Category Archives: Uncategorized

The Barracuda Is Now An Albatross

22 Wednesday Oct 2008

Posted by in Election 2008, McCain, Obama, Politics, Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , ,

Two new polls released yesterday, one by Pew and one by NBC News/Wall Street Journal, show that John McCain’s selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate has turned into an unmitigated disaster. Her negatives are rising at an alarming rate and, if you can believe this, the list of voter’s biggest concerns about McCain’s candidacy now has Sarah Palin at No. 1, and continuing George Bush’s policies at No. 2.

She is also losing the support of women that she was allegedly put on the ticket to attract, and is turning off independent voters at an ever-increasing rate. And if that wasn’t enough, Gov. Palin has made McCain’s age an issue that it wasn’t in previous polls. In baseball terminology that is known as the golden sombrero, Sen. McCain, 0 for 4.

Here’s how the numbers break down. From Pew:

* 49% now have an unfavorable view of Gov. Palin, up from 32% in mid-September.

* 60% of women under 50 now have an unfavorable view, up from 36% in mid-September.

* 53% of all women have a negative view of Gov. Palin, up from 38% in mid -September.

* 56% of independent women have an unfavorable view of Palin, up from 28% in mid-September.

* 27% of all independents have a very unfavorable opinion of Palin, up from 10% in mid-September.

* Gov. Palin has maintained her support among the Republican base, you know, the “real Americans” with the same 83% approval she had in previous polls.

* 34% now say McCain’s age is an issue, up from 23% in mid-September.

 

From NBC News/Wall Street Journal:

* 55% say Palin is not qualified to serve as president if the need arises.

Just as an aside to all the “guilt by association” zealots out there, on the list of the top 4 concerns about Obama, his relationship with people like Bill Ayers and Jeremiah Wright ranks dead last. See, I told you so.

Apparently Governor Palin’s vast knowledge of foreign policy by virtue of being able to see Russia from her front porch, and her rather unique interpretation of the Constitutional powers of the vice-presidency is not impressing the voting public.

Who could have seen that coming?

Powell Endorsement Unleashes Republican Racism

20 Monday Oct 2008

Posted by in Election 2008, McCain, Obama, Politics, Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , ,

I am so angry this morning I can barely steady my finger long enough to write this post. The blatant racism that has been unleashed by the Republican Party in the closing weeks of this presidential campaign, and particularly since Colin Powell’s endorsement of Barack Obama yesterday on Meet The Press, makes me sick to my stomach.

First of all, it is as if the usual Republican suspects–Buchanan, Will, Limbaugh, Gingrich, et al, had their statements ready before Powell made his announcement. Powell endorsed Obama simply because he is black, they all spewed. Obviously these GOP mouthpieces didn’t listen to a word Gen. Powell had to say.

He gave a well-reasoned, well-thought out, detailed argument for his decision. Powell did much more than endorse Obama for president, he issued a scathing indictment of the Republican Party as a whole. See for yourself:

 

 

Then the tirades from the Republican Bigotry Brigade began.

Pat Buchanan: “Alright, we gotta ask a question, look would Colin Powell be endorsing Obama if he were a white liberal democrat.”

George Will attributes support for Obama to white guilt: “Barack Obama gets two votes because he’s black for every one he loses because he’s black because so much of this country is so eager, a, to feel good about itself by doing this, but more than that to put paid to the whole Al Sharpton/Jesse Jackson game of political rhetoric.”

 

What Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson have to do with anything is anybody’s guess. Oh I forgot, they’re both scary black men, just like Obama. What’s the matter George, you couldn’t work Louis Farrakhan and Malcolm X in there somewhere?

 

Rush Limbaugh went even further: “Secretary Powell says his endorsement is not about race, OK, fine. I am now researching his past endorsements to see if I can find all the inexperienced, very liberal, white candidates he has endorsed. I’ll let you know what I come up with.”

Not to be left out of the ‘scare white Americans with references to angry black men’ chorus, Newt Gingrich said on This Week that Obama would govern the country “like Reverend Wright.”

Now keep in mind these are some of the same neo-con chicken hawks who were singing the praises of Gen. Powell when he was useful to them in helping make the case for George Bush’s invasion of Iraq.

But now that he dares to stray off the Republican plantation and speak his mind rather than blindly support the Party nominee, he is branded as having based his decision solely on Obama’s skin color. I guess in the eyes of the GOP bigots Powell is not ‘one of the good ones’ anymore.

“More Southern In Nature” Ms. Pfotenhauer?

