Baptist minister nabbed by Secret Service and cops for asking McCain if it's true he called his wife a c-nt

No Baptists need apply. Oh, and three reporters say McCain did call his wife the c-word. I think that's a character issue conservative Christians, and a lot of Americans, might just care about. It hardly deserves being picked up by the cops and the Secret Service.

From IowaPolitics via Huff Post:

Clive businessman Marty Parrish was escorted from Sen. John McCain's town hall meeting by Des Moines police and members of the Secret Service after asking McCain if he had called his wife Cindy an expletive in 1992.

Parrish, an ordained Baptist minister who holds a master's degree in political science, was questioned by Secret Service agents before being released. He was not charged in the incident. Parrish asked whether McCain called his wife Cindy an expletive related to the female anatomy, as has been alleged in the book "The Real McCain," written by Dem strategist Cliff Schecter.

McCain's response got him a round of applause from the crowd: "There's people here who don't respect that kind of language, so I'll move on to the next questioner in the back."

In an interview with IowaPolitics.com, Parrish said his intentions were simple in posing the question to McCain. The former Joe Biden campaign worker stressed he is very concerned about the Republican presidential nominee's temperament.

"We have a man whose temper can get the best of him," Parrish said. "What I am worried about is his temper. Our country is in a serious crisis. This election is the most significant one since 1860. It appears America is asleep -- so I stood up and asked the question."

Read the rest of this post...

Clinton spokesman outright lies about Hillary telling O'Reilly "Rich people...God bless us." It's bizarre.

Last night, during her interview with O'Reilly, Hillary Clinton said of rich people "God bless us":



Pretty cut and dried, right? Wrong. Today, for whatever reason, her spokesperson denied it, via Markos:

On today’s “state of the race” conference call, a reporter asked about an exchange between Hillary Clinton and Bill O’Reilly on yesterday’s show in which Clinton uttered the words, “Rich people—God bless us.”

Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson denied that’s what she said: “She said ‘God blessed us.’ B-L-E-S-S-E-D.”

No, she said "God bless us." Watch the video. It's not even open for debate. Hillary even said it really slowly so you can hear every syllable. That is an outright lie from her campaign. If they lie about the little things, they're lying about the big things, too. It's pathological with the Clintons and their campaign. And worst of all, it's all on tape for all of America to see - again. Read the rest of this post...

Bank of England slams bank bonus culture of excess

Ya think?

"Banks have come to realise in the recent crisis that they are paying the price for having designed compensation packages which provide incentives that are not, in the long run, in the interests of the banks themselves, and I would like to think that would change," King said.

Last week the director-general of the CBI, Richard Lambert, said the bonus culture in the City and Wall Street had been responsible for much of the excessive risk-taking that led to the collapse of the US mortgage and housing markets.

King said yesterday, however, that the hubris of which the City had been guilty had now disappeared, as banks were having to raise capital from their shareholders and cut jobs to repair their balance sheets. "I don't think there is much hubris around today. I hope we do not return to this hubris ... it is important that people learn the lessons from this crisis."

I'm sure the banks are learning a good hard lesson as we throw more bailout cash at them without strings. They must be all a quiver with fear. The bankers are no doubt selling their third and fourth houses on Craigslist, right there with their with their yachts and Bentley. Read the rest of this post...

McCain asked if he called his wife a c**t

And he didn't deny it. Nor did he react with outrage at the question, which is what I would expect a normal, innocent man to do when asked if he called his wife a "c**t." The thing is, three reporters say that this is exactly what McCain did call his wife (his second wife, that is), the c-word. Read the rest of this post...

What Obama won't say (because he has moral fortitude)

Via Ben Smith:

Thrown off his game by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright uproar, Barack Obama’s strongest answer to Hillary Rodham Clinton is one he won’t give: Senator, do you really want to get in a contest with me over who has more unsavory personal associations?

Actually, as a Democrat, I've been constantly asked to defend Hillary (and have) over why she continues to associate with her husband. Interestingly, the question almost always comes from women, and from both the right and left. One could easily paraphrase the above:

Senator Clinton, you've criticized Senator Obama for sticking with his controversial pastor for 20 years. You say you'd have left the church long ago. Yet you've stuck with your husband for 32 years. Many women say they'd have left that church long ago.

