New Blog

For those of you are interested, I have started a new blog. As I mentioned here on this blog, I am a librarian by profession and my new blog will take an irreverent look at librarianship. It may be found here.

What's Next?

It's been nearly a week, and while some have been celebrating, others have been sulking, and I have been trying to figure out what to do with this blog. I have decided to let it die a natural death.

Really, what's the point of beating up on the old man? He lost, gave a gracious concession speech and now will be back in the senate. He will probably win re-election in 2010. It will be interesting to see how he acts in the senate. Will he become an elder statesman who works for the good of all, or a bitter old geezer who throws a monkey wrench in everything? To be honest, he seems to have been more suited to be a gadfly challenging his own party than his party's standard bearer, so I think we might be surprised in the next couple of years. I think it would be great if he wrote a book and was as straight talking as he claimed to be before this campaign. I doubt I would buy it, but I would check it out from the library. I'd like to hear his opinions on why he thinks he lost. I'd like to hear who he really wanted to be his VP. Again, he's challenged his party in the past, so this would be a good opportunity for him to throw it all out on the table.

So what's next for me then? I was having a conversation Friday night with a couple of people who had read the blog. They encouraged me to continue in some fashion. The prevailing thought seemed to be towards something about Palin. Maybe something like "The Keep Palin in Alaska Blog" or "The Just Say No To Palin in 2012 Blog." To be honest, a negative orientated blog (like this one admittedly was) takes a lot out of you. And by my nature, I tend to me more of a positive person.

But what do you all think? Those have read this far along know my "voice," know my take on things (facts served straight up with a bit of sarcasm), know that I do care about the country even though I may stand on the fringes of its political system. What would you like to see me write about? Should I chronicle the missteps of the new president? Is there something else that seems suited for me? Leave me comments or email me at straighttalkonmccain@yahoo.com.

Anyways, aside from a post here or there directing people to one of my new projects, this will probably be it. Unless McCain throws his hat in the ring in 2012, then we'll start all over again. I would encourage you all to stay involved in the political process, and to keep fighting for what you believe in. Sometimes you'll lose (trust me on that as my record for never having casted a vote for a presidential winner remains intact) , and sometimes you'll win, and when you do, you'll know that it's all worth it. So I leave you all with a quote from the Romanticist Percy Shelley which has been my personal motto and guided me for over two decades:

"the good times will come"

Congrats

Congrats to president-elect Obama. He fought a good fight, mostly clean, and was able to inspire many people. Now the hard part comes. Actually governing is much different than campaigning. Hopefully he will be up to the task.

And I would like to give McCain some credit. I was really impressed with his concession speech. If that McCain had ran for president, he might have won. We'll never know. I was disappointed in his supporters who booed their new president-elect. If only they could have been as gracious and humble as their candidate, perhaps the tone of the campaign could have been different.

I would like to add that the 2008 elections are not over yet. There are Senate seats still being contested. It appears that the Minnesota race will go to a mandatory recount, and there could be a run-off in Georgia. So we haven't see the end of it all yet.

The Last Post Before The Election

Well, this will be my last post before election day, probably until Wednesday. To those who have read a post here and there, thank you. To those who have been faithful readers, thank you as well. To those who have made comments or sent emails, whether we agreed or not, thank you as well for the dialogue.

Obviously, if McCain loses tomorrow, I am essentially out of a job. If he wins, I guess there will be a lot more posts to a blog I hoped would only last a few months. Either way, check back, and I'll let you all know more about my future plans.

And I won't tell you all who to vote for, just that it's important that you do. For myself, there is a certain peace in knowing that my candidate will not win tomorrow since I still have no intentions of voting for either McCain or Obama. I do hope that each of you have the opportunity to vote for the candidate that you truly believe in, and are not just voting for them because of fear of the other. And in that spirit, I'll leave you with a quote from one of our early presidents.

“Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost.” -- John Quincy Adams

No Candy For Kids of Obama Supporters

Seriously, this lady asked people who they were supporting and if they said Obama, she wouldn't give the kids candy. Now that's the good old values of traditional America that should make conservatives proud.

Election Protection Wiki Portal

If you are concerned about clean elections and ensuring that everybody get to vote, and more importantly, gets their vote count, then this site may be of interest to you. This is something that strikes home with me because one year I went at it with the local registrar of voters because they didn't register my vote with the state. It basically came down to them saying that indeed they were legally bound to register my vote with the state but that they weren't going to do it. So then I was on the phone with someone from the secretary of state's office for my state and they said they couldn't register my vote because the county wouldn't send it to be registered. So dang it, my vote never got counted. So much for democracy.

Shhhh, Don't No One Tell McCain

"I cannot foresee a scenario that John McCain is elected president of the United States."

Republican strategist Frank Luntz in an interview today. Guess he's out of a White House job if McCain pulls this out somehow.

Where's The Voter Fraud?

You may remember when McCain said that ACORN “is now on the verge of maybe perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history in this country, maybe destroying the fabric of democracy.” It really was a great scare tactic, but as a new article suggests. that's about all it was. Even Ronald Michaelson who was on McCain's Honest and Open Election Committee said :

“Do we have a documented instance of voting fraud that resulted from a phony registration form? No, I can’t cite one, chapter and verse."

That's pretty noteworthy as Michaelson served 27 years as the executive director of the Illinois Board of Elections. If anyone would have know about massive voter fraud, surely he would have heard about it somewhere along the line in that long career of his.

However, this is the funniest line in the article:

"Another member of McCain’s Honest and Open Election Committee, Harvard law professor and former U.S. solicitor general Charles Fried, stepped down last week after voting absentee for Obama-Biden."

That's gotta hurt.

State Health Director Verifies Obama's Birth Certificate

Drats, said McCain campaign supporters, as some of them seemed to really be betting on this plan of attack. It appears that Obama really was born in the United States according to the Honolulu Star Bulletin.

Republicans try to use Oxford don to smear Barack Obama

That's the actual newspaper headline from the Sunday Times from London. Apparently some Republicans wanted to pay a college professor to run a computer program to try to prove that one of Obama's books was ghost written by Ayers. The professor said initial findings found the charge "very implausible." But hey, at least they tried.

A Second Holocaust?

This is the flier a Jewish Republican group is mailing out in support of McCain. Apparently, if Obama is elected, bad things will happen to the Jewish people. In case you don't get the connection, they are kind enough to make it explicit for you. They point out that the picture on the card is from when Obama spoke in Germany. Hmnn, why use that photo and point it out that it is the one you are using? What meaning could they be trying to get across? And how how low will McCain supporters continue to go to base this election on fear?

So Who's Number Two?

McCain spokesman Michael Goldfarb claims that Obama hangs around with anti-Semites. But when asked to name one, other than Khalidi who is being discussed, he can't. It looked pretty bad, and it was, because it shows that the McCain campaign is willing to throw anything out, and when questioned on it, can't defend their comments.

Cheney Endorses McCain

The question is, what do you do when you get an endorsement from someone whose endorsement has the potential to hurt you more than it helps you?

Reagan's Son Endorses Obama

Not really all that surprising, but Ronald Reagan's son has officially endorsed Obama. You can listen to it here. But combined with Goldwater and Buckley, it makes you start to wonder if any of the offspring of the great leaders of the conservative movement support McCain.

Happy Halloween

No politics today. Enjoy the day trick or treating with your kids, going to costume parties, or whatever else you might do to celebrate this holiday. And if you are dressing up as one of the candidates, have fun.

McCain Confused Again About Spreading The Wealth

McCain had a hard time explaining why a progressive taxation system (which we do have here in the US) is not about spreading the wealth. He said it's a "far cry from taking from one group of Americans and giving to another," as he suggests Obama is proposing. Except that's exactly what a progressive taxation system does. The more money you earn, the more you pay progressively in taxes. So that's the taking part. Then McCain says that part of what taxes do is "to help those who can't help themselves." That's the giving to another part. So please explain again Senator McCain what is so big, bad, and evil about what Obama is proposing to do and how it so radically differs from what we already do. I'm not saying that the progressive taxation system is good or bad, just that McCain is attacking Obama for something we already do, and which McCain himself has acknowledged in the past is the right thing to do.

Students Forced To Go To McCain Rally

McCain spoke at a rally today with about 6,000 in attendance. Not bad. Except that about 4,000 were bussed in from local schools, including the entire school district of Defiance, Ohio. But don't take my word for it, that's what an official from the school district said.

Hey, What's Ron Doing On The Ballot?

Even though Ron Paul had officially asked that his name be removed from the ballot, he will still appear on it as the official candidate for the Constitution Party in Montana. So what you say? Paul was able to get a quarter of the votes in the primary even after everybody knew McCain was going to be the Republican nominee. And recent polls there show the race to be a statistical tie. Depending on what percentage of the vote he draws, Paul could act as a spoiler and throw the state to Obama. In the last half century, Montana has only gone Democratic twice, with the last time being 1992 when there was also a significant third party candidate on the ballot.

Where Do I Vote?

I don't really care who you vote for, just make sure you go vote. If you don't know where you are supposed to vote, you can go to this website sponsored by Yahoo and find your polling place.

Rashid Khalidi

In the latest wave of attacks from the right, McCain and surrogates are suggesting that Obama has nefarious ties to Rashid Khalidi. Apparently, Obama may have have spoken at a dinner in Chicago and said some kind words about him. Khalidi, in case you don't know who he is, is a supporter of Palestinian rights and a professor at Georgetown University. Here's an article from the Washington Post about him. I'll let you read it and decide for yourself how radical he is.

Here's the kicker. If Khalidi is really such a horrible guy, the McCain's got some explaining to do for his own ties to him. You see, McCain was the chairman of a group called the International Republican Institute. In their infinite wisdom, they gave Khalidi's organization a grant for nearly half a million dollars. Here's the group's tax form to prove it. It was grant 5180 and CRPS stands for Khalidi's Center for Palestine Research and Studies. McCain's association with Khalidi through the IRI goes back all the way to 1993, though the grant above was given in 1998.

So let me get this straight. The McCain campaign wants a video released which shows Obama and Khalidi at a dinner together, and that's bad. McCain is the chairman of a group that gives Khalidi hundreds of thousands of dollars, and no problem. Nice logic at work there.

The Children Are The Future

Weekly Reader polls the students every four years to see who they would like to see as president. And the students have predicted the winner in every single election save one. (1992, Perot screwed it up for everyone) This year they went for Obama with 55% and McCain with 43%. I guess we'll see next week if they were right this time.

The Mistake

Alaskan Newspaper Endorses.......

"On the most important issue of the day, Sen. Obama is a clear choice."

Alaska's largest newspaper, the Anchorage Daily News, and essentially the hometown newspaper of Palin, has endorsed Obama. This what the newspaper had to say about Palin:

Yet despite her formidable gifts, few who have worked closely with the governor would argue she is truly ready to assume command of the most important, powerful nation on earth. To step in and juggle the demands of an economic meltdown, two deadly wars and a deteriorating climate crisis would stretch the governor beyond her range. Like picking Sen. McCain for president, putting her one 72-year-old heartbeat from the leadership of the free world is just too risky at this time.

America's Favorite Game

"No one will delay the World Series game with an infomercial when I'm president," so said John McCain. Of course, how a president has the power to decide when a baseball game starts I have no clue. But once again, McCain is just trying to score cheap political points. Joe Coppola, the Fox executive who negotiated the deal, has said that Obama's purchase of TV time is not pushing the start of the game back. Instead, all it's doing is replacing the pre-game show. "We didn’t push back the game at all," he said.

If McCain really wants to be mad at someone, he should be mad at Fox. "We’re just missing the pregame, which isn’t a big deal for us. It was a business decision." That's right, Fox puts its profits above America's favorite past time.

Robocalls

Is Palin A Socialist?

As you know, Palin and McCain are hitting on Obama being a socialist and wanting to spread the wealth. But I thought you would be interested in hearing, in Palin's own words, about how Alaskans manage to get a check from the state every year:

"And Alaska—we’re set up, unlike other states in the union, where it’s collectively Alaskans own the resources. So we share in the wealth when the development of these resources occurs.”

