Religion, Politics, and the Great Pumpkin

"They must think you're stupid!"

2008-09-06T20:13:28Z

Not that the media covered these speeches (Zzzzzzzz), but Barack Obama and Joe Biden both fired back today at McCain/Palin for spending their entire convention ignoring all the actual issues that should be deciding this election. Give this to the GOP... they may not know how to govern, but they know how to control the news cycle like nobody's business.

Said Sen. Obama, "Maybe what they're saying is, watch out George Bush! Except for economic policies and tax policies and energy policies and healthcare policies and education policies and Karl Rove-style politics, except for all that, we're really gonna bring change to Washington!" Zing!

[PS- For my take on Obama's appearance on The O'Reilly Factor, go here.]

John McCain, one minute ago...

2008-09-05T02:46:52Z

...Promised to "get this country back on the road back to prosperity and peace."

And, ummm, how'd we get off that road, John? Hello? Hello??

[PS- The fact that the GOP is running on a bastardized change/reform message? Proof that this election, for better or worse, is all about Barack Obama. It's a referendum on him, and that's why this convention has been-- for the most part-- a substance-free personality battle aimed at elevating McCain and Palin, and turning Obama into a punchline. John McCain? He is almost an afterthought in the election, the default for partisan Republicans and those just scared of the thought of a you-know-what in the White House.

It's nice that the Obama camp is trying to stay above the fray and on message, but to quote Marge Simpson, "You don't win friends with salad." Time to get back on offense, starting tomorrow morning. Simply reminding Americans about what the GOP has clearly forgotten this week as they give the same cut-and-paste speeches that could've been heard at the 2000/2004 conventions-- that they have not only been running things for the last 8 years, but also have largely had their way fully on policy matters (like taxes, spending and budget matters, energy/oil, jobs, war, court appointments, etc)-- is a good place to start. Sens. Obama and Biden, game on.

PPS- omg, issues, lolz!]

[UPDATE: At 11pm, McCain implores Americans to "serve a cause greater than yourself." Just don't become a community organizer or a Senator, though. I hear they fucking suck. And no flag pin, sir? For shame. Mercifully... it ends. Nothing between now and the election but a few debates and countless weeks of inane media chatter. Pray we survive the latter.]

Sen. Obama responds...

2008-09-04T22:21:10Z

...in a press conference today. A good start, but we need this to get ramped up.

Of course, the liberal media is too busy today verbally ejaculating over the awesomeness that is Sarah Palin's ability to read words off a teleprompter that she didn't actually write herself to have gotten the other side's reaction. But if you're curious what the Obama camp thought of last night's show, there you go. He'll be on The O'Reilly Factor tonight too.

Shorter Republican convention...

2008-09-04T02:16:04Z

John McCain is a war hero who was ~~tortured~~ enhanced interrogation techniqued for your freedoms. Only he and Sarah Palin-- whom we all are really happy about, seriously!-- can protect our country (first) from the menace of that weird foreigner the other guys are running.

These damn ~~Republicans~~ liberals who've been in charge the last 8 years have run this country into the ground with their tired ~~conservative~~ socialist policies and their allies in the ~~corporate~~ liberal media! It's time for the change that only finally electing some Republicans to high office can provide! Go America!

*insert immature giggling and red-meaty applause lines here*

["This election is not about issues. This election is about a composite view of what people take away from these candidates," - Rick Davis, McCain Campaign Manager.]

Hey everyone, it's Barack Obama!

2008-09-02T22:31:45Z

Apparently, there's this guy named Barack Obama who is the Democratic candidate running for President! WOW!!! Here is discussing ~~some overhyped tabloid shit about a teenage pregnancy~~ workers issues and Hurricane Gustav at the Milwaukee Rally for America's Workers yesterday.

It seems there is a lot going on in the world right now! Wow! Who knew!

Checking In

2008-09-01T19:05:02Z

I've obviously missed a lot of news, so here's some quick thoughts...

I was overall very satisfied with the Democratic convention. Obama's speech (video) was better than expected, because he made sure to bring up all the attacks against them, and slammed back. The Democrats are definitely getting better at playing defense, but it's the mastery of offense that keeps Republicans winning, and Democrats need to keep that in mind always. Throw the first punch every once in a while. George Bush didn't defeat John Kerry by besting him in policy debates. That doesn't mean playing dirty like the GOP does (*cough*), but it does mean not apologizing every time you state the obvious about the GOP/McCain's record.

