John McCain or Barack Obama: Who is The Real Elitist?

by now you have all heard about Barack Obama going to Hawaii to visit with friends and family and that the Repugnicans and their media stooges ( Cokie Roberts and Michael Crowley ) have made a big deal out of it and have called Obama both exotic and elitist because of the trip. Never mind that shit though.

 Huffington Post

Bob Cesca

The Exotic Candidate Is The One With Eight Houses

Posted August 13, 2008

   "It is possible," Gore Vidal once wrote, "for any citizen with time to spare,and a canny eye, to work out what is actually going on, but for the many there is not time, and the network news is the only news even though it may not be news at all but only a series of flashing fictions."

The barbecue media script for this election, a work of unabridged fiction and co-written by the modern Rove Republicans, has crow-barred Senator Obama into the incongruous frame of the exotic effete elitist, irrespective of the fact that, on all counts, he's absolutely none of those things. It's the same script that's been wheeled out during the last several presidential elections -- designed as a way of sculpting reality into a neatly packaged prime time dramatic narrative that both reinforces and exploits fear-based stereotypes.

This week, for example, Cokie Roberts and Michael Crowley, along with a creepy monster squad of Republican stalkers, have been trying to peg Senator Obama's vacation in Hawaii as proof that the script is accurate. Hawaii, they say, is only for exotic elitists. Senator Obama is in Hawaii. Therefore, Senator Obama is an exotic elitist. See how that works?

Never mind that this Hawaii-is-exotic-and-elitist gripe came from a not-elitist millionaire with the not-exotic name "Cokie." This Cokie phenomenon is a solid example of the script's paradoxical, fictitious awfulness. Despite similar griping from the McBush Republicans, the truth is that Senator McCain is far and away the more elitist and exotic of the two candidates. Fact. No bias here.

Let's start with Hawaii and do the list.

Senator McCain met and fell in love with his current wife, Cindy Hensley, while on vacation in... exotic and elitist Hawaii. He was 42, she was 24. He was still married to his first wife at the time, who was disabled as the result of a car accident, by the way. The whole scene -- Hawaii, cheating on a disabled wife with a super-rich beer heiress -- is just about as exotic and elitist as it gets according to the standards of the script.

So... Cokie?

For the sake of contrast, Senator Obama and Mrs. Obama's biography as a couple is about as ordinary and traditional as Americana itself. No weird cheating or ugly divorces. No trophy heiress nearly half his age. Just an ordinary American love story. How the barbecue media and far-right talk radio has managed to spin the Obamas as the African-American version of Mickey & Mallory is one of the most wicked examples of dishonesty from this dark ride -- worthy of the most backwards of Karl Rove's non-reality-based conspiracies against the truth.

Cindy McCain's beer distributorship pulls in upwards of $300 million annually. Hardly relatable to the middle and working class families who are losing their homes to foreclosure -- one of many consequences of the last 30 years of the Republican war on the middle class. So it's not a stretch to suggest that being married to a woman whose family business is worth a quarter of a billion dollars is -- what's the word? -- unusual? Atypical? Irregular? How about exotic?

Such cash allows for certain not-elitist and not-exotic perks. A private jet for example. According to Mrs. McCain, getting around Arizona is hard work so thank goodness the McCains have their own jet. Just like you and me and the Obamas, right? But maybe it's unfair to badger the McCains about their personal jet airplane. How else are they going to travel around to their eight houses (this one, for example). Walk? Drive a car? That's just silly talk. Senator McCain would totally ruin his not-elitist and not-exotic $520 Italian shoes engaging in such an effort. Then what would he wear while he's hosting SNL or visiting the set of a movie he's appearing in? Jelly shoes from Payless? Yeah right. Try installing Senator McCain's lifts inside of those hideous things.

The only truly "ordinary" thing about Senator McCain is that his first name is "John" (there are just over 5 million guys named "John" in the United States, so they win this one). He's also white. Really, really white. Like, squishy subterranean cave dweller white.

Yet irrespective of what white, upper-class Republicans or Mark Penn or Very Serious Mark Halperin or Pat Buchanan might think, Senator Obama quite literally looks like 21st Century America. Mixed-culture, mixed-heritage, middle class roots. Senator Obama, in terms of his racial composition and family history, has more in common with average Americans than just about any modern Republican presidential nominee.

The only way he's not is if somehow we've been transported into an episode of Leave It To Beaver -- or if by "America" the Republicans and the barbecue media mean to suggest "Kentucky." Even with that as a qualification, half of Senator Obama's racial composition is rooted in rural Kansas. His parents were divorced. He barely knew his biological father.

Now, Cokie, drive down (or have your driver take you) to the nearest Wal-Mart. Line up 100 people and ask them whether they can relate to a man who owns eight houses and whose wife is a gazillionaire, or if they can relate to a man who represents the American melting pot -- a man who just recently paid off his student loans -- a man who was raised by a single mother -- a man who is (shock horror!) still happily married to his only wife. Then drive back (or have your driver take you) down to ABC's Newseum studio this Sunday and look directly into the This Week cameras tell us that Senator Obama is the more exotic or elitist of the two candidates.

And that goes for you, too, Buchanan. (Pat Buchanan has recently been engaging in some concern-trolling by wondering aloud, "Why can't Senator Obama close the deal?" This is one of Buchanan's more subversive race-baiting tricks. The answer he's begging is very likely his favorite lamentation about the senator: "Because he's too exotic.")

The modern Republicans have hijacked the label "real American" and stapled it onto the foreheads of a platoon of phonies. George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Mitt Romney, John Sidney McCain, Rush Limbaugh. Hell, even the poster boy for this hillbilly dark ride, Larry the Cable Guy, is a fraud in redneck drag. And the very serious barbecue media has accepted this trickery as reality because it fits perfectly into their antiquated election year narrative.

Throughout the course of this seemingly interminable election cycle, it's been well-documented by various blogotubers that the key to winning this election will be to fight the barbecue media's script -- to debunk the "series of flashing fictions." I would suggest that reversing this "exotic elitist" frame is, to borrow a familiar phrase, a central front in the war on the barbecue media. In the case of Senator Obama, reality is on our side. It's simply a matter of repeating the reality until the script is slowly immolated and the truth rises to the surface. And in the process, perhaps the barbecue media will begin to realize that the modern liberal movement has more in common with "average Americans" than any fraud or flimflam artist the Republicans have dropped onto the stage.

Bob Cesca's Goddamn Awesome Blog! Go!

Technorati Tags: 2008 Election,Barack Obama,John McCain,Media Coverage

McCain Gets Ripped By Bush's Pastor

  This should go a long way towards pissing off the evangelicals that John McCain has been pandering to as of late.

Crossposted at Strategy "08

Bush pastor RIPS McCain over Sturgis, backs Obama

Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell, the pastor that presided over Jenna Bush’s wedding ceremony and is considered a close personal friend of President Bush, absolutely ripped into John McCain today on a conference call with reporters. Rev. Caldwell took issue with Senator McCain’s remarks that he made at the Sturgis bike rally last week when he volunteered his wife for the rally’s “beauty” pageant, the Ms. Buffalo Chip pageant. For those who were not familiar with that story, the Ms. Buffalo Chip pageant is a topless modeling contest, that among other things, involves a section with a banana.

Caldwell comments highlight exactly why true family values conservatives should have a problem with John McCain.

