000 Republican primary, John McCain's reputation was attacked from all angles by the Bush campaign - they used Robocalls to put the idea into voters minds that John McCain may have fathered an illegitimate black child. In reality, it was his adopted Bangladeshi daughter, but it worked and McCain lost the bid for president to Bush, and we all know how that worked out. Fast-forward eight years and McCain is using the exact same company that smeared him to smear Obama as someone who "works with" terrorists.

9. "Candidates children are off limits... but have I mentioned how ugly Chelsea Clinton is?"
After some pretty vicious rumors about Sarah Palin's daughter began circulating, the Palin family came out and announced that their 17 year old daughter was pregnant out of wedlock. Palin praised her daughter's "choice" to keep the baby - a "choice" that a McCain administration very well could take away (two for one hypocrisy!) - and then said that families should be off-limits. Of course, I'd like to know where they were in the 90s when John McCain joked "you know why Chelsea Clinton is so ugly? Because her father is Janet Reno." Stay classy, Johnny!

8. "Barack Obama is a celebrity... now who wants to watch me in Wedding Crashers?"
Soon after Obama locked up the Democratic nomination, John McCain launched a series of ads equating the Illinois Senator with Paris Hilton and Britney Spears as an empty, Hollywood elite. But wait a minute, which one of these candidates has hosted Saturday Night Live? Had a cameo in Wedding Crashers? Appeared on 24? That would be John McCain. McCain has also appeared on numerous other entertainment shows: 11 appearances on Jay Leno, 8 with Letterman, 3 with Conan O'Brien, 12 visits to The Daily Show, 3 episodes of The View, 6 episodes of Entertainment Tonight, an appearance on Last Comic Standing , and even an appearance on WWE Monday Night RAW. John McCain was a celebrity's politician long before anyone had even heard the name Barack Obama.

7. "How dare you use the phrase 'lipstick on a pig?!' That is a clear insult to my running-mate... but please ignore the fact that I used the same phrase when discussing Hillary Clinton."
Ah, do you remember the good ol' days? You know, like back in August when the only thing we had to worry about was "Lipstickgate?" Yeah, kinda sucks that the economy imploded and everyone conveniently forgot about this little piece of crazy from John McCain. McCain exploded when Obama used the phrase to describe McCain's policies, but nobody had the time to ask the Republican nominee what he meant when he used the exact same phrase to describe Hillary Clinton's healthcare plan.

6. "The attacks on my running-mate have been nothing short of sexism... now who wants to hear a joke about rape?"
John McCain has an uncomfortable history joking about rape, we discussed his association with Clayton Williams in the very first entry here at American Razor, a man who once said "as long as [rape] is inevitable, just relax and enjoy it." McCain's also made jokes about a woman enjoying being raped by a Gorilla and he called his wife a cunt, so I don't know if he's really the foremost authority on sexism. Look, I'm not one to be offended by someone's tasteless jokes, but if you get to joke about rape, then I get to call Sarah Palin "Governor Avon Lady."

5. "Barack Obama is way too sensitive about criticism... but any attack on me is 'beyond the pale.'"
While John McCain supporters are busy shouting "kill him," "off with his head," "terrorist," "traitor," "treason," "socialist," and "Arab" at rallies, John McCain himself is running around with his phony outrage about anyone who calls him out on creating this environment. After Governor Avon Lady stirred the pot and essentially called Obama an America-hating socialist terrorist at her rallies, Civil Rights legend John Lewis attacked the Republican ticket for creating such a hostile environment. He said while they are not directly engaging in any sort of violence, they are encouraging their supporters to become more and more rabid towards the first black presidential nominee; much like the atmosphere that surrounded segregationist George Wallace during the Civil Rights Movement. It's a completely accurate statement to make, but John McCain came unglued over it and instead of condemning what some lunatics in his crowd had been saying about Obama, he tried the "I'm rubber, you're glue" defense and tried to put all the blame on his opponent. Now who's touchy?

4. "Negative campaigning shows you have no vision for the future... now let's watch my slew of negative ads against Obama."
As mentioned earlier, McCain was the victim of a hideously negative campaign in 2000 and he said "sooner or later people are going to figure out that if all you run is negative attack ads you don't have much a vision for the future or you're not ready to articulate it." Now before he rolled out the Robocalls, McCain had already been running the sleaziest campaign in modern history. Whether it's a distortion, half-truth, smear, or flat-out lie, McCain's campaign has thrown it at Barack Obama. After the 2000 primary and after he said this year that voters were tired of negative campaigning, McCain surrounded himself with the same people that smeared him eight years ago and took his campaign down the low road.

3. "You're a socialist... but my plan for the government to spend $300 billion to buy up every bad mortgage in the country is called being a Maverick!"
As I noted yesterday, the latest tactic of the campaign is to revert back to McCarthyism, one of our country's most embarrassing chapters and paint Obama as a socialist. It's working with the Republican base, one woman even began shouting "SOCIALIST" at Obama at a restaurant over the weekend and refused to listen to him or shake her hand when he attempted to better explain his positions. Of course, there's only one candidate in this campaign pledging to use tax dollars to buy up every bad mortgage in the country and it's the crazy Commie John McCain. We've already nationalized the banks, but now John McCain wants to nationalize your property and he has the audacity to call Obama socialist.

2. "You pal around with terrorists... but my relationship with G. Gordon Liddy doesn't count."
If you missed it, you can read this entry about McCain's relationship with G. Gordon Liddy, a man that McCain says he is "proud of." What part is he proud of? Liddy's involvement in the Watergate scandal? His plot to murder two men? His plot to bomb buildings? Or him telling people to shoot ATF agents in the face? Liddy served his time in jail and now works as a radio host, but his connections to John McCain are just as solid (if not more) as Obama's ties to William Ayers. Ayers and Liddy are both rehabilitated domestic terrorists, but only one of them served time in prison (Liddy), yet the media only reports on Obama and Ayers? A stunning and sickening hypocrisy from the McCain campaign and the lazy media.