My only real complaint about the DNC was the lack of specifics in their case against the GOP. Just reminding everyone how shitty the last 8 years of Republican rule have been isn't going to be enough, I fear. Read off the bullet points! The war(s), the housing crisis, an outsourced and depressed economy, health care, the energy crisis, our ravaged national infrastructure, a corrupt government more interested in ideology than governing, etc... these should be mentioned as often as possible.

Some good speeches along those lines? John Kerry (who, in the proud Democratic tradition like Al Gore, didn't actually become a decent candidate until after he lost the election) and Montana's governor Brian Schweitzer (who made all the right points on energy). You may have missed these two speeches because the cable networks thought you'd be interested in watching Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann yell at each other than seeing the actual convention they were supposedly covering.

Onto the Republicans!

A lot of people were speculating a week ago that Hurricane Gustav would be bad news for the Republicans and their convention because it would be a reminder of Katrina and how the government was asleep at the wheel while one of its biggest cities drowned (pull yourselves up by the bootstraps, dying poor people!). Instead, it is turning out to be a bit of a blessing-- well, not to those who live in its path, obviously-- because it is giving them an excuse to scale back a convention they clearly barely wanted to have anyway. Do you really think the Republicans wanted to follow the spectacular Democratic convention with a week of speeches by such brilliant political minds like Cindy McCain, Joe Lieberman, Mitt Romney, and Rudy Guiliani's 9/11 keynote? And you better believe that, hurricane or no hurricane, that would've found a reason to keep President Bush and VP Cheney from speaking/reminding Americans that John McCain belongs to the same party as these two monsters. And so now, they get to keep it very low-key while John McCain gets to play President by giving speeches about national crises. Well played.

And the elephant in the room-- pardon the pun-- is Sarah Palin, the woman who would be Vice President. What can I say about this decision that hasn't been said already? It is transparently political along several lines... 1) a 100% non-subtle grab for woman voters/disgruntled Hillary supporters, 2) a way of marketing a 'change' candidacy of their own, and 3) a means of appeasing the Christian right, who tend to throw temper tantrums if the Republicans attempt to run candidates who don't meet the proper standards of insanity. This is a decision based on electoral politics, not the actual governing of the country, which is of course the Republican party in a nutshell. It just may be stupid enough to work too.

Joe Biden, on the other hand, has more value after the election to Obama than he does before it.

Obama Gets The Message?

2008-08-21T20:32:15Z

Hopefully this continues through the Fall, but this and this are more like it.

The convention next week should also be helpful in this regard, but I fear any bounce the party gets from said convention will be diluted by the fact that the GOP one follows right behind it the next week. After that, voters will be so inundated with talking points from politicos and pundits about Scary Barack The Tax-and-Spend Elitist Foreigner (unlike War Hero Maverick John McCain!), they'll forget whatever happened at the Dem convention... Al Gore mentioned something about carbon emissions, right? Granted, the GOP event can't be any worse than 2004's NYC-based 9/11 Orgy, but watching them blame Democrats and liberals for the mess created under the conservative governance of these last two terms will be painful to watch (and in the case of Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani, they won't even wait until their convention before they start foaming at the mouth). I'll be glad when both are over.

Now the Fall debates... my friends, that is something I am very, very much looking forward to.

Obama... Getcha Head in the Game!

2008-08-20T16:32:36Z

Kellen posted some links about the election on his LJ and asked for my opinion on them (the links were this and that). He wrote: "Obama needs to create a more firm stance on issues and state point blank why McCain is horrendous and why he is not. The American public needs to hear things as plain as you can make them and there are lots of facts about McCain that we just aren't getting from the general broadcast media."

I replied thusly....

I think that first link is a good website, but I wish it was less focused on background crap (ancestry, bio facts) and more on explaining the vast differences between the two on the key issues... the economy, health-care, the war, etc. Focusing too much on Obama's ancestry plays up this meme the GOP is pushing that Obama is foreign and different and weird and unamerican. I think that's bullshit (Obama's unique background is a plus to me), but the average voter really gets worked up over that bullshit.