“Well, I don’t know a lot about John McCain’s family history, I do know, however, that as recently as last week I think it was, the Senator made a comment in South Dakota regarding his wife entering some Buffalo Chips contest which is this topless deal and if she were to enter she would probably win it and my personal opinion and based on my understanding of the Christian faith, that’s not not, N-O-T, not the type of expression that a presidential candidate, or anyone for that matter who is a follower of the Christian faith, ought to make,” said the Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell. “I don’t know if that is a perfect case in point, but it surely does help to juxtapose the DNA of Senator Obama, if you would, versus the DNA of Senator McCain.”

The article also points out that Caldwell is backing Obama for president, and is a member of the Matthew 25 network. For anyone who is not familiar with the Matthew 25 network and the great work they do, you can check out cardboard’s Daily Kos diary currently on the Recommended list there.

During the conference call, Rev. Caldwell also hits John McCain on his adultery during his first marraige:

His marital history has been duly recorded,” said Caldwell, referring to McCain, “and as recently as yesterday I think it is, our pastor from Saddleback, Rick Warren indicated that he would not feel comfortable voting for an adulterer and I don’t know exactly to whom he was referring but I think the data speaks for itself, and again, at the end of the day, and I really appreciate you raising this because, at the end of the day again I think the American public deserves full revelation of the candidate’s character and competency. Character and competency. So, whatever questions that should be asked that would give the voting public an indication as to who they are and what they’ve done should be fair game.”

When the Edwards scandal first came out, a lot of people thought it would be bad for Democrats. But the truth is that the scandal has put the issue of infidelity into the spotlight, which forces McCain to have to answer about his own history with adultery.

The article contains a few other good nuggets, including an admission by a McCain campaign spokesperson that Senator McCain was aware that the Ms. Buffalo Chip Pageant was a topless pageant before he made his remarks at Sturgis, and is worth a read.

But what the article really hits home is that this year, the Republicans no longer have the morality wedge issue to try to scare voters away from the Democratic candidate, and the John McCain is not longer going to be able to count on the evangelical vote as being locked up this year.

UPDATE: The McCain campaign came back at Obama with this amusing response:

McCain spokesman Brian Rogers has responded to Caldwell’s criticism by saying: “These people are Obama campaign surrogates. These kinds of personal attacks are disgraceful. This absolutely exposes the hypocrisy of Obama’s claim to represent a ‘new kind of politics.’”

A Republican strategist speaking on the condition of anonymity reacted to the Caldwell comments by telling ABC News: “My advice to the Obama people: ‘proceed with extreme caution.’ They don’t want to get into a discussion of character and background. They are opening a door that they will not be able to close. They are putting on the table issues and personalities that they do not want to discuss.”

Like the Republicans weren’t going to bring all of the “character issues” into the election? The response shows me that they seem to be legitimately scared over the issues of family values and how McCain looks on those issues vs. Obama.

And to make it perfectly clear, Rev. Caldwell is not an Obama surrogate.  The McCain campaign is just automatically trying to paint anyone who criticizes the Senator as a surrogate of the Obama campaign.

Technorati Tags: John McCain,Barack Obama,Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell,George Bush,2008 election

Grassroots Anti-McCain Ad From DailyKos Diarist

     This ad does totally rock and it should be on television and all over the Internet!

 

  Kudos to to kossack cartwrightdale, who created this . Pass it along to all of your friends.

Technorati Tags: John McCain,George Bush,2008 election,DailyKos

Deployed Troops Give More Money To Obama By 6:1

  From OpenSecrets we learn that our troops have given more money to Democrat Barack Obama than they have to Republican John McCain. I guess that our troops actually do want the Democrats to bring them home?

OpenSecrets

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.

Despite McCain's status as a decorated veteran and a historically Republican bent among the military, members of the armed services overall -- whether stationed overseas or at home -- are also favoring Obama with their campaign contributions in 2008, by a $55,000 margin. Although 59 percent of federal contributions by military personnel has gone to Republicans this cycle, of money from the military to the presumed presidential nominees, 57 percent has gone to Obama.

Individuals in the Air Force, Army, Navy and Marine Corps have all leaned Republican this cycle, but the only branch in which that ideology has carried over to the presidential race is the Marine Corps, where McCain leads Obama by about $4,000. In each of the other branches -- including the Navy, in which McCain served when he was taken prisoner during the Vietnam War -- Obama leads by significant margins.

Technorati Tags: Barack Obama,Johm McCain,2008 election,military,campaign contributions

Hillary Clinton's Name To Be Put On Nomination At Convention

  This is supposed to be just a symbolic thing in order to show the appreciation for all of the work that Hillary Clinton has done and also her accomplishment while seeking the Democratic Presidential nomination, but I smell a rat in the kitchen!

  Yahoo News

Clinton is scheduled to speak on the second night of the convention, August 26, two nights before Obama accepts the 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, unified fashion," Obama said in a prepared statement.

A Clinton aide said there will be a roll call vote for the nomination but details were still be working. Such a procedure would allow Clinton's supporters to vote for her on the convention floor, even though they would not have enough votes to deny Obama the nomination.

The Obama campaign hopes the move will dispel any lingering tensions, but it could also highlight those tensions to a national television audience. Clinton has privately supported a floor vote recently but Obama has been less enthusiastic.

  The Democrats convention could get really interesting when this crap comes up!

Technorati Tags: Hillary Clinton,Barack Obama,DNC

Gunman Kills Arkansas Democratic Chairman

  50 year old Timothy Dale Johnson, from the Little Rock area, apparently ran into the Arkansas Democratic headquarters and shot Chairman Bill Gwatney, who died 4 hours later. The shooter ran off in his pickup truck but was killed by police after chasing him for 30 miles.

   A worker at the crime scene said that Johnson had said, " I lost my job."

Yahoo News

Witnesses said the gunman entered the party offices shortly before noon and said he wanted to see Gwatney.

"He said he was interested in volunteering, but that was obviously a lie," said 17-year-old party volunteer Sam Higginbotham. He said that when the suspect was refused a meeting with Gwatney, he pushed past employees to reach the chairman's office.

Hastings said the suspect and Gwatney introduced themselves to one another, at which time the suspect "pulled out a handgun and shot Gwatney several times." Hastings didn't say what the two discussed, but said their discussion was not a heated one.

  I should note that Chairman Gwatney was a Democratic Party Superdelegate.

Technorati Tags: Arkansas,Democratic Party,Bill Gwatney

John McCain Says Corporate Taxes To High. Not Quite Right John

   About two-thirds of corporations operating in the United States did not pay taxes annually from 1998 to 2005, according to a new report scheduled to be made public today from the U.S. Government Accountability Office.        Source

  You can download some corporate numbers to look at Here if you are interested in seeing how little corporations actually pay in taxes.

Technorati Tags: John McCain,corporate taxes,2008 election

New DNC " Exxon John " Ad

  This ad is a hoot. Of course, unlike the GOP smear ads with their half-truths, if any at all, this ad on john McCain is 100% correct.

Technorati Tags: John McCain,ExxonMobile,2008 election,lobbyist

John McCain and the Attack On Georgia By Russia

  Read the following article and then think, do we really want John McCain in the White House? The old fool does not have a clue!

DailyKos

McCain on Georgia: Even Cheney isn't bellicose enough

by smintheus Mon Aug 11, 2008

Nobody outside Georgia tried harder to get the US to rush precipitously into the conflict with Russia than John McCain - even though by Monday he'd retreated to the point of merely urging more diplomatic pressure. His first reactions tell you what kind of president he'd be, however. And clearly he's bellicose in a way that makes even Dick Cheney look like a wuss.

