Religion, Politics, and the Great Pumpkin

Thoughts on New Yorker Cover

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:59:12 GMT

[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

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 21:07:39 GMT

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

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 04:05:47 GMT

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."

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 11:47:13 GMT

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

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 17:57:04 GMT

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

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 15:43:45 GMT

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

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 04:31:39 GMT

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

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 00:47:49 GMT

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

Quote of the Day

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 22:29:48 GMT

"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!!!

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 19:54:47 GMT

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."

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 04:18:23 GMT

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

Sun, 15 Jun 2008 11:00:51 GMT

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

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 13:05:49 GMT

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

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 12:05:31 GMT

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

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 22:26:13 GMT

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.

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 20:00:23 GMT

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

Weekend Odds and Ends

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 17:03:55 GMT

It's Friday the 13th. Watch out for black cats and crappy M. Night Shyamalan movies. Here's news...

If the terrorists hate us for our freedoms and liberties, they (like the White House) are going to be pissed: "In a stinging rebuke to President Bush's anti-terror policies, a deeply divided Supreme Court ruled Thursday that foreign detainees held for years at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba have the right to appeal to U.S. civilian courts to challenge their indefinite imprisonment without charges." Writing for the majority, Justice Kennedy states 'The laws and Constitution are designed to survive, and remain in force, in extraordinary times.'

The White House expresses disagreement, but it says it will abide by the ruling. Or not.

And right-wing pundits lament that America "lost to radical Islam" and propose just killing all the prisoners.

Meanwhile, in economic news: "A flood of economic aid payments pushed the federal budget deficit to $165.9 billion, the highest imbalance ever for May. The Treasury Department reported Wednesday that the May deficit was more than double what it was in May 2007. Some $48 billion in payments went out as part of the $168 billion economic relief effort to revive the economy and keep the country from a deep recession." ECONOMY = SAVED!

And as jobless claims rise again, there was news that "The House on Thursday approved an extra three months of jobless benefits for all unemployed Americans, knowing the plan's chances are slight in the Senate and almost nonexistent at the White House." So, yea.

U.S. life expectancy continues to lag behind most other first-world nations.

GOP-backed voter ID laws once again prevent the crime of eldery women voting.

Moving on to campaign news, Barack Obama's takeover of the DNC operations continues as he moves to centralize its work outside of DC, and into his home turf of Chicago.

Fox News and Michelle Malkin refer to Michelle Obama as "Obama's baby mama"; are way sorry.

And Sen. McCain takes a page from the Bush playbook and hosts a 'town hall' meeting which shockingly turns out to be just packed with supporters and other ringers. Democracy inaction!

McCain also threatens to veto every single beer, lose election.

Finally, Ron Paul is either quitting the GOP base or starting a new revolution, he's not sure.

"Sen. McCain wants to turn Bush’s policy of 'too little, too late' into a policy of 'even less, even

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 04:06:35 GMT

Sen. Obama went after Sen. McCain hard this week, on economic issues from the housing crisis to energy concerns. You know what I like? Democrats who don't just play defense.

From the AP-

Democrat Barack Obama on Monday seized on heightened concerns about the economy, tying John McCain to the Bush administration's recent record of soaring gasoline prices and slumping employment.

Launching a two-week economics tour in a state the GOP usually considers safe, Obama warned that McCain's policies on taxes, spending and energy would continue the nation's slump, which some fear is already a recession. He called for new taxes on oil companies and wealthy individuals, along with $1,000 tax cuts for most working families...

...The centerpiece of McCain's economic plan "amounts to a full-throated endorsement of George Bush's policies," Obama told about 900 people in Raleigh...

...Obama offered no new policies in his speech, which he read from teleprompters. Rather, he used the occasion to emphasize his economic differences with McCain and summarize earlier proposals. They include raising income taxes on wealthy individuals, granting a $1,000 tax cut to most others, winding down the Iraq war, tightening credit card regulations and pumping more money into education, alternative fuels and infrastructure such as roads and bridges...

...The two differed somewhat on energy production as well. Obama called for greater government investments "in a renewable energy policy that ends our addiction on foreign oil, provides real long-term relief from high fuel costs and builds a green economy that could create up to five million well-paying jobs that can't be outsourced."

Sen. McCain's retort? Attempting to resurrect the gas tax holiday scam. "I don't pretend that it's an answer to our energy problems," he admits. Well, ummm, okay then.

Also, CNN looked at the Tax Policy Center's report comparing John McCain and Barack Obama's proposed tax plans (video), and found that 90% of Americans would save $$$ under the Obama plan. The only group that would save with a President McCain are the rich, and I don't think too many of them are swing voters anyway.

The debates this Fall should be fun.

Sen. Obama's 50-State Strategy

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 21:33:37 GMT

One of the reasons, in my opinion anyway, that Barack Obama triumphed in the primaries is because he ran using Howard Dean's 50-state strategy, while Clinton ran using the Democrats' usual 'focus on the big blue states and the two or three swings states we believe matter' strategy. The latter crashed and burned in 2004, and the former triumphed in 2006.

Obama is obviously looking to expand this strategy for the general election. Sen. McCain will be very competitive in key states (sorry, I think Florida is a goner for us), and so it's good that Obama wants to expand the Democratic map. There are a number of states that I think he has a better than good shot at taking given his appeal and the political winds... Virginia, New Mexico, Colorado, Montana, maybe even something in the South.

