Liddy's 93 and 92 -- and she doesn't like hearing it

New ad from the DSCC has Liddy Dole in a frenzy...93rd most effective Senator (meaning she's seventh from the bottom) and she votes with Bush 92% of the time. Not numbers to be proud of in 2008.

UPDATED -- the actual ad is below. This is a link to reactions from North Carolinians to the ad.



Dole's response was totally over-the-top. Apparently, based on Liddy's reaction, she's a little sensitive about her age. (She's 72, which is how old her presidential nominee will be on August 29th)

Dole should be as sensitive about her hapless record in the Senate and her dedication to George W. Bush. Read the rest of this post...

New GOP group: Social Conservatives Against Romney

The GOP theocrats, let by Mike Huckabee, are putting their feet down over the possibility of Mitt as McCain's V.P. It may violate the Golden Rule, but it sounds like they hate Mitt, they really hate him:

"I think a lot of people, not just social conservatives, but a lot of the Republicans I know are not necessarily comfortable with Romney," Huckabee told CBSNews.com. "But it has nothing to do with religion. It has everything to do with inconsistencies in positions he's held, and that's it."

In response to buzz about the former Massachusetts governor becoming McCain's running mate, an alliance of Ohio social conservatives, many of whom are former Huckabee supporters, have formed a group called "Social Conservatives Against Romney." Romney had moderate positions on many hot-button social issues, including abortion, before his run for president.

(Yeah, I'm sure his being a Mormon has nothing to do with it.) This is conundrum for McCain. He thinks he needs Mitt to have a chance in Michigan. Couple weeks ago, Nate Silver ran some numbers on Mitt's as V.P. over at FiveThirtyEight.com. But, if Mitt's on the ticket, McCain is going to have a lot of unhappy theocrats -- and that crowd still runs the GOP.

On this one, Huckabee and his crew are in agreement with the Democrats about Mitt's flipping and flopping. Check out TheNextCheney.com on Multiple Choice Mitt. Read the rest of this post...

What Obama could have said

8 years of the failed Bush-McCain foreign policy have imperiled our vital mission in Afghanistan. John McCain wants troops in Iraq for 100 years, even as the Taliban grows stronger in Afghanistan. Our forces are under-manned and under-powered in Afghanistan and the Bush-McCain policies are why. All I can say to the brave American troops serving so heroically there is, hang on, help's coming.

Read the rest of this post...

McCain now claiming Ralph Reed not involved with fundraiser, Reed says otherwise

That's funny, because Abramoff crony Ralph Reed says that he agreed to be part of the fundraiser - that means someone asked him. So who asked him, and who's lying? Here's what McCain's camp is now claiming, per the NY Daily News:

“Ralph Reed is not hosting the event, is not on the host committee, and has not given John McCain a single dollar in this election. Ralph Reed sent an email on his own part – not affiliated with any McCain campaign or committee,” the McCain aide tells The Mouth.

Too many precise details in that quote, I'm sensing parsing. Anyone? Read the rest of this post...

Fineman: McCain wouldn't approve of his own message, so that makes it okay

Greg Sargeant over at TPM Election Central hits on a brilliant point. Namely, that the media keeps reporting on John McCain's bad behavior, then excusing it because they know in their hearts that he's such a swell guy.

[Newsweek's Howard] Fineman was talking about Joe Lieberman's claim that Obama hasn't always put his country first:

Fineman said that while Lieberman's quote was clearly questionable, McCain himself wouldn't sanction it. "I still don't think if you said to McCain flat out, 'Do you approve of that kind of message,' that he would necessarily agree with it or support it," Fineman said.

But Howard, the McCain campaign itself blasted Lieberman's quote out to its press list, which constitutes an official McCain campaign endorsement of the quote....

This from Fineman is really part and parcel of a larger media meme: The bizarre ability of some people to see questionable political behavior by McCain and his campaign as somehow indicative of good character on McCain's part.