On Friday as soon as fighting broke out McCain put all the blame on Russia and called for the involvement of NATO. His campaign, via Georgian-lobbyist turned foreign policy adviser Randy Scheunemann, also immediately set about politicizing the crisis by trying to use it to score points against Barack Obama.

[Scheunemann] also criticized Obama for calling on both sides to show "restraint," and suggested the Democrat was putting too much blame on the conflict’s clear victim.

Of course Georgia was not merely a "victim" in provoking this crisis, and the only country Obama actually singled out for blame was Russia for invading Georgia's sovereign territory.

"I strongly condemn the outbreak of violence in Georgia, and urge an immediate end to armed conflict. Now is the time for Georgia and Russia to show restraint, and to avoid an escalation to full scale war. Georgia’s territorial integrity must be respected. All sides should enter into direct talks on behalf of stability in Georgia, and the United States, the United Nations Security Council, and the international community should fully support a peaceful resolution to this crisis."

But Obama did call for restraint and that was so inexcusable that the McCain campaign has inflated its attack further.

In fact, the initial response from the Obama campaign was characterized by precisely the kind of rhetoric that the leaders of these nations warn against--a meaningless statement that equates the victim with the victimizer by calling on both sides to show restraint. Asking the Georgians to show restraint is like asking the Hungarians to show restraint as Russian tanks rolled into the country in 1956, or for restraint from the students in Prague in 1968.

The reaction of the Obama campaign to this crisis, so at odds with our democratic allies and yet so bizarrely in sync with Moscow, doesn't merely raise questions about Senator Obama's judgment--it answers them.

Except that Obama's statements, unlike McCain's, were in fact in sync with the statements of America's allies and of McCain's personal ally, George Bush:

"We urge restraint on all sides — that violence would be curtailed and that direct dialogue could ensue in order to help resolve their differences," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino told reporters.

What's more on Sunday, two days after McCain began denouncing Obama's call for "restraint", Dick Cheney praised Georgia for its "restraint".

"The vice president praised President Saakashvili for his government's restraint, offers of cease-fire, and disengagement of Georgian forces from the zone of conflict in the South Ossetian region of the country," the statement said.

With even the blustering Cheney on board, it looks like just about everybody thought the Georgians needed to show some restraint - except John McCain. That shows the kind of president he'd make.

Technorati Tags: John McCain,Georgia,Russia,NATO,Dick Cheney,Barack Obama

Kuwait Getting Ready For U.S. War With Iran?

  It would seem to be that way as Kuwait has activated its "Emergency War Plan" according to reports. This would be in response to reports that the United States and a European fleet are heading to the Gulf area.

   According to Middle East Times, a U.S., Briton, and French joint task force are now headed to the gulf in what could be a possible confrontation with Iran.

The naval force comprises a U.S. Navy super carrier battle group and is accompanied by an expeditionary carrier battle group, a British Royal Navy carrier battle group and a French nuclear hunter-killer submarine.

Leading the pack is the nuclear-powered carrier, the USS Theodore Roosevelt and its Carrier Strike Group Two; besides its 80-plus combat planes the Roosevelt normally transports, it is carrying an additional load of French Naval Rafale fighter jets from the French carrier Charles de Gaulle, currently in dry dock.

Also reported heading toward Iran is another nuclear-powered carrier, the USS Ronald Reagan and its Carrier Strike Group Seven; the USS Iwo Jima, the Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal and a number of French warships, including the nuclear hunter-killer submarine Amethyste.

Once the naval force arrives in the Gulf region it will be joining two other U.S. naval battle groups already on site: the USS Abraham Lincoln and the USS Peleliu; the Lincoln with its carrier strike group and the latter with an expeditionary strike group.

Telephone calls to the Pentagon were not returned by publication time.

  That drop in the price of gasoline that we have been having as of late?  Expect that to disappear in the coming weeks and to go up even higher.

Technorati Tags: Kuwait,Iran,Middle East,war

" Job Killer John " Video Released By Erie,Pa. DNC

  Not a bad video either, but, it could have had a little more punch to it.

   Senator John McCain was in Erie today to spout off some more of his usual half/truths and lies about Democrat Barack Obama and his supposed inability to lead the United States as President.

   The local Erie DNC had a video waiting for dear old John when he arrived.

   Here it is from YouTube, which is the only place that the ad will run.

  " Job Killer John "? That is pretty good!

Technorati Tags: John McCain,DNC,employment,2008 election

Obama Camp Posts New Ad In Ohio Blaming Job Loses On John McCain

  This one will go over real well to the people in Ohio who are on the verge of losing their jobs because a  DHL owned company in Wilmington is about to close, leaving as many as 8,000 people unemployed.

  Part of the radio ad says:

"But there's something John McCain's not telling you: It was McCain who used his influence in the Senate to help foreign-owned DHL buy a U.S. company and gain control over the jobs that are now on the chopping block in Ohio," the announcer says.
"And that's not all: McCain's campaign manager was the top lobbyist for the DHL deal...helped push it through. His firm was paid $185,000 to lobby McCain and other Senators."

  I tried to provide the audio, but the audio is not available at this time. I'll update later. Either way, this ad could do some real damage to the Straight Talk Express after it is heard by enough of those living in Ohio.

  I must say that it is about time that the Obama camp knocks the crap out of the McCain clan!

   Of course, McCain now wants the Justice Department to investigate DHL's plan to use another carrier ( UPS ) to haul its packages. UPS is a rival in the industry.

Technorati Tags: John McCain,DHL,UPS,Barack Obama,lobbyist

John Kerry On Bush's Lean Towards Obama's Ideas

  John Kerry was on Meet The Press this past Sunday and had a response to host Tom Brokaw on whether Barack Obama was playing the race card after one of those lousy John McCain ads appeared questioning Obama's ability to lead the country. Kerry truthfully said that the GOP was making an attempt to scare the public into voting for McCain.

MR. BROKAW: I mean, when he, when he was talking about a dollar bill or a five dollar bill, he wasn't talking about whether he was not wearing a wig and wooden teeth.

SEN. KERRY: No, he was talking--what he was talking about is this campaign to scare about the person, and that's what they do. They try to scare about the person. They try to attack the character. They can't win on health care. They can't win on the economy. Eighty-five percent of the people in the nation know the country's moving in the wrong direction. They can't win--in fact, and I want to take Joe on on this, he just said the question is, is he ready to lead? Barack Obama has proven that he has the right judgment. What people are electing here is a president who has the judgment to do what's right for America. Barack Obama is right about Iraq. Now George Bush, Prime Minister Maliki think we ought to set a deadline. He was right about Afghanistan. John McCain has been the slowest person to come to the question of Afghanistan and adding more troops. He was right about Pakistan, that we ought to have the ability to go in and take out a terrorist. And John McCain criticized him for taking that position. He's been right about North Korea and Iran and the notion that we ought to negotiate. Now the Bush administration is negotiating. The Bush administration has moved towards Barack Obama, not John McCain. And John McCain's judgment has been wrong, and it's dangerous for America.

  Funny how a man who is not ready to lead this country has all of the Republican leaders in the White House now using his ideas. Except for McCain, who is to old to see past the past.

