GOP strategiest: McCain will pay for all his lying

Harsh words from a Republican strategist in a NYT article about - you guessed it - McCain's now-serial lying.

“The last month, for sure, I think the predominance of liberty taken with truth and the facts has been more McCain than Obama,” said Don Sipple, a Republican advertising strategist....

Mr. Sipple, the Republican strategist, voiced concern that Mr. McCain’s approach could backfire. “Any campaign that is taking liberty with the truth and does it in a serial manner will end up paying for it in the end,” he said. “But it’s very unbecoming to a political figure like John McCain whose flag was planted long ago in ground that was about ‘straight talk’ and integrity.”

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Trash Heaven

Hysterical blog, under the byline "I'm trashy and so are you." :-) Read the rest of this post...

McCain can't use a computer because... he's a former POW!

No one could have guessed that was coming! Yeah, unfortunately John McCain already admitted that he's trying to learn how to use a computer, there was no mention of war injuries stopping him prior to today (and Huff Post has a nice photo of him using those itty bitty buttons on a cell phone). Good try, though. Read the rest of this post...

'John McCain would rather lose his honor than lose an election.'

New ad, well not really a new ad at all. It's a YouTube video by someone who says that this is the ad she'd do if she had a 527. The closing line is great:

"John McCain says he refuses to define honor, maybe that's because honor no longer defines John McCain."

The images go by too quickly to read, really, but most of it is spoken anyway, so you can get the gist. It's really good. And no one paid them 20 million dollars to do it.
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Todd Palin for President

Not only is it clear that John McCain is no longer running for president, but rather is taking a back seat to his human shield Sarah Palin, but it seems that Sarah Palin herself often takes a back seat in public office to her husband. Putting aside the fact that it's not clear how great a feminist she can be if her unelected husband is calling the shots in her public office, but what kind of elected official has their spouse in every meeting? They don't. And Hillary Clinton got a lot of crap from the Republicans for having such an extended role in Bill Clinton's White House. And with Sarah Palin clearly being billed as the one wearing the pants in the McCain/Palin family, I mean Palin/McCain, does this mean Todd, warts and all, will really be in charge? Because if he is, he just got subpoenaed. Read the rest of this post...

It's Friday and Lehman Brothers can't find a buyer

So will the Fed bailout Lehman as well? Just because they couldn't find a buyer after of trying is not our problem. Let them go under and let Detroit figure out how to get money like every other business in America. We can not afford to keep bailing these companies out and taking on the extra financial burden. There are simply too many potential incoming bailouts and at the moment, Wall Street, Detroit and likely others (airline industry, probably) all see this as an easy way out of management incompetence. How many CEOs have we heard talking about cutting back if they receive federal money? None. We are going to have to draw a line sometime soon and maybe it should have already been drawn. Read the rest of this post...

McClatchy: McCain/Palin are now lying in their immigration ads too

At what point will the media do the larger process story about what this decision to outright lie his way in to the White House says about John McCain? At this point, there's a larger story here, folks, than just what the lie of the day is. McCain has affirmatively decided to outright deceive the voters, day in and day out, ever since he picked Palin. That's new. But it's also a sign of something else, something larger. Is it that McCain has given up on being a maverick, because mavericks don't win? Is it that McCain's advantced age has made him less willing and able to run his own McCain, thus letting Karl Rove's staff run the show? Something is going on when a guy who claims he's about clean government adopts a strategy of blatant lies. It's a larger story. I'm waiting for the media to get the backbone to finally write that story. Read the rest of this post...