1. "Barack Obama has no experience... now I'd like to introduce you to my running-mate, Sarah Palin!"
I could probably do a top ten list solely on the hypocrisy of selecting Sarah Palin as a Vice Presidential nominee, but she undoubtedly belongs at the top of this list. The claim that Barack Obama is inexperienced is a valid argument, I won't debate that. It would have been McCain's best line of attack in this campaign had he not selected Governor Avon Lady as his running-mate. You mean to tell me that I shouldn't vote for Obama because he's inexperienced while the Republicans are offering up a 72 year old, four time cancer survivor as their nominee with a potential Vice President who's been governor of a state with a smaller population than Albuquerque, New Mexico and before that, Mayor of a city with a population smaller than the attendance of a high school football game? We've also gotten to know Sarah Palin over the last few weeks and she is the biggest embarrassment in the political history of this nation. Selecting her as a running-mate is a slap in the face to every American and it shows that McCain's judgment is a far greater liability than Barack Obama's lack of experience.

McCain wants a cookie for things he's supposed to do

I'm getting tired of people telling me that I need to respect John McCain for correcting people at his rallies that call Obama a terrorist or Arab (which apparently to McCain supporters, simply being an Arab is bad). Wow, way to go Johnny, you're putting out the fires that your campaign's been pouring gas on for the last two weeks. That's like a serial killer expecting parole because he hasn't murdered anyone lately.

To be brutally honest, I have absolutely no sympathy or respect left for John McCain; I want him to lose in November, I want him to lose his next Senate campaign and I want him out of our political system altogether. I say this because I want to have some memories of the John McCain that I once respected and admired, a man whose story hadn't been cheapened by the campaign and a man that just seemed like a decent human being. This election has changed John McCain and I can't feel sorry for him because he brought every bit of this on himself. Great, he finally managed to reign in some of the idiot racists at his campaign rallies, but this is still the guy that decided to associate himself with slimy, disgusting figures like Karl Rove, Rick Davis and Sarah Palin, he should have expected this negative tone when he aligned with these scumbags.

The far right is all over who Obama is associating with, but what about McCain? Let's take a look at McCain's shady friends and ask why the media isn't bringing them up whenever a McCain surrogate talks about who Obama "pals around" with:

Karl Rove - A man who was once described as "Bush's Brain," he got George W. Bush the Republican nomination for president in 2000 after running an incredibly sleazy primary campaign against John McCain. Rove's smears included allegations that McCain's adopted Bangladeshi daughter was his "illegitimate black baby," and that the Arizona senator didn't support funding for breast cancer. As a member of the Bush Administration, Rove was instrumental in the US Attorney Scandal, the political destruction of an Alabama governor, and the outing of a CIA Agent, which last time I checked, is an act of treason. It should be noted that Rove was never convicted of any link to the outing of the agent's identity, but we'll never know since he brazenly ignored congressional subpoenas and the spineless Democrats in congress just let him slither away. Rove is now a FOX News contributor and an advisor to the McCain campaign, which would be a blatant conflict of interest if FOX News was ever considered a legitimate form of journalism.

Rick Davis - A registered Washington lobbyist and the chief executive officer of John McCain's presidential campaign. Davis was the head of a group that lobbied on behalf of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac where he earned over $30,000 a month; as of August of this year, it was revealed that Davis was still receiving $15,000 a month from Fannie and Freddie. Of course, we now know that the actions of those companies are largely responsible for the current mortgage crisis that has caused our current economic crisis. But the fun doesn't stop there, in 2006, Davis also set up a meeting between John McCain and a man by the name of Oleg Deripaska, a Russian billionaire. Later that same year, the United States revoked Deripaska's visa, denying him entry into the country due to his connection with organized crime.

G. Gordon Liddy - A man that McCain desribes as an "old friend" that he's "very proud of." Liddy is a convicted criminal who was sentenced to twenty years in prison due to his role in the infamous Watergate scandal. Liddy was convicted of conspiracy, illegal wiretapping and burglary, but he also admitted plotting to murder a journalist, kidnapping leftists, and bombing the Brookings Institution. For this lovely behavior, Liddy was rewarded with a commuted sentence and his own radio show where he encouraged his listeners to shoot ATF agents in the face. He has donated at least $5,000 to McCain campaigns since 1998 and their relationship is far more concrete than Obama's ties to 1960s radical William Ayers.

Funny how the media never brings any of this up, isn't it? One could make an argument that it's underlying racism and it's a lot easier to connect the dots of "terrorism" to a guy named Barack Hussein Obama than an old white guy named John Sidney McCain, but I don't this it's that nefarious on the media's part. Honestly, I just think it goes back to the lazy journalism I often discuss - the media will talk about whatever the campaigns talk about and since the McCain campaign is playing up on their racist supporters' unrelenting hatred of Barack Obama, it's what the media will report on.

But unless John McCain answers for his associations with men who have been accused of treason, connections to organized crime and domestic terrorism, why should I be taking any of these accusations against Obama seriously? Honestly, do I think these connections disqualify McCain from the presidency? Of course not, but I have to ask why no responsible journalist is using McCain's own tactics against him when he has just as many (if not more) shady associates than Obama. If this is the political climate we're going to create, why aren't these questions being asked of McCain?

So to go back to the original point, no I'm not going to give McCain a thumbs up for suddenly telling racists that Barack Obama isn't an Arab while his running-mate is still out there repeating these ridiculous charges. He is responsible for setting this tone and now he has to undercut his message of the last two weeks while simultaneously taking heat from the racists and fringe-lunatics that have been coming out to hear that very message. I know that McCain doesn't believe any of this garbage that his surrogates have been spewing lately, so I hope it burns just a bit hotter now that this has blown up in his face.

Support the Troops? Vote Obama

You hear it all the time, "I support the troops!" It's easy to say, doesn't cost anything and it makes the person saying it sound noble. Governor Palin is running around saying that Barack Obama doesn't support our troops, harsh words, but John McCain does have that strong military image, so obviously he would support our troops more, right?