Technorati Tags: Barack Obama,John McCain,John Kerry,Meet the Press,2008 election

Barack Obama Reaps More Money From ExxonMobile Employees

  Let's all start first off with the fact that John McCain has raised considerably more more from the oil industry ( $1.3 million ) than Barack Obama ( $394,000 ) has.

  But since the DNC  has put up a parody website slamming McCain and his ties to big oil, called ExxonMcCain 08, it is only fair to point out that Obama actually has gotten more cash from ExxonMobile employee's than McCain has.

  Center for Responsive Politics

Tallying contributions by employees in the industry and their families, we found that Exxon, Chevron and BP have all contributed more money to Obama than to McCain.

Through June, Exxon employees have given Obama $42,100 to McCain's $35,166. Chevron favors Obama $35,157 to $28,500, and Obama edges out McCain with BP $16,046 vs. $11,500. McCain leads the money race with nearly every other top giver in the oil and gas industry, though -- Koch Industries, Valero, Marathon Oil, Occidental Petroleum, ConocoPhillips, the list goes on. McCain also has a big edge with Hess Corp. -- $91,000 to Obama's $8,000 -- which has gotten some attention. And, overall, McCain's campaign has gotten three times more money from the industry than Obama's has -- $1.3 million compared to about $394,000.

Technorati Tags: Barack Obama,John McCain,Hess,big oil,contributions

New Ad Out By The DNC On The John McCain/Bush Twins

  This is a pretty darn good ad, enjoy it.

Technorati Tags: John McCain,George Bush,2008 election,DNC

Nancy Pelosi Questions john McCain's Energy Proposals

   Nancy Pelosi today had a comment about John McCain's rhetoric when it comes to energy policy and the fact that he's been calling for Congress to come back into session when he himself misses practically all of the major votes on energy issues.

  The Gavel

Washington, D.C. – Speaker Nancy Pelosi released the following statement today in response to calls from Senator McCain that Congress resume session to consider energy proposals:

“Senator McCain wants to call Congress back into session to vote on ‘drill only’ proposals that he knows full well will not provide immediate relief to consumers, and yet he was absent from the Senate during critical votes to cut subsidies for Big Oil, help consumers and promote renewables and conservation.

“The New Direction Congress will continue to demand that the President release oil from our nation’s stockpile to provide immediate relief in 10 days, unlike the McCain-Republican-Big Oil plan that lowers prices at the pump by 2 cents in 10 years. Freeing a small amount of our oil from government stockpiles is the only immediate solution to the pain at the pump.

“John McCain could have been the deciding vote in favor of key energy initiatives, but instead he decided to stand by Big Oil. Senator McCain’s absent leadership on energy independence doesn’t match his rhetoric.”

  There is a little more background on McCain and some of the votes that he has missed when he should have been at work, not that you and I do not know how he would have voted anyway.

Technorati Tags: Nancy Pelosi,John McCain,oil,energy policy,Congress

John McCain and the Oil Money

  It would seem that Mr. Straight Talk has been bought off by big oil as his campaign contributions have gone up considerably thanks to his change on drilling for oil off of our coasts and up in ANWR.

   One company in particular stands out, and that would be Hess.

   TPM

Ten senior Hess Corporation executives and/or members of the Hess family each gave $28,500 to the joint RNC-McCain fundraising committee, just days after McCain reversed himself to favor offshore drilling, according to Federal Election Commission reports.
Nine of these contributions, seven from Hess executives and two from members of the Hess family, came on the same day, June 24th, the records show. The total collected in the wake of McCain's reversal for the fund, called McCain Victory 2008, from Hess execs and family is $285,000.

The Washington Post reported last week that campaign contributions from oil industry execs rose in a big way in the last half of June, after McCain drew a huge amount of attention by reversing his opposition on June 16th to the federal ban on offshore drilling.

  Not to be out done by the McCain camp, Barack Obama put out an ad taking Mr.McCain to task for his energy love-feast.

   At least the ads coming forth from the Obama camp have truth to them.

Technorati Tags: Barack Obama,John McCain,Hess,2008 election

MSM Beginning To Criticize John McCain's Campaign Tactics

 Newsweek

  In the middle of John McCain's dopey Britney & Paris attack ad, the announcer gravely asks of Barack Obama: "Is He Ready to Lead?" An equally good question is whether McCain is ready to lead. For a man who will turn 72 this month, he's a surprisingly immature politician—erratic, impulsive and subject to peer pressure from the last knucklehead who offers him advice. The youthful insouciance that for many years has helped McCain charm reporters like me is now channeled into an ad that one GOP strategist labeled "juvenile," another termed "childish" and McCain's own mother called "stupid."

McCain's erratic campaign has GOP strategists scratching their heads. The obvious play for him was to tack right during the primaries, then navigate back to the center, where American general elections are always won. Conservative base voters can rarely be turned into McCain enthusiasts. But most will reluctantly vote for him. So why jeopardize his standing with independents by being grouchy and partisan? Makes no sense.

Time

The erratic nature of McCain's campaign seems to be confirming that judgment. The McCain I used to know would never have touted his own courage as he did a few weeks ago when he said:

"I had the courage and the judgment to say that I would rather lose a political campaign than lose a war.It seems to me that Senator Obama would rather lose a war in order to win a political campaign."

Courage is grace under pressure. McCain showed it when he was a prisoner of war, and on many issues--yes, even on his stubborn insistence that the surge would work--but he is not showing it now. He is showing flop sweat. It is not a quality usually associated with successful leadership.

    So maybe next the media will point out the many pairs of flip-flops that John McCain has produced and maybe they'll even mention the fact that McCain has no real policy positions on anything, much less any idea on how to lead a country.

Technorati Tags: John McCain,2008 election,GOP,Barack Obama,media

Barack Obama: The Messiah Cometh

  It is a very hot and humid day here in Kentucky, so I've been on the Net just browsing for something funny and humorous. Guess what? I did find something that is well worth sharing with you.

  From TimesOnLine comes this nice little story about our Democratic Presidential contender. There is a bit of truth to this story since this is what Obama's many hard-core followers seem to think.

  July 25, 2008 by Gerard Baker

And it came to pass, in the eighth year of the reign of the evil Bush the Younger (The Ignorant), when the whole land from the Arabian desert to the shores of the Great Lakes had been laid barren, that a Child appeared in the wilderness.

The Child was blessed in looks and intellect. Scion of a simple family, offspring of a miraculous union, grandson of a typical white person and an African peasant. And yea, as he grew, the Child walked in the path of righteousness, with only the occasional detour into the odd weed and a little blow.

When he was twelve years old, they found him in the temple in the City of Chicago, arguing the finer points of community organisation with the Prophet Jeremiah and the Elders. And the Elders were astonished at what they heard and said among themselves: “Verily, who is this Child that he opens our hearts and minds to the audacity of hope?”

In the great Battles of Caucus and Primary he smote the conniving Hillary, wife of the deposed King Bill the Priapic and their barbarian hordes of Working Class Whites.

And so it was, in the fullness of time, before the harvest month of the appointed year, the Child ventured forth - for the first time - to bring the light unto all the world.

He travelled fleet of foot and light of camel, with a small retinue that consisted only of his loyal disciples from the tribe of the Media. He ventured first to the land of the Hindu Kush, where the

Taleban had harboured the viper of al-Qaeda in their bosom, raining terror on all the world.

And the Child spake and the tribes of Nato immediately loosed the Caveats that had previously bound them. And in the great battle that ensued the forces of the light were triumphant. For as long as the Child stood with his arms raised aloft, the enemy suffered great blows and the threat of terror was no more.