Josh Marshall has a good primer this week-

But the underreported benefit of this strategy is the big boost it will give to down-ticket candidates in all of these states. Democratic candidates in these states had previously been under-funded and largely invisible. But the Obama camp has built grassroots armies all over the country and he is raking in small donor money hand over fist, a good deal of which can be handed down to these other candidates. We've seen in the past year or so how successful these candidates can be when they have the tools to fight.

The progressive agenda has been struggling along slowly the past two years because the GOP minority in Congress has proven better at obstruction and holding the line than was expected. For an Obama presidency to truly accomplish anything, he will need a larger and fresher Democratic majority (filibuster-proof Senate?). If this strategy gets him that, it will be as big a triumph as the presidency itself.

Hurricane Katrina... Thanks for the Memories

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 11:55:44 GMT

Blog reader deevee45 had suggested strolling down memory lane with some of the Daily Show's initial post-Katrina episodes. Katrina was back in the public eye this month because not only of reports of Karl Rove's role in the botched response-- or lack thereof-- to the storm, but also because of the DNC refusing to allow Sen. McCain to distort his record on Katrina-related issues.

Here is the initial report (search more Katrina videos here)-

This seems like so long ago now. At least Harry Shearer is still writing about it.

Maverick!

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 04:36:12 GMT

Mark Kleiman nails it on the liberal media once again praising McCain's maverickness-

Talk about the soft bigotry of low expectations! Just because John McCain, at some phases of the moon, is less reality-challenged than most of his Republican opponents this year doesn't make his solid right-wing record into "centrism."

On several points, the editorial in today's LA Times is simply, factually wrong:

* McCain started out as an opponent of torture, but then turned around and voted against a provision that would have forbidden torture by the CIA. Either he only cares about keeping the uniformed services out of it, or he decided that he needed the wingnut vote too badly to stick by his principles.

* Whatever McCain says to Latinos in California, he has said in public that he would now vote against the immigration bill he sponsored.

* The difference between an 80% cut in greenhouse-gas emissions and a 60% cut may seem small to an innumerate editorialist, but the remaining emission level after a 60% cut is precisely twice the remaining emission level after an 80% cut. That's aside from the fact that Obama is, and McCain isn't, willing to pursue policies that might actually get us to his announced target.

* Agreeing on stem-cell research and a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage isn't really much of an offset to disagreeing fundamentally about reproductive choice. Not only has McCain promised to appoint justices just like those who have already voted to overturn Roe v. Wade, he's also been a solid vote against contraception and for "abstinence-only" sex education, which demonstrably fails.

* Nor does the fact that McCain and Obama agree on opposing a marriage amendment mean that they have similar stances on gay rights. Obama wants to repeal Dont Ask, Don't Tell; McCain voted for it and still supports it.

Yes, the fact that the Republican candidate isn't a global-warming denier or a flagrant gay-baiter does represent progress toward sanity. But to the question asked by the editorial's headline — Obama-McCain, the Same?" the only correct answer is "No!"

And that's not change you can believe in.

Poor George W. Bush

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 22:43:11 GMT

President Bush totally regrets that anyone got the impression that he is a man who wanted war. Perhaps history will vindicate him as the angel of peace and mercy that he is.

Meanwhile, in Afghanistan...

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 22:30:52 GMT

...The violent status quo continues in its seventh year.

Iraqi PM Appeases Iranian President With Promises of Peace

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 18:42:07 GMT

Even as President Bush continues to use the remaining months of his presidency to saber-rattle against Iran, and as his two potential successors debate over whether bombs or diplomacy will solve all our problems, Iraq's prime minister has bad news... he may have to accept that we're indefinitely occupying his supposedly sovereign nation, but he draws the line at us blowing up his largest neighbor.

From a recent visit between the leaders of those two countries-

Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Sunday tried to allay Iranian fears over a planned U.S.-Iraq security pact, saying his government would not allow Iraq to become a launching pad for an attack on its neighbor.

"Iraq today doesn't present any threat as it used to be in the times of the former regime," al-Maliki told Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during a Sunday meeting between two leaders, according to a statement from the prime minister's office.

"Today's Iraq is a constitutional state based on the rule of law, and it seeks to develop its relations with the regional countries based on cooperation and mutual respect," al-Maliki said...

On some level, of course, Maliki knows that we make the decisions in Iraq, and he may even be fine with that to some degree. But I do believe this is where he draws the line. We could never launch any (successful) attack on Iran without the approval of Iraq, and we will never get that. That is why I am less worried than some liberals about the possibility of war with Iran before the Bush years end. A McCain presidency will heighten those concerns, of course.

And despite retroactively justifying the war in Iraq based on a push for Middle East democracy, the fact is that most conservatives secretly hate al-Maliki (not that he's an upstanding leader, but that's neither here nor there) and find the democratic particulars of Iraq to be boring and irrelevant. You even have prominent conservative journalists reminiscising about their favorite old dictators like Augusto Pinochet and hoping someday we can put such a thug in charge of Iraq (until 20 years later, when he becomes a nuisance, then we'll invade again to remove him). Pesky facts like how the vast majority of Iraqis want the U.S. to withdraw or are opposed to a military attack on Iran don't exist in that world. Acting tough is all that matters, consequences be damned.

"It all goes—it all goes back to appeasement... energized, legitimated. It's the exact same thing."

[Related reading: Immunity for private guards in Iraq a sticking point: US (AFP)]

Are You An Elitist?

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 11:41:05 GMT

Stephen Colbert warns his viewers of the dangerous elitist menace lurking in our society...