Well... no. Not at all.

Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans for America (IAVA) released their scorecard today for the candidates and good ol' troop-loving, "we're winning in Iraq" John McCain scored a D. That's not a typo; Senators Obama and Biden each scored a B, Sarah Palin did not receive a grade because she's never done anything, ever. McCain scored so low mainly because he's missed just about every crucial vote for veterans in the last year (most notably the new GI Bill), he missed more votes than a congressman that was in a coma. In 2007, McCain missed 10 out of 14 votes on Iraq alone, remember that the next time someone you know brings up Obama voting "present" in the Illinois State Senate (which is a completely bullshit line of attack anyway, "present" is used as a protest vote in Illinois).

Cindy McCain has recently been out on the campaign trail attacking Senator Obama for voting "against funding for my son in Iraq," she claims that vote "sent a cold chill" down her spine. But did she feel that same chill when John McCain voted against similar legislation just two months later? To clear up this issue that has been discussed since the VP debate, Obama voted against the bill because it had no timetable for withdrawal in Iraq - the most pointless war in this country's history - Senator McCain voted against a similar bill months later because it contained a timetable for withdrawal.

There's a reason why deployed troops donate to Obama six times more than John McCain, they know that Obama is the steady hand they need as Commander in Chief. Obama knows we're in a different kind of war, there is no "victory" in Iraq, no matter how many times McCain says it. General David Petraeus, a name McCain invokes at every chance, has gone on record saying he wouldn't even use the phrase "victory" in Iraq:

“This is not the sort of struggle where you take a hill, plant the flag and go home to a victory parade… it’s not war with a simple slogan.”

This isn't World War II, Obama understands it, as do the troops on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan. But why even expect any sort of serious discussion about how we treat our veterans when McCain sings little songs about sending them in to bomb Iran? To put it bluntly, if you want to be able to accurately state you support the troops, you should cast your vote for Barack Obama on November 4.

John McFussy

Today the McCain campaign came out and called the Obama campaign "fussy" due to their "sensitivity." We went over this yesterday, pointing out the glaring hypocrisy in calling Obama "touchy" when McCain flew off into a fit of rage when anyone asked a question about Sarah Palin. No one even asked a legitimate question like, "you do realize that this woman is the biggest embarrassment in American political history, right?" but instead they got angry at a question like "what newspapers do you read?"

During last night's debate, John McCain called Barack Obama "that one." Now, a lot of people are making an issue out of this, but I'll give McCain the benefit of the doubt and say he didn't mean it in any sort of racist way, but when you're a 72 year old white man, it's probably not a good idea to refer to a young black man in that manner. Racial undertones aside, the comment was unbelievably rude and dismissive and it shows that McCain has little respect for his opponent; he has a name and a title, it's Senator Obama, not "that one."

I shouldn't be surprised though, that's been the entire tone of the campaign since McCain's poll numbers started to nosedive - try to dismiss Barack Obama. As I've said numerous times, John McCain has no agenda that really differs from the policies of George W. Bush, so of course his only weapon is to distort and smear Obama, then say he's being "too touchy." Yeah, I'm a little touchy when someone calls me an America-hating terrorist, which is exactly what Governor Avon Lady has been doing since Saturday. These McCain campaign rallies have all been started by someone invoking Obama's middle name, Hussein, as if it's some sort of epithet and then Palin comes on stage to call Obama a terrorist's best friend. That's a different kind of mudslinging than what you see from the Obama campaign of things like "John McCain has proven over the last two weeks that he is not a steady hand in a crisis and his angry smears distract voters from the real issues in this campaign."

And let's clear up this Obama/domestic terrorist stuff right now - Barack Obama's ties to ex-terrorist William Ayers is about as solid as McCain's ties to ex-terrorist G. Gordon Liddy, I'll let the experts fill you in:

As Media Matters for America has documented in detail, Liddy served four and a half years in prison in connection with his conviction for his role in the Watergate break-in and the break-in at the office of the psychiatrist of Daniel Ellsberg, the military analyst who leaked the Pentagon Papers. Liddy has acknowledged preparing to kill someone during the Ellsberg break-in "if necessary"; plotting to murder journalist Jack Anderson; plotting with a "gangland figure" to murder Howard Hunt to stop him from cooperating with investigators; plotting to firebomb the Brookings Institution; and plotting to kidnap "leftist guerillas" at the 1972 Republican National Convention -- a plan he outlined to the Nixon administration using terminology borrowed from the Nazis. (The murder, firebombing, and kidnapping plots were never carried out; the break-ins were.) During the 1990s, Liddy reportedly instructed his radio audience on multiple occasions on how to shoot Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms agents and also reportedly said he had named his shooting targets after Bill and Hillary Clinton.

Both connections are a stretch and based on events that happened over thirty-five years ago, but of course the media only reports on Obama/Ayers because that's what John McCain talks about. Obama has too much class to stoop that low while McCain has no problem flying erratically all over the map.

Here's the part that really bugs me, if this William Ayers connection of Obama's is so bad and is akin to treason and terrorism like so many idiots at McCain rallies have shouted, then why didn't McCain bring it up in last night's debate? If Obama has ties to terrorism, why would McCain even dignify the man with a meeting or a debate? Why won't John McCain just ask the question, "is Obama a terrorist" rather than dancing around it with things like "who is the real Barack Obama?" C'mon, I thought this was the Straight Talk Express, I thought McCain was the tough maverick that's not afraid to stand up to people? Perhaps it's just the simple fact that McCain knows these ties are bullshit, but he's hoping voters will draw their own conclusions from these smears just like with the Swiftboat ads in 2004?

Did you notice McCain wandering around all over the place during the debate, even when it was Obama's time to talk? I don't think a greater metaphor could be used for McCain's campaign than a broken down, ailing man wandering around like a lost Alzheimer's patient. And they're the ones that want to talk about the other campaign being "fussy?" I pity John McCain because this is not the Arizona senator that I respected and admired, this is a cynical man that is willing to try any gimmick, any stunt or any lie in order to get elected. He has surrounded himself with scum like Rick Davis, Karl Rove and Sarah Palin and has made it perfectly clear that he would rather win an election than to put country first.