From there he went forth to Mesopotamia where he was received by the great ruler al-Maliki, and al-Maliki spake unto him and blessed his Sixteen Month Troop Withdrawal Plan even as the imperial warrior Petraeus tried to destroy it.

And lo, in Mesopotamia, a miracle occurred. Even though the Great Surge of Armour that the evil Bush had ordered had been a terrible mistake, a waste of vital military resources and doomed to end in disaster, the Child's very presence suddenly brought forth a great victory for the forces of the light.

And the Persians, who saw all this and were greatly fearful, longed to speak with the Child and saw that the Child was the bringer of peace. At the mention of his name they quickly laid aside their intrigues and beat their uranium swords into civil nuclear energy ploughshares.

From there the Child went up to the city of Jerusalem, and entered through the gate seated on an ass. The crowds of network anchors who had followed him from afar cheered “Hosanna” and waved great palm fronds and strewed them at his feet.

In Jerusalem and in surrounding Palestine, the Child spake to the Hebrews and the Arabs, as the Scripture had foretold. And in an instant, the lion lay down with the lamb, and the Israelites and Ishmaelites ended their long enmity and lived for ever after in peace.

As word spread throughout the land about the Child's wondrous works, peoples from all over flocked to hear him; Hittites and Abbasids; Obamacons and McCainiacs; Cameroonians and Blairites.

And they told of strange and wondrous things that greeted the news of the Child's journey. Around the world, global temperatures began to decline, and the ocean levels fell and the great warming was over.

The Great Prophet Algore of Nobel and Oscar, who many had believed was the anointed one, smiled and told his followers that the Child was the one generations had been waiting for.

And there were other wonderful signs. In the city of the Street at the Wall, spreads on interbank interest rates dropped like manna from Heaven and rates on credit default swaps fell to the ground as dead birds from the almond tree, and the people who had lived in foreclosure were able to borrow again.

Black gold gushed from the ground at prices well below $140 per barrel. In hospitals across the land the sick were cured even though they were uninsured. And all because the Child had pronounced it.

And this is the testimony of one who speaks the truth and bears witness to the truth so that you might believe. And he knows it is the truth for he saw it all on CNN and the BBC and in the pages of The New York Times.

Then the Child ventured forth from Israel and Palestine and stepped onto the shores of the Old Continent. In the land of Queen Angela of Merkel, vast multitudes gathered to hear his voice, and he preached to them at length.

But when he had finished speaking his disciples told him the crowd was hungry, for they had had nothing to eat all the hours they had waited for him.

And so the Child told his disciples to fetch some food but all they had was five loaves and a couple of frankfurters. So he took the bread and the frankfurters and blessed them and told his disciples to feed the multitudes. And when all had eaten their fill, the scraps filled twelve baskets.

Thence he travelled west to Mount Sarkozy. Even the beauteous Princess Carla of the tribe of the Bruni was struck by awe and she was great in love with the Child, but he was tempted not.

On the Seventh Day he walked across the Channel of the Angles to the ancient land of the hooligans. There he was welcomed with open arms by the once great prophet Blair and his successor, Gordon the Leper, and his successor, David the Golden One.

And suddenly, with the men appeared the archangel Gabriel and the whole host of the heavenly choir, ranks of cherubim and seraphim, all praising God and singing: “Yes, We Can.”

Technorati Tags: Barack Obama,2008 election,Gerard Baker

More Gloomy Facts On The Economy

   These numbers just keep on getting worse for the average worker.

   DailyKos

Jared Bernstein and Heidi Shierholz at the Economic Policy Institute write:

^{Job market recession persists}

On average this year, payrolls have contracted by 66,000 per month. Job loss in the private sector has occurred more quickly, however, dropping an average of 83,000 jobs a month since it peaked in November 2007. Private sector payrolls are down 665,000 since then, including the loss of 76,000 last month. Since government employment is less sensitive to the business cycle, the private sector losses are more indicative of the full extent of labor market weakness.

This persistent and deepening slack in the job market, in tandem with accelerated inflation, is leading to significant real wage and benefit losses for most workers. Average weekly hours slipped slightly last month to 33.6 hours per week, the lowest level since November 2004. This put downward pressure on weekly earnings, which rose 2.8%, before inflation in July, the same rate as the previous month and the slowest pace of weekly earnings since September 2005. With inflation running between 4-5%, the buying power of weekly paychecks is dropping sharply.

In a related release yesterday, the BLS reported that the Employer Cost Index—a comprehensive measure of average wages and benefits—fell 1.8% in real terms in June 2008 compared to June 2007. That is the largest real decline in this data series’ history (dating back to the early 1980s).

Along with the decline in weekly hours worked, another important sign of the extent to which our current workforce is underutilized is the increase in part-time workers who would prefer full-time jobs. In July, there were 5.7 million part-timers in this category, 1.4 million above last year’s level and the highest level since the BLS settled on a way of measuring this condition in 1994. Since these involuntary part-timers are included in the underemployment rate noted above, they are partly responsible for its spike last month.

Meanwhile, as Chye-Ching Huang and Chad Stone at the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities noted in a new analysis on Wednesday:

Average pre-tax incomes in 2006 jumped by about $60,000 (5.8 percent) for the top 1 percent of households, but just $430 (1.4 percent) for the bottom 90 percent, after adjusting for inflation, according to a new update in the groundbreaking series on income inequality by economists Thomas Piketty and Emmanuel Saez. Their analysis of newly released IRS data shows that in 2006, the shares of the nation’s income flowing to the top 1 percent and top 0.1 percent of households were higher than in any year since 1928. ...

 

Technorati Tags: employment,economy,wages,Economic Policy Institute,Center for Budget and Policy Priorities

Unemployment Rises To 5.7 Percent In July

  Not only did the rate rise to 5.7 percent, but, non-farm payroll

also went down in July by some 51,000 jobs. Hardest hit by the

job loses were construction, manufacturing and a few service

industry sectors. Once again, health care and the mining industry

added more jobs. Hourly wages did go up by 6 cents in July.

U.S. Department of Labor

Over the past 12 months, the number of unemployed 
persons has increased by 1.6 million, and the unemployment

rate has risen by 1.0 percentage point.

  Among the unemployed, the number of reentrants to

 the labor force in July rose by 207,000 to 2.7 million.

  The number has increased by 623,000 over the past 12 months.  The number of unemployed persons who had lost their last job 
was about unchanged over the month at 4.4 million, but has

risen by 778,000 over the year.

Technorati Tags: unemployment,the economy,Department of Labor

The Communist White House Threatens Veto Of Vets Appropriations

  Most of us already know about the veto threat from the Bush Grime Syndicate, so, here is a response to the veto threat by Chairman Chet Edwards of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies

The Gavel

Chairman Chet Edwards Response to White House Veto Threat of the 2009 Veterans Appropriations Bill

(Washington, D.C.) – U.S Representative Chet Edwards (D-Waco), Chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, released the following statement in response to the veto threat issued by the White House on the Fiscal Year 2009 bill scheduled for a House vote this week.

“This is a slap in the face to every veteran in the nation, especially our Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans. I do not understand the values that would suggest, during a time of war, we provide tax breaks for people making over $1 million a year, but we cannot afford to provide the health care our veterans deserve and the housing our troops need.