Take a lot at McCain's anti-Obama ads-- not just the Paris Hilton one-- and you will see they focus very little on actual issues and are more geared toward personality stuff... making voters see Obama as foreign or as an elite snob (the latter being the tactic the GOP used to destroy Gore and Kerry). Obama, on the other hand, is focusing his ads on McCain's support of Bush and conservative policies. It's no surprise-- given voters' love of BS non-issues-- that Obama's lead in polls is shrinking.

And that is why I completely agree with the second link... Obama needs to get his head back in the fucking game. He totally kicked Hillary's ass because he stayed focus and ran a solid campaign with a clear message. And Hillary was a much tougher opponent than McCain (in my opinion), so Obama should be winning by a landslide here. He's not because he's gotten lazy and sloppy.

He's let his message get diluted because he's spending too much time on defense and trying to appeal to 'centrist' BS issues that voters don't care about anyway (for instance, Obama should never have even given the GOP an inch on the offshore drilling/oil issue, but he's already given them a foot).

The time for playing nice with McCain is over. McCain and the GOP are playing dirty... and it's time to stop allowing them any accommodation or respect. The message should be clear... the GOP and Bush and McCain were running the country for the last 8 years. They are now pretending like they weren't, but they were. Things are real shitty now. End of story.

Ronald Reagan won by a landslide by asking voters a simple question: "Are you better off now than you were four years ago?". BAM. There's Obama's message. And every speech and press conference he gives should be geared toward a) reinforcing that, and b) reminding people that McCain and the GOP are responsible for this mess. Every time some book comes out insisting Obama is a marxist Muslim moonbat or every time the GOP says Obama wants to raise taxes and make gas expensive because he hates America, Obama needs to hold a press conference at some closed-up factory somewhere in middle America, and say "The GOP did this. End of story."

PS- As for foreign policy, Obama should be reinforcing how weak and pathetic the Bush/McCain policies have made us. Iraq is still a mess and even the GOP isn't pretending we can/should stay there forever (basically they've tiptoed back to closer to where Democrats have been). The GOP has also now adopted the longtime Democratic policy on fixing Afghanistan. Etc. All while insisting that listening to Democrats/liberals on foreign policy will result in armageddon.

And now we see Russia casually invading Georgia (though the latter isn't 100% innocent here either) because they knew President Bush was off slapping girls' asses in China and is generally an impotent buffoon with an incoherent worldview (ie. McCain-- Mr. Bomb-Bomb-Bomb-Iran himself-- stating with no sense of irony that ""In the twenty-first century, nations don't invade other nations"). The world sees us weaker than they have in a very long time, and it's not just because our currency is in the toilet. Obama needs to nail this home too.

If he thinks he can coast until November, well he should ask President Kerry how well that works.

We Like Ike...

2008-08-02T04:19:10Z

Thoughts on New Yorker Cover

2008-07-15T17:59:12Z

[Am I allowed to post images? Some communities are anal about such things.]

I'm curious to know what you all think of the New Yorker Obama cover.

I think it's purely satirical. It's meant to show the absurdity of the statements and "concerns" the media has expressed.
The reaction of the major news networks is almost comical.
On CBS, I do believe, one guest said to another, "Maybe if you were in a different skin you would understand.", when the second guest said that the cover was not an attack, but a brilliant satire.
I read an article in The New York Times today [by Bill Carter; bottom portion of the front page with a photo of Jon Stewart] about the lack of material the comedic talk show hosts have for Obama jokes.
I have to agree with the quotation from Bill Maher included in the article : "If you can't do irony on the cover of the New Yorker, where can you do it?"

Checking In

2008-06-28T21:07:39Z

So I've been having sort of hectic month (in both good and bad ways) and that has left me much less time and mental energy for blogging. I could half-ass this blog, but I never wanted to do that. Believe it or not, I have generally strived for quality over quantity here (yes, even on days where I posted like 5 times!). So I am just conceding defeat for the time being-- especially with my vacation (finally) coming up next month)-- and taking a hiatus from all this.

I'm still just as obsessed with politics as ever, of course, and hope to be back in the swing of things soon.

Feel free to make use of the community if you wish in my absence.