19 Sunday Oct 2008

Posted by in Election 2008, McCain, Obama, Politics, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , ,

As the McCain campaign continues it’s efforts to divide America, campaign spokesperson Nancy Pfotenhauer appeared on MSNBC yesterday and made the distinction between Northern Virginia, that would be the part of the state that Sen. McCain’s brother referred to as “communist country”, and the “real Virginia”, the part of the state that, according to Ms. Pfotenhauer, is “more Southern in nature.”

Here’s the video:

 

 

“More Southern in nature.” A curious phrase. Whatever could she mean? Would this be part of that “Southern nature” to which Ms. Pfotenhauer is referring:

 

 

Or how about this:

 

 

Or maybe this:

 

 

That kind of “Southern nature”, Nancy?

Michelle Bachmann: Poster Child For The Republican Party

18 Saturday Oct 2008

Posted by in Election 2008, McCain, Obama, Politics, Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , ,

As I watched Chris Matthews interview Congressman Michelle Bachmann from Minnesota on Hardball last night I could not believe my ears. Surely no one this stupid could ever be elected to Congress. I immediately checked the calendar Nope, it’s not April 1st. Then I thought, this must be a parody, maybe a clip from SNL. Nope, it’s Friday night.

The more she rambled reality finally hit me, this is for real. This is an actual member of the House of Representatives saying these ridiculous things. That’s when my incredulousness turned to depression and all I could do was to shake my head and lament, this is what has become of the Republican Party.

She went through the entire litany of Sean Hannity/GOP talking points. Radical, anti-American, Ayers, Wright, Rezko, liberal, leftist, etc., etc., etc., the usual suspects. And just when I thought I had heard it all, at the conclusion of the interview Congresswoman Bachmann began to channel Joe McCarthy. The media should investigate members of Congress for anti-American behavior, she said.

I expected the next thing out of her mouth to be that she was re-convening the House Un-American Activities Committee and would start hold hearings ASAP. I could tell by the look on Matthews’ face that he as disbelieving of what he was hearing as I was.

See for yourself, but be prepared to have the desire to laugh, cry, and bang your head against the wall, all in less than a 9 minute time span. Take it away, Congresswoman Nutjob:

 

 

 

Minnesotans must be bursting with pride this morning.

Palin Out Of The Loop On Iraqi Agreement

18 Saturday Oct 2008

Posted by in Election 2008, McCain, Obama, Politics, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , ,

This article from the Examiner says all we need to know about the regard, or lack thereof, in which Sarah Palin is held by those in D.C. when it comes to foreign policy matters.

Three of the four presidential and vice-presidential candidates were notified this week of the progress in the negotiations on the Status of Forces Agreement between our government and the Iraqis. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates called John McCain, and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice phoned Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

Do you notice a name missing there? You betcha, that would be vice-presidential nominee, Gov. Sarah Palin.

According to State Department spokesman Sean McCormack:

“Senator Obama is the Democratic presidential nominee and, obviously, is an important political figure in the United States. (Either) one of Senator McCain or Senator Obama are going to be president come January. And so just in terms of the courtesy and protocol aspects of this and the practical aspects of this, we thought it was appropriate to make those calls.”

I take that to mean that Gov. Palin is not an “important political figure” as far as the State Department is concerned. I think that’s what critics of Sen. McCain’s choice for a running mate have been saying all along.

Fair And Balanced? Not So Much

18 Saturday Oct 2008

Posted by in Election 2008, McCain, Obama, Politics, Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , ,

Something that has gained little attention lately, as much of the media has been focused on all the “Plumber” hoopla, is that Barack Obama has been aggressively going after Fox News. He made reference to Fox’s bias in the debate on Wednesday night, saying this:

 

 

In his remarks at the Al Smith dinner last night, he again mentioned Fox and Rupert Murdoch. In an article in the New York Times, Obama made this observation:

“I am convinced that if there were no Fox News, I might be two or three points higher in the polls,” Obama told me. “If I were watching Fox News, I wouldn’t vote for me, right? Because the way I’m portrayed 24/7 is as a freak! I am the latte-sipping, New York Times-reading, Volvo-driving, no-gun-owning, effete, politically correct, arrogant liberal. Who wants somebody like that?

“I guess the point I’m making,” he went on, “is that there is an entire industry now, an entire apparatus, designed to perpetuate this cultural schism, and it’s powerful. People want to know that you’re fighting for them, that you get them. And I actually think I do. But you know, if people are just seeing me in sound bites, they’re not going to discover that. That’s why I say that some of that may have to happen after the election, when they get to know you.”

Obama’s campaign manager David Ploufe has also recently referred to Fox News as the “24-hour ACORN channel.” With apologies to Mr. Ploufe, and in my own effort to be “fair and balanced”, that’s not entirely true. Better said, Fox has become the 24-hour ACORN and Ayers channel.