That's Palin describing oil up in Alaska. So let me get this straight. Everybody in Alaska owns the oil resources collectively,? And everybody gets the same check no matter what they may or may not have done to earn it? And that's not socialism?

The entire article can be read here.

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Meet The Press

McCain was on Meet The Press yesterday. I could do an analysis of the interview that could last for days, but instead I'll let you read it for yourself. The transcript can be found here.

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Can McCain Even Win His Own State?

A new article in the Arizona Daily Star highlights a disturbing trend: namely that McCain's numbers are so band in the country he may not even win Arizona. Polls taken recently in the state show McCain with only a 2 point advantage, a spread within the margin of error. Another 10% said they still haven't made up their minds. Now I don't think Arizona will go for Obama, but the fact that McCain doesn't have a double digit lead in his own state, a Republican state no less, should prove trouble for the McCain campaign.

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Is Palin Really An Outsider?

One of Palin's selling points is that she is an outsider, that she has nothing to do with the Washington elite, as she refers to them. Of course, I'm not exactly sure how that's about to be a great sell when her running mate is exactly what she argues against. However, a New Yorker article questions whether she's even an outsider as she claims. It seems that when certain influential conservatives were on a cruise through Alaska, she made it a point to invite them to the governor's mansion, and take some on a helicopter tour. When she became a governor, she hired an East coast PR firm to promote herself and her projects. In a world where image is everything, Plain has created one for herself that seems to be at odds with who she really is.

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McCain Blows Gasket

Tic-Tac-Toe

The Vet Who Did Not Vet

Cute little nursery rhyme about McCain picking a running mate.

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Bailouts

Spreading The Wealth

Dictator Pinochet, My Name Is John McCain

It appears that back in the 80s, McCain had no problem meeting with dictators without preconditions. You see Augusto Pinochet had led a military coup against a democratically elected president. During the coup and afterwards, thousands were killed or "disappeared." The coup happened in 1973, and in 1985 Pinochet was still in power. McCain met with him on December 30, 1985, according to this declassified memo. According to the article:

"At the time of the meeting, in the late afternoon of December 30, the U.S. Justice Department was seeking the extradition of two close Pinochet associates for an act of terrorism in Washington DC, the 1976 assassination of former ambassador to the U.S. and former Foreign Minister Orlando Letelier. The car bombing on Sheridan Circle in the U.S. capital was widely described at the time as the most egregious act of international terrorism perpetrated on U.S. soil by a foreign power."

Check out the wikipedia article on Orlando Letelier. In it, you'll notice that the head of the Chilean Secret Police claims the orders came directly from Pinochet. So if true, this would be what we might call a twofer: McCain has no problems sitting down with dictators and he seems to pal around with terrorists.

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Who Makes The Bucks?

According to the New York Times, the highest paid person in the McCain campaign for the first two weeks of October was .....

"Not Randy Scheunemann, Mr. McCain’s chief foreign policy adviser; not Nicolle Wallace, his senior communications staffer. It was Amy Strozzi, Gov. Sarah Palin’s traveling makeup artist, according to a new filing with the Federal Election Commission on Thursday night."

Let me be a political consultant for second. McCain comes asks me why he's behind in the polls. I ponder and I make funny faces, and then exclaim "Because, you idiot, you're spending more money on Mary Kay products for your sidekick then you are for any other person on your staff." Damn, I just gave away a whole bunch of consulting for free.

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James Carville

Politically, I'm not the biggest fan of James Carville. But I'll have to admit that he says some funny stuff sometimes. Here's the latest:


“The reason the Republicans found Joe the Plumber was to find someone hanging around a toilet other than [Sen.] Larry Craig.”

First Buckley, Now Goldwater

Those of you on the young end may not even who know who Barry Goldwater was. But to those of us who study American political history, he was, along with William F. Buckley, the father of the modern conservative movement. But now his granddaughter and other relatives have come out saying they cannot support McCain because McCain does not hold to the values so dearly held by their father. Here's a bit of what she had to say:

"Myself, along with my siblings and a few cousins, will not be supporting the Republican presidential candidates this year. We believe strongly in what our grandfather stood for: honesty, integrity, and personal freedom, free from political maneuvering and fear tactics. I learned a lot about my grandfather while producing the documentary, Mr. Conservative Goldwater on Goldwater. Our generation of Goldwaters expects government to provide for constitutional protections. We reject the constant intrusion into our personal lives, along with other crucial policy issues of the McCain/Palin ticket.

My grandfather (Paka) would never suggest denying a woman's right to choose. My grandmother co-founded Planned Parenthood in Arizona in the 1930's, a cause my grandfather supported. I'm not sure about how he would feel about marriage rights based on same-sex orientation. I think he would feel that love and respect for ones privacy is what matters most and not the intolerance and poor judgment displayed by McCain over the years. Paka respected our civil liberties and passed on the message that that we should conduct our lives standing up for the basic freedoms we hold so dear. "

Full article can be read here.

They Call Him Flipper, Flipper

Think Progress has come up with a list off 44 things that McCain has changed his mind on.

Is This Socialism?

Who wrote, in 2001 when the Bush tax cuts were being passed into law, "I cannot in good conscience support a tax cut in which so many of the benefits go to the most fortunate among us at the expense of the middle class Americans who most need tax relief?"

What kind of socialist said those kinds of things, and believes that wealthy people should pay more than less wealthy people? The Bush tax cuts weren't even calling for people to be taxed at the same rates, just lowering the amount rich people paid but still paying more than less wealthy people. So there would still be progressive taxation, that is, the rich pay proportionally more than the poor. Could it be the same guy who said:

"I think your question -- questioning the fundamentals of a progressive tax system where people who make more money pay more in taxes than a flat, across-the-board percentage. I think it's to some degree because we feel, obviously, that wealthy people can afford more.

But I believe that when you really look at the tax code today, the very wealthy, because they can afford tax lawyers and all kinds of loopholes, really don't pay nearly as much as you think they do when you just look at the percentages. And I think middle-income Americans, working Americans, when the account and payroll taxes, sales taxes, mortgage pay -- all of the taxes that working Americans pay, I think they -- you would think that they also deserve significant relief, in my view..."

This was a response to a student's question. When the same student asked if this was all not a step towards socialism, the same person responded:

"So, look, here's what I really believe, that when you are -- reach a certain level of comfort, there's nothing wrong with paying somewhat more.

And frankly, I think the first people who deserve a tax cut are working Americans with children that need to educate their children, and they're the ones that I would support tax cuts for first."

There's nothing wrong with the wealthy paying somewhat more, and working people should get tax cuts first? Doesn't that sound a bit like the wealth redistribution that McCain accused Obama of and calling it socialist? Oh wait, McCain said all of this. Check out the video.

Who Is Better For The Military?

"Temperamentally, Senators Obama and McCain are very different on defense. But when you read the details of their defense positions, they are remarkably similar," said Loren Thompson , a defense analyst with the Lexington Institute , a conservative public policy organization. "They both want to bolster intelligence, focus on counter-terrorism, reduce big-ticket weapons systems and crack down on defense contracts."

So while McCain likes to portray himself as some great supporter of the military, in truth, he offers little that is different from what Obama has to offer. The full article can be read here.

Electoral College Maps

As we get closer to the election, I thought it would be important to point out that different websites offer different ways of trying to figure out how the electoral college might turn out. Some use certain polls, some average the polls, or use different algorithms to determine which state might go which way. So here's some of the more popular ones:


270 To Win

Real Clear Politics

Electoral-vote.com

New York Times

CNN

Princeton Election Consortium

FiveThirtyEight

Fox News

Like Palin's Clothes?

They should be nice, as the Republican National Committee has spent over $150,000 on her clothes and other such things thing since she was nominated. Wow, plain old hockey moms sure have expensive tastes. One shopping trip alone to Neiman Marcus clocked in at over $75,000. I should be honest and say that I don't think I've ever shopped at Neiman Marcus, but they must have some expensive clothes. Even if an outfit cost $3,000 (which seems outrageous to me), you could still get 25 of them for that price. You could wear a new outfit for pretty much the whole month and never wear the same one twice from just that one shopping trip alone. She also racked up $4700 in hair and makeup bills. Makes the $400 Edwards spent (which caused quite a stir) look like peanuts. A questions has been raised about the legality of all this, so we'll see what comes of it.

Voter Fraud

I have no doubt that voter registration fraud exists. Hey, they just busted a Republican for it not far from my house. But since we are hearing so much about ACORN, you might be interested in this video.

Who's Trying To Be Divisive?

Oh not Republicans. But then Rep. Robin Hayes went and said "liberals hate real Americans that work and accomplish and achieve and believe in God." Yep, it's the whole "I'm more patriotic than you" garbage that Republicans have been pushing the whole week. I guess they get to decide who REAL AMERICANS are. What's funnier is at first he denied even making the statements. He called the story it appeared in "irresponsible journalism." Oops, just one little problem. There was a recording made of the event. Here's Hayes' statement:

“I genuinely did not recall making the statement and, after reading it, there is no doubt that it came out completely the wrong way. I actually was trying to work to keep the crowd as respectful as possible, so this is definitely not what I intended.”

Palin Billing The State Again

We already know about Palin billing the state of Alaska to stay in her own house. But now it appears that she also billed the state so that her kids could travel with her. here's just one part of the article:

The charges included costs for hotel and commercial flights for three daughters to join Palin to watch their father in a snowmobile race, and a trip to New York, where the governor attended a five-hour conference and stayed with 17-year-old Bristol for five days and four nights in a luxury hotel.

I don't know if she broke any laws are not, but she's definitely not coming across as a money saving reformer.

What I think is more telling though, is that after reporters asked to see the records, she started to amend the reports so it looked like her daughters were doing official state business. In one of them she stated that her daughters were "to draw two separate raffle tickets." Man, give me that job. I'll stay in first class hotels if all I have to do is draw a raffle ticket.

Obama's Grandmother

Again, politics aside, I wish Barack Obama and his extended family only the best during these trying times as Obama visits his gravely ill grandmother. As someone who spent quite a bit of time with my grandparents because of my parental situation, I know how close you can become and how much they can influence your life. Even though I grew up as a punk in southern California, I was immeasurably influenced by southern traditional values, as my grandparents came from Oklahoma, Utah, and Texas. So please hold Madelyn Payne Dunham in your prayers and thoughts.
Peace and all good.

McCain and Voter Registration Fraud, Part Deux

I'm supposing McCain really is giving up on his reformer image. It appears that his campaign has given $175,000 to Lincoln Strategy with the objective of "registering voters." Nathan Sproul, who now heads Lincoln Strategy, used to run another company with his name on it, but it become well-know in Arizona for its dirty politics. And although there were many witnesses to Sproul's company's mishandling of voter registration forms, Bush's Department of Justice didn't seem all that interested in investigating them. Some states, such as Oregon, did launch investigations. Here's a new article on Sproul being hired by the McCain campaign.

"Eric Russell, who worked for a Sproul & Associates group called Voter Outreach of America, said he had personally witnessed his boss take out eight to ten Democratic registration forms from a pile and shred them in Nevada."

And that's who McCain has working for him while he complains about ACORN. Let me state again, any fraud is wrong and should be condemned, but it seems strange me to that McCain just wants to know what "ties" Obama may have to ACORN, however tenuous, but he somehow doesn't say a word about the guy who is directly receiving a check from himself.

Voter Registration Fraud

By now, most of have you heard about ACORN and their alleged involvement in voter registration fraud. McCain and company have done a good job of bringing it up and trying to tie it Obama. However, McCain should be honest and condemn it whenever and wherever it happens, and by whomever. As you can see in this article and this article, McCain's party is involved in alleged voter registration fraud. What makes it even more complicated though, is that while ACORN does their voter registration independently of political parties, the person involved in this alleged voter registration fraud was paid directly by the California Republican Party. Now, I don't condone voter registration fraud, and I think people should use their time more productively. But McCain needs to get off his high horse, and realize that not his side involved in voter registration fraud, but also voter suppression, such as caging, which I find much more despicable.