“In my 18 years in Congress, this is one of the worst decisions I have ever seen come out of the White House and OMB. For a country to send its sons and daughters to war and then to cut corners on their health care, benefits, and housing when they return home does not reflect the values of the American people. I believe our veterans, military families, and the American family will be as offended by this veto threat as I am.”

In his first year as Chairman of the House Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Subcommittee in 2007, Congressman Edwards authored a historic increase of $11.8 billion in veterans’ health care and benefits, the largest increase in veterans funding in the 77-year history of the Veterans Administration (VA).

Technorati Tags: White House,George Bush,Chet Edwards,Veterans

House Arrest For Senator Derrick Shepherd

Sen. Derrick Shepherd ( D-La ) was ordered by a federal judge to wear an electronic monitor but was denied the revoking  of his bail in a case stemming from charges by a women who has claimed that he assaulted her.

  At the hearing on Tuesday, the woman changed her initial story which she had given to the police over the weekend in which she said that Shepherd broke into her place of residence and assaulted. She said that he also took her BlackBerry and a $100 bill. She stated that she made up the story because she was pissed at him.

  Anyway, Shepherd was placed on a $5,000 bond after being charged with allegedly helping and insurance broker launder some $141,00 in checks.   Source

Technorati Tags: Derrick Shepherd,Louisianna,money laundering

The " Grand Oil Party "/Oil Company Energy Plan

  Just a few more facts that I thought that I'd throw out to you since the GOP has been trying to con all of us into believing that drilling off of our coasts and in Alaska will help lower our gases prices.

                         The Gavel

• According to the Bush Administration’s own Energy Department, if we repealed the offshore drilling ban today, oil and gas production would not begin there until 2017, and impact on prices would be “insignificant.” [EIA, 2007]
• 80 percent of America’s oil and gas natural resources are in areas where oil companies can already drill. [Committee on Natural Resources, 6/18/08]
• There are 33 million acres of the federal OCS lands that are under lease but are not producing.
• Oil companies are spending more of their record profits on buying back stock than they are on new oil and gas exploration — both on and off shore. [AP, 7/21/08]

 

According to the Bush Administration’s own Energy Department, if we opened the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling today, we wouldn’t get the first drop of oil for 10 years, and it would take nearly 20 years for the field to reach peak production, and at that time, gas prices would drop by less than 2 cents a gallon. [EIA, 5/08]

The Republicans want to open up 2.3 million acres of public lands in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming for tar shale development despite the fact that 3 million acres of prime tar shale lands are already owned by oil companies.

• The technology needed for commercially-viable extraction of oil from tar shales does not yet exist.
• To convert tar shale into oil, enormous electricity and water are needed to power the operation. It takes about three barrels of water to produce one barrel of oil from tar sands. This water would be taken in parts of the country experiencing long-standing water supply issues and historic droughts.  [Wilderness Society, 3/08]
• Furthermore, even the most optimistic estimates say it will take 20 years for tar shales to produce 1 million barrels of oil per day and 30 years to produce 3 million barrels of oil per day. [RAND, 2005]

The President’s 2009 budget cuts renewable energy and energy efficiency programs at the Department of Energy $467 million below the FY 08 enacted level. President Bush’s 2009 budget request eliminates funding for programs that help low-income families save millions of dollars by making their homes more energy efficient. [2008]

If the Republican majority had not blocked the transition to a 35-mile per gallon (mpg) standard in the mid 1990’s, then we would now be saving 1.5 million barrels of oil per day and consumers would be saving $90 billion a year on gasoline they didn’t have to buy.

Technorati Tags: George Bush,oil,enrgy policy,ANWR,Energy Department,Republicans

Lobbying Firms Top Clients In 2008

  Here we go with the corporations who have spent the most money on lobbyist thus far in 2008.

Center for Responsive Politics

So why does the US Chamber of Commerce need to be paying a lobbyist?

Technorati Tags: lobbyist,2008 elections,lobbying clients

Why The Neocons Want To Attack Iran

  All of us here in the United States know that it is to enrich the Bush Crime Syndicate's corporate friends and to steal some other countries oil treasure.

   But HERE is a different take on the cries for war from Ed Kinane, at the Pakistan News Service, which is a must read.

Original Article

Method in the Madness: Why They Want to Attack Iran

Friday July 25, 2008 (1719 PST)
edkinane@verizon.net

  These days we’re on needles and pins. We keep our fingers crossed. We hope the US won’t attack Iran. There are good reasons to believe it won’t. Elsewhere I’ve argued the folly of doing so.

Cheney and Bush, no doubt, have heard such reasons and yet still itch to attack. They’ve got the aircraft carriers and Cruise missiles in place. They keep poking Iran hoping to get an overreaction. They keep saber-rattling.

Why, we all wonder, would they replay the same — or even greater — debacle as in Iraq? Many readers may be too humane to fathom what goes on in those men’s minds. Sociopaths are hard to understand. Nonetheless we must try.

Who knows? Part of Cheney and Bush’s crusade may be theological. Isn’t it god-like to unleash the Predators? Isn’t it god-like to threaten and surge, kill and explode? Islamic Iraq and Islamic Afghanistan may seem to those men like latter-day Sodoms and Gomorrahs. Having smote them let Islamic Iran be next.

Besides, having failed to force Iraq and Afghanistan to submit, they may well crave another chance. They certainly seek to shore up their faltered administration. They’ve seen how a new war distracts from scandals in high places. And how it distracts from policy disasters, both domestic and international. A new war puffs up otherwise plummeting presidential and vice presidential polls. Our cowed and co-opted Congress rolls over during war. War pumps up executive power.

But for much of the power structure backing Cheney and Bush, it’s economics that rule. The anti-Iran orchestra has all the might and momentum of the Imperium. The US — with its proxies and puppets, its air, land and sea forces, its Delta and Special forces — now occupies not only Iraq but much of the Middle East.

The threatened attack is bigger than Cheney and Bush. The US is engaged in a bi-partisan, multi-administration, region-wide resource war. The US oiligarchy covets the region’s (including Iran’s) vast energy reserves. Reinforcing that imperial thieving are other, subsidiary greeds, other hungers for power.

Demonizing Iran is an old trick. It does what demonizing the Soviet Union did decades ago: it pumps up the jingo mindset. It pumps up military budgets. Military spending draws down domestic spending — a key right-wing agenda.

Attacking Iran keeps the pot boiling. It perpetuates the phony war on terror. More war provides more enemies and so more pretext to erode civil liberties. Unscrupulous politicians and certain corporations thrive when fear keeps people dumb and dazed. With another invasion the Halliburtons and Blackwaters get to lap up more contracts.

Realpolitik demands we crush our rivals. Despite its intense resistance, militarily Iraq is broken — in the Middle East that just leaves Iran. Going after Iran would further align our power structure to Israel’s military machine and to its allies here in the US. Neutralizing Iran would further strangle those pesky Palestinians.

But note: It’s delusory to think that attacking Iran will just be a spasm of quick, “surgical” air strikes. Wars morph; violence bounces. Violating Iran will generate enormous blowback, both in the region and here in the US. This country will polarize. Widespread dissent or “terrorist” retaliation — contrived or otherwise — might lead to martial law.

Surely the think tankers have explored the martial law card and have worked out every last detail of implementation. The plans are right there on the shelf. Martial law could provide the pretext for postponing the November election. Far fetched? Does the gang in Washington act as if it’s ready to bow out? Can it really allow subpoena power and indictment power to fall into unfriendly hands?