For instance, when McCain pandered slavishly to the religious right, some pundits noted that McCain was uncomfortable doing this and didn't really mean it, so it didn't really matter. Similarly, when McCain constantly talks up his POW experiences, which he's perfectly entitled to do, we're always told that he's really reluctant to do this. This is a twofer for McCain, because he gets to showcase his war experiences and simultaneously be seen as modest about them at the same time.

But AP's Liz Sidoti brought him donuts (with sprinkles!), and CNN's John King knows McCain's heart is pure, so why should they have to report all this icky news about McCain. It's so darn unfair of us to expect Sidoti and King to report facts that contradict their pre-conceived notions of the news. Can't we all just let John McCain become president unchalleneged and stop making life so hard for Sidoti and King? Read the rest of this post...

TIME's Joe Klein: McCain has "a severe character defect"

Why does Joe Klein hate America?

[T]here is no excuse for what the McCain campaign is doing on the "putting America first" front. There is no way to balance it, or explain it other than as evidence of a severe character defect on the part of the candidate who allows it to be used. There is a straight up argument to be had in this election: Mcain has a vastly different view from Obama about foreign policy, taxation, health care, government action...you name it. He has lots of experience; it is always shocking to remember that this time four years ago, Barack Obama was still in the Illinois State Legislature. Apparently, though, McCain isn't confident that conservative policies and personal experience can win, given the ruinous state of the nation after eight years of Bush. So he has made a fateful decision: he has personally impugned Obama's patriotism and allows his surrogates to continue to do that. By doing so, he has allied himself with those who smeared him, his wife, his daughter Bridget, in 2000. Those tactics won George Bush a primary--and a nomination. But they proved a form of slow-acting spiritual poison, rotting the core of the Bush presidency. We'll see if the public decides to acquiesce in sleaze in 2008, and what sort of presidency--what sort of country--that will produce.

Read the rest of this post...

Cheney aide Mary Matalin published the Corsi smear book -- and Corsi is a 9/11 conspiracy theorist to boot

Dick Cheney's former staffer, Mary Matalin, is in the private sector now. But, she's still doing the dirty work for the GOP. Paul Waldman from Media Matters did a masterful job last night on Larry King Live debunking Jerome Corsi. But, he also exposed the right wing machine behind Corsi's book -- starting with Mary Matalin.


Yep, this book is a Matalin special. She's still doing the GOP's dirty work, but just from inside a publishing house instead of the White House. As Timothy Noah at Slate put it:

What the hell is Mary Matalin doing running a publishing imprint in the first place? She is a professional propagandist, a political operative who learned her craft at the feet not of Maxwell Perkins but of Lee Atwater. Truth is not what she's about; campaigns are, and for Matalin, The Obama Nation would appear to be just another campaign.

Just another dirty, sleazy campaign move from Matalin. But, she should be so proud of her author, Jerome Corsi. It's bad enough he writes for World Nut Daily, he's also a 9/11 conspiracy theorist:

Among the follow-up efforts to Jerome R. Corsi’s “Unfit for Command,” which inspired the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth attacks on Senator John Kerry in 2004, is “Obama Nation.” But the conservative commentator’s book about Senator Barack Obama appears to have distracted him for another project he was planning in January: exposing what he calls the government’s lies about the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center.

A YouTube video making the rounds, especially among Obama supporters, mocks Mr. Corsi for a Jan. 29 interview on Alex Jone’s radio show, a forum for those who take a deeply skeptical view of government claims about the attacks. (Mr. Corsi also frequently talks about the “North American Union” and other threats from globalization during his appearances).

Corsi skated by in 2004 when he wrote the Kerry smear book. NOT THIS TIME. Read the rest of this post...

I wanna be Maureen Dowd. Sometimes.

Her latest column really is a must-read. Yeah, she's bitchy sometimes (aren't we all?), but sometimes her inner rhymes-with-witch is just what's needed. I think this column is one of those times.

Obama also allowed Hillary supporters to insert an absurd statement into the platform suggesting that media sexism spurred her loss and that “demeaning portrayals of women ... dampen the dreams of our daughters.” This, even though postmortems, including the new raft of campaign memos leaked by Clintonistas to The Atlantic — another move that undercuts Obama — finger Hillary’s horrendous management skills....