Wait, That Simpson Cartoon Wasn't Just A Joke?

For those who viewed the Simpson video, and thought it was just silly fun, think again. It appears that in West Virginia when people touch the Obama box on the screen, the vote is going to McCain. At first I thought it might be an isolated case, but when I went to go get a link for the blog, I found an updated article that said it had happened to even more people. You can view the article here.

"When I pushed Obama, it jumped to McCain. When I went down to governor's office and punched [Gov. Joe] Manchin, it went to the other dude. When I went to Karen Facemyer [the incumbent Republican state senator], I pushed the Democrat, but it jumped again.
"The rest of them were OK, but the machine sent my votes for those top three offices from the Democrat to the Republican," Thomas said.

More Conservative Papers Support Obama

McCain is having a hard time convincing even traditionally conservative newspapers that his is the better candidate. The Houston Chronicle and Austin American-Statesman, two newspapers that endorsed Bush in 2004, have now written editorials endorsing Obama. In a shocker to me, even the Salt Lake Tribune has endorsed Obama. For full disclosure, a part of my family is from Utah. Utah, and its Mormon population, is know for holding some pretty conservative views. Heck, it wasn't even that long ago when the LDS church said that Blacks couldn't enter the LDS priesthood or participate in certain temple activities. For a list of newspapers that have made endorsements, please go here.

Real Virginia?

So the people who live in the northern area of Virginia are not real Virginians? What's interesting is that the interviewer immediately picks up on this, and even offers her the chance to think about what she said. But I guess she figured once the foot was in the mouth, you might as well just keep stuffing.

Former Member of Bush Cabinet Endorses Obama

It's not really big news when someone, no matter how big they might be, endorses someone from their own party. That someone such as Clinton is endorsing Obama, or Bush is supporting McCain, that's not really surprising. That's why Colin Powell's endorsement of Obama today is a big deal. Powell is a Republican, and of course was Secretary of State in George W. Bush's cabinet. He is highly respected by both sides, and perhaps his speech at the UN aside, not many people question his integrity and honesty. I have no doubt this was a difficult decision for Powell, as even just last year he gave the maximum donation allowed to McCain to run in the primaries.
However I am particularly troubled by McCain's statement:

"It doesn’t come as a surprise," McCain said. "I'm very pleased to have the endorsement of four former secretaries of state, well over 200 retired generals and admirals. I've admired and continue to respect Secretary Powell."

It doesn't come as a surprise? Powell's a Republican, gave you money to run for president, was in the cabinet of the current Republican president, and it's doesn't surprise you that he endorsed your Democratic opponent? It would surprise me, and I'd be a bit angry. Or perhaps McCain realizes how badly he has ran his campaign, and figures "hey, can't blame the guy for wanting to get away from this train wreck."

A Second Response To Sbvor

Sbvor said:
“Let’s skip your typical trivialities and get to the ONLY meat of the matter in your typically silly post (economists who allegedly support Obama AND his TAX PLAN):”

Trivialities? The next president may be constitutionally ineligible for the office, and you call that trivial? By the way, the things you are calling trivial are all things you brought up. Now, just because you can’t defend you arguments doesn’t make them trivial. It just means you’re not intellectually honest enough to acknowledge you don’t have an adequate response.

By the way, you asked me to show you one economist who supported Obama’s economic plan. Now you are changing it to Obama’s tax plan. There’s a significant difference in someone’s tax plan and someone’s economic plan, because the former comprises a part of the latter. You really should be consistent in what you ask for, otherwise it looks like you are trying to finagle your way out by changing what we are discussing.

Sbvor said:
“You listed, without substantiation (as usual), the following economists whom you allege support Obama:”

Quite simply, you didn’t ask for substantiation. You asked for one name and one credential. I simply went above and beyond that and gave you several. But if substantiation is all you need, here you go:

Joseph Stiglitz, 2001 Nobel laureate link
Edmund Phelps, 2006 Nobel laureate link
Dan McFadden, 2000 Nobel laureate link
Robert Solow, 1987 Nobel laureate link

Here’s a list of some of those on Obama’s economic advisory team:
Jason Furman (director of economic policy) source bio
Austan Goolsbee (senior economic policy advisor), University of Chicago tax policy expert source Wikipedia website
Karen Kornbluh (policy director) source bio Wikipedia
David Cutler, Harvard health policy expert source Wikipedia website
Jeff Liebman, Harvard welfare expert source Wikipedia website
Michael Froman, Citigroup executive source bio
Daniel Tarullo, Georgetown law professor source bio
David Romer, Berkeley macroeconomist source website
Christina Romer, Berkeley economic historian source website
Richard Thaler, University of Chicago behavioral finance expert source Wikipedia
Robert Rubin, former Treasury Secretary source Wikipedia bio
Larry Summers, former Treasury Secretary source Wikipedia bio
Alan Blinder, former Vice-chairman of the Federal Reserve source Wikipedia bio website
Jared Bernstein, Economic Policy Institute labor economist source bio
James Galbraith, University of Texas macroeconomist source Wikipedia website
Paul Volcker, Chairman of the Federal Reserve 1979-1987 source Wikipedia
Laura Tyson, Berkeley international economist, Bill Clinton economic adviser source Wikipedia
Robert Reich, Berkeley public policy professor, former Secretary of Labor source Wikipedia weblog
Peter Henry, Stanford international economist source website
Gene Sperling, former White House economic adviser source Wikipedia

Since there are people who are actually advising Obama, and not just mere endorsers or supporters of him for president, then we can probably safely assume they support Obama’s economic plan, since they themselves helped create it. However, there is a link next to each of them so you can see what they have said and decide for yourself if it meets your criteria of whether they support Obama’s economic plan or not. If you can show me that every single one of these economists does not support Obama’s economic plan, then I’ll let you have your victory. Or you’re going to have to give me better definition of what you mean by “support.”

Also, have a look at the Economist study. They polled economists from the National Bureau of Economic Research. While admittedly they don’t list names, you can see that far more than one economist responded that Obama’s economic plan was better than McCain’s.

Sbvor said:“But, the question was which economists support Obama’s TAX PLAN!My research reveals that only ONE (Solow) is on record PARTIALLY supporting Obama’s tax policy. Okay, we’ve got ONE HALF of ONE economist vs. one HUNDRED economists on record as being 100% opposed to Obama’s tax plan. CLEARLY, I WIN!”

As I already noted, that wasn’t the question. And I would encourage people to look at the link provided. While it does state that these economists think Obama’s plan would be bad for the economy, curiously, there is not a single word in the whole thing about whether think they McCain’s economic plan would be good for the economy. Not a single word. Since it’s not an either/or situation, one could easily think Obama’s plan and McCain’s plan was bad for the economy. So one could easily have a Republican who absolutely thinks McCain’s plan is horrible for the economy, but because they are supporting McCain anyways because of party affiliation, sign this document stating Obama’s plan is bad for the economy. I would have much preferred to see a document stating why they thought McCain’s plan was good for the economy. I particularly like the line, “the prospect of such tax increases (referring to Obama’s) in 2010 is already a drag on the economy.” That’s right, they are saying that one of the reasons for the bad economy right now is a tax increase that may or may not go into effect in 2010. How they measure that we have no way of knowing, but they said it.

Just curious what you think you have won? But like I said, if you can show me that every single one of the economists listed, this time with citations, do not support Obama’s economic plan, then I’ll concede victory to you. But until then, you’re a bit premature.

Back To Our Regularly Scheduled Programming

You may have heard by now, but it's worth repeating, the Chicago Tribune has officially endorsed Obama. Why is this newsworthy? Because the Chicago Tribune is by no stretch of the imagination a liberal newspaper, and in its nearly 150 years of existence, has never endorsed a Democrat for president before. I especially like the reasoning they gave for supporting Obama over McCain based on their economic policies.

On McCain:
It is, though, hard to figure John McCain these days. He argued that President Bush's tax cuts were fiscally irresponsible, but he now supports them. He promises a balanced budget by the end of his first term, but his tax cut plan would add an estimated $4.2 trillion in debt over 10 years. He has responded to the economic crisis with an angry, populist message and a misguided, $300 billion proposal to buy up bad mortgages.

On Obama:
We do, though, think Obama would govern as much more of a pragmatic centrist than many people expect. His economic policy team is peppered with advisers who support free trade. He has been called a "University of Chicago Democrat"--a reference to the famed free-market Chicago school of economics, which puts faith in markets.

Hmnn, someone I was recently having a discussion with argued that Obama would be disastrous for the country economically. It seems that not even conservative newspapers believe that argument.

A Response To Sbvor

Greetings,

Sbvor has been kind enough to leave comments on my blog, expressing his disagreements with some of the things on it. I was going to respond to him in the comments section, but I thought it would be better to do so here in the main section. First, so I can address some of the assertions he makes and this way the debate gets a larger audience. But also, so I can respond to some of the logical fallacies that are in his post, and hopefully illustrate how those on the right will often resort to all kinds of strange things when they cannot make a point. One should never feel intimidated by someone on the other side of the political spectrum, and you don’t have to just stand by when they make ridiculous assertions or try to wow you with citations that, once you look at them, don’t even support their point.

Sbvor said:
“Crooked Talk on McCain,”

This is the first thing you should notice. Those on the right like to use petty nicknames and attack the character of the other person. They think it’s clever. I have a friend at work who won’t say Obama in an email, but instead comes up with every derogatory nickname he can think of when referring to him. I asked him why, and said I always called McCain by his name, as that was the respectful thing to do. He had no answer. You see that a lot, people resort to name calling when they can’t hold up their side of the argument anymore. But since the implication is that I have said something untrue about Mcain, please show me where I have and I will take it off the site.

Sbvor said:“1) IF you are not voting for Obama, my guess is you will be voting to the Left of Obama. Cynthia McKinney perhaps? I’m voting McCain/Palin. Who will you vote for?”

Why would you guess that? And why does it matter? Either what I am saying is true or it isn’t. Either I am making logical arguments or I am not. If who I am voting for changes your mind on whether to believe anything I write, then there’s the problem right there. Here’s a list of who I don’t plan to vote for: McCain, Obama, Nader, McKinney, Barr or Keyes. I think that’s everyone who is on the ballot in my state. Of course, as I have stated elsewhere, because of our archaic election laws and because I live in a safe state, I have the luxury of knowing I can do with my vote as I want. But let’s say that you’re right, what does it matter? My guess is because then you can feel you can just write off anything I say because of who I may be voting for. In other words, you won’t respond to the point I make but instead just attack me because who I am associating with. Sound familiar? I am taking you seriously even if you are voting for McCain, you should give me the same courtesy.

Sbvor said:
“2) As best I recall, the one comment you offered on my blog presented a slew of utterly unsubstantiated smears against McCain. I don’t tolerate that and I say so plainly in my profile information. If you want your comments published on my blog, at least ATTEMPT to substantiate them.”

If I recall correctly, I posted something on the Community Reinvestment Act and how some are saying it is to blame for the sub-prime crises as the CRA “forced” banks to give loans to people who couldn’t afford it. I pointed out that the majority of sub-prime loans were made outside of CRA regulation and it doesn’t makes sense to blame the CRA for something that the CRA did not have regulatory power over. Furthermore, I included a link to a Business Week(I purposely chose a magazine that was conservative) article that argued the same thing. No smears, and nothing even in particular about McCain. And I’ll let others decide by looking at my blog if it’s even reasonable to believe that I would post something that was nothing but unsubstantiated smears. But I would note that the standards you hold for your own blog you don’t respect when posting on someone else’s blog. On my blog, you’ve called people morons, ignorant, accused them of drinking the kool-aid, etc. I’m glad you hold yourself to the same high standard you want others held to.