Video Smörgåsbord

2008-06-20T04:05:47Z

I won't have much time for blogging for the remainder of the week or so (sad, I know). So, in the meantime, here are a bunch of videos I wanted to post about. Feel free to throw in your two cents and all that jazz.

Watch Sen. McCain debate himself on his similarities with President Bush. And watch as he tries to convince voters that he doesn't intend to privatize Social Security by attempting to redefine what 'privatization' means. And Keith Olbermann reports on on McCain's connections to Big Oil and Enron.

He also reports on the inevitable 9/11 fearmongering being introduced into the campaign.

The band Oded Gross has a new music video on how gays destroyed marriage.

Finally, Mr. Colbert looks at the GOP's use of language to rebrand their failed foreign policy-

"This is our time to unite in common purpose, to make this century the next American century."

2008-06-19T11:47:13Z

Earlier this week, Sen. Obama gave another speech on the economy, this time in Flint, MI... a city that exemplifies the economic betrayals of the last few decades. You can watch the whole speech (nearly 50 minutes) here-

Matthew Yglesias is really impressed with the vision of economic reform Obama is promising-

[A]s a policy speech it's pretty awesome, one of the best efforts to chart a truly progressive, forward-looking approach to the big picture questions that I've seen from a practical politician. Rather than a world in which we try to whether economic storms by slashing taxes and cutting services to the bone, or by sealing our borders to trade and immigration, Obama is outlining a vision in which government plays a crucial positive role in providing human capital (i.e., education), physical infrastructure, basic R&D, and in putting our energy policy on a sustainable basis.

This is the clearest example I've seen of Obama as education reformer, talking about universal preschool and investing more resources in the most challenging classrooms, but also noting that "resources alone won't create the schools that we need to help our children succeed" and we "need to encourage innovation – by adopting curricula and the school calendar to the needs of the 21st century; by updating the schools of education that produce most of our teachers; by welcoming charter schools within the public schools system, and streamlining the certification process for engineers or businesspeople who want to shift careers and teach."

With the economy looking to be front and center this November, and with people becoming more progressive again on the issue, it's no surprise that Sen. McCain has been struggling to avoid the issue, and continue to focus on the cliched national security memes that worked so well for the Republicans... pre-2006 anyway. But the many, severe problems we face are not going away by themselves or by some magical market fix. It'll require people both smart and invested enough in solutions to fix them.

Sen. Obama's ability to convince swing voters that he's that guy will be key to victory.

Baracknophobia

2008-06-18T17:57:04Z

The Daily Show once again provides the most hilarious take on a top issue... in this case, all the smears and attacks against Sen. Obama. Wake up, white people!!

The First Affirmative Action President

2008-06-18T15:43:45Z

Conservapedia's entry on Barack Obama is the most hilarious thing, and is just basically a storage depot of all the right-wing smears and distortions about him.

Here are my favorite highlights-

Barack Hussein Obama, Jr. (b. Honolulu, August 4, 1961) is the presumptive 2008 nominee of the Democratic Party for president.[1] Obama has served as a freshman Democratic Senator from Illinois for three and a half years. In 2007, Obama was the most liberal Senator.[2] If elected, Obama would be the first Affirmative Action President.

Obama claimed to have visited 57 states while campaigning for president of the United States, which of course has only 50 states. He could never explain where the false number of 57 came from, but it has been observed that there are 57 Islamic states and Obama was educated at an Islamic grade school while he lived in an Islamic country.[3]

Obama has declared himself to be a Christian, yet never replaced his Muslim name with a Christian one as many do.[4] Obama downplays his Islamic background by claiming that his Kenyan Muslim father was a "confirmed atheist" before Obama was born, but in fact less than 1% of Kenyans are atheists, agnostics or non-religious.[5]

This is great not just because it tries to perpetuate the Obama = Muslim rumors, but because it sees conspiratorial evidence in everything he says or does to prove that he is, in fact, a terrorist Muslim.

We also learn that-

Obama's campaign "is proud to be actively participating in over 60 local and state wide homosexual Pride events over the summer."[20]

Conservapedia readers have, ahem, a well-documented obsession with homosexuality.