Angry Johnny

“If we keep talking about the economic crisis, we’re going to lose.”

Exact words from a top McCain adviser, directly admitting that John McCain has no plan for how to get America back on track. 82% of Americans believe that now is a bad time to find a job - an all-time high since these kinds of polls have been conducted. September saw the ninth straight month of job loss, the unemployment rate is skyrocketing and the government just approved 700 billion of your tax dollars going to bailout - oh I'm sorry, "rescue" - failed financial institutions, and John McCain's campaign has admitted that they can't talk about the economy or else they'll lose. Straight from the horse's mouth: if John McCain is president, the country will get worse. According to another poll taken yesterday by NBC News and The Wall Street Journal, the economy is the number one issue to almost 60% of Americans surveyed and John McCain wants to stop talking about it? "Country First" my ass.

Naturally, the strategy now is to attack Barack Obama's character - Sarah Palin is running around saying Obama "pals around" with terrorists, surrogates have resorted to bringing up his middle name, Hussein, for a cheap cheer, and the audience members at McCain's campaign rallies have resorted to flat-out screaming "TERRORIST" or "KILL HIM" when Obama's name is mentioned. These are the kind of people who vote for John McCain - sick, depraved individuals that are calling for the assassination of a political candidate and Obama's the one "palling around" with terrorists?

Governor Palin's husband was a member of the Alaskan Independence Party, a secessionist group whose founder said of America, "I'm an Alaskan, not an American. I've got no use for America or her damned institutions," and "The fires of hell are frozen glaciers compared to my hatred for the American government. And I won't be buried under their damn flag. I'll be buried in Dawson. And when Alaska is an independent nation they can bring my bones home." Sarah Palin recorded a welcoming address for AIP's convention earlier this year, yet she's running around saying that Obama's the one who sees America as "imperfect."

I'd be nervous too if I had no agenda for the country with 28 days to go.

John McCain goes out at campaign rallies and says that Obama is "too touchy" and "sensitive" when it comes to questions of his patriotism, yet if you ask McCain if his running-mate is even remotely qualified for the job, he flies off into a fit of rage and declares war against the media. No, not touchy there at all as he shields the precious, delicate flower that is Governor Palin from any questions, even if they're questions asked by a debate moderator. Oh no, Governor Palin doesn't have to answer those questions, but Barack Obama has to entertain ludicrous notions that he somehow sympathizes with someone who did some horrible things when Obama was eight, just because they've been in the same zip code together. Obama has to answer for his pastor's angry comments about America, but Sarah Palin doesn't have to discuss her relationship with a literal witch doctor that protected Palin from witchcraft and prayed for her to be showered with wealth and good fortune. Palin partially credits this man "laying hands on her" as part of the reason she was elected governor of Alaska.

Barack Obama gets attacked for saying that people in small towns are fed up with the government to help them economically, so all they have to hang onto is the government pandering to them with guns and religion. That, while ridiculously true, gets attacked from all sides as a gaffe while Sarah Palin goes out and says women that don't vote for her will go to Hell, and no one says a thing. Barack Obama is a "liberal elitist" for not eating fried food, but no one calls Sarah Palin a disgusting savage for shooting defenseless wolves from a helicopter.

As John McCain's campaign continues to drown and his poll numbers sink like an anchor tied to another anchor, he is relying on the kitchen sink strategy in the last four weeks of the election. His own people admit that they cannot win on the issues, a few weeks ago, his senior campaign manager even tried to say this election was about personalities rather than the issues, so I understand why they're doing what they're doing. They can't win, all they can do is make Barack Obama lose by reminding voters that he's "different," which of course is a code word for "black." It doesn't matter if none of these smears are even remotely close to being true, they just need the voters to connect the dots, even if they don't form a picture.

McCain is bitter, out of touch and has completely sold his credibility and dignity for this last shot and becoming President of the United States and if trends hold, it will blow up in his face. John McCain will not win this election on his record, his positions or his judgment and it's saddening to see him turned into just another neo-conservative puppet. The John McCain of 2000 would never vote for the John McCain of 2008:

Couldn't have said it better, John.

The Palin Project - Volume 6: The Beginning of the End

Only Palin can save McCain, her party and the country she loves. She can bow out for personal reasons, perhaps because she wants to spend more time with her newborn. No one would criticize a mother who puts her family first. Do it for your country.

I know what you're thinking, the above quote must be one of those "liberal media elites" with their sexist attitude toward Governor Palin, right? Actually, it's from die-hard Republican, Kathleen Parker in a column for the right-wing publication, National Review. Ouch... wonder how they're going to do damage control for that one? When members of your own party are calling you an embarrassment with just over a month to go before election day, maybe it's time to consider packing your bags and heading back to Alaska.

This is the final installment of The Palin Project - I'm certainly not done writing about Sarah Palin, but now that her manufactured "All-American" story has been exposed as the farce that it is, I feel that it is no longer necessary to profile Governor Palin as I have over these six writings. But how could this all fall apart for the Republicans? Just a month ago, it looked like McCain/Palin (or as it was then, Palin/McCain) had this election in the bag. The Democrats had a great convention, but McCain stole the thunder just hours later with the announcement of Sarah Palin as his running-mate and The Palin Effect was seen across the country - people were genuinely interested in this woman. After twenty minutes of pure venom in her convention speech, the pundits were fawning over Palin as the next big thing in American politics and seemingly the only person who could rival Barack Obama's level of fanfare.

But guess what? It was all a magic show, smoke and mirrors, nothing more. The minute people started looking under that hastily-crafted backstory, they saw what many of us knew was there - an empty, bigoted, idiotic lunatic-fringe Neocon that has more in common with George W. Bush than John McCain. Between saying she can see Russia from her house gives her foreign policy experience, being unfamiliar with the Bush Doctrine and being completely clueless on the issues facing our nation, America woke up and saw the truth - Sarah Palin is a joke. You have to sit back and laugh at her, because if you really think hard about the prospect of her being a heartbeat away from the presidency, veins in your head will swell up with anger and cause your entire cranium to explode.