Sbvor said:
“3) Offering a photocopy of a purported birth certificate absent a seal is NOT sufficient! The FACT is that Obama has been challenged in a court of law and has NOT produced the ORIGINAL birth certificate. WHY would Obama NOT want to settle this issue (assuming he COULD)?”

You are absolutely right that Philp Berg has filed a lawsuit against Obama and that is indeed a fact. While that sounds impressive, just remember that pretty much anybody can file a lawsuit about pretty much anything. My wife could go in Monday morning and file a paternity lawsuit against McCain. Monday night I could go around the Internet rightfully and factually claiming that McCain has a pending paternity lawsuit against him. Is it credible? Well, let’s hope not for my sake, but simply having a lawsuit brought against you doesn’t mean the case has any merit. I should note that similar lawsuits to Berg’s were also filed against McCain and Barry Goldwater. So I can just as easily point out that McCain’s citizenship has also been challenged by a lawsuit.
I watched the video you provided and was less than overwhelmed. Mr. Berg doesn’t even get simple facts right. Obama never sat on the Annenberg Foundation Board. He sat on the board of a project that was funded by a grant from the Annenberg Foundation. Pretty big difference, and if Mr. Berg can’t get those simple things right, well, he loses some credibility. And please note, I have no vested interest in Obama proving his case because I have no intention of voting for him.

Obama has provided a copy of the birth certificate. It’s easily found on the Internet. Of course, those who are inclined to, will challenge it as well. As for Obama’s grandmother saying he was born in Kenya, I could find no credible source for that statement. If you have one, besides Berg’s lawsuit, please let me know. I find the whole thing desperate, but Berg and his supporters don’t really care if they win the case or not. They’re getting a bunch of media attention and planting in people’s minds the idea that Obama is not one of “us”. And that’s really the point of the lawsuit.

And to prove that point, just go the Department of Health website for the state of Hawaii. There, anyone, at least to my understanding of the webpage, can request a letter of verification that a birth certificate was issued for Obama. The price? A lousy 5 bucks. So for 5 bucks, anyone who doubts that Obama was born in Hawaii can ask the state to verify that he has a birth certificate. Why hasn’t anyone who questions whether he was born in Hawaii done it yet? It wasn’t that hard to find, took me about five minutes on google to figure out I could do it.

Sbvor said:“4) Economists did not get us into this mess, the overwhelming body of evidence PROVES that DEMOCRATS DID!”

Because you put PROVES in capitals, it doesn’t prove anything. And I encourage people to check out the first comment that responds to your post that your link takes us to. There is a link there which leads to a speech by the President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco in which she states that it would be wrong to conflate the role of the CRA with the sub-prime crisis. I have stated above as well why it’s a bit silly to blame the CRA when most of the sub-prime loans were given out fell outside of the regulations of the CRA. And as Robert Gordon, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, even said “It’s telling that, amid all the recent recriminations, even lenders have not fingered CRA. That’s because CRA didn’t bring about the reckless lending at the heart of the crisis.” I know it would be helpful to blame all this on the big bad Democrats, and I think they may as well be guilty as the Republicans, but conservatives are going to have to point to something more substantial than this.

Sbvor said:“5) The Economist is NOT a “right wing” magazine. As I recall, the article you cited in a previous post was published on the Economist web site, but was written by the extremely biased Associated Press.If there is even ONE economist who supports Obama’s economic plan, show me the NAME and the CREDENTIALS! ONLY McCain has done that!”

The Economist is indeed a right wing magazine. That’s not a pejorative, any more than me calling The Nation a left wing magazine is a pejorative. It’s not a bad thing, it’s just how they view the world. (They themselves claim they are for free markets and free trade, hardly left wing or socialist) You don’t recall very well, and if you are going to throw out accusations of bias you should at least do the minimal amount of research and find out for sure, because you could have went to the website and saw for yourself that it wasn’t an AP article. Here’s the link. You can’t call everything biased, or attribute it to a group you don’t like (like the AP), just because you don’t like what they are reporting. Besides, Sarah Palin even said she reads the Economist, so me and her have something in common.

Here’s another thing that gets me. One should never make absolute statements or ridiculous assertions. You manage to do both in one statement. By challenging me to name just one economist that supports Obama, you are making the absolute statement that no economist supports Obama. Absolute statements are hardly ever true, and they cause the person making them to look ill informed. So it’s ridiculous to challenge to me to name just one economist when you yourself could have spent 30 seconds on the Internet and proven your own assertion false.
Here’s four who have said they back or endorse Obama:

Joseph Stiglitz, 2001 Nobel laureate
Edmund Phelps, 2006 Nobel laureate
Dan McFadden, 2000 Nobel laureate
Robert Solow, 1987 Nobel laureate

I only picked the four who were Nobel laureates, because hey, that might impress you.

And while not economists, these people are involved in the business of finance:

William Donaldson, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair 2003-05
Arthur Levitt, SEC chair 1993-2001
David Ruder, SEC chair 1987-1989

And the richest person in the world, a man who made his billions by understanding how business works, Warren Buffet, endorsed Obama.

Now I am not saying you should vote for Obama or McCain because of the economists who support them. I just think you ought to quit making ridiculous claims that easily proven false.

Sbvor said:
“6) Your moronic response on the Socialist charge only serves to prove that you have NOT examined the evidence .Rather, you display the usual indoctrination which, in ignorant/arrogant knee jerk fashion, blindly assumes there are no Socialists among the Democrats. Even the extremely “Liberal” Time Magazine knows better!Try again. This time, EXAMINE THE EVIDENCE! Pay special attention to this series and this series.”

Your first piece of “evidence” is the McCain video linking Obama to Ayers. I’m not sure if you’ve watched the video or not yourself, but it makes no claims that Obama is a socialist. Heck, the word is never even used in the video. If your argument is that because Obama worked with Ayers on a particular group, he’s a socialist, then that’s kind of weak. Because then you’re also calling the president of the University of Illinois, a vice-president of Ameritech, a former president of the Continental Illinois Bank, and the CEO of the Chicago Tribune all socialists as well because they worked with Ayers on the project. And check this out, I have friends who are Libertarians, Republicans, Democrats, and Socialists. What does that make me? Well, first, it makes me a person who is mature enough to have friends who I don’t necessarily agree with politically, but it also means that just because you sat on a board with someone, it doesn’t mean you have the same politics as everyone else on the board.

The Time article that you reference is about Henry Wallace in the 1940s. How an article about Wallace proves that there are socialists in the Democratic Party today is beyond me. What is interesting to note that Wallace was originally a Republican, and in 1960 supported Nixon over Kennedy. So I guess the same article proves that there are socialists in the Republican Party, which historically is true because some people did leave the Socialist Party for the Republican party believing they could make it a socialist party, but that was quite awhile ago. More recently, Reagan had people like Jeanne Kirkpatrick in his administration who belonged to the Young People’s Socialist League and Elliot Abrams, who was a member of the Social Democrats, USA, one of the American chapters of the Socialist International. So I just did a much better job of showing that there are socialists in the Republican Party than you did of showing that there are socialists in the Democratic Party. So are there socialists in the Democratic party? Undoubtedly, but the Republicans’s hands are not clean either.

As for Obama, how do you know my reaction was knee jerk, arrogant, or ignorant? You have no idea how much time I spent thinking about my response, or looking on the Internet to see if the assertion was true. You’ve yet to show any evidence that he is a socialist. I’ve yet to see Obama ever call himself a Socialist. He doesn’t talk about nationalizing the commanding heights of the economy. He doesn’t talk about worker ownership of industry. He doesn’t talk about the social ownership of the means of production. He doesn’t talk about dialectical materialism and the coming class war. In other words, he doesn’t say or do anything that would lead one to believe he a socialist. And my socialist friends sure as heck would tell you he is not a socialist. But because you don’t like him, he’s a socialist. That’s what I meant by saying you are using it as a boogey man argument. We hear it every four years. Kerry was a socialist. Gore was a socialist. Clinton was a socialist. How is that every Democratic presidential candidate just happens to be a socialist? Hate Obama all you want, and you have the right to do that, but at least be intellectually honest. He’s not a socialist, and he won’t make America socialist. Sorry to break the news to you. He is a capitalist who has liberal leanings. That doesn’t make him good or bad, but that’s what he is. By the way, there is a real live socialist in the US senate. His name is Bernie Sanders.

Sbvor said:
“7) I supported Bush on many issues, voted for him twice and would do so again (as the lesser of available evils). I also freely acknowledge that Bush 43 proved to be the single most Socialist President since LBJ (who somehow managed to out Socialist the infamous FDR). This housing bailout is a travesty.However, in the long run, the housing bailout will (hopefully) be peanuts compared to signing into law the single largest expansion of Entitlements since LBJ (Medicare Drug Entitlements). The “Big Three” Entitlements are killing us! Expanding Entitlements was the single BIGGEST mistake of the Bush Presidency (and history will prove it so).That said, Bush was FAR LESS of a Socialist than either Gore or Kerry would have been. These days, I settle for the lesser of evils. Until the American voters better educate yourselves, that will remain our only option.”

If you have your reasons for supporting Bush or McCain, that’s great. As for Bush, or any president in history for that matter, being socialist, well, unfortunately history doesn’t exactly agree with you. Again, it’s a word you’ve been taught to throw out because it’s “bad.” Don’t like something? Call it socialist. And I looked at your charts, and unfortunately they don’t actually prove your point. They are interesting, but don’t actually back up what you are saying.

Sbvor said:
"8) On Iraq, the American people were certainly lied to. But, Bush was NOT the liar!"

So we can’t trust the AP, but the American Thinker is totally unbiased? I hope you see your own bias, and are willing to own up to it. Your link just shows that Congress voted for an authorization of force, not that Bush and his administration may or may not have lied or manipulated intelligence. The two are not mutually exclusive. And while the post you refer to tries to parse out things like saying the resolution only states that Iraq “had” WMDs, when Bush and his administration were talking to the American people, they said that Iraq “has” WMDs. Here’s at least one montage of clips that shows Bush and his administration talking in the present tense, and not the past tense. Another thing that your link says is that the resolution does not link 9/11 to the Iraq terrorists. Again, no argument from me, except that doesn’t mean that the Bush administration didn’t lie. It just means whoever wrote the bill didn’t lie. However, I would point out that the bill does try to implicitly link 9/11 and Iraq by continuing referencing it when there is no need to. Everyone may view the bill for themselves here.

Sbvor said:“9) Stop drinking the Kool-Aid! EDUCATE YOURSELF!”

Again, cheap shots with no substance. Just trying to attack me with nothing to back it up. As for educating myself, as you can see I looked at all of your citations, and responded to them, and provided my own documentation whenever I disagreed with you. You’ll notice, that unlike you, I didn’t only give you links that confirmed my bias (mostly because you gave me links to your own website), but provided you with links from a wide variety of sources, including several conservative ones. In other words, I didn’t try to stack the sources in my favor like you did. You’ll also noticed that I responded directly to your assertions, and that my documentation was used to provide back-up to what I was saying. Unlike you, who, for instance, gave me a link to a video linking Ayers to Obama and tried to show that as proof that Obama was socialist when it did no such thing.

You’ll notice that I didn’t call you names (didn’t say you were ignorant, naïve, arrogant, etc) but simply pointed out where I felt you were wrong. I should point that that I have many friends who are going to vote for McCain, and I don’t believe them to be ignorant, naïve, arrogant, or even evil. We just have a difference of opinion.

It really is sad the campaign that McCain has ran. It’s quite possible that if he had picked a campaign manager other than Steve Schmidt, chosen a VP candidate other than Plain, and stayed true to himself and not allowed himself to get involved in such dirty politics, he might have won. I’m not saying I would have voted for him, but he probably would have done much better than he currently is doing. I wish your candidate well, and we’ll see what he decides to do in these final two and a half weeks.

I'm Just So Proud To Be A Californian Tonight

So this was the ad that appeared on the official website of the Sacramento County Republican Party. Here's the article in the Sacramento Bee. And the McCain campaign says they want to focus on the issues. I guess the local Republican organizations didn't get the memo. It would be one thing if this was just some local guy at the swap meet selling t-shirts trying to make a buck, but there things are being done by official Republican organizations. I guess advocating torturing a presidential candidate is as American as apple pie.