Now, if elections do go forward and we’re bogged down with Iran, McCain — marketed as the tough, commander-in-chief type — will be more likely to win this otherwise uphill vote. But even if Obama wins, at least his White House years might be hamstrung cleaning up one vast mess. An Iran war begun before either the election or inauguration would, conveniently, derail any partisan domestic agenda he and a Democrat-controlled Congress may have.

* * *

If you’ve read this far, go with me a little further. Consider this back room scenario. Sometime late this summer Cheney and Bush’s people offer the Obama camp a deal: “Have your new attorney general drop any Iraq war crime charges and we won’t drop the bombs….”

Technorati Tags: Iran,Iraq,George Bush,Dick Cheney,Middle East,oil

Top Donors To Barack Obama's Campaign

  From Center for Responsive Politics

The organizations themselves did not donate , rather the money came from the organization's PAC, its individual members or employees or owners, and those individuals' immediate families. Organization totals include subsidiaries and affiliates.

Goldman Sachs
$606,080

University of California
$488,159

JPMorgan Chase & Co
$378,357

Citigroup Inc
$371,704

UBS AG
$370,850

Lehman Brothers
$333,310

National Amusements Inc
$332,839

Harvard University
$325,424

Google Inc
$321,964

Sidley Austin LLP
$307,345

Technorati Tags: Barack Obama,2008 election

Top Donors To John McCain's Campaign

  From Center for Responsive Politics

  The organizations themselves did not donate , rather the money came from the organization's PAC, its individual members or employees or owners, and those individuals' immediate families. Organization totals include subsidiaries and affiliates.

Citigroup Inc
$251,551

Merrill Lynch
$249,960

Blank Rome LLP
$188,176

Morgan Stanley
$174,271

Goldman Sachs
$171,945

AT&T Inc
$160,930

Greenberg Traurig LLP
$157,087

JPMorgan Chase & Co
$148,900

Credit Suisse Group
$123,225

UBS AG
$110,915

Technorati Tags: John McCain,2008 election

FEC Report: John McCain's Campaign Finances

  This is an interesting look at the John McCain campaign money trail. So just what is the McCain camp doing with its cash? Follow me...

SUMMER 2007 REPEAT? The McCain campaign’s balance sheet is starting to bleed red ink and look like it did last summer. Spending skyrocketed in June to $27 million, and the campaign spent $4.8 million more money then it took in, including the cash from its joint fundraising committees.

BLOAT SHOWING? The latest filing shows twenty-five staffers (not counting any consultants) taking home more then $7000/month after taxes, likely meaning more $10,000 a month each. Seven are taking home more then $9,000/month after taxes.  More

  Here is just a snapshot of where John McCain is getting his cash from...

   Another $100,000 From Lobbyists, For A Total Of $774,735 From 525 Federal Lobbyists Since 2007. In June 2008, McCain’s campaign collected $99,220. $57,595 of this total was collected by the campaign (from 54 lobbyists, 32 of whom had previously given). $41,625 was directed to the McCain campaign through the Victory Fund; these contributions came from 49 lobbyists, 20 of whom had previously given.       McCainpedia

   Go here here to check out what sectors are giving how much to the McCain clan.

   The following are the top donators to the campaign.

• $191,895 From “Mega-Lobbyists” Representing Multi-National Companies In More Than One Sector.

• $80,426 From Energy Lobbyists.

• $66,530 From Telecom Lobbyists.

• $60,540 From Financial Services Lobbyists.

• $54,832 From Health Care/HMO Lobbyists.

Technorati Tags: John McCain,elections,FEC,lobbyist

McCain Website Targeting Youth

   This will be an interesting effort in futility for the McCain group. McCain's group is going to add a little zest to his website in order to attract the younger group of voters. I take it that John McCain hasn't figured out yet that the youth in the United States are very Internet savoy people and that they have already heard about the crap which has come out of his mouth over the past few weeks. They surely know when he has flip-flopped on the issues and when he has flat out lied about issues.

   But, he may still get some of Mister 30%  young followers, as they have to be either brain-washed or brain-dead to be still supporting a Bush or a McCain.

  Once again, McCain is trying to be like Barack Obama with his website, which will never happen. These are desperate times for the lousy Senator from Arizona as Obama leads McCain in the youth vote by some 22% points in the states of Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania.  Source

    All are must haves for McCain and Obama.

    I wonder what McCain's version of MySpace will look like when the site is up? What a scary thought.

Technorati Tags: John McCain,Barack Obama,youth vote,elections

Bloggers Unite Against FISA Bill Supporters

  Bloggers on both sides of the political isle are uniting against those Senators who voted in favor of giving Bush and his friends in the telecom industry amnesty for their help in illegally spying on us.

  Democrat and Republican bloggers have gone on a money raising campaign in the last weeks to buy TV ads in order to punish political members who voted yes on the bill early in the month.

  One such idiot who voted in favor of this crap was Chris Carney ( D ) from Pennsylvania, who has had an ad run about his vote recently. The ad says:

  "Chris Carney is surrendering to Bush and Cheney the same un-American spying powers they have in Russia and communist China."   Source

  I would note that the ad was bought by some of Carney's fellow Democratic lawmakers, so there is hope maybe for the party yet.

   We still have a long way to go in targeting all of the Democrats who voted for this piece of crap bill, so let us all support the efforts to not only embarrass these people, but to also remove them from office when their elections come up!

Technorati Tags: FISA,Democrats,Republicans,bloggers

Countdown: McCain Makes False Assertion on CBS News

  Keith Olberman busted both CBS News and John McCain on McCain's interview with Katie Couric. This one concerned the " surge " of our troops in Iraq from a comment made by Barack Obama.

CBS Distorts McCain Interview

Technorati Tags: John McCain,Iraq,CBS,Katie Couric,Keith Olberman

Republican Foreign Energy Policy= $4.00 Gallon Gas, And Rising

  Of course you all know that the Republican's have been trying to blame the gas price increases on the fact that the Democrats have refused to let ExxonMobile and the rest of that sorry group drill for more oil in Alaska and on our shores.

  You and I also know that this is just a load of crap and that the Republicans are attempting to pass the buck when they are the guilty party.

  A few comments from our Congress concerning the Republicans and gas prices.

Chairman Markey:“Two Oil Men + Two Terms = $4.00 a gallon gasoline.”

Rep. DeFazio:“The Republicans are saying now, “It’s the Democrats’ fault.” No. We’re living under the failure of the Republican oil industry’s energy policy. There’s actually 164,968,695 reasons why we’re living under that. That’s the amount of money the Republican party has received from the oil industry in the last 18 years. One hundred and sixty four million dollars in political contributions. That’s a pretty big motivation.”

Rep. Hodes:“Let us remember that we have two oilmen in the White House, and $4 dollar a gallon gas today. Let us remember that we have an energy policy that was made in secret by the Vice President, by the oil companies, for the oil companies, and of the oil companies, and today we are reaping the benefits of that secret energy policy on which we have been stonewalled time and time again.”  Source

  Of course, the Republicans have had more than a few of the Democrats on the oil company payrolls, but it is basically George Bush and Dick Cheney who have a major hand in our price at the pumps irregardless of supply and demand and the rest of that hocus pocus.

Technorati Tags: Republicans,oil market,gas prices,George Bush,Dick Cheney,ExxonMobile

More Of John McCain's Past Votes On Issues

  I am bringing you small bits of the votes that John McCain has taken in the past on such things as worker rights, minimum wages increases, and on and on. So look at a few of these, will you?