And, of course, the patriotism obsession-

Obama's campaign has been financed largely by leftist donors opposed to the war and to the American military in general. Obama has encouraged this by refusing to wear the customary flag on his lapel during appearances (asserting that he would prefer his patriotism to be represented through his actions rather than an arbitrary symbol) and by other less-than-patriotic gestures and symbols, such as declining to put his hand over his heart during a patriotic recitation. In an appearance on May 16 where he addressed President Bush's statements that some politicians would prefer appeasing terrorists through negotiations, Senator Obama once again wore the flag pin as he did following 9-11.

Wow, does this gay-loving Muslim hate America or what???!!!

Under his 'Political Views', we are told-

Obama's political views have been subjected to controversy even before he put himself forward as a presidential candidate. Former House majority leader Tom DeLay has described Obama's record in the Illinois Senate as that of a “Marxist leftist".[63] In May 2007, Obama (and Sen. Hillary Clinton) voted against funding the Iraq War for the first time.[64][65]

Well, if Tom Delay said so, case closed! Mr. Delay's entry, by the way, is surprisingly brief, very odd for a once powerful man whose career ended under such criminally delicious circumstances.

And a little below-- re: Iraq-- it reads-

Barack Obama in his short stint as Senator of Illinois, has made clear his opposition to the U.S. Military in policy and in rhetoric. Obama has spent much energy to remind America of the war that should have never been waged and that we should not be there at all, in any way. In 2002, as an unknown Chicago representative to the state of Illinois, he declared his opposition to the Iraqi conflict. At the time, America was united in the stance against terrorism and the prospects of a rogue enemy with WMD worried the United States. Since elected to Congress, he voted against the Emergency War Supplemental. Obama did not oppose his party debating the bill long past the timeframe requested. This action directly affects troop deployment in combat zones. Obama has repeatedly called for the return of troops in Iraq. Barack Obama has a no confidence vote for the 'Surge' before the measure was put forth by General Petraus to Congress. Obama would not denounce MoveOn.org's slander NY Times advertising against the General.

Wow! He opposed that disastrous and unpopular war?!? This terrorist is going down!

And, finally, in the section under his religion, it states-

Obama and his wife (reared a Baptist) have been active members since 1988 at the Trinity United Church of Christ[76] in Chicago. A church that embraces black liberation theology and its emphasis on empowering oppressed groups against establishment forces. Merging Marxism with Christian Gospel may show the way to a better tomorrow. This denomination was the first in America to ordain gays, women and blacks as ministers.[77] According to his sister, Obama was baptized at this church the same year.[78] Obama describes his conversion in The Audacity of Hope. The title of this book is taken from one of Pastor Wright's sermons.

Just in case you forgot that he's a Marxist who loves the gays. But he's also a Muslim too.

For contrast, you have to read John McCain's entry. I'm beginning to think there's bias here.

Odds and Ends

2008-06-18T04:31:39Z

Is it Friday again yet? No? Oh, darn. Here's some news...

As another story of broken levees this week in the Midwest floods brings further destruction, you would think we would finally have that conversation about our national priorities and protecting our faltering infrastructure. But we won't.

The devastation brought the Obama campaign to Illinois this past weekend to pitch in.

Later this summer, the Obama campaign may be doing more extensive traveling: "Barack Obama may depart this summer from his road-warrior tour of election-battleground states to take a trip around the world, one intended to shore up his credentials on foreign policy."

He's also confirmed that trips to Afghanistan and Iraq will happen before the election.

Meanwhile, in Iraq: "The Bush administration's Iraq policy suffered two major setbacks Friday when Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki publicly rejected key U.S. terms for an ongoing military presence and anti-American Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr called for a new militia offensive against U.S. forces." Aka, 'progress'.

Sen. McCain has found the long-term solution to our energy woes... off-shore drilling.

And Honda, meanwhile, begins commercial production on a hydrogen fuel-cell powered car.

Hey, look at you Congress, doing stuff! "Lawmakers voted Thursday to subpoena nine companies responsible for analyzing the most dangerous food entering the country as part of an investigation that gained more urgency with an outbreak of salmonella from tomatoes."

In court news, a federal judge rules in Bush's favor on the missing White House emails issue.