It would have been better to put this language in the platform: “A woman who wildly mismanages and bankrupts a quarter-of-a-billion-dollar campaign operation, and then blames sexism in society, will dampen the dreams of our daughters.”

Read the rest of this post...

Joint Statement from Obama and Clinton

Joe and I are still processing this. But the words that came to mind so far aren't publishable.

JOINT STATEMENT FROM THE OBAMA AND CLINTON PRESS OFFICES

Since June, Senators Obama and Clinton have been working together to ensure a Democratic victory this November. They are both committed to winning back the White House and to to ensuring that the voices of all 35 million people who participated in this historic primary election are respected and heard in Denver. To honor and celebrate these voices and votes, both Senator Obama's and Senator Clinton's names will be placed in nomination.

“I am convinced that honoring Senator Clinton's historic campaign in this way will help us celebrate this defining moment in our history and bring the party together in a strong united fashion,” said Senator Barack Obama.
Senator Obama’s campaign encouraged Senator Clinton's name to be placed in nomination as a show of unity and in recognition of the historic race she ran and the fact that she was the first woman to compete in all of our nation’s primary contests.

“With every voice heard and the Party strongly united, we will elect Senator Obama President of the United States and put our nation on the path to peace and prosperity once again,” said Senator Hillary Clinton.

Senator Obama and Senator Clinton are looking forward to a convention unified behind Barack Obama as the Party’s nominee and to victory this fall for America.

Because, after all, it is her big night. Read the rest of this post...

A brilliant anti-McCain ad

Yet again, some guy publishes a better ad than the "experts" being paid millions by our party.

Read the rest of this post...

Troops Deployed Abroad Give 6:1 to Obama over McCain

Wow. Kind of sounds like the troops overwhelmingly don't like John McCain, at all. Or to the degree they like him, they still don't want to see him as their leader.

According to an analysis of campaign contributions by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, Democrat Barack Obama has received nearly six times as much money from troops deployed overseas at the time of their contributions than has Republican John McCain, and the fiercely anti-war Ron Paul, though he suspended his campaign for the Republican nomination months ago, has received more than four times McCain's haul.

I guess that means McCain will now be accusing the troops of hating the troops. Where's Joe Lieberman? Read the rest of this post...

Anti-Obama book gets front page of Post and Times, anti-McCain book gets nothing

Isn't it interesting that both the NYT and the Washington Post put the latest anti-Obama book on their front pages, and Larry King did a show about it, while none of them gave such prominent attention to the lead anti-McCain book that Cliff Shecter published a few months ago.

I'm quite serious. This is an example of the blatant conservative bias we face in the media today. But it's also a rather subtle bias. I suspect that the Times and the Post (and Larry King) gave the anti-Obama book such prominent coverage, while not giving Cliff's book the same coverage, because they know that the anti-Obama book will cause a bigger stink than Cliff's book. And they're right. But what they fail to realize is that their failure to give the lead anti-McCain book equal coverage is part of the reason that the anti-McCain book won't go as viral as the anti-Obama book. It's the classic chicken and egg conundrum. It's what we saw with the Swift Boaters in 2004 (attacks on Democrats are news because the media helps to make them news). It's what we see with the media's savaging of Wesley Clark for daring to ask a question about McCain's experience, while the media turns a blind eye when John McCain repeatedly questions Obama's patriotism. In a very twisted, but very real, way the media knows that it's just not news when Republicans face criticism, but when Dems do it's page one. What they don't know is that they're to blame.

The media in a very real way is pre-ordaining the outcome, and their own unbiased coverage is suffering as a result.

PS I just saw that FireDogLake did a great post on this as well. Check it out. Read the rest of this post...

More on McCain's $2300 donation from gay sex donor

It sucks to be an anti-gay Republican, because then when you accept maximum donations from guys who run gay sex sites, it kind of makes you look like a hypocrite - especially when you're wooing the religious right and trying to con them into thinking you're one of them. Bay Windows reminds us of the positions McCain has taken on gay issues, just to give you the full flavor here:

McCain opposes same-sex marriage and adoption by same-sex couples, he supports "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell," and opposes the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. He has also publicly stated he is uncertain whether condom use prevents the spread of HIV.