Hurricane Ike May Dwarf Katrina In Wreaking Havoc

From FireDogLake:

Hurricane Ike is closing in on Texas, and stands poised to become one of the most damaging hurricanes of all time. Despite Ike's rated Category 2 strength, the hurricane is much larger and more powerful than Category 5 Katrina or Category 5 Rita. The storm surge from Ike could rival Katrina's, inundating a 200-mile stretch of coast from Galveston to Cameron, Louisiana with waters over 15 feet high. This massive storm surge is due to the exceptional size of Ike. According to the latest wind field estimate (Figure 1), the diameter of Ike's tropical storm and hurricane force winds are 550 and 240 miles, respectively. For comparison, Katrina numbers at landfall were 440 and 210 miles, respectively. As I discussed in yesterday's blog entry, a good measure of the storm surge potential is Integrated Kinetic Energy (IKE). Ike continues to grow larger and has intensified slightly since yesterday, and the hurricane's Integrated Kinetic Energy has increased from 134 to 149 Terajoules. This is 30% higher than Katrina's total energy at landfall. All this extra energy has gone into piling up a vast storm surge that will probably be higher than anything in recorded history along the Texas coast.

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Serial liar Sarah Palin lies to ABC again about Bridge to Nowhere and earmarks

Palin is lying again about her support for earmarks, this time to ABC, but what's interesting to me is that she also lied about the very nature of what congressional pork is:

When Gibson noted she had requested funding to study the mating habits of crabs and other small-bore projects that typically draw John McCain's ire, Palin said the specific requests had come through universities and other public entities. She also said they weren't worked out by lobbyists behind closed doors.

I'm surprised that Palin doesn't understand how pork earmarks work, considering she's gotten so many of them. I worked on getting pork earmarks for Alaska, it was my job. And many a project did not come through a "lobbyist," they came from universities and public entities and the like (though many of them still had lobbyists that they paid, so she's probably lying there too). Lots of pork, the kind of stuff John McCain rails against ever day, comes directly from people in the state who want the pork. You don't need a lobbyist to get it. Or is Palin saying that she'd be in favor of the American people spending hundreds of millions on the Bridge to Nowhere so long as a university or government agency proposed it and not a lobbyist? Because I worked on the Bridge to Nowhere too (though I never pushed the project because I thought it was dumb), and it was the city that was pushing it. Read the rest of this post...

John McCain: Yeah, I'm out of touch.

Yesterday, John McCain admitted he's divorced from reality. That's an interesting use of words. McCain's divorce from his first wife and subsequent marriage to a really, really rich woman allows him to be so divorced from reality that he doesn't even know how many houses he owns.

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Palin Quoted Writer Who Once Lamented Failure To Assassinate FDR

Sarah "Not Very Presidential" Palin does it again.

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McCain lies about Palin's pork projects, again

At least The View called them lies to McCain's face. Maybe the AP can quite dodging that word and just say it. He's either confused or lying and neither is what voters expect of a so-called maverick.

Republican presidential candidate John McCain on Friday defended two debunked television ads attacking Democrat Barack Obama and claimed erroneously that running mate Sarah Palin never sought money for lawmakers' pet projects as Alaska governor.

Palin has sought nearly $200 million in earmarks this year alone.

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Ari Melber rips lying GOP hack

Our good friend Ari Melber shows us how it's really done. It's about the "Obama wanted to teach six year olds about sex" garbage. Fabulous video. And two points to the MSNBC host (I can't believe I"m writing this) who ripped the Republican for, as she put it, not mentioning that Obama was actually in favor of teaching six year old about sexual abuse, not sex. Good line, actually.

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McCain couldn't be bothered to wear an American flag pin on September 11

(UPDATE: I received an email from someone saying that they interviewed the firefighter and EMT worker mentioned below, and they say that they offered McCain their pins, he didn't request them. If true, and let's face it, there'd be ample motive for these two people not to publicly criticize future President McCain, I'm not quite sure why it matters to the story. I didn't cast any aspersions on McCain for supposedly asking for the pins. The thrust of the story is that McCain, the self-described patriot, who mocked Obama as unpatriotic, showed up at a September 11 event without a flag pin on. In Republican circles, that's a rather large sin - and had Obama done it, he'd have been excoriated by McCain and his minions. Whether or not McCain was offered the pins, or asked for them, doesn't change the fact that he arrived at the event without a flag, and that was the uncontested point of the story. In the law we call the email complaint I received a nuance without a difference - meaning, even if you're right, your point is irrelevant to the underlying argument.)