Obama Bucks

This is in the latest newsletter put out by the Chaffey Community Republican Women Federated, a group that operates right here in my own county. The group's president said "she doesn't think in racist terms, pointing out she once supported Republican Alan Keyes, an African-American who previously ran for president. " She went on to explain:
"I didn't see it the way that it's being taken. I never connected," she said. "It was just food to me. It didn't mean anything else." So she chose watermelon, fried chicken, ribs, and Kool-Aid just out of thin air? See, that's what I can't stand. If you're going to be racist, be racist, and when you're called on it, proudly say you don't give a damn because that's exactly how you feel about those people. I can respect that kind of honesty. But cowards who backtrack when they're called on it shouldn't be running the country, let alone the local Republican women's club. You can find the article here, in my hometown paper.

Where Did Obama Launch His Political Career?

During the debate, there was the following exchange:
"You launched your political campaign in Mr. Ayers' living room," McCain responded.
"That is absolutely not true," Obama retorted.

I've been following the whole Ayers thing, and especially where Obama launched his campaign, because it seems so silly to me to make an assertion you can't possibly know is true. McCain and his campaign constantly throw this "fact" out, but have never once tried to back it up. Do they have Obama's diary where it says "On this date, I launched my campaign at Ayers' house?" Do they have his calendar where it shows that day was the first day ever that Obama talked about a political career? Look, Obama has said he had a meet and greet coffee meeting at Ayers' house. If McCain would stick with that, I would have no problem with it. That is factual. But to exaggerate the story to score cheap political points, that's not straight talk.

By the way, I have tried to figure out when and how Obama launched his political career. This article from the Chicago Sun-Times seems to be the best I can do. They provide a sketchy timeline, but nonetheless, it doesn't appear that Obama's political career was launched in Ayers' front room.

McCain=The Penguin?

This is kind of petty, but kind of funny. This is of course from the old Batman show. But seriously, how much does McCain remind you of the Penguin?

McCain Supporters on Obama

This is a bit lazy on my part, but this short video does a better job visually explaining some of the hatred of McCain supporters than I can in words. I especially like when Palin says it's not negativity but truthfulness. Unfortunately, the McCain is reaping what it has sowed, and it's a bit sad that McCain is not doing the honorable thing and owning up to it.

Get Well Mrs. Reagan

I know that it might be difficult to believe due to the tenor of this election cycle, but at the end of the day, we are all Americans. Reports are coming in that former First Lady Nancy Reagan is in the hospital, most likely with a broken pelvis. Politics aside, I wish her and her family the best during these trying times, and may she recover quickly and completely.
Peace and all good.

What Makes America Special?

What? What kind of event is this? Is it a rally co-sponsored by ACORN? And whose the keynote speaker? Is it really McCain?

Yep, McCain was a keynote speaker at a rally sponsored by a group that he is now trying to paint as evil. And did you hear some of the groups mentioned? Those are community organizing groups, the ones that McCain says in the video makes America special. His campaign now mocks those groups and tries to paint them as terrorists and lawbreakers. By the way, the video is only from 2006. Guess a lot has changed in two years, like now he has to pander to the extreme right of his party.

What? They're On My Side?

I guess Palin is just used to people protesting her. She couldn't believe that people would actually want to hear her talk. The guy at the end, by the way, tells her to speak louder, that they just can't hear her. It doesn't seem to register though.

Going To Disney World Beats a McCain Rally

No big surprise there, right? I'm guessing most of the readers of my blog probably believe that. However, the person who chose to go to Disney World over attending a rally in his own states was the Republican governor of Florida, Charlie Crist. This was a guy who campaigned heavily for McCain in the primaries. What did Crist, who many believe may have been on the short list for VP, have to say about helping out McCain:

''When I have time to help, I'll try to do that."

Sheesh, with friends like that............................................

McCain and Hussein

One would have never thought it, but it appears that the man who was chosen to be McCain's transition chief should McCain be elected on November 4 appears to have ties to Saddam Hussein. William Timmons and two other lobbyists appear to have tried to influence the international sanctions against Iraq to be dropped, and could have made $45 million if all had went as planned. The other two lobbyists were found guilty on Federal charges of being unregistered agents of Iraq. You can read the rest of the story here.

Is This Guy Threatening God?

For full disclosure, I consider myself a Christian. Probably not the best one in the world, and probably not the most orthodox one, but a Christian nonetheless. This video is offensive on so many levels. First, he's basically threatening God. Second, he's a bigot. Third, to believe that every non-Christian in the world is praying for Obama to win is asinine. Fourth, to believe that God somehow wants McCain to win, or that we know it's in God 's best interest that he win, is even more asinine. It's crap like this that prevented me from being a Christian for so many years, and if I didn't believe he represents a perversion of Christianity as much as Al Qaeda represents a perversion of Islam, I'd probably give it all up. I'll be completely honest and tell you I don't have a clue who God wants to be elected. But to use God's name in the way that this preacher has used it is a violation of the third commandment. I'm not saying I expect him to understand it, it's just something good to know.

They Really Are Mavericks

According to this article from Washington Monthly, the McCain/Palin ticket will be the first major party presidential campaign in all of US history to have both candidates been found guilty of violating ethic standards before the election. I guess if you know what corruption is first hand, you're better able to deal it with as president. At least that's the spin I would put on it if I were McCain and Palin.

Three Wise Men

You may remember the Saddleback Civil Forum, where Obama and McCain each had the opportunity to chat it up with Rick Warren. In case you're interested in reading, here's the transcript from that night. One of the questions asked that night of each candidate was to name the three wisest people in their lives. McCain answered that they were Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, Rep. John Lewis and Meg Whitman.

I thought you might be interested in what one of McCain's admittedly wisest people in his life had to say this past week.

"As one who was a victim of violence and hate during the height of the Civil Rights Movement, I am deeply disturbed by the negative tone of the McCain-Palin campaign. What I am seeing reminds me too much of another destructive period in American history. Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin are sowing the seeds of hatred and division, and there is no need for this hostility in our political discourse.

As public figures with the power to influence and persuade, Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin are playing with fire, and if they are not careful, that fire will consume us all. They are playing a very dangerous game that disregards the value of the political process and cheapens our entire democracy. We can do better. The American people deserve better."

As you may know, I don't often agree with McCain. But I think he is right, John Lewis is a very wise man.

Palin Does Like Pork, If It's For Her Kitchen

This year the Juneau Christian Center got $25,000 for a new youth center from the Alaska state government. Not a lot of money I agree, but it's interesting to note that anti-pork Palin approved the money. It should be further noted that Palin wrote an official endorsement letter, on state letterhead, to the legislature asking them to approve the money as well.

However, a year before, Governor Palin vetoed the exact same request. Her reason for the veto? She claimed it was "not a state responsibility" to fund such a request. So what changed in only one year? What made her go from saying it was not a state responsibility to something that she personally needed to endorse on official letterhead? It seems she started attending the church and started citing the pastor as a spiritual mentor. Or perhaps she had a massive change in how she views the government's role in society. One of the two.

As for the kitchen, Palin approved over $600,000 of state money to be used to build a kitchen in a small town hockey arena. Where is the hockey arena located? You guessed it, Wasilla.

McCain's Military Record

As I have stated elsewhere, I have a strange relationship with the military. I was raised to respect the military. My grandfather was a Merchant Marine during WW2. My step-father was an infantryman in Vietnam. I myself was a combat medic in the army. I absolutely respect the men and women who serve, though I fully admit that I have great reservations about the way our military is being used. However I am not running for office based on my military record, McCain is. And it's surprising how little we know of it. Yes,we know he was a POW, but do we know he graduated in the bottom 1 percent of his class. Do we know how many planes he crashed? Rolling stone has a new article on him entitled Make-Believe Maverick. I encourage you to read it and get to know McCain a little better from his military days and later as a politician.

Is McCain A Changed Man?

Usually when we ask that question, it means a good thing. It means someone has gone from being addicted to one vice or the other, and has changed their life around. Unfortunately, that's not true for McCain. While McCain once had the respect and admiration of a broad spectrum of Americans, that sadly is quickly disappearing. I know, who am I to make such a statement? I obviously don't like McCain and so I will do whatever I can to make sure he is not elected. But don't take it from me. Listen to what just three prominent conservatives have said:

"He is not the McCain I endorsed.He keeps saying, 'Who is Barack Obama?' I would ask the question, 'Who is John McCain?' because his campaign has become rather disappointing to me."

That's the former Republican Governor of Michigan, William Milliken.

"That's not my kind of Republicanism."

That's former Republican Senator, Lincoln Chafee.

And if I were to ask most students of political history who is most responsible for the modern conservative movement, the name you might hear the most often is William F. Buckley Jr. His son, Christopher Buckley inherited the same politics from his father. Christopher Buckly has known McCain for nearly three decades and even wrote a speech for him. So this is what Buckley said:

"John McCain has changed. He said, famously, apropos the Republican debacle post-1994, “We came to Washington to change it, and Washington changed us.” This campaign has changed John McCain. It has made him inauthentic. A once-first class temperament has become irascible and snarly; his positions change, and lack coherence; he makes unrealistic promises, such as balancing the federal budget “by the end of my first term.” Who, really, believes that? Then there was the self-dramatizing and feckless suspension of his campaign over the financial crisis. His ninth-inning attack ads are mean-spirited and pointless. And finally, not to belabor it, there was the Palin nomination. What on earth can he have been thinking?"

By the way, Buckley just endorsed Obama.

Radical Education Foundation

By now, most of you have probably seen the McCain ad trying to link Obama with Ayers. In, it, the ad claims that they ran a radical education foundation together. First, they didn't run a foundation, they ran a project called the Chicago Annenberg Project which had as its mission to improve schools in the Chicago area. And to say they ran it together seems a bit misleading as it implies that those two alone had all the power. In fact, Obama was one of 8 on the Board of Directors. Ayers was one of 23 that was a member of the Chicago School Reform Collaborative. That means they didn't even sit on the same board together as Ayers never sat on the Board of Directors for the project.

Since in the ad, we keep hearing about a foundation, which foundation are they talking about? Well, the foundation that supported the project was the Annenberg foundation. You can find out more about them by going to their website. It's a pretty cool website as they list what grants they have given out, so you can decide for yourself if they are a radical education foundation.

But here's the funny part. McCain released a press release of US Ambassadors who support McCain. Interesting. If we take a peek at them we see the name of one Lenore Annenberg. Hmmn, that names sounds familiar. Could she be the same Annenberg of the Annenberg Foundation. Take a look at her bio for yourself. She is the widow of Walter H. Annenberg, who started the foundation. And currently, according to the website, "She is president and chairman of the Annenberg Foundation, a charter member of the Board of Overseers of the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University, and a founding member of the governing boards of the Annenberg Schools for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Southern California."

So let's get this straight. A group that Obama is associated with gets money from the Annenberg Foundation to improve Chicago schools, and that's bad. The President and Chairman of the exact same foundation, the one that McCain's ad called a radical education foundation, endorses McCain, and McCain includes her name in a press release, and it's a good thing. Let me make this a little clearer. If McCain is going to make the arguement that Obama was involved in a group with a domestic terrorist, then he should also be honest and say one of his supporters gives money to a group that includes a known domestic terrorist. So how abou it McCain, are you going to renounce Annenberg's support for you? You should probably also give her back the $2300 she gave for this election as well.

Palin Abused Power

I know this will be over all the place, and there's nothing really secret about it, but according to the news, "Sarah Palin unlawfully abused her power as governor by trying to have her former brother-in-law fired as a state trooper." I am sure there will a lot of analysis and partisan bickering about what it all means. I just think it point's yet again to to McCain's judgement. He picked as his running mate someone who is willing to use political power to settle personal vendettas.