The Republicans certainly tried, they told us she was a reformer (she isn't), they told us she's a maverick like John McCain (they're not), they told us she had more experience than Barack Obama (she doesn't) and they told us that Joe Biden better watch out come debate time (he will eat her alive). As Palin's mystique crumbled in the past week, McCain "suspended" his campaign (for about an hour to do nothing) and tried to get the first debate postponed to October 2 - conveniently the day that the VP debate is scheduled. Even Palin's own campaign is acknowledging that she's a laughingstock and will be decimated in a proper debate - she can't even handle a debate with Katie Couric!

Wow.

Seriously, a month ago they almost had this country convinced that she was going to run circles around a 35-year Senator with more foreign policy experience than pretty much anyone in congress during this upcoming debate. The gloves come off this Thursday and Joe Biden warned he would not treat Palin lightly because he didn't want to come off as condescending as John McCain did during his debate. So Mrs. Palin, I hope you're ready for the man that has been nicknamed "Joey the Shark;" and with your campaign sinking, I don't know if that's a man you want to be going toe-to-toe with.

But don't take this writing as an easy victory for Obama on November 4, far from it. But the selection of Sarah Palin does mark the beginning of the end - even if McCain wins the election - because it represents the final nail in the coffin of John McCain's reputation. A man that was once considered to be the voice of reason in politics, a man that John Kerry asked to be his Vice President in 2004, has devolved into another worthless Neocon pandering to the Religious Right and corporate interests in order to get elected. The Palin pick speaks volumes about John McCain's judgment (or lack thereof) and shows that this man cannot be elected if we ever want to get this country back on track. Remember, a vote for John McCain is a vote for a woman who said this in regards to the $700 billion Wall Street bailout:

That’s why I say I, like every American I’m speaking with, we're ill about this position that we have been put in. Where it is the taxpayers looking to bail out. But ultimately, what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the health care reform that is needed to help shore up our economy. Um, helping, oh, it’s got to be about job creation, too. Shoring up our economy, and putting it back on the right track. So health care reform and reducing taxes and reining in spending has got to accompany tax reductions, and tax relief for Americans, and trade — we have got to see trade as opportunity, not as, uh, competitive, um, scary thing, but one in five jobs created in the trade sector today. We’ve got to look at that as more opportunity. All of those things under the umbrella of job creation.

Those aren't even sentences, they're just random words placed together - but hey, at least you can feel safe on those clear days when she can see Russia from her house.

Politics as Usual

Just when it looked like we were going to have a presidential election about actual issues, John McCain managed to turn our country's economic crisis into a political game. McCain wants to postpone Friday's presidential debate so he can return to the Senate and work on this $700 billion bailout for all his lobbyists. Of course, this is Grade-A political bullshit.

Once again, John McCain exploiting a national crisis so he can give off the appearance of being a leader while simultaneously holding the campaign in the palm of his hand. Things aren't going your way? Just hold the election hostage and make things get done on YOUR time and anyone who disagrees "isn't putting country first."

As far as I know, no candidate has ever called for the suspension of a presidential campaign with a little over a month left in order to deal with a financial crisis. The notion that this problem can't be managed without John McCain there is absurd, it's like he thinks congress is sitting around thinking "We have no idea how to solve this issue... if only John McCain were here! You know, that guy that openly admitted to knowing nothing about the economy despite being in the United States Senate for 26 years? Yeah, he can fix it!"

We're in the middle of two fucking wars, McCain hasn't put his campaign on hold for those, has he? No, but he put the Republican Convention on hold for a hurricane that threatened to be worse than Katrina, but turned out to be nothing too disastrous. And then just a few days later, had no problem being out there campaigning while Hurricane Ike ravaged Texas and left millions of people without power throughout the country.

John McCain has turned into the lowest form of political scum that I've ever seen - worse than Cheney, worse than Rove, worse than Bush... it's absolutely appalling to see how low an American Hero will go in order to satisfy his bloodlust to sit in the Oval Office. This man has sold out every idea, every principle and every shred of dignity in order to win and when that won't work, he'll just derail the entire political process. If this man is president, it will be this country's darkest day.

"Lipstickgate?" REALLY?!

And you thought I was kidding about the media in last night's blog; today, the top headline from the increasingly irrelevant media is "Lipstickgate." Let's ignore the stupidity of adding "gate" to the end of every scandal like it's an actual suffix and focus on what this controversy is all about, apparently, Barack Obama is sexist. Why? Because he said this in regards to McCain's claim of bringing "real change" to Washington:

You can put lipstick on a pig. It's still a pig. You can wrap up an old fish in a piece of paper and call it change. It's still going to stink after eight years. We've had enough!

So where's the sexist part come in? Oh, because Sarah Palin made the cute little joke about the only difference between a pitbull and a hockey mom is "lipstick" during her speech last week. Apparently, it's perfectly okay to equate Palin to a bitch (female dog), but a pig, that's over the line. Except for the fact that Obama wasn't even talking about Palin! But leave it to the Republicans to manufacture outrage like Obama called her a twat or something and then like moths to the flame, the "liberal" media latches right on.

"Lipstick on a pig" is not a new phrase, in fact, John McCain used it in reference to a Hillary Clinton policy less than a year ago. Where were the cries of sexism then? Where was the outrage? Oh yeah, there was none, because liberals are generally rational-thinking adults who understand that McCain wasn't actually calling Clinton a pig, but conservatives are like small children who cry foul whenever someone calls them on their bullshit. Obama wasn't calling Palin a pig, he was saying that McCain can talk about being the "change candidate" or a "maverick" all day long, but it doesn't change the fact that he's been in line with George W. Bush 90% of the time.