It is interesting how Team Clinton has no problem dredging up any and all the dirt they can on Obama's personal relationships, yet Team Obama never touches Bill's or Hillary's. Same goes for the media. Lots of questions about Rev. Wright, not a whole lot about Monica. And spare me the "Monica is old news." The Clintons invited Rev. Wright to the White House in the thick of the Monica scandal. Obama went to that event at Ayers' home in 1995, three years before Monica. So again, spare me the Monica is old news but Ayers and Wright are new news. There's a double standard for going after the personal relationships of Obama and Clinton - the media has the double standard, and the candidates have it as well. Hillary's people (abetted by ABC and the rest of the media) have no problem trafficking in filth. Obama's, God bless them, avoid it like the plague. Read the rest of this post...

McCain flip-flopped 4 times on Iraq regarding staying 100 years

From CBS's blog, or Kevin Drum's, or both (it isn't quite clear):

# In 2005, McCain decided Iraqis resent our military presence, so we should reject a Korea-like model for long-term troop deployment. He insisted that "U.S. 'visibility' was detrimental to the Iraq mission and that Iraqis were responding negatively to America's presence — positions held by both Obama and Clinton."

# In 2006, McCain reversed course, and embraced the Korea model for a long-term military presence.

# In 2007, McCain reversed course again, saying the Korean analogy doesn't work and shouldn't be followed. "[E]ventually I think because of the nature of the society in Iraq and the religious aspects of it that America eventually withdraws," McCain told Charlie Rose last fall.

# And in 2008, McCain reversed course yet again, deciding that we should be prepared to leave troops in Iraq, even if it means 100 years or more.

Read the rest of this post...

Baghdad: Double suicide attack kills 35, wounds 65

AP:

A double suicide bombing struck a wedding convoy northeast of Baghdad Thursday, killing at least 35 people and wounding 65 others, police said.

In Baghdad, a car bomb aimed at a U.S. patrol in Baghdad on Thursday killed an American soldier and least nine Iraqi civilians and wounded 26, police and military said.

The first attack on the wedding convoy in the town of Balad Ruz was carried out by a female suicide bomber, said Army Maj. Gen. Abdul-Karim al-Rubaie, an official with the Diyala provincial operations center that oversees the town.

About 10 minutes later, a man detonated his explosives as rescue workers were trying to help the victims of the first attack, Al-Rubaie said.

Read the rest of this post...

Stephanopoulos is holding a campaign event 'townhall meeting' for his former boss Hillary during his show on Sunday.

Sixteen years after George Stephanopoulos worked so hard to bring you the first Clinton administration, he's clearly on board for round two. Ben Smith reports that Hillary and George are holding a town hall meeting during this Sunday's edition of "This Week":

Hillary is doing a "town hall" from Indiana on ABC's This Week with George Stephanopolous Sunday, Calderone reports.

Yes, the former staffer is doing a town hall meeting for his old boss. Is he letting Clinton pick the audience and the questions, too? Let's not forget that it was Stephanopoulos, in concert with Clinton, who made Rev. Wright and every other Swift Boat attack against Obama fair game. Big surprise he's now holding his very own town meeting for his former boss.

Earlier this week, even before this news broke, Jed wrote a post titled "Gibson & Stephanopoulos: Certified media whores for Clinton" -- complete with video to prove his point. How right Jed was. It's amazing the media thinks that any reporter can interview their former boss fairly, no matter how many years it's been (or if you want to get technical, their boss's wife, but as Hillary always reminds us, it was a co-presidency, so she was his boss too.) Read the rest of this post...

DC Madam commits suicide while David Vitter remains a Senator

Sick and sad all around. More on Vitter's connection here. Read the rest of this post...

It's 3am vs. the Coffee Maker (this is new, not the video from yesterday)

Read the rest of this post...

About moving all those undeclared superdelegates

Today, Elise at DailyKos launches a plan aimed at moving Connecticut's undecided superdelegates -- so we can wrap this thing up:

TrueBlueCT has a diary up about a CT super delegate who is rumored to be leaning towards Hillary Clinton.

Well, I've got a bit of a project that I'd like to start that's related to this. I would like for us to go - state by state - and convince the remaining undecided super delegates to support Barack Obama. In order to do this, I will need your help. I didn't necessarily plan on having CT go first, but since the rumor is that Olson may be leaning, let's start with CT and go from there!