I also like how Palins attorney said "In order to violate the ethics law, there has to be some personal gain, usually financial. Mr. Branchflower has failed to identify any financial gain." Now I ain't no layer but I looked up the ALASKA EXECUTIVE BRANCH ETHICS ACT on the Internet, and this is what it says:

The legislature reaffirms that each public officer holds office as a public trust, and any effort to benefit a personal or financial interest through official action is a violation of that trust.

It further states:
A public officer may not attempt to benefit a personal or financial interest through coercion of a subordinate or require another public officer to perform services for the private benefit of the public officer at any time.

Notice that it says "personal OR financial interest.' One can easily violate the law and not receive any financial gain from it. Palin should think about firing her attorney because if that's his argument, then he's a lawyer who can't even read the law.

McCain and Death Squads

"Republican Sen. John McCain served on the advisory board to the U.S. chapter of an international group linked to ultra-right-wing death squads in Central America in the 1980s."

Juicy stuff, huh? Almost sounds so sensationalistic that I must be making it up right? Nope, it comes from an article from that reliably conservative magazine, Forbes. You see, McCain was on the advisory board for the U.S. Council for World Freedom. Sounds innocent enough, I agree. But as the article states, "The council created by retired Army Maj. Gen. John Singlaub was the U.S. chapter of the World Anti-Communist League, an international organization linked to former Nazi collaborators and ultra-right-wing death squads in Central America." Not so innocent after all.

But like those late night infomercials, wait, there's more. The Council ended up being a front group for arms being shipped to Nicaragua. Congress had cut off military assistance to the Contras, but Reagan didn't think he should have to play by the rules. So in came the Council so it didn't look like the government was involved. And where was the money coming from to buy these arms. Come on everybody, it's the Iran-Contra Scandal. We were selling weapons to our arch enemy Iran, the very same one that McCain thinks he now wants to bomb.

So McCain has associations with people involved with the three largest scandals in American politics for the last half century; The Iran-Contra Affair, The Keating Five and S&L Scandal, and Watergate. But let me throw in one little more tidbit of history. The journalist who broke the stories about the death squad killings associated with this group was a guy by the name of Jack Anderson. Sound familiar? It should to readers of my blog. It's the same Jack Anderson that G. Gordon Liddy admitted to in his autobiography of plotting to kill.

Palin and Sexism

One of the things that the McCain campaign has complained about is their perceived sexist treatment of Palin. I'm not saying it might not exist. But the McCain campaign also has to take some responsibility for this. As the Time article shows, McCain supporters are not above using sexist rhetoric when it's to their advantage.

"We too are saturating Facebook,"says York, whose group [a college Republican group in Florida] has reached out to younger voters with slogans like "Vote for the Hero and the Hottie," referring to McCain and his running mate, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.

So Palin's great selling point is her looks? Can you be any more demeaning? And this if for real. You can buy shirts, stickers, and mugs on the Internet with the slogan. So it's a bit hard for the McCain campaign to complain about sexism when they're more than willing to use it to buy the votes of young men.

My Fellow Prisoners

Calling people at a rally "My fellow prisoners" today might mean one of two things. One, he knows something we don't and plans to throw a lot of us in jail after he is elected. Or two, since he likes to constantly throw out that he was a POW, it's now becoming impossible for him to even know when to use it appropriately. I'll let you decide.

What Happened To Traditional Values?

I remember once when my uncle offered to trade me cars. It was a generous offer, his was much better than mine, and as a teenager, I would have much preferred to be seen in a Fiero than an old Volkswagen Bug. My grandma, who somewhat brokered the deal, sternly told me, "When you exchange the keys, be sure you look him in the eye, shake his hand, and tell him thank you." My grandparents, who were working class conservatives (my grandfather was an Okie who had moved to California during the Depression), made sure that I knew what it mean to be a proper gentleman. One of those things was that you showed respect, not only to your superiors, but also to your peers and those who society may deem are below you. If a man was anything, he was the respect that he had earned and that he showed others. I must imagine that McCain had a similar upbringing being that he comes from a military family. (My grandfather was a Merchant Marine in WW2, and I served in the Army) To refuse a hand that is extended to you is a showing of complete disrespect. And in my opinion, it reveals to you the character of a man. And since McCain wants to make this presidential race partly an issue of character, it 's something we would do well to keep in mind.

Mistake Number Three

Why not make the subject heading a reference to an old 80s pop song? Anyways, to continue my felon of the day theme for a third day, I give you yet another of McCain's associations with convicted felons. And if it helps you form an opinion of McCain's character, I will point out that McCain once said of the man, "I think he is a role model."
So what did Cindy McCain's father do that earned him this praise from McCain. Well, first Jim Hensely had an affair and abandoned his first wife. (We can see why McCain would think that makes someone a good role model.) He then had help from the mafia to get started in business. Hensley owned a racetrack with his brother and another man, Clarence Baldwin. Problem being was that Baldwin was an illegal bookmaker and had been banned from being a partner in the deal. It also appears that mob boss Kemper Marley was a financial backer in some respect. Even though this was made public, Hensley still got a race track license. Hmnnnn.
It was also strange that Hensley managed to get a liquor license in 1955 to become a beer distributor. This is where the convicted felon part comes in. In 1947, McCain's father in law was convicted on federal charges of conspiracy and seven charges of filing false liquor records. You would have thought he would have learned his lesson, but again in 1953 he was indicted on charges of falsifying liquor records.
So this is a man that McCain believes is a role model for young Americans? I guess he has to say that since it is the very same man who bankrolled him when he became a politican.

A Little Song About Bailouts

Here's a little ditty about the mess we now find ourselves in. From a British perspective, but hey, an economy sinking is an economy sinking no matter what the accent.

The Keating Five Revisited

I know I already had one post on this subject, but since the McCain campaign is so into associations nowadays, we might as well bring it up again. There's a new website called Keating Economics that should be able to fill you in on the details of McCain's friendship with this convicted felon. (Friendships with convicted felons two days in a row, I might have to rename this blog)

Domestic Terrorism

As we all knew would happen, the McCain campaign, through Palin, has brought up Obama's association with William Ayers. I'll let you all decide if Obama should be held responsible for the actions of Ayers. But since McCain believes he should, let's start looking at some of McCain's pals. In the last year, McCain went on G. Gordon Liddy's show and said they were "friends" and praised Liddy's "adherence to the principles and philosophies that keep our nation great." McCain has accepted over $5,000 in donations from Liddy including $1,000 this year. And like the accusation against Obama, Liddy has held a fundraiser for McCain at his house. For those of us you who are a bit young, you may not be all that familiar with Liddy so let me fill you in with a bit about his past actions. I'll start off with the less shocking and go up from there.

Names his shooting targets after Bill and Hillary Clinton (I know, no law broken there, but isn't it a bit un-American to take shooting practice at a President?)
On his radio show, he publicly instructed people on the right way to shoot at an ATF agent so has to effectively kill them. (Is it American to tell people how to kill federal agents?)
Admitted in his autobiography to plotting to kill journalist Jack Anderson.
Admitted in his autobiography to plotting with someone from the mafia to kill Howard Hunt.
Admitted in his autobiography to plotting to firebomb the Brookings Institute.
Admitted in his autobiography to plotting to kidnap leftist protesters so that they could not disturb the Republican convention. (Also interesting was that the phrase he used for the operation was taken from the Nazis).

And of course there's that little thing that made Liddy the most famous. You see, he spent 4 1/2 years in prison as a convicted felon, found guilty of conspiracy, burglary and illegal wiretapping. He was one of those involved in the Watergate scandal, probably the greatest governmental crises of the past century, if not all of US history. (How big was this scandal? It added a new suffix to the English language. Now when something is a scandal, you add -gate to the end of it. Witness Palin's Troopergate now happening in Alaska)
But don't worry McCain has this to say about Nixon and Watergate:
"I feel that, in the context of history, Watergate will be a very minor item as compared with the other achievements of this Administration."
A president resigns in shame, and McCain calls the incident that caused it "a minor item." I guess it is to him, since he still pals around with the man who caused the only resignation of a president in US history.

What To Call McCain Supporters

Looking at the statistics for my page, one of the most popular ones seems be the Palin Dumb Quote Generator. It appears that people just really enjoy using those things. So, in the same spirit of fun, here is the Conservative Insult Generator. Here are some of the choice ones that came up when I played with it:

obnoxious Constitution-shredding Busheviks
un-American FOX News-humping gasbags
erectile-dysfunctional military-wrecking chickenhawks
delusional dissent-stifling theocrats
unmedicated civil-liberty-seizing totalitarians

Who Would Homer Vote For?

A little humor for the day. This one's for Jackie.

Did Palin Have Crib Notes For the Debate?

Grumpy and Angry McCain

According to some polls, as many as 80% of Americans dislike negative political ads. So what's a maverick to do? You guessed it, go against what the American public wants and give us negative campaign ads. The headline of a recent article reads:

McCain Campaign's Ad Spending Now Nearly 100 Percent Devoted To Attack Ads

What does this mean? Well, it could mean several things. It probably means that McCain is getting desperate and is starting to realize he doesn't have much time left. When you think you have nothing left to lose, you start a scorched earth policy where you will say anything, and hope something works. Or, it could mean McCain realizes he has nothing positive to offer to the voters, or at least nothing that the voters want to hear. In that case, McCain does what any second rate politician does, just starts tearing down his opponent. I guess a third option could be that McCain is just showing his true colors. We've all heard about his temper, about being mean spirited, and being vindictive. Maybe these ads just reflect his personality.

Share The Wealth

Or at least share this blog with your friends. As we start heading for the homestretch, it's possible things could all that much more livelier around here. And surely you want all your pals to be in on the fun.

And on another note, if you ever want to email me, please do. The email address is straighttalkonmccain@yahoo.com. If you have any questions about something I wrote, or want more details about what I have said in a particular post, I'll be more than happy to chat with you. Heck, I even answer the emails of people who take exception to what I write.

But please do help me spread the word about this blog. I have had several people tell me they enjoy it, and while most of the posts are in-depth discussions of policy issues, I do hope it will add to the discussion about the choices we have to make in about a month's time.

McCain Complains About Moderator

As I am sure many have you heard, Republicans suddenly got all upset about Gwen Ifill being the moderator for the VP debate. In fact, McCain said on Fox:

“Frankly, I wish they had picked a moderator that isn’t writing a book favorable to Barack Obama — let's face it."

Two quick things. One, who is "they." When they have debates, the two campaigns get together and negotiate the various aspects of the debates. One of the things they negotiate about is who will moderate the debates. So if McCain is wondering who picked the moderator and agreed to her, well McCain, look in the mirror.

Two, since no one has read the book (it's hasn't been published yet, and Ifill says she hasn't even written a chapter on Obama yet), how can McCain know it is favorable to Obama? Seriously, how does he know? If the best he can come up with is that Obama's name is in the subtitle, then I have some news for him. There's this great blog called "Straight Talk on McCain," and although it has McCain's name in the title, it's not favorable to him.

Palin on Supreme Court

When asked about a supreme court case other than Roe v. Wade, Palin seems to draw a blank. And then gives a nonsense answer. When I first told my wife about this interview, she immediately said "What about Brown v. Board of Education?" Then I was talking to my neighbor (a McCain supporter) and he said "What about Miranda?" So either I have a bunch of Supreme Court scholars living on my block, or maybe perhaps Palin should have been able to come up with something. The Dred Scott case anyone?

Why I Want To Be President by John McCain

McCain made a minor stink in the past few months about Obama's ambition to be president. He did this most famously when he accused Obama of having certain positions based on his "ambition" to be president. That is, McCain accuses Obama of taking certain positions not out of any principled stance but instead because they will help him get elected. Never mind McCain admitted that he has done this exact same thing. (See my post on the Confederate battle flag) So is McCain implying that he himself is running for a greater cause? Is he running because he himself loves his country? Well, this is what McCain had to say about his run for president in 2000:

"I didn't decide to run for president to start a national crusade for the political reforms I believed in or to run a campaign as if it were some grand act of patriotism. In truth, I wanted to be president because it had become my ambition to be president. . . . In truth, I'd had the ambition for a long time."