This is the problem with trying to engage in logical discussion with a Republican, they can't do it because they have no actual policies to run on. They have no plan to fix the economy, no plan for the war in Iraq, no ideas for health care and they don't care about restoring our standing with the rest of the world, so they have to rely on juvenile, lowest common denominator nonsense like this. McCain's own campaign manager admitted that the election wasn't about the issues, but rather "personalities." Republicans know they can't win on their record, because the record is the biggest embarrassment in American history, but they know how to distract voters and people keep falling for it - this is how we ended up with eight years of Bush, Americans get the leaders they deserve.

I'll have more on McCain and sexism in a future installment of The Palin Project, but I find it astouding that a man who cheated on his crippled first wife with a rich beauty queen can cry sexism. I find it amusing that the guy who reportedly called his wife a "cunt" and makes jokes about rape can cry sexism. And I just find it flat-out offensive that the candidate who has consistently voted against every major women's issue in his 26 years in the US Senate, can cry sexism. If you want to vote based on women's issues, your candidate should be Joe Biden, no person in the House or Senate has done more for women's issues in recent years than the Vice Presidential pick on the Democratic ticket. As for Senator McCain, just because he selected a woman as his running-mate, it doesn't negate the fact that he is the true sexist in this election.

The Palin Project - Volume 2: Children are Off Limits, Hypocrisy is Not.

While I hate to see the 17 year old daughter of Sarah Palin get embarrassed on a public stage after news of her pregnancy came out, I also cannot believe that no one in the media is pointing to the elephant in the room - the blatant hypocrisy of the Republican Party.

I respect and admire Barack Obama's request to keep children "off limits" in this campaign, but this issue is not about Palin's daughter, it's about Palin herself. This woman has "fired up" the Republican base (aka lunatic Bible thumpers who think we should legislate morality) by being anti-choice, pro-gun and in favor of abstinence only sex education. Well guess what Mrs. Palin? When your own teenage daughter is pregnant, that should be a shining example that abstinence only sex-ed is an utter failure.

The Palins released a statement through the McCain campaign about this issue and it's truly mindblowing just how much the Republicans emphasize "do as I say, not as I do" politics:

Our beautiful daughter... came to us with news that as parents we knew would make her grow up faster than we had ever planned. We’re proud of [her] decision to have her baby and even prouder to become grandparents.

Oh no. No, no no no. You do NOT get to have it both ways - you don't get to preach against abortion - saying it should be illegal even if the person were raped by their own father - while praising your daughter's "decision" to keep her child. A decision that will be taken away from every woman in this country the minute John McCain appoints a Supreme Court Justice, if he's elected President. McCain has said that not only "could" Roe v. Wade be overturned, it "should" be overturned, and with three seats on the Supreme Court likely up for grabs in the next four years, you can guarantee a woman's right to choose will be stripped away. Seriously, fuck you Sarah Palin, you're an embarrassment to have on the national stage.

And you can bet your ass if Barack Obama or Joe Biden had a 16 year old daughter and this happened, the election would be over and the Republicans would win in a landslide. I'm sure all the right-wing nutjobs out there would say something along the lines of "those Godless Democrats have destroyed family values, kicked God out of our schools and taught kids that it's okay to be promiscuous and have sex before they're married!" But since the shoe's on the other foot, conservatives are spinning this to show how the Palins are "imperfect and human, like God made all of us." Republicans, the party of having your cake and eating it too.

I only said "cake" so I could have an excuse for showing this picture again - "Country First" my ass.

I sincerely feel bad for the Palin daughter, not only because her privacy has been exposed for the world to see, but because she has a moral-crusading hypocrite for a mother. A mother so proud of her daughter's courageous choice, but doesn't think you should have the same rights. So yes, I agree with Barack Obama that children are off limits, but the policies of the candidates are fair game. Sarah Palin's contradictory policies speak volumes about her ability to be Vice President and it speaks even louder of John McCain's poor judgment to select her as a running-mate.

The Palin Project - Volume 1: Experience

palindrome - (pal - in - drome) - noun
-a word, line, verse, number, sentence, etc., reading the same backward as forward, as "Madam, I'm Adam" or "Poor Dan is in a droop."

"Palin" certainly is a fitting name for John McCain's pick for his running-mate, as it shows that if he is elected, the country will be exactly the same going forward in the next four years as it is looking backward on the last eight of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney - we could be looking at the first ever Palindrome Presidency!

In case you haven't heard, Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska has been selected as John McCain's second in command. For those of you keeping score, that means if McCain were somehow incapacitated, Palin would be the acting Commander in Chief, the leader of the free world. Is this virtual-unknown ready for such a responsibility? Well, if you listen to her supporters (Palin-drones as I like to call them), you would think she should be the one running for president with McCain as her VP. Of course, for those of us here in reality, these people are really, really stupid; if McCain does win and Palin somehow assumes the presidency during the term, this country will drown. Sarah Palin is simply not qualified for this position and McCain picking her is a slap in the face to every American voter.

Before we dig in, let's rewind for a moment, shall we? A few weeks ago, Karl Rove (McCain adviser, former Bush adviser) was interviewed on Face the Nation and made several remarks about Barack Obama's vice presidential search:

He's going to view this through the prism of a candidate, not through the prism of president; that is to say, he's going to pick somebody that he thinks will on the margin help him in a state like Indiana or Missouri or Virginia. He's not going to be thinking big and broad about the responsibilities of president...

In regards to Tim Kaine, possible Obama VP pick:

With all due respect again to Governor Kaine, he's been a governor for three years... I don't think people could really name a big, important thing that he's done. He was mayor of the 105th largest city in America... So if he were to pick Governor Kaine, it would be an intensely political choice where he said, `You know what? I'm really not, first and foremost, concerned with, is this person capable of being president of the United States? What I'm concerned about is, can he bring me the electoral votes...