Why didn't McCain wear a flag pin to yesterday's event commemorating September 11? If you check the photos, he wasn't wearing one, he wasn't wearing any pins at all. Obama was. He was wearing an American flag. Once McCain realized what he'd done, I hear he then asked a police officer for his NYPD pin, and put it on, then did the same thing to a fireman (telling him he needed the pin for Cindy).

It's not a big deal, unless of course it was Barack Obama who refused to honor the flag on the day commemorating the worst terror attack in American history (oh and don't think we won't be seeing ads from John McCain soon about how Obama hates the flag, because we will). Then again, McCain had other things on his mind yesterday, like the negative ad he was running in violation of the truce honoring September 11. And finally, before the McCain campaign reminds us, again, that John McCain was a former POW, how does that explain not wearing a flag? Read the rest of this post...

Alaska under Sarah Palin has the highest rape rate of any state

But please don't talk about it because winning is mean. The dark purple line is the number of rapes per capita for the top states. Sarah Palin's Alaskan Miracle is number one:

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Planned Parenthood: Why is McCain siding with child predators

Well, at least Cecile Richards has the balls to be president.

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It's about rape kits, stupid

Just got the following email from Joe Sudbay:

Listened to the Obama campaign press conference call this morning. The very first question from a reporter is why the campaign hasn't highlighted the rape kit story. The reporter said, every time I tell someone that story they look at me like I said there is no Santa Claus.

Obama campaign chief spokesman Bill Burton's response... "We're familiar with it. Saw the AP story. We are familiar with it."

And they wonder why people are panicked. Read the rest of this post...

New Obama ad calls McCain old (kind of)

But is it enough? We should be seeing ads about McCain and Palin charging raped women for rape kits (now if McCain had ever told a rape joke, you'd really have an ad there - oh wait, he did). About dishonoring the dead of September 11 by using their image during a campaign event, but running attack ads on the anniversary of the day they died. About making it easier for sexual predators to abuse small children because McCain and Palin, again, side with rapists over women and children. But we're not going to see any of that. That would be mean. And we don't do mean. (Is winning mean?) Here's Obama's newest ad, which implicitly calls McCain old. Let's see how long the Obama campaign sticks to their guns.

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McCain broke truce, aired negative ad on 9/11, dishonored 3,000 American dead

FactCheck.org, the group McCain likes to misquote in his ads attacking Obama, says that McCain violated the "no negative ads on September 11" truce that was supposed to take place yesterday on September 11.

Let's stop pretending that John McCain is an honorable man. He violated the "no negative ads on September 11" truce by airing a negative ad on the day while Obama did not. John McCain has a funny way of showing respect for the 3,000 who died on September 11. He used footage of their deaths as a campaign prop during the convention (no one - NO ONE - has dared do taht in seven years since that horrible day). His vice presidential pick did a glamor interview for ABC on the September 11 to air on September 11. And now we find out that McCain violated the September 11 ad truce.

This sentence from AP says it all:

McCain campaign officials did not respond to repeated requests by The Associated Press for comment.

He's unaccountable to anyone for his actions. And he thinks the media are patsies.

Yes, John McCain was a former POW. But Karl Rove wasn't. And it's Karl Rove's deputies who are now running for president - not John McCain.

PS If Barack Obama had violated the ad ban on September 11, we'd be watching a TV commercial today about how Obama dishonors our 3,000 dead. THAT's taking the gloves off. Read the rest of this post...

On McCain's "doublespeak" and "McCain's skirting of facts" and "McCain's persistence in pushing dubious claims"

Wow. Even the Associated Press is turning on McCain. That's how bad it is. The latest analysis by Charles Babington is brutal. Without actually calling McCain a "liar," Babington repeatedly makes it clear that McCain a liar. And, worse, McCain is an unrepentant liar. There is no honor in being a liar. McCain is not honorable anymore:

The "Straight Talk Express" has detoured into doublespeak.