And finally, the Supreme Court "made it easier Monday for some foreigners who overstay their visas to seek to remain in the United States legally."

so sad

2008-06-18T00:47:49Z

http://perezhilton.com/2008-06-17-this-is-not-a-joke-39#respond

Quote of the Day

2008-06-17T22:29:48Z

"So Barack Obama tells Jake Tapper that we can fight terrorists and follow the constitution at the same time ('for example, the first attack against the World Trade Center, we were able to arrest those responsible, put them on trial'), and we get the standard talking point reaction from the McCain team. You know the drill: naive, September 10th mindset, etc. etc. All the usual dumb little campaign comments.

But wouldn't it be nice if we could have a real conversation about this? We could compare, say, the amount of terrorism we've stopped via police work, intelligence, international cooperation, financial interdiction, and so forth, and compare it to the amount of terrorism created by our military intervention in Iraq. And then we could talk about how the real September 10th mindset is the one that says it doesn't matter what other people think of us because, you know, we've got the biggest military in the world and we can squash 'em all like bugs anyway.

I say: bring 'em on. Let's talk about who's naive vs. who's learned some lessons from 9/11. The sooner the better."
--The Washington Monthly's Kevin Drum on McCain's cliched 9/11-oriented attack strategy.

Appeasement!!1!!!

2008-06-17T19:54:47Z

Via Wonkette, this hilarious juxtaposition of stories on WashingtonPost.com-

To quote Stephen Colbert, "reality has a well-known liberal bias".

The BBC has details on the truce-

Israel and militant group Hamas have agreed to end months of bitter clashes with a six-month truce starting on Thursday, Palestinian officials say.

A Hamas official said he was confident all militant groups in Gaza would abide by the agreement, brokered by Egypt.

Israeli officials said they were "looking to see if this is serious"...

...The BBC's Tim Franks in Jerusalem says a ceasefire should lead to an improvement in people's everyday lives in southern Israel and Gaza, but any talk of political upheaval or breakthrough is premature.

Palestinian and Egyptian officials say the truce is to come into effect at 0600 (0300 GMT) on Thursday. As well as a halt to all hostilities, this stage of the deal also envisages a partial reopening of Gaza's borders, they add...

Grain of salt and all that, but obviously this is a step in the better direction.

Al Gore Endorses Obama: "Take it from me, elections matter."

2008-06-17T04:18:23Z

I've been waiting to see this moment for many months now. I wish Gore himself were on the ticket, but his support is enough. He did a great job elaborating on what's at stake here.

[Gore endorses Obama and attacks Bush in Detroit (AP)]

Weekend Video Theatre: Guantanamo Baywatch

2008-06-15T11:00:51Z

In light of the Supreme Court's big habeas corpus ruling on Guantanamo detainees, here is Jon Stewart's take on the trials there from earlier in the week-

Taking Down Barack Obama

2008-06-14T13:05:49Z

As I noted the other day, the tables have turned in this year's election. Whereas the 2004 election was Democrats simply running against Bush-- and not for any specific grand vision (though really, shouldn't that have been enough?)-- now the Republicans have no vision of their own, and are pinning all their hopes of victory on convincing Americans that Barack Obama is a scary, unpatriotic, elitist black nationalist Muslim socialist who will destroy America. It certainly didn't help matters that a certain one of Obama's primary opponents worked to fan those flames.

To me, the stealth weapon in that fight are the chain smear emails that everyone has been getting. I had a friend from Long Island just the other today tell me that his father's girlfriend was forwarding him emails about Obama, including one insisting Obama will "stand with the Muslims" (it purposely misquoted a section from Obama's book in which he discussed the mistake America made in interning Japanese citizens during WWII). I even got one months back, entitled 'Who Is Barack Obama', which states-- among other things-- that "Let us all remain alert concerning Obama's expected presidential candidacy. The Muslims have said they plan on destroying the US from the inside out, what better way to start than at the highest level - through the President of the United States , one of their own!!!!"

This has all lead to voters like Shelby Sugg and Wanda Gibson here-

Now the news has picked up on Obama's efforts to fight back by... "form[ing] a rapid response internet 'war room' to track and respond aggressively to online rumours." The Obama fact-check website is here (look at the menu on the right for specific sections on Obama's religion and patriotism). And they have now launched a new, specific site-- Fight The Smears-- to maximize these efforts.