Again, these were all things said by Karl Rove, McCain's adviser, all while they were hammering Obama on the issue of experience. Well with the selection of Sarah Palin, that claim of experience goes out the window. Tim Kaine was the former mayor of Richmond, Virginia - the metropolitan area has a population of almost 1.2 million people, double the population of the entire state of Alaska. And he's "only" been governor for three years? Palin's been governor of Alaska for 18 months. Just another example of Republicans ignoring their own blatant hypocrisy - but more on that at a later date.

You may have seen a statement issued a few days ago from some guy named Rudy Giuliani (the name sounds familiar...) about how Sarah Palin is actually more experienced than Barack Obama, which is more of a stretch than when your girlfriend tells you she's only slept with three guys because she doesn't count the times she was wearing socks. Let's compare the resumés, shall we?

Sarah Palin
-Finished second place in the Miss Alaska beauty pageant in 1984.
-Received a Bachelor's Degree in journalism from the University of Idaho in 1987.
-Briefly worked as a sports reporter on a local Alaskan television station.
-Joined the Alaskan Independence Party, who want to seceed from the United States.
-Served two terms on the Wasilla, Alaska City Council from 1992 - 1996
-Became Mayor of Wasilla (population approx. 5,500) in 1996 and served until 2002.
-Failed run at Lt. Governor of Alaska in 2002
-Elected Governor of Alaska (population approx. 600,000) in 2006 after defeating the extremely unpopular Frank Murkowski

Barack Obama
-Graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in political science from Columbia University in 1983.
-Worked at the Business International Corporation and New York Public Interest Research Group.
-Between 85 and 88, was the Director of the Developing Communities Project in Chicago's South Side. In his three years working there, their budget went from $70,000 to $400,000 and helped create a job training program for those living in poverty.
-Entered Harvard Law in 1988.
-Elected President of the Harvard Law Review in 1990.
-Graduated in the top 10% of his class of Harvard Law in 1991.
-Directed "Project Vote" in 1992, registering 150,000 new voters in the state of Illinois.
-Taught Constitutional Law at the University of Chicago Law School between 1992-1996.
-Became Senior Lecturer of Constitutional Law from 1996-2004.
-Elected Illinois State Senator in 1996.
-Sponsored bipartisan legislation to reform health care laws in Illinois.
-Re-elected to Illinois State Senate in 1998 and 2002.
-Helped reform the Illinois death penalty in 2004.
-Elected to the United States Senate in 2004.
-Announced his candidacy for President of the United States in 2007
-Raised more money than any presidential candidate in history without accepting money from registered lobbyists.
-Won the Democratic nomination for presidency after beating Hillary Clinton in one of the most hotly contested primary elections in history.
-Accepted the nomination in front of 75,000 people at Mile High Stadium in Denver, CO.

And that's ignoring Obama's US Senate record, which you can read right here.

Now let's put this into perspective. Sarah Palin was mayor of the town of Wasilla, Alaska with a population around 5,500. You could fit over thirteen Wasillas into Mile High Stadium. Some high schools have more students in them than Wasilla. Minor league baseball games have more seats than the entire population of Wasilla. More people are at your average Weird Al Yankovic concert than live in the city of Wasilla. As for being governor of the state of Alaska, it has a population of around 600,000 - more people live in the city of Albuquerque, New Mexico than in the entire state of Alaska. This is the person that John McCain thinks is qualified to run the country should he no longer be able to do so.

Now, if you ever encounter a Palin-drone and present these facts to them, they will likely retort with the only argument they have left: "b..b...but, she has executive experience!" Meaning she's run a state as opposed to being part of the legislative branch, well then if that's a qualification for being president, John McCain has no experience. Nope, despite his decades in the US Senate, he has no executive experience. Yes, Palin does have executive experience... of the state with the third smallest population in the country, furthest away from Washington DC, a state that collects no sales or income tax and relies almost entirely on oil production for its revenue. Oh... well now it makes sense - 80% of Alaska's revenue comes from oil and gas - fitting for John McCain whose plan includes nearly $4 billion in tax breaks for oil companies.

Sarah Palin is a joke of a running-mate and would be an even bigger laughingstock as the vice president. She's in way over her head in this election and I will continue to go over more reasons as to why this is the most insulting political move in recent history in the next installment of The Palin Project.

Hurri-McCain

I'm sure you're expecting a huge rant on McCain's selection of Sarah "who?" Palin as his running mate on Friday, and trust me, I have plenty to say about it. So much it will probably be enough for a weekly blog just about her from now until the elections on November 4. But you know what, there's plenty of time to go off on one of the most insulting political moves in history, I have something else I need to get off my chest that's actually even worse. Seriously, leave it to the Republicans to be the most offensive group of people in America.

Before I get to that (pardon my ADD-ridden train of thought here), did you see the Democratic Convention this week? I hope you at least caught some of it, of course the major networks only covered an hour each night, which is pretty pathetic considering there's nothing good on television right now anyway. Seriously, are reruns of Ugly Betty more important than the fate of the free world? Anyway, if nothing else, I hope you at least caught the speeches from Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, Joe Biden and Barack Obama, which were all absolutely fantastic. The whole week just seemed to be building up to something big and by the time Obama delivered his amazing speech, it was like the perfect ending to such a beautiful moment in our nation's history.

And hey, don't just take my word for it, staunch conservative, ex-presidential candidate and resident crazy old guy, Pat Buchanan called it the "greatest convention speech in history." If you saw the speech, if you've ever seen any political convention, you know that Pat speaks the honest truth. Barack Obama, love him or hate him, gave one of the all-time greatest speeches Thursday night and truly made me feel like we could take this country back. I haven't been this inspired or excited about my country in a long time and after eight years of the worst president ever, I was really starting to lose hope.

But this blog isn't about Obama's awe-inspiring moment, it's about the Republican reaction. Hours after the speech was over, the McCain campaign responded by saying they might have to delay the Republican Convention that is supposed to start on Monday in Minnesota. Why? Their excuse is Hurricane Gustav, which is threatening to remind the world of the colossal fuck-up that was the Bush administration's response to Hurricane Katrina three years ago. Here's a quote from John McCain:

"But you know it just wouldn't be appropriate to have a festive occasion while a near-tragedy or a terrible challenge is presented in the form of a natural disaster... we're monitoring it from day to day, and I'm saying a few prayers, too."