The rumor from Elise is apparently true. Olson is going to support Clinton. Meanwhile, it looks like Obama has picked up five today, including Joe Andrew who abandoned his support for Clinton to endorse Obama. You should read his letter to superdelegates.

Elise is also really onto something and she's already set up a one-stop shop for info. about Connecticut's superdelegates. We need to do this in every state and end this farce now - no matter who you're for, Obama won the nomination two months ago. It's over, and time to heal our wounds and move on to challenging John McCain.

This week, I emailed the Chair of the DC Democratic State Committee, Anita Bonds, who is listed as an uncommitted superdelegate. We want to do an interview with her for AMERICAblog. I want to know when she'll decide who to support and what factors will influence her decision. No response yet. So, Ms. Bonds, if you read AMERICAblog (or if anyone who knows her reads the blog), please get in touch.

It is probably a good idea for every activist to know who runs their state party. And, it's good for the state party/DNC types to know the activists. They need to hear what real Democrats think, not be swayed by the party insiders or the pundits. We cannot let the pundits and their obsession with fabricated distractions dictate who our nominee is.

2008 Democratic Convention Watch is doing amazing work keeping on track of the superdelegates. Here's their list of supers who haven't endorsed yet. What are they waiting for? Jed wrote a post earlier this week titled "Superdelegates to blame for enabling destructive campaign." Maybe the superdelegates need some intervention. If you get any superdelegate scoops. let us know. Read the rest of this post...

"Hillary vs. the Coffee Maker" is #1 on YouTube, top of Drudge, over 300,000 views in 18 hours

Yesterday, we got a tip from fellow blogger Paddy, who writes at Cliff Schecter's blog, that he just watched MSNBC and saw Hillary, during her now infamous gas station photo op, was caught on camera trying to make herself a cup of coffee (cappuccino, we heard), and failing miserably. We alerted a ton of friends, and one was able to find and post the video on YouTube. It's now a thunderous hit. 300,000 views in under 18 hours (it's hard to get over 40,000 views for a SUCCESSFUL political video), the #1 most viewed video on all of YouTube, and the top of Drudge's Web site along with a photo of Hillary, head cocked, unsuccessfully trying to figure out how coffee machines work. First lesson, don't think your tips don't matter - they do. Worse for Hillary, the coffee machine debacle harkens back to George Bush, the elder, and how he expressed amazement on first seeing a grocery scanner that the rest of us had seen for years. The video made Bush look out of touch. Kind of like not knowing how to make yourself a cup of coffee - I'm sorry, cappuccino. Elitist, heal thyself.

Read the rest of this post...

8 in 10 see recession, 73% disapprove of Bush (McCain) economy

These are amazing numbers and considering McCain's economic program is a third Bush term, Democrats need to finish up the primary and start focusing on November. McCain is going to wish he had a problem like Rev. Wright once the Democrats pounce on these numbers because McCain is joined at the hip with the Bush policies that Americans detest. It's all there from tax cuts for the wealthy, less regulation so we can have new problems, an insurance company free-for-all with health care (Bush's policy as well) and that's only the domestic policy. McCain is already struggling to get traction with his own party and this is hardly going to win over independents as the economy continues to sputter.

Fully 73 percent of Americans now disapprove of President Bush's handling of the economy, as his overall approval fell to 27 percent from 32 percent in March.

That represents a burden to Republican candidate John McCain. With poll respondents rating jobs as the top issue, some 61 percent of Americans say they have "major" or "moderate" concerns that McCain will be too closely aligned with Bush's agenda. That exceeds the half of Americans who express concerns over whether Barack Obama is out of touch with small-town values. A comparable 62 percent of Americans say they have concerns about figuring out where Hillary Clinton stands on the issues.

Read the rest of this post...

Indiana superdelegate, who chaired DNC under Bill Clinton, abandons Hillary for Obama

There's been a lot of superdelegate activity lately. We haven't been tracking all of them, but Obama is gaining on Clinton in that one category of delegates where she's always led. This morning, 2008 Democratic Convention Watch has Clinton's margin at 260 - 243, and that's going to keep changing.

Today, we learn that a Clinton super, who used to run the DNC during the Bill Clinton era, is switching to Obama:

A leader of the Democratic Party under Bill Clinton has switched his allegiance to Barack Obama and is encouraging fellow Democrats to "heal the rift in our party" and unite behind the Illinois senator.