McCain also supports DOMA, Obama doesn't. Yeah, so basically McCain's bad on everything, and his only good position on gay stuff is that he doesn't support the Federal Marriage Amendment, though he supports state versions of the same amendments, and he only opposes the FMA because he doesn't think it's necessary RIGHT NOW. He thinks DOMA will stop gay marriage from hopping around the country, but if it doesn't, if the courts strike DOMA down, which they certainly will some day, then McCain will lose his only reason for not supporting the FMA. Here is what McCain actually said about the FMA on the Senate floor:

"If the Supreme Court rejects the Defense of Marriage Act as unconstitutional, if state legislatures are frustrated by the opinions of jurists in more states than one, and if state remedies to such judicial activism fail, and finally, if a large majority of Americans come to perceive that their communities' values are being ignored and other standards concerning marriages are being imposed on them against their will, and elections and state legislatures can provide no remedy, then and only then should we consider quite appropriately amending the Constitution of the United States."

Sounds like a lot of "ifs" but not really. Basically McCain is saying that if it looks like lots of gays are getting the right to marry, if the courts recognize our right to marry just as they did for other minorities before us, it will be appropriate to slap us down in the US Constitution. (No word from McCain on why he thinks Loving v. Virginia was wrongly decided by activist judges.)

This man is not our friend. Well, he is if we're stinking rich and run big gay sex sites.

PS Somebody needs to find McCain's MTV town hall appearance in 2000 when he was asked about gays in the military and the comparison with the military's former ban on blacks. Absolutely hideous answer McCain gave - how dare you compare the suffering of blacks to the suffering of gays, McCain cried. Hope someone can find it, I still remember it 8 years later - he was a pig. Read the rest of this post...

Could our side ever get away with a brutal ad like this?

A reader just sent me this video attack ad he made about John McCain. It's brutal. Here's the ad, followed by my commentary:



I could easily imagine the Republicans making an ad like this about Obama, and it would go viral across the country, and the media would rebroadcast it a thousand times, Swift Boat style, until it was imprinted in the head of every American voter. I'm pretty sure that if we did something like this, if a pro-Obama organization made a video like this about McCain, the Democrats would be roundly denounced and we'd spend every day between now and the election telling America that we really do think McCain is the greatest hero America has ever had.

Which leads to a larger analysis about why we could never get away with something like this - a video that concludes with a shot of the White House and the announcer saying "Sorry, John, your wife can't buy you this house" - while John McCain is repeatedly accusing Barack Obama of being un-American, and no one says a word. Note that the front page of the NYT and Washington Post have both highlighted a new anti-Obama smear book, and Larry King did a show about the thing. And that's okay. But when we smear back, we don't get the front page of the Post and the Times, don't get Larry King. Their attacks get treated as credible, ours get treated as venomous indications of how black our souls really are. (More on that later.)

Why do they always get away with this kind of attack, and we never do? Read the rest of this post...

IS MCCAIN SECRETLY A WOMAN...OR EVEN WORSE?!!!

SUBJECT: IS MCCAIN SECRETLY A WOMAN...OR EVEN WORSE?

For the love of -od and the love of this country, you will forward this email onto all your friends and family. The fate of the free world may rest solely on this information becoming mainstream. If we can not stop this, I pray for all of our souls. -od speed!

I have confirmed these facts through my reliable sources. I suggest you take it to heart – feel free to confirm these disturbing truths. Please print out copies and hand them out or mail them to friends and neighbors without access to the Interwebs.

Who is John McCain?

US Presidential candidate, John SIDNEY McCain, was born in Panama (thus the reason he doesn't mind his people flooding across our borders). He tries to hide his middle name by constantly referring to himself as John S. McCain. Do not let this fool you. John SIDNEY McCain, the probable presidential runner-up, has a woman's middle name. At the very least, the concealment of his middle name, SIDNEY, raises serious questions about his true gender and whether he is a SECRET woman. He has admitted that economics is not an issue he understands well. A certain gender is well known to be less inclined towards math and numbers. Then there are his $500 shoes. If elected, it's very likely McCain will institute mandatory lingerie pillow AND tickle fights.