Oh good, he's praying. Nice little empty gesture that requires no actual work. You know John, if your prayer goes unanswered and this Hurricane strikes New Orleans, you might have to consider the fact that God doesn't listen to your prayers. He's probably a little peeved that you tried to insult the intelligence of every woman in America with your horrible VP pick... but again, that's a story for another day.

Actually, the part that really bugs me is the "wouldn't be appropriate to have a festive occasion while a near-tragedy or terrible challenge is presented..." oh really, Senator? Do you remember in my last blog when I posted a picture of McCain and Bush sharing a cake? If not, here it is again:


That picture was taken on August 29, 2005, exactly three years ago this past Friday. They were celebrating John McCain's 69th birthday, eating cake and one could say being "festive." You know what else happened on August 29, 2005? Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans. So when John McCain tells you that it wouldn't be "appropriate" to be festive, what he means is he doesn't want to take the chance of being ripped apart for once again being out of touch and ignorant to the suffering of others. If Katrina had never hit, there would be absolutely no discussion of this convention being delayed and you'd likely see the exact same response to Gustav that you saw to Katrina.

Just like people are seeing through your political pandering with your VP pick, they'll see through this too, Senator. You're damned if you do, damned if you don't in this situation and you know what? You reap what you sow. This is what you get for selling out your "maverick" status by aligning yourself with the Bush Administration just to achieve your selfish desire to be president. You literally had a "let them eat cake" moment during the biggest national disaster in the nation's history with the president who sat on his hands. The beauty of the Katrina aftermath was that it was when the nation woke up and realized that George W. Bush is the worst president this country has ever seen. His presidency went from "mandate" to "lame duck" in a matter of days and he'll go down in the history books as a footnote as a result.

So by all means, try to salvage your campaign by delaying your convention. Lord knows you don't want to follow the Democratic Convention after that speech Obama gave Thursday night, because there will certainly be no comparison. You'll look like an aging grandpa telling kids about the good ol' days while the bright young star tells Americans how we can rescue our country from these disastrous eight years we've had under George Bush, who you voted with 90% of the time. But know this, if you do delay the convention, you won't erase the memories of Bush's utter failure to respond to the horrible disaster that was Hurricane Katrina and you certainly won't keep people from drawing the parallels to today.

Just to show the irony in this situation, some folks over at lunatic evangelical group "Focus on the Family" came out a few weeks ago and told their followers to "pray for rain" in Denver during Obama's outdoor acceptance speech. Of course, we now know the clouds stayed clear despite their childish actions, but now it looks like this storm is going to strike right at the start of the Republican Convention. You know, for the party that constantly runs on "faith," maybe the Republicans ought to consider that God doesn't like being exploited for political gain.



***UPDATE***
Just to really hammer this point home of how much John McCain only cares about people when he's running for president, he voted "NO" on the Hurricane Health Care for Survivors Amendment, which would have provided Disaster Relief Medicaid to victims of Hurricane Katrina. Remember that when the Republicans exploit this story and call for everyone to "pray for the victims of Gustav" during the convention.

Posers 4 McCain

So have you heard this shit about "PUMA: Party Unity My Ass" or "Clintons4McCain"? Despite her amazing speech last night, it looks like Hillary Clinton supporters are backing John McCain, this could pose a lot of huge problems for Barack Obama!

...Which would be something to worry about if it wasn't just a bunch of Republican posers in disguise. Turns out, it's just another scheme from Karl Rove's (McCain adviser) bag of tricks. Clintons4McCain.com member, Anne Franklin contributed $500 to Bob Dole in 1999, $500 to Elizabeth Dole in 1999 and $1000 to good ol' George W. Bush in 1999. I wish I could be so clever to make this stuff up, but sadly, it's true.

Oh wait, there's more! Clintons4McCain founder, Cristi Adkins had no connection Hillary Clinton's campaign until May 16 of this year, when it was pretty much all said and done for the former first lady. Adkins' husband is a fellow by the name of Burke Allen, who owns right-wing talk station WMOV-AM. It's like they're not even trying to hide this.

And just to show how flat out pathetic and desperate the Republicans are, the Republican National Committee (RNC), have registered the domain "clintonsformccain.com"

Here's the deal, the Republicans know that their candidate this year is laughably bad. A 72 year old white man from Arizona who cheated on his crippled first wife to marry a rich beer heiress. He doesn't know how many houses he owns, he doesn't know who we're fighting in Iraq, he's flip-flopped on every major issue he ever stood for and he has the Republican base about as excited as a small child when they open up their Christmas presents to find a pair of jeans and a new sweater.

The Republicans know that John McCain cannot and will not win this election on his own merit, so their only option is to make you vote for "Not Barack Obama." If they can smear, distort and flat-out lie about Obama enough, they know they can make the average American afraid of him because he's "different" - "Different," of course being Republican code for "Black." Of course ignoring the fact that McCain has voted 90% of the time in line with George W. Bush, the president who has done more harm to our national security than any president in history. The president that took the biggest surplus of all-time and turned it into the biggest deficit of all-time, leading to higher unemployment rates, home foreclosures, banks collapsing, and a flat-out economic recession. McCain said our economy is "fundamentally strong" - tell that to Cincinnati, Ohio with the highest unemployment rate since 1992 (right after twelve years of Republican presidents). Tell that to the rest of Ohio, which has topped the Forbes' list of "America's Fastest Dying-Cities."

Putting candles on would have raised the terrorist threat level to "Orange."

No, John McCain cannot win as the candidate that is right for America, he can only win on the premise of not being this "scary" new guy that wants to restore America's standing in the world, end pointless wars, provide you with the fundamental right to health care and get us out of this economic abyss. The Republican Party and their dirty politics is exactly what's killing America and as long as Americans keep falling for it, they'll get what they voted for.