Republican presidential nominee John McCain, a self-proclaimed tell-it-like-it-is maverick, keeps saying his running mate, Sarah Palin, killed the federally funded Bridge to Nowhere when, in fact, she pulled her support only after the project became a political embarrassment. He accuses Democrat Barack Obama of calling Palin a pig, which did not happen. He says Obama would raise nearly everyone's taxes, when independent groups say 80 percent of families would get tax cuts instead.

Even in a political culture accustomed to truth-stretching, McCain's skirting of facts has stood out this week. It has infuriated and flustered Obama's campaign, and campaign pros are watching to see how much voters disregard news reports noting factual holes in the claims.

McCain's persistence in pushing dubious claims is all the more notable because many political insiders consider him one of the greatest living victims of underhanded campaigning. Locked in a tight race with George W. Bush for the Republican presidential nomination in 2000, McCain was rocked in South Carolina by a whisper campaign claiming he had fathered an illegitimate black child and was mentally unstable.

Shaken by the experience, McCain denounced less-than-truthful campaigning. Vowing to live up to his "straight talk" motto, he apologized for his reluctance to criticize the flying of the Confederate flag at South Carolina's state Capitol in a bid for votes. When the so-called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth attacked the military record of Democrat and fellow Navy officer John Kerry in 2004, McCain called the ads "dishonest and dishonorable."

Now, top aides to McCain include Steve Schmidt, who has close ties to Karl Rove, Bush's premier political adviser in 2000.

That last sentence explains so much.

McCain abandoned his honor and his principles at the altar of Karl Rove. It's hard for all those reporters who shared donuts and coffee on the bus with McCain to grasp that their guy has shred his dignity, but they better deal with it -- and start writing and broadcasting about the new, dishonorable John McCain. Otherwise, we get four more years of the Bush/Rove presidency. Read the rest of this post...

AP: Palin's town charged rape victims to get evidence

This is the issue Obama should be doing something with, and he's not. Then again, why would we want to do anything with a horrifically damning issue that paints McCain and Palin as virulently anti-women in a week that McCain and Palin are trying to paint Barack Obama as sexist? Read the rest of this post...

Friday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

The campaigns get back at it today. Because, you know, both sides took the day off from politicking yesterday -- except Sarah Palin. But, we've already learned the rules don't apply to her. Here's a question: Will the traditional media and the punditry ever just start reporting that McCain (who they all used to love) is basing his whole campaign on lies and distortions? The guy has lost all sense of honor and decorum. Now, the political press are clinging to their romanticized view of McCain, but he's morphed into a Karl Rove-made clone of George Bush.

Ike is bearing down on Texas. We'll be monitoring that throughout the day via the SciGuy's blog. The storm surge could be huge.

Thread the news... Read the rest of this post...

US airline passengers declined in first half

The best efforts of the airline industry and the TSA are paying off. They're getting rid of those pesky customers who really are just a pain in the rear end. For the Democratic Convention I flew over using Delta, by mistake. I booked in Air France but thanks to a code-share I ended up flying between France and the US on a few ancient Boeing something or others that I hadn't seen in about ten years. Even ten years ago they were looking old with the obvious giveaway being the overhead storage that only has room for a child's lunchbox. Naturally the clunker I flew on coming back was so old, the storage door kept popping open because my laptop - yes, a 2 year old 5.5 pound MacBook - was too heavy.

The Delta folks were all very pleasant though I never like flying on old planes. I did notice that my puddle jumper flight from Salt Lake to Denver offered more personal leg room than the overseas flight, that crammed us in like sardines. How bizarre is that? The bright spot in this latest report is that international customers have increased, surely due to the weak dollar. Europeans continue to travel to the US for cheap holidays and shopping, much like Americans used to do when they traveled to Mexico. Those Republicans sure are clever and creative people when it comes to the economy. With all due respect to Mexico, which I like, who would have guessed that anyone could make the US such a destination? Read the rest of this post...