John SIDNEY McCain was raised by parents of Scots-Irish and English ancestry. At their most harmless, the Irish are notorious drunks who enjoy fighting while stashing large piles of gold underneath rainbows. In the extreme, the Irish are violent TERRORISTS attempting to overthrow the government. While no evidence exists explicitly linking McCain to a TERROR organization, he has never denied membership in the IRA. It is also unclear whether he or any of his drunken relatives ever knew anyone who might know someone who once interacted with or passed in the street a member of the IRA. Given the challenges facing our country, we need confirmation that McCain is not affiliated nor knows people affiliated with TERROR organizations.

Born in 1936, John SIDNEY McCain moved around a lot throughout his early years, which coincided with World War II. The exact details of McCain's behavior during this time are sketchy at best. It is interesting to note there is no record of McCain denouncing the actions of the Nazis while they were committing genocides. He was noticeably silent. He may not have been a NAZI SYNTHESIZER, but this raises doubts about which side he was rooting for during World War II. This also raises questions about his potential loyalties as president, given our current wars and the wars he promises to start.

John SIDNEY McCain served as a naval pilot during the Vietnam War. While executing a mission in 1967, McCain was captured in Hanoi, where he stayed in the Hanoi Hilton for 5 long years. McCain's fellow soldiers battled valiantly against the evils of Communism while McCain was lounging in a hotel (most likely alternating between the pool and the hot tub to enhance the experience of both) run by Paris Hilton! If McCain had fought alongside his comrades, we may have never needed Rocky to defeat Communism.

After Vietnam, McCain returned to the US to discover his first wife with horrific injuries from an auto accident. He promptly began an affair with a woman 17 years his junior, eventually divorcing his disfigured first wife in 1980. As President, McCain will be faced with a similar situation, given the current wreck that is our country. He will be tempted to fool around with other countries. It will just be a matter of time until he divorces the US for a newer, younger, and more attractive country that offers him more than we can.

During this presidential election, we must be vigilant to prevent a John SIDNEY McCain presidency.

Can we really risk having a drunk, fighting Irishman who may or may not have ties to TERRORIST organizations? When troubled times arrive, will McCain fight for us or will he fall into the arms of another more-youthful country that looks strikingly like his current country? Do we really want to trust this country to someone who may secretly be a woman or a NAZI SYNTHESIZER?

Please forward to everyone you know. We can not have this (wo)man leading our country.

Your Friend,
Bo Gus Smear

Read the rest of this post...

Thursday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

What new lies and attacks can we expect from the McCain today? And, will the traditional media ever focus on just how nasty their old friend has become?

Also, Cindy McCain had a little accident yesterday. Apparently, she sprained her wrist and exacerbated an existing condition" What kind of pain killers does one get for that? Could that exacerbate a previous condition for Cindy? Just wondering....and you know if the situation was reversed, that's exactly what the GOPers would be asking. You know it. And, the traditional media would report it.

So, start threading the news...

NOTE FROM JOHN: Cindy McCain injured in an accident? I seem to recall that McCain dumped his first wife after she had an accident. Well, to be precise, McCain started an adulterous affair with his current wife, then married her, then divorced his first wife. But I'm sure that was just a youthful indiscretion at the age of 40. Read the rest of this post...

New Mexico GOP House candidate hits new low: Accuses opponent of cutting throats of troops

Nothing is too low for Republican candidates this year. Check out the video below from Democracy for New Mexico:

Last week the Association of Commerce and Industry hosted Democrat Harry Teague and Republican Ed Tinsley at a NM-02 Congressional candidate forum in Las Cruces. One of the issues discussed by the two was the Iraq war. Now the ACI membership, similar to that of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, is generally moderate-to-conservative and business-oriented. And yet they broke out in boos and cries of "shame on you" when Tinsley said his piece. And they clapped and cheered as Teague explained his position on Iraq. Watch the video above to see why.

Read the rest of this post...