Joe Andrew, who was Democratic National Committee chairman from 1999-2001, planned a news conference Thursday in his hometown of Indianapolis to urge other Hoosiers to support Obama in Tuesday's primary, perhaps the most important contest left in the White House race. He also has written a lengthy letter explaining his decision that he plans to send to other superdelegates.

"I am convinced that the primary process has devolved to the point that it's now bad for the Democratic Party," Andrew said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.

This is actually a very interesting development. Clinton's superdelegate strength has come from party insiders -- that might be starting to crack. Maybe we can actually wrap this thing up.

Also, just in, Obama picked up 3 more superdelegates from Illinois today. Read the rest of this post...

Perino whines Bush paid a price because the sign was wrong. The country has paid the price because Bush was wrong.

These paragraphs from the Associated Press explain everything:

"President Bush is well aware that the banner should have been much more specific and said `mission accomplished' for these sailors who are on this ship on their mission," White House press secretary Dana Perino said Wednesday. "And we have certainly paid a price for not being more specific on that banner. And I recognize that the media is going to play this up again tomorrow, as they do every single year."

She said what is important now is "how the president would describe the fight today. It's been a very tough month in Iraq, but we are taking the fight to the enemy."

At least 49 U.S. troops died in Iraq in April, making it the deadliest month since September when 65 U.S. troops died.

Now in its sixth year, the war in Iraq has claimed the lives of at least 4,061 members of the U.S. military. Only the Vietnam War (August 1964 to January 1973), the war in Afghanistan (October 2001 to present) and the Revolutionary War (July 1776 to April 1783) have engaged America longer.

Sure, Bush paid the price. But 49 more soldiers are dead in this endless war.

These people are unbelievable. They still don't get it. They actually think Bush is the victim here. Watch the pundits all agree. Poor Bush. It wasn't his fault the sign was wrong or the war has been a disaster.

It's sick. And, don't forget, last year, Laura Bush told us that when it comes to Iraq, "no one suffers more than their President and I do." Read the rest of this post...

Thursday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

Five years ago today, the pundits were in a lather as our fearless leader flew onto an aircraft carrier to declare: Mission Accomplished.

The Bush administration lied to the American people. But, the traditional media accepted those lies -- and fell for the photo ops. (UPDATE: Bill in Portland has a compilation of the quotes). That same media today is obsessed about Rev. Wright, instead of the fact that we just finished the most deadly month in Iraq since August. It was sickening then and it's even worse now.

Five years later. Read the rest of this post...

Happy Fête du Muguet

Joelle came home last night with a little bouquet of the traditional gift for 1 May and everyone will be selling them all over the place today. (I believe they are called lily of the valley in English.) Here's a link with more details on the holiday and while you are there, check out the link for the Melt-in-Your-Mouth Chocolate Cake. Hands down, the easiest, tastiest chocolate cake you will ever make. Of course, lots of other great stuff about food and France over there. Read the rest of this post...

Dems Abroad to show 'Uncounted' but still can't decide on 2008

Oh the irony. Sitting in my mailbox today is a note about the next event, viewing a movie about the 2004 election and voting problems in Ohio. But of course on the more pressing matter of this current election, all I hear is rubbish. When I asked how Hillary had so many delegates including the delegate from France despite a clear thrashing overseas, I received some garbled answer that boiled down to "we have a complicated system so please don't ask any more questions" or something like that. Telling me that four years ago "we were busy trying to guess who the VP nominee was going to be" is hardly the same, but hey, who needs to give a clear answer. Or even respond to my follow up question.

The much bigger problem for me and many other Democrats living abroad is why the Superdelegates abroad can't make their choices. Hell, we all voted back in February so why do the Superdelegates have the luxury of doddling and letting the party rip itself to shreds? I asked again why "our" superdelegate Chair, Christine Schon Marques and Theresa Morelli, have not yet voted, the response was that Ms. Marques would decide by 1 July. July? Are you serious? All of this reminds me of why I am sick of the party leadership who continue to fail Democrats over and over and over. As Joe mentioned yesterday, the superdelegate members are enablers and they ought to be more worried about regular Democrats than the Clintons. Keep thumbing your nose at us voters and see how many Democrats are really uncounted. Read the rest of this post...