Will bailout fever drive the US into a depression?

Not that long ago, I was ready to dismiss such talk but looking at the Freddie/Fannie bailout, the Big Auto bailout, the Bear Stearns bailout, the banks failures that are putting too much stress on the FDIC, and surely there has to be more bailouts coming, I'm not as sure about our ability to absorb all of these costs. Maybe this analyst is going too far but look at what has happened today with Lehman. In this interview this money manager suggest that the cost of the bailouts will tip the US economy beyond a recession and into a depression. If you have the time, watch the video inside the link. Agree or disagree, but it's an interesting discussion. We're making it much too easy and comfortable for businesses as we bail them out or even talk about bailing them out. Look at how Congress treated individuals in bankruptcy and tell me this is fair.

The estimated $300 billion cost of the Fannie/Freddie bailout will probably be considered as a loss that the government will have to take, therefore passing it on to taxpayers, he explained.

"We already have $3 trillion of debt, as far as the U.S. government is concerned. These debt figures across the U.S. economy are rising very sharply."

When the government can no longer pass the United States' "immense debt" on to taxpayers, it will turn to the holders of U.S. dollars, leading to the eventual downfall of the currency, Hennecke said.

Former Wall Street heavyweight Lehman Brothers - the center of bankruptcy rumors for months - is now lost without a buyer. Really, who wants to buy billions in bad debt and a management team that drove them into the ground? I have said repeatedly that there is only so much money to go around for bailouts and we may be reaching the end. As a nation, we have little cash to fall back on either at a personal level or a as a country. The credit crisis brought on by Republican policies may well be one of the nastiest financial problems in a long time. Unfortunately, McCain doesn't even see it as a problem and continues to ignore the issue. Read the rest of this post...

Florida's gay adoption ban ruled unconstitutional

Time to ask McCain and Palin what their position is on gay adoption. John McCain hates talking about sex, but he and Sarah Palin are happy to regulate it. Well, that is, they're happy to regulate your sex life in order to keep you "moral." Their lives are off limits. Read the rest of this post...

10 suggestions for Obama

Excellent article over at Huff Post (ht/t to reader Carolyn). I don't agree with every point, but it's very interesting, and thought-provoking. Here's a quick summary, with much more at Huff Post:

1. GET ON MESSAGE AND STAY ON MESSAGE.
2. STOP REPEATING REPUBLICAN PROPAGANDA FOR THEM.
3. Stop talking about Sarah Palin and rebutting her lies. NOBODY CARES WHAT THE FACTS ARE
4. FOCUS ON OBAMA'S PERSONA AS COMMANDER IN CHIEF.
5. BOLSTER OBAMA'S COMMANDER IN CHIEF CREDENTIALS.
6. USE MORE AND BETTER VISUALS in general.
7. DON'T BE AFRAID TO GO NEGATIVE.
8. KISS: keep it simple, stupid.
9. THE SUPREME COURT.
10. GET ON MESSAGE AND STAY ON MESSAGE.

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Nasdaq feeling *much* better today

Thanks for all for the nice words yesterday in the comments in response to my post yesterday about Nasdaq's surgery, and the ensuing hissing I had to endure for the rest of the day. Nasdaq slept soundly last night and was pretty well rested today as well. (She's an expert sleeper.) She was extra chatty this morning with Joelle and visited me a bunch of times today to say "hello" as she always does. I popped in a few times to see how she was sleeping on her new "bed" that we set up on the floor and she was even snoring. The yellow blanket is her favorite so we moved it down so she didn't hurt herself jumping up on the bed. Great idea about Nasdaq & Sushi on Facebook and I hope to get to that soon so the cats can meet new cats, dogs and everyone else.

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Wash Post: Palin Links Iraq to 9/11, A View Discarded by Bush

Anyone who doesn't think Saddam was behind 9/11 is a sexist.

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