McCAIN OPPOSED A MINIMUM WAGE INCREASE

McCain Voted Against a Clean Minimum Wage Increase for Working Families. McCain voted with the Republicans in 2007 to stall a clean minimum wage increase for working families—before bowing to public pressure and voting to pass the final bill that included tax breaks for businesses. He even voted to completely repeal the minimum wage laws in 45 states and allow the other five states to opt out of any future minimum wage increases above $5.15 an hour. [H.R. 2, Vote #23, 1/24/07; Vote #24, 1/24/07; Vote #25, 1/25/07; Vote #37, 1/31/07; Vote #39, 1/31/07; Vote #42, 1/31/07; S. 2766, Vote #179, 6/21/06; S. 256, Vote #26, 3/7/05]

McCain Called Connecting the Minimum Wage Debate to Senate Pay Raises ‘A Clever Ploy.’ When the Senate was debating a minimum wage increase in 2006 and the Senate’s many pay raises over the past decade were brought up, McCain called the comparison “a very clever ploy.” He defended his opposition to the minimum wage increase, saying he had foregone Senate pay raises, “…sometimes to the dismay of my family.” However, McCain’s 2005 personal financial disclosure reported that his family held assets worth between $27 million and $42 million, which generated income between $1.8 million and $4.6 million. Clearly his situation is not comparable to that of working families making the minimum wage. [ABC News, 7/2/06; McCain 2005 Personal Financial Disclosure Statement]

OVERTIME

McCain Voted Against Protections for Workers’ Overtime Rights. McCain voted against protecting workers’ overtime pay from Bush administration rules that threaten the overtime rights of 6 million workers. [S. 1637, Vote #79, 5/4/04]

WORKERS’ HEALTH AND SAFETY

McCain Opposed Worker Safety and Ergonomic Standards. McCain voted to block the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) from issuing, implementing or enforcing standards to protect workers from ergonomic injuries. [H.R. 4577, Vote #143, 6/22/00]

McCain Voted to Gut the Family and Medical Leave Act. In 1993, before finally voting for the Family and Medical Leave Act, McCain voted to jeopardize leave for millions of workers by gutting the bill. He voted to suspend the act unless the federal government either certified that compliance would not increase costs for business or provided financial assistance to businesses to cover any costs associated with implementing the law. [S. Amdt. 16, S. 5, Vote #7, 2/4/93; H.R. 1, Vote #11, 2/4/93]

  The above comes from the AFL-CIO

Technorati Tags: John McCain,worker rights,minimum wage

John McCain's Views and Voting History

  Let me introduce you to a site that I ran across this morning. It is called Working Families Vote 2008 and the section that the link points to concerns Senator McCain and his views/votes on healthcare. There are many other issues on which McCain has voted for you to take a look at if you wish.

  Just a small sample of info on

             HEALTHCARE

     John McCain’s health care proposal is similar to President Bush’s failed plan. Like Bush’s, McCain’s plan undermines existing employer-based health care and pushes workers into the private market to fight big insurance companies on their own. It will reduce benefits, increase costs and leave many with no health care at all.

New Tax on Working Families. McCain wants to shift the burden from employers to workers. He will make health care premiums part of taxable income, essentially creating a new tax for working families.

Leaves Workers at the Mercy of Big Insurance Companies.McCain’s efforts to “eliminate the bias” toward employer-based health care will encourage employers to stop offering health care, pushing workers into an unregulated private insurance market to fend for themselves. Big insurance companies will be free to weed out people with health care needs, charge excessive premiums and limit benefits.  more here

Technorati Tags: John McCain,healthcare,Working Families

Nancy Pelosi Calls Bush a "total failure"

     As if House Speaker Pelosi has any room to talk. That's for another day though.

     Bush has been giving the Congress hell as of late because our " do nothing " Congress has yet to pass even one single government spending bill and the Congress has only 26 days left of this session.

    Pelosi was on CNN on Thursday and this is what she had to say about Bush after his remarks.

    "You know, God bless him, bless his heart, president of the United States, a total failure, losing all credibility with the American people on the economy, on the war, on energy, you name the subject," Pelosi replied. She then tsk-tsked Bush for "challenging Congress when we are trying to sweep up after his mess over and over and over again."

  President Bush's approval rating is now at 28%, while the Congress enjoys a much lower 18% rating. It was at 23% just one month ago.

Technorati Tags: Nancy Pelosi,Congress,George Bush,elections

John McCain's Newest Campaign Worker

  In case you have not noticed, John McCain seems to like having lobbyist and corrupt officials working and/or managing his campaign. Once a Republican crook, always a Republican crook.

  Here is McCain's latest addition to the family.

Daily Kos

John McCain is either stupid, senile, or just doesn't care about how he gets the money, just as long as he can swindle people into it.  Witness his latest hire in Ohio of none other than disgraced Ohio Treasurer of State Joe Deters, who resigned in disgrace in 2005, to head his campaign efforts in Southwest Ohio.  Will the press give it notice?  Judging by there "attack Obama, give OLD John a pass" type of reporting, it is for we, the grassroots voter to continue to publicize the truly shady cast of characters that litter the McCain Campaign "twisted talk express".

For those of you that have no idea who Joe Deters is, here are a few tidbits.

2002: Deters Awarded Out-Of-State Company Millions In State Work, Affiliated PAC Gave Hamilton County GOP And Other Deters Supporters Nearly $60K. State Treasurer Joe Deters gave lucrative work to a Pennsylvania firm that splits its fees with another company owned by a pair of generous donors to Ohio Republicans. Valley Forge Asset Management Corporation was among 14 companies picked to invest $347 million of Ohio's tobacco settlement money; Valley Forge was assigned to handle the largest piece- $40.3 million- and was expected to be paid over $200,000 in annual fees. Valley Forge had an agreement with VFIM Inc. and gave 50 percent of fees for helping land clients. VFIM is owned by Richard Ireland and Brian McElwee, who are the sole contributors to the Concerned Citizens Political Action Committee. Since 2000, they have given over $370,000 to the PAC and, in turn, the PAC gave $58,000 to the Hamilton County GOP and other Ohio GOP accounts that have supported Deters' campaign. [Cleveland Plain Dealer, 5/31/02; Dayton Daily News, 6/1/02]

2002. Fifth Third Securities Received Largest Ever Fine For Pay-To-Play; Deters Linked To More Than $250K In Employee Contributions. The Securities and Exchange Commission fined Fifth Third Securities Inc., a subsidiary of Fifth Third Bancorp, $1 million for violating federal rules aimed to curtail "pay to play," the practice of using campaign contributions to curry favor with those awarding municipal bond business. The fine was the largest ever issued by the SEC to end pay to play politics. The SEC would not say which elected officials were involved, but a federal source said they key figure was State Treasurer Joe Deters. The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported that Fifth Third employees and associates gave more than $250,000 since 1998 to Deters' campaign or to Republican Party funds that supported him. Additionally, Executive Vice President Robert J. King, Jr. co-hosted a Deters fundraiser that raised $38,000 in Cleveland. [Cleveland Plain Dealer, 6/19/02]    The Article

  The list goes on and on, but you get the picture by now. If the choices that John McCain are making right now about who is involved in his campaign are an indication of what his staff will look like if he makes it into the White House, then this will indeed be a third Bush term. We do not need that again. It is bad enough that Barack Obama is starting to sound more like a Republican in some instances.

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