The problem there is that the percentage of Americans-- even among political junkies-- who visit a candidate's website(s) in this detail is really low. How much time is a Wanda Gibson going to take out of her day to surf through months and months of fact-check archives?

The GOP, of course, isn't just relying on stealth emails. They are being direct... if not very effective. John McCain's big attack of the week was responding to criticism that he's running for Bush's third term-- no, not by denying that!-- by saying that Obama is just like Jimmy Carter! Neener neener! During Carter's years, we had an energy crisis and Middle East woes... any party which presided over that would definitely be hated! Good point, John!

Sen. McCain's campaign is also running online banner ads juxtaposing Obama's face with that of Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The right even has the creator of the infamous 1988 Willie Horton working on 'exposing' Barack Obama. His latest ad is like a parody of all the smears mentioned above.

Sen. Obama will definitely need to do more than put a fact-check on his website to combat all of this. One of the main reasons that the Swift Boat lies became conventional wisdom in 2004-- besides media laziness-- was John Kerry's failure to fight the attacks immediately and aggressively. I have been glad to see that Obama is playing a good game of offense, but he can't slack on the defense either.

Andy McCarthy's Totally Geniune Curiosity

2008-06-14T12:05:31Z

I'm going to be posting next about all the Obama smear emails, but I wanted to post this first because it is relevant. The National Review's Andy McCarthy just doesn't get why those silly Democrats could be upset at all the suggestions that Obama is a crazy Muslim terrorist (oMg terrorist fist jab!). He writes-

Remarkable, isn't it, that someone so concerned about our image in the "international community," so offended by Bush's purported cowboy insensitivity, can get so spun up over "false rumors that [he] is a Muslim." Even if his accusations against Sen. Lieberman had any merit, why does Sen. Obama — who used to say that his middle name, Hussein, would be a real asset in the signals it would send to the world — now think it's defamatory to be taken for a Muslim?

Where does one even begin?

No, it should not be defamatory to be taken for a Muslim, and yes Obama's appeal to a broader swath of the world community than most U.S. leaders will be a huge plus for his presidency. But the reason that it's seen as a smear and has already turned some voters against Obama is because... conservatives have spent the last 7 years associating Muslims/Islam with terrorism and portraying most of the rest of the world as a scary place full of brown-skinned murderers and job-stealers!!! Seriously Andy, go fuck yourself. Hard.

John McCain's Love-Hate Relationship With War

2008-06-13T22:26:13Z

The big screaming headline at The Huffington Post and other websites earlier this week was John McCain's answer to the question on when U.S. troops can ever leave Iraq thusly... "that’s not too important." He then went on to reiterate his previous policy that we can occupy the country forever, since we will soon be in the fantasy scenario in which our troops will not be harmed or engaged in war for doing so.

But the attitude he wants to portray to the wider voting public is much less gung-ho. In his general election pitch, John McCain is a man who loathes war and understands that it's serious business with 'terrible costs'.

This scam is hardly new in American politics. Just two years ago, McCain's BFF Joe Lieberman also tried-- successfully, as we know now-- to trick voters into believing he understood the public sentiment toward the war. "No one wants to end the war in Iraq more than I do," Lieberman insisted in October 2006, adding "I have been very critical of a lot of the mistakes the Bush administration has made in Iraq." Does that last line sound familiar? Lieberman, of course, went on after securing reelection to become the most shameless apologist for war escalation (in Iraq and elsewhere) in the Senate, leading at least one Connecticut newspaper to retroactively apologize for endorsing him.

And, via blogger 'dday', here's a 1968 Nixon ad, in which he ran against the Johnson administration's Vietnam policy. In his campaign, he also played up the idea that he had a secret plan to end the war-

President Nixon went on to win and then to not only escalate the war in Vietnam, but expand it into Cambodia, briefly considering dropping nukes, all at the cost of countless lives, before finally allowing the plug to be pulled on that debacle of war near the end of his presidency (when he had other things to worry about, obviously).

Sen. McCain is right that war is serious business. And like Nixon and Lieberman, he's too dangerous to be trusted with it.

[Related reading: Iraq PM: security deal talks at dead end (AP)]

NBC's Tim Russert Dies.

2008-06-13T20:00:23Z

Apparently, it was a heart attack. I imagine this Sunday's 'Meet The Press' will largely be a tribute.