Don’t believe it? Take a look at the number of times the words Ayers and ACORN have been mentioned on Fox and their competitors at MSNBC and CNN since Sunday, versus the number of times the economy has been mentioned.

               Fox            MSNBC       CNN

 

Ayers       525           340             279

ACORN    706             67             112

Economy 826         1032             954

For the mathematically challenged, that comes to 1,231 times the words Ayers and ACORN have been said on Fox, as compared to 826 times the word economy has been mentioned. That is nearly 50% more.

MSNBC and CNN combined have used the words Ayers and ACORN 798 times, as compared with 1,231 by Fox News alone. In contrast, MSNBC and CNN have each used the word economy more times than Fox.

Somebody remind me, which issue was it that 60% of the people said was the most important in the campaign. Was it the economy or was it Ayers and ACORN? I don’t seem to recall.

I Told You So, Republicans

15 Wednesday Oct 2008

Posted by in Election 2008, McCain, Obama, Politics, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , ,

I hate to say I told you so, Republicans (not really) but I told you so. Your attacks on Barack Obama’s associations aren’t working. In fact, the opposite is true. McCain and Palin’s unfavorable ratings are rising and Obama’s favorables are at an all-time high since the attacks began. Thanks, GOP.

Before we go any further, these numbers are taken from a poll done by the New York Times and CBS, so I know some will dismiss it immediately as “liberal media bias.” You are free to leave at this point.

Now back to the polling data. About McCain’s attempts to tie Obama to William Ayers, the Times found this:

“After several weeks in which the McCain campaign sought to tie Mr. Obama to William Ayers, 64 percent of voters said that they had either read or heard something about the subject. But a majority said they were not bothered by Mr. Obama’s background or past associations. Several people said in follow-up interviews that they felt that Mr. McCain’s attacks on Mr. Obama were too rooted in the past, or too unconnected to the nation’s major problems.”

 

On the issue of favorability:

“Mr. McCain was viewed unfavorably by 41 percent of voters, and favorably by 36 percent. Ms. Palin’s favorability rating is now 32 percent, down 8 points from last month, and her unfavorable rating climbed nine percentage points to 41 percent. Mr. Obama’s favorability rating, by contrast, is now at 50 percent, the highest recorded for him thus far by The Times and CBS News.”

To show how poorly this attack strategy has worked, Palin’s favorable rating is now only 8 points ahead of President Bush, who is at an all-time low of 24%. Nice job Republicans, keep it up.

To show you how out of touch Republicans are at this point, take a look at this chart showing voter’s responses when asked which candidate has spent more time explaining his positions or attacking his opponent:

 

 

 

Almost half of the Republicans surveyed actually think that McCain has spent more time explaining his positions, talk about living in an alternate reality.

But then again, these are the same Mensa members that we see in line at McCain/Palin rallies, never mind.

 

 

McCain and Republicans Plumb The Depths of Decency

13 Monday Oct 2008

Posted by in Election 2008, McCain, Obama, Politics, Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , ,

Well so much for the charade that the McCain campaign was going to stop the constant personal attacks on Barack Obama and focus on the economy. Quite the contrary, the McCain people and the Republican Party are taking the guilt by association smear to the next level–equating Barack Obama with Osama bin Laden.

The chairman of the Virginia Republican Party is instructing volunteers going door-to-door to tell people that Obama and Osama bin Laden “both have friends that bombed the Pentagon.”

From The Jed Report:

With so much at stake, and time running short, [Virginia Republican Party Chairman Jeff] Frederick did not feel he had the luxury of subtlety. He climbed atop a folding chair to give 30 campaign volunteers who were about to go canvassing door to door their talking points — for instance, the connection between Barack Obama and Osama bin Laden: “Both have friends that bombed the Pentagon,” he said. “That is scary.” It is also not exactly true — though that distorted reference to Obama’s controversial association with William Ayers, a former 60s radical, was enough to get the volunteers stoked. “And he won’t salute the flag,” one woman added, repeating another myth about Obama. She was quickly topped by a man who called out, “We don’t even know where Senator Obama was really born.” Actually, we do; it’s Hawaii.

 

Senator McCain’s response when questioned about this? You have to see it to believe it.

 

“I’d have to look at the context of the remarks?” Really? Tell me Senator, in what context would it be appropriate for a member of your campaign to say that there are similarities between a candidate for president of the United States and a terrorist responsible for the deaths of thousands of people?

Let me answer that question. That would be in the context of a desperate man who sees him life-long ambition to be president going down in flames, and will not hesitate to sink to any level to try and achieve that goal, even if it means watching any shred of decency and integrity he may have once had go down with it.