By the way this comes from a book called Worth Fighting For, written by, you guessed it, John McCain. (If you want to hear him actually say the words, there's an audio book available as well) So screw patriotism and love of country? Screw changing a corrupt system or whatever else you might envision reform to be? Nope, McCain ran for president because he really, really, really, wants to be president. Hey McCain, thanks for admitting it's all about you and not about us American citizens.

Worse Than Watching The Stock Market

I've always enjoyed editorial cartoons. The old adage about a picture being worth a thousand words was never more true than with political cartoons.

McCain and the Confederate Battle Flag

I'll be honest. I don't really care what actual view McCain might have about the Confederate battle flag. I'm more interested in what he had to say afterwards when he was caught wanting it both ways. In a speech , McCain had this to say about the controversy about not giving an honest answer:

"As I admitted, I should have done this earlier, when an honest answer could have affected me personally. I did not do so for one reason alone. I feared that if I answered honestly, I could not win the South Carolina primary. So, I chose to compromise my principles. I broke my promise to always tell the truth. . . .

What do we learn from this?

1. McCain admits that he lies.

2. He'll compromise his principles.

3. He'll say whatever to get elected.

And that's the real McCain.

McCain Changing Tune on Regulation and Bailouts

You have to hand it to McCain. When everything's good, he's for deregulation. When it goes bad, he switches over to being for regulation. We used to call that opportunism, but since McCain is a straight talker, hell, it's still opportunism.

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Palin Quote Generator

For those of you who have had the wonderful opportunity to sit through one of Palin's whopping three interviews, you might find the Palin Quote Generator amusing. It's admittedly silly, but so was McCain for picking Palin to be his VP.
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The Keating 5

For those of us who can remember the last banking scandal, it's a bit amusing that McCain is at the center of much of it again. That deregulation debacle only cost the taxpayers about $125 billion. One of the things to come out of it though was the Keating 5 scandal. I should be clear that McCain was never convicted of any wrongdoing. Of course the key word is "convicted." However, "McCain was criticized by the {Senate}Committee for exercising "poor judgment" when he met with the federal regulators on Keating's behalf." You see, McCain attended private and secret meetings with the very people who were supposed to be regulating his friend Keating's industry, the Savings and Loan business. This was the same friend, who through his own and other's donations, had given McCain over $100,000 for his campaigns. He also had taken McCain on his private plane to the Bahamas. The trips, or rather McCain finally paying for them, also caused a controversy because although McCain has always maintained he intended to pay Keating back for them, it conveniently took him several years to do so and only after the scandal was starting to occur.

In the end, McCain had this to say:
"I was judged eventually, after three years, of using, quote, poor judgment, and I agree with that assessment."

Do you all get the feeling too that this wasn't the first and it probably won't be the last time that McCain used poor judgment.
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McCain Ad on Debate

Please watch this and tell me what the heck point McCain is trying to make. Obama agrees with McCain that we need more responsibility, and that's his big "Gotcha" moment? The earmarks process has been abused? That's controversial? McCain is upset that Obama realizes that the process has flaws and could use some tweaking, and you criticize him for that? Obama recognizes that at least on paper (I'll leave the whole discussion about effective tax rate for another day) business taxes are high, and that's a bad thing? That's at least three straws McCain is grasping at, I wonder how many more there will be.

But the end of the commercial is what gets me. "Is Barack Obama ready to lead? No." I am just going to be charitable and assume that no one in the McCain campaign ever took a logics class. So if someone agree with you on three things, they aren't ready to lead? But if you agree on those same three things, doesn't that mean you McCain are not ready to lead either? Or is McCain trying to make that unless Obama disagrees with him on everything (no matter how inconsequential), then he can't be president? Guess what McCain, mature adults can agree on some things and disagree on other things, and it has nothing to do with capacity to lead. Only an immature child would think otherwise. Don't believe me? Play this stupid game. "Hey McCain, Hitler says the sun is hot, ice is cold, and we need air to breathe. What, you agree with Hitler?" I am being absurd because McCain is being absurd. I've been watching political ads for a good two decades now, and this one probably has to be near the bottom for its lack of logic.

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McCain Starts Debate Off With A Lie

I know, the title of this post doesn't shock you like I would hope. But it's worth pointing out anyways. Here's one of the first points McCain made in the debate:

SEN. MCCAIN: But there's also the issue of responsibility. You've mentioned President Dwight David Eisenhower. President Eisenhower, on the night before the Normandy invasion, went into his room, and he wrote out two letters. One of them was a letter congratulating the great members of the military and Allies that had conducted and succeeded in the greatest invasion in history -- still, to this day, and forever. And he wrote out another letter, and that was a letter of resignation from the United States Army for the failure of the landings at Normandy. Somehow we've lost that accountability.
I've been heavily criticized because I called for the resignation of the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Pretty impressive. Powerful imagery. Made for some good TV. Except for a couple of minor issues. First, McCain was not criticized for saying he would ask for the resignation of the SEC Chairman. He was criticized for saying he would FIRE the SEC chairman, a power that no president has. Geez McCain, why don' you listen to the moral of your own little story and take some responsibility by owning up to the fact that you either misspoke or don't know what powers the president has, but don't try to play the victim.

Second, thanks to the National Archives, we actually have a copy of Eisenhower's letter. And guess what, he never offers to resign if the operation was a failure. He does take responsibility for its failure, but he never offers to resign. What makes this so sad is that McCain obviously thought about this before the debate and this was going to be his great tug at the hearts showpiece at showing how great leaders take responsibility. Unfortunately, he got it wrong. Somehow I doubt he'll take the responsibility of admitting he was wrong.

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The Maverick on Earmarks

McCain makes a good bit of noise about being against earmarks. And if he truly believes they are wrong and stands against them on principle, well good for him. So what does a maverick who is fervently against earmarks do? Pick a vice presidential running mate who runs a state that leads the nation in receiving earmarks per capita. (Alaska received $506.34 per person) According to the Wall Street Journal (no liberal rag), in the two years that Palin has been governor, she asked for nearly half a billion dollars (that's a 5 with a bunch of zeros) in earmarks. And if you're thinking Alaska needed the money, think again. This year, every person (including children) got a check for $3200 due to Alaska's oil revenues. You would think that people who don't like the federal government and believe in local government wouldn't be asking for federal money and instead be using their own money to pay for projects in their state. But alas, that's asking for a consistency that they sorely lack. Just look at McCain's VP pick.
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Retired Enlisted Association

Retired Enlisted Association sees it as their mission :

"To enhance the quality of life for uniformed services enlisted personnel, their families and survivors- including active components and all retirees; to stop the erosion of earned benefits through our legislative efforts, to maintain our esprit de corps, dedication and patriotism, and to continue our devotion and allegiance to God and Country."

In their latest rankings, they gave John McCain an 18 out of 100.
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Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America

The Mission of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America is:

"to ensure the enactment of policies that properly provide for our Troops & Veterans, keep our military strong, and guarantee our national security for the purpose of a stronger America. We uniquely empower Iraq & Afghanistan combat veterans to use their credibility and experiences to speak truth to power, shape public opinion, and place a priority on these issues."

In their latest rankings of members of Congress, they gave John McCain a D. They gave Obama a B+. Been awhile since I received a letter grade for a class, but I still remember that a B+ is much better than a D. So perhaps McCain does love veterans. They just don't love him in return.
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DAV and McCain

McCain spends a lot of time talking about his love of veterans. He made it a point to say as much in the debate this past week. As a veteran myself, this issue hits a little near the bone. My personal views have changed a little since I was in the Army, but I still respect those who were my fellow soldiers. I had thought I could say most of what I wanted to say on this issue in one post, but I realize now it will probably take several. So over the next few weeks, I will post about different aspects of McCain's treatment of Veterans.

Today, we will start with the Disabled American Veterans. This is a non-partisan group chartered by Congress. They rank members of Congress based on their support of issues that concern the DAV. One would think that McCain would be up there near the top in the latest rankings. Maybe even a 100 out of 100. He's not. He gets a whopping 20 out of 100 from this veterans organization. Obama? He received an 80 out of 100. So if nothing else, Disabled American Veterans seems to have some pretty big issues with McCain's support of veterans.
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Flag Lapel Pin

This is petty, but hey, most things about American politics are petty. We all know about the big stink that occurred because Obama wasn't wearing a flag lapel pin. Sean Hannity even said, “Why do we wear pins? Because our country is under attack!”

So when I get home tonight from work my wife already has the debate on. I don't particularly like debates because I don't find that much substantial comes out of them. But I sit down and watch for a bit anyways. What's the first thing I notice? Obama is wearing a flag lapel pin and McCain isn't. Since conservatives are so well known for their consistency, I can't wait to hear what they have to say about McCain's lack of patriotism.
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McCain And His Stunt This Week

This is what one of McCain's old advisers had to say about McCain's actions this week:

"It just proves his campaign is governed by tactics and not ideology," said Republican consultant Craig Shirley, who advised McCain earlier in this cycle. "In the end, he blinked and Obama did not. The 'steady hand in a storm' argument looks now to more favor Obama, not McCain."
Shirley added, "My guess is that plasma units are rushing to the McCain campaign as we speak to replace the blood flowing there from the fights among the staff."
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But What About My Taxes

McCain has repeatedly said that Obama will raise taxes, and Obama and fact checking organizations have repeatedly pointed out that this is not true for the majority of American. So if you vote based solely on whether your taxes will go up or down, then this website might interest you. You type in the numbers of your own situation (income, deductions, and the like) and it lets you know how you will fare under a McCain or Obama presidency.

Google In Quotes

Google has come out with this nifty little feature called "In Quotes." It allows you to pick a variety of subjects, anything from health care to social security, and see what Obama and McCain have had to say on the issue. If you really want to have fun, you can even choose other politicians to compare their quotes about the issues as well.

Campbell Brown On The Sexist Treatment Of Palin

Brown discussing the sexist treatment of Palin.

David Letterman on McCain

You may have heard about this already. McCain called up Letterman and said he was racing back to D.C to take care of the economic problems and so he couldn't be on the show. The problem being is that he wasn't and Letterman was not too happy about it when he saw McCain being interviewed by Katie Couric when he was supposed to be on Letterman's show. Sheesh, the guy even lies to Letterman.

Johnny Cash

There is a new documentary coming out and this is just a piece of it. Listening to it, I heard the names of many of my heroes. As a kid, I devoured books on American history. I later went on to get a graduate degree in American history. My political views, though a bit out of the mainstream, are uniquely American, and I see little difference in Eugene Debs leading the Pullman strikes and the Sons of Liberty dumping tea in the Boston Harbor. The Botto House in New Jersey sent as many shivers up my spine as when I visited Harper's Ferry and saw where John Brown led his raid. All of this is to say that we need to be careful about when we make statements about who is more patriotic or who loves their country the most. Johnny Cash was able to transcend so many of the divisions of America because he realized we were all uniquely American. My experience may not be the same as your experience but it doesn't make it any less part of the American experience. And reading the headlines, it looks like we are all going to be in the same boat together battling some rough seas. Pause for just a minute and enjoy the words of Cash.

Roy Zimmerman Explains The Bush Doctrine

This is a song by musical satirist Roy Zimmerman.

McCain Again Out Of Step With Average Americans

Today McCain announced that he would suspend his campaign to focus on the bailout crisis. (The bailout that Republicans are supposed to be against according to their own platform, see earlier post) Furthermore, he wants the debate scheduled for Friday night to be postponed. However, Americans don't agree with him. In polls taken today, only 10% thought the debate should be postponed. And only 14% thought the campaigns should be suspended.

It's somewhat amusing that the guy who has missed the most votes in this Congress due to his campaign now all of a sudden wants to suspend his campaign to do what we've been paying him to do all along. Guilty conscience for collecting a paycheck without showing up for work? Doubt it. Political ploy? You betcha.

