Clinton distorts image of Obama in campaign ad to make him "blacker"

The details are over on DailyKos, but here is a summary.

Hillary Clinton put out a campaign ad where a picture of Barack Obama was used. The photo was altered to make his skin darker. If that wasn't bad enough, the ratio was also altered, or "squished", to make it seem as if he has a wide, flat nose.

In this ad, she also lies about his subcommittee, saying it's responsible for Afghanistan, and that he hasn't held hearings. Problem is, Afghanistan is under another committee.

Then, when confronted, the Clinton campaign denies that the ad is theirs. Except the ad was on Clinton's own site. Oops.

Seriously, go read this, look at the facts. This is absolutely horrible behavior. This woman does not deserve to be president, by any stretch of the imagination.

GOP Wages Their Own War Against Christmas (with video)

I'm a rare person who enjoys Christmas music. But, most people I know already can't stand it. Which really leads me to wonder how the Republican National Senatorial Committee thinks that abusing "The Twelve Days of Christmas" with 50% outright lies and 50% twists on truth, with 100% horrid singers will help their cause.


(How many people actually get to the end of this? Do tell...)

For those of you who can't get to the end, or who choose to block out the horrific experience, here is what Christmas means to conservatives:

• 12 senators failing
• 11% approval
• 10 paychecks burning
• 90,000 freezing
• no more secret ballots
• 7000 billion in new spending
• 6 troop funding cuts
• Hillary's Woodstock museum
• 4 bucks a gallon
• Al Franken ranting
• 2 liberal Udalls
• A tax hike for every family

I really believe that they're waging their very own war on Christmas here. Because if Christmas is about politics and twisting things to get your way, I want nothing to do with it.

Happily, I have real Christmas carols on CD, and can go back to enjoying a traditional Christmas which is about Christ, and about family, and about love of fellow mankind.

(h/t Crooks and Liars)

Another example of the deception that surrounds Iraq

Intelligence analysts computing aggregate levels of violence against civilians for the NIE puzzled over how the military designated attacks as combat, sectarian or criminal, according to one senior intelligence official in Washington. "If a bullet went through the back of the head, it's sectarian," the official said. "If it went through the front, it's criminal."

Is there anything Bush won't deceive us about?

Rudy was a Yankee, not a Rescue Worker after 9/11

Remember when Guiliani said this:

I was at ground zero as often, if not more, than most of the workers. ... I was there working with them. I was exposed to exactly the same things they were exposed to. So in that sense, I'm one of them.

I think we all knew it was a BS claim, and here's the easy-to-understand truth:

What was he doing instead? Giuliani's beloved New York Yankees made it to the World Series in 2001. We decided to compare the time he spent on baseball to the time he spent at the ruins of the World Trade Center.

The results were, considering the mayor's long-standing devotion to the Bronx Bombers, unsurprising. By our count, Giuliani spent about 58 hours at Yankees games or flying to them in the 40 days between Sept. 25 and Nov. 4, roughly twice as long as he spent at ground zero in the 90 days between Sept. 17 and Dec. 16. By his own standard, Giuliani was one of the Yankees more than he was one of the rescue workers.

Just in case the numbers don't make sense, maybe Faux News has a few people confused, here's a handy-dandy little chart:

So, rather than the Hero of 9/11 that he'd have you believe, he's the #1 Fan of the Yankees.

Just think, if he becomes president, he can spend far less time flying to get to all those games since he'll be on Air Force 1!

Bush doesn't let reality intrude in his little world

BushCo just released a statement about the CHIP bill, with all sorts of outright lies. He's the most pathetic excuse for a president that I can imagine. I sure hope America smartens up and picks a president who will be president of everyone, not just those who think he is God's mouthpiece. Take a look at the rhetoric vs. reality, from the Democratic Caucus's Senate Journal:

The Administration Incorrectly Asserts the Senate Bill Would Provide Coverage for Families Earning $83,000 or More.

RHETORIC: The Senate bill changes the focus of the Children’s Health Insurance Program “from those who cannot afford coverage to include families with incomes of up to $83,000 per year or even more.”
REALITY: The Children’s Health Insurance Program is a federal-state partnership where states make the determination as to eligibility levels. Under the Senate bill, any state that makes new plans to offer coverage for children in families above 300 percent of the Federal poverty level will receive lower matching funds for that coverage.

The Administration Incorrectly Describes the Program as Being Underfunded After the Authorization Expires.

RHETORIC: The bi-partisan Senate bill sets the Children’s Health Insurance Program on an “unsustainable course by expanding and then drastically underfunding the program in the future by at least $60 billion.”

REALITY: The Senate bill is fiscally responsible, following Democratic-established ‘Paygo’ rules. The bill provides health insurance coverage for an additional 3.2 million low-income children by implementing a modest increase in the excise tax on tobacco products. In addition to an overwhelming majority of Americans supporting an increase in tobacco taxes to pay for children’s health care, higher tobacco taxes will result fewer smokers, particularly among teens. To be clear, this bill seeks to reauthorize the program for five years. Before the program expires in 2012, the Congress and a new administration will work to provide funding for this program.

The Administration Falsely Claims the Senate Bill Would Federalize Health Care in America.

RHETORIC: “The bill is inconsistent with the principal of choice for American consumers and instead goes too far in federalizing health care.”

REALITY: The Children’s Health Insurance Program is a public-private partnership that focuses on providing low-income children with health care coverage. The Senate measure in fact encourages public and private solutions to cover children.

The Administration Wrongly Asserts The Senate Bill Would Reverse the Course of Moving Adults Out of CHIP.

RHETORIC: “The Administration is also concerned that S. 1893 will delay the Administration’s efforts to transition adults out of SCHIP and into Medicaid.”

REALITY: The bi-partisan Senate measure curbs adult coverage in three key ways. First, the bill prohibits new waivers for parents and preserves the bar on new waivers for childless adults. Second, the bill calls on states covering childless adults to transition them out of the Children’s Health Insurance Program within two years. Third, federal funding for coverage of low-income parents in states with existing waivers will be reduced after a three to four year period.

The Administration Wrongly Describes the Bill’s Coverage of Pregnant Women.

RHETORIC: “The Administration strongly objects to provisions in [The Senate Bill] that wrongly weakens the current option available to States to cover unborn children and their mothers.”

REALITY: States will have an additional option to cover pregnant women as a state option as well as maintaining the options to cover them through regulation.