Palin and Bush Doctrine

Conservatives are making this big stink about how there is no common understanding of what the Bush Doctrine is, and so it was unfair to ask Palin what it was in a recent interview. However, McCain knows very well what the Bush Doctrine is. From this snippet of a documentary called "Why We Fight" made in 2005, he even uses the term. Maybe McCain should brief his running mate on what's been happening in the country in the last few years.

McCain Campaign Doesn't Like Being Called Liars

So apparently some of McCain's campaign aides got together and had a little conference call because they didn't like being called liars. They said they wanted the press to look into some of Obama's problems and then provided some examples. The funny part? The statements made by the McCain strategist were not true.

"His (Biden) son is a lobbyist for the credit card and banking industry,” Schmidt said.

Biden's son is indeed a lobbyist, but not for the credit card and banking industry.

When this was pointed out a McCain aide said that the reporter was “quibbling with ridiculously small details when the basic things are completely right.”

Ridiculously small details? The whole sentence is a lie. But here's a tip to the McCain campaign. If you are going to have a conference call where you talk about not liking being called liars, try this out out: don't tell lies during the conference call.

Republicans vs. Republicans

"We do not support government bailouts of private institutions. Government interference in the markets exacerbates problems in the marketplace and causes the free market to take longer to correct itself."

You may be wondering where this little gem comes from. I am sure McCain can tell you. It's his party's platform that that was just passed at the very convention where he accepted the nomination to be the Republicans' presidential candidate. So the Republicans are on record as being opposed to government bailouts, but who is telling us that this bailout is absolutely necessary. You read the same papers I do, it's Bush and McCain.

George Will on John McCain

To show all of my conservative friends that I do listen to the other side, here's is a quote from this weekend from George Will.

"It is arguable that, because of his inexperience, Obama is not ready for the presidency. It is arguable that McCain, because of his boiling moralism and bottomless reservoir of certitudes, is not suited to the presidency. Unreadiness can be corrected, although perhaps at great cost, by experience. Can a dismaying temperament be fixed?"

What's Good For Banking is Good For Healthcare

If you happen to subscribe to Contigencies, the magazine of the American Academy of Actuaries, you might want to open up your issue arriving now in the mail. If you don't subscribe to it, let me give you a snippet of it. Actual article can be found here.

"Opening up the health insurance market to more vigorous nationwide competition, as we have done over the last decade in banking, would provide more choices of innovative products less burdened by the worst excesses of state-based regulation."

I have made it a point to be intellectually honest and not to curse in this blog, but golly gee hit me upside the head with a WTF stick, I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried. So McCain is actually proposing that we do to the health care industry the exact same thing we have allowed to happen in the banking industry. I realize that the article was probably written months ago, but the timing is priceless. Which makes me wonder if the big guy upstairs is against McCain as well.

When "In Fact" Is Used To Start a Sentence That Has Few Facts In It

"I also know, if I might remind you, that she is commander of the Alaska National Guard. In fact, you may know that on Sept. 11 a large contingent of the Alaska Guard deployed to Iraq and her son happened to be one of them. So I think she understands our national security challenges..."
McCain said at a Town Hall meeting this week. What's funny is that Palin was by his side, and to the best of my knowledge, (meaning I have looked all over the Internet and can't find it) she didn't bother to correct him.

You see, Palin's son did deploy to Iraq on September 11, but he is in the regular Army and Palin has no authority over the regular Army. Let's hope that whatever understanding she has of national security challenges far exceeds McCain's lack of understanding regarding the structure of our military.

P.S. I was in the Army Reserves, and I can tell you that nothing would piss off someone more who is in the RA (Regular Army) than mistaking them for someone in the NG (National Guard, but NG in the Army also stands for "No Go," which is what you get when you fail a test.)

McCain Doesn't Regret Deregulation

McCain has supported more regulation and the government bailouts this week. On Thursday he said, "We need strong and effective regulation." He also said "These actions stem from failed regulation, reckless management, and a casino culture on Wall Street that has crippled one of the most important companies in America," in regards to the bailouts this week. However, when interviewed today, as you can see in the video, he said he doesn't regret the deregulation that led us to the situation we now find ourselves in.

A Fleet of Cars

We all know about how McCain had no clue about how many houses he owned. Suffice to say it made him look a bit like an out of touch with reality rich guy who probably doesn't know all that much about the common man and woman.

Now we have moved on to cars. According to this Newsweek article, Michelle and Barack Obama own one vehicle. And if you're into the whole green scene, you'll be glad to know it's a hybrid. John and Cindy McCain have a grand total of 13 vehicles. However, that's not what's making me mad. Instead, it's the is quote from McCain:

"I've bought American literally all my life and I'm proud," McCain said in the interview with Detroit's WXYZ-TV.

Except he hasn't. McCain and his wife own a Volkswagen and a Honda. And maybe a Toyota as there's a debate about who bought his daughter's car. And his wife's company car that she drives around is a Lexus. You see, McCain says one thing in public, and does another thing is his private life. I looked it up in the dictionary, and yep, that's called hypocrisy. I really could care less what kind of car he drives, but when panders to the American working class by saying how he buys American and doesn't, that just ain't right.

McCain Likes Town Hall Style Debates....

...except when he doesn't. Or more precisely, when he knows it will make his campaign look bad. McCain was touting the benefits of the town hall debates as allowing people to be more involved in the process. There would be little moderation, the candidates would be allowed to respond to each other, blind questions from the audience would be allowed, etc.

"Commission members (Commission on Presidential Debates) wanted a relaxed format that included time for unpredictable questioning and challenges between the two vice-presidential candidates." Hey, that sounds just like what McCain wanted with his town hall style meetings.

So this article makes you wonder why McCain isn't so hip to the idea for Palin's debate with Biden. Don't fret though. I don't have to provide the analysis for you. The McCain campaign did it for us. Read on:

"At the insistence of the McCain campaign, the Oct. 2 debate between the Republican nominee for vice president, Gov. Sarah Palin, and her Democratic rival, Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., will have shorter question-and-answer segments than those for the presidential nominees, the advisers said. There will also be much less opportunity for free-wheeling, direct exchanges between the running mates.

McCain advisers said they had been concerned that a loose format could leave Ms. Palin, a relatively inexperienced debater, at a disadvantage and largely on the defensive."

If nothing else, I give the McCain campaign credit for admitting that their candidate is not up to the task. Probably not something I would admit to if I was running a political campaign, but you have to respect their honesty.

Cows Say Moo

One of the ways we can gauge the judgement of candidates is to look at who they may have appointed to positions in their administration in the past. It's not foolproof, but you get a good idea of how they think.

So when the job of of director of the State Department of Agriculture came up, Plain had to make a choice who to give the job to. She decided it should go to one of her childhood friends, Franci Havemeister. Nothing evil in and of itself in that, especially if Ms. Havemeister had the qualifications for the position. Except she didn't. She was a real estate agent. So what was touted as her qualifications, other than being a friend of Palin. According to an article I found:

"Franci was fascinated with farms and particularly milk cows as a young person. After moving to the valley with her folks, she was immersed in a community filled with many farm families. Not surprisingly her fascination with cows and farms eventually introduced her to her future husband, the son of dairy farmers. "

So, let's get this straight. First, she likes cows. I like soccer, but I don't think that makes me qualified to he head of FIFA. Second, she lived somewhere where there were farm families. I live on a block fulls of cops, am I qualified to be the chief of police? Last, she married the son of dairy farmer. I married the daughter of Mexican immigrants, can I be the head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement? Heck, I'm doubly qualified for that position, I also went through customs the last time I came back from visiting my wife's relatives in Mexico.

Hey wait a second. I shouldn't be talking all this smack about Palin. If McCain really does win, maybe she will get him to appoint me to head ICE since I am doubly qualified. Watch out D.C, I'm jumping on the gravy train.

McCain Wants To Fire the Head of the SEC

McCain said this week that if he were president, he would fire Chris Cox, the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission, for the mess we have found ourselves in this last week. There's just one itsy bitsy problem....

HE HAS NO LEGAL AUTHORITY TO DO SO.

"The regulators were asleep, my friends," McCain said. "The chairman of the SEC serves at the appointment of the president, and in my view, has betrayed the public trust. If I were president today, I would fire him."

While the president does indeed appoint the SEC chairman, he has no legal authority to fire him. The Supreme Court has even made a ruling that such a move would be unconstitutional. But since McCain fancies himself a maverick, maybe he'll just ignore the Constitution and do it anyways. But I just thought of something. The Bush administration ignores the Constitution all the time, so I guess it's not really all that maverick of a thing to do for a Republican president.

Racist Obama Money

This is the bill that was being sold by the Snohomish County Republicans at the Washington State Fair. I am not sure how many people really got to see it when the story first came out, but I thought it was pretty telling. I'll readily admit that I believe McCain had nothing to do with the bill. However, to the best of my knowledge, he also hasn't condemned the bill. When Obama brought up the notion that it might be brought up that he was Black during this election, the McCain campaign immediately said he was playing the race card. Well guess what McCain campaign, when members of a an official county branch of your party are selling this at a state fair, your supporters are engaging in racism. Let's call it what it is. Dressing Obama in Muslim headgear and using Ebonics on the bill is racist and bigoted. So surely when informed, the State Chair of the Washington Republican Party condemned these tactics, right? Here's what the article said:

State Republican Party Chairman Luke Esser knew nothing of the bills until called by a reporter.The state party does not provide or sell such an item to the county organizations, he said, and he does not endorse the party selling those types of items.He did not criticize Snoho­mish County Republicans for doing so."I don't want to micromanage," he said.

Don't want to micromanage by not telling members of your party not to engage in racism? Pretty much says it all up, doesn't it?

Palin and the Pedge of Allegiance

Question: Are you offended by the phrase "Under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance? Why or why not?

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.

This was Palin's response to a questionnaire that she answered when she ran for governor of Alaska in 2006. As many people who know me will tell you, I find the Pledge of Allegiance and conservatives' adoration of it nothing short of amusing. You see, the founding fathers never heard of the pledge. It was written in 1892 by Francis Bellamy. Bellamy was, and this is the best part, a socialist. And conservatives who say we have no right to change the pledge by removing the phrase "under god" are forgetting one tiny thing. That phrase was never in the original pledge, and it was conservatives who had no problem changing the pledge when it suited them by adding the phrase. Anyways, it appears McCain's pick for VP could use a history lesson.

McCain on Sub-Prime Mortgages

McCain on sub-prime mortgages.

Talks With Iran

As we all know, McCain has been saying some rather nasty things about Obama's willingness to perhaps sit down and have talks with Iran. In fact this is what he said:

"Such a statement betrays the depth of Senator Obama's inexperience and reckless judgment. Those are very serious deficiencies for an American president to possess."

Hmnn. So who might have experience and good judgement? Does Madeleine Albright have it? Does Colin Powell, who served under a Republican president, have it? Does Warren Christopher, who also served under a Republican president, does he have it? How about James A. Baker III? Finally, politics aside, does Henry A. Kissinger have experience and judgement? Well, guess what? All five former secretaries of state this week said we should be talking to Iran. I'll let you read the article yourself, but it seems like even Kissinger thinks Obama has it right.

Iraq and Pakistan

On July 28, in an interview with ABC News, McCain said:

"We have a lot of work to do. It's a very hard struggle, particularly given the situation on the Iraq-Pakistan border."

$100 (my money, not government bailout money) to the first person who can tell me where this border is that McCain is talking about.

A Joke

So this guy was going to work one day, and he passed by another guy on the sidewalk who was selling puppies. On the cardboard box which held the puppies, he had written "McCain puppies." The first guy thought to himself, "I guess that's some clever marketing or maybe he's just a proud Republican."

The next day, same thing. He passes by the guy and he's still selling his McCain puppies.

About a week goes by, and on this particular day, the guy notices something. The box no longer reads McCain puppies. It is now crossed out and it now reads Obama puppies. Thinking this was strange, he decided to ask the second guy what was going on.

"Oh nothing really, they've just finally opened their eyes."