One person's plea for sanity and the continuation of the human race in an insane world.
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Reagan chief of staff: McCain’s interview with Palin was easier than getting a job at McDonald’s.
Interviewed on MSNBC today, former Reagan chief of staff Ken Duberstein criticized Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) for choosing Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate:
I think it has very much undermined the whole question of John McCain’s judgment. You know what most Americans I think realized is that you don’t offer a job, let alone the vice presidency, to a person after one job interview. Even at McDonald’s, you’re interviewed three times before you get a job.
On whether Palin is ready to be president “in an emergency on day one,” Duberstein noted, “People have resoundedly said ‘don’t think so.’”
posted by rich at 12:12 PM
Palin: Media threatening my First Amendment rights.
During an interview with conservative radio host Chris Plante this morning, Sarah Palin said that because the media have described her criticism of Barack Obama’s associations with Bill Ayers and Rev. Jeremiah Right as negative campaigning, that “may constitute an attack that threatens a candidate’s free speech rights under the Constitution.” ABC News reports:
“If [the media] convince enough voters that that is negative campaigning, for me to call Barack Obama out on his associations,” Palin told host Chris Plante, “then I don’t know what the future of our country would be in terms of First Amendment rights and our ability to ask questions without fear of attacks by the mainstream media.”
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Wow.
Audience members escorted out of Sen. John McCain’s, R-Ariz., campaign event in Cedar Falls questioned why they were asked to leave Sunday’s rally even though they were not protesting.
David Zarifis, director of public safety for the University of Northern Iowa, said McCain staffers requested UNI police assist in escorting out “about four or five” people from the rally prior to McCain’s speech [...]
“When I started talking to them, it kind of became clear that they were kind of just telling people to leave that they thought maybe would be disruptive, but based on what? Based on how they looked,” Elborno said. “It was pretty much all young people, the college demographic.”
Elborno said even McCain supporters were among those being asked to leave.
“I saw a couple that had been escorted out and they were confused as well, and the girl was crying, so I said ‘Why are you crying? and she said ‘I already voted for McCain, I’m a Republican, and they said we had to leave because we didn’t look right,’” Elborno said. “They were handpicking these people and they had nothing to go off of, besides the way the people looked.”
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posted by rich at 10:45 AM
Even Texas doesn’t like President Bush anymore.
Though President Bush was once “Texas’ favorite son,” the Lone Star State has now joined “the rest of the nation in registering sharp disapproval of his job performance as the nation’s chief executive.” In a new survey by the University of Texas, only 34 percent of Texans said that they “approved of Bush’s handling of the presidency, with just under 10 percent approving ’strongly.’” Fifty-five percent said they disapproved of Bush’s performance, including 38.7 percent strongly disapproving.
posted by rich at 10:33 AM
Ex-chief diplomat says Palin not ready for top job
WASHINGTON – A former secretary of state and supporter of Republican presidential nominee John McCain says that McCain's running mate, Sarah Palin, isn't up to the task of taking over the presidency in a crisis but could become "adequate" if not "a genius in the job."
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Eagleburger, who was secretary of state under President George H.W. Bush, has been cited frequently by McCain as one of several seasoned diplomats and former Cabinet members who back his presidential bid. McCain has pointed to them when asked about former Secretary of State Colin Powell's decision to endorse Democrat Barack Obama.Asked Thursday on National Public Radio if he thought Palin would be ready to take over in a crisis, Eagleburger said, "Of course not."
posted by rich at 8:47 AM
McCain seeks to revive Rezko as campaign issue
CHICAGO – Trailing as Election Day nears, Republican John McCain and his allies are using "robo-calls" and fliers to revive the issue of Barack Obama's ties to a convicted felon, claiming the Democrat hasn't fully explained the relationship.
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Mailers to voters in swing states make similar claims, and a conservative group filed an ethics complaint Thursday with the Senate.But McCain offers no evidence of wrongdoing and raises no new allegations. Instead, he and his supporters claim Obama hasn't been forthcoming about his involvement with Rezko.
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But Obama has given extensive interviews on the subject to Chicago newspapers, and a Chicago Tribune editorial praised his openness on the subject. He also has answered many — though not all — questions about from national reporters.Obama's campaign responded sharply, accusing McCain of "desperate and angry attacks." It also noted that McCain was reprimanded for his role in the "Keating Five" savings and loan scandal of the 1980s.
"We will accept no lectures from the man who was a central figure in the biggest Washington scandal in recent memory," Obama spokesman Ben LaBolt said.
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Bond warns that Obama would nominate judges who empathize with ‘the gay.’
During his introductory remarks at a rally for Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) this morning, Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO) warned that Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) would nominate judges who empathize with “the gay.” Misrepresenting Obama’s stated views on judicial nominations, Bond proclaimed:
Just this past week, we saw what Barack Obama said about judges. He said, ‘I’m tired of these judges who want to follow what the Founding Fathers said and the Constitution. I want judges who have a heart, have an empathy for the teenage mom, the minority, the gay, the disabled.’ … He thinks this country should be a government—not a government of laws, but a government of compassion and empathy, not of laws.
In fact, in discussing judicial nominations, Obama’s references to “empathy” only suggest that he would seek individuals who were not tainted by the “culture wars” of the 1990s:
We need somebody who’s got the heart, the empathy, to recognize what it’s like to be a young teenage mom. The empathy to understand what it’s like to be poor, or African-American, or gay, or disabled, or old. … I am absolutely convinced that Culture Wars are just so ’90s. Their days are growing dark.
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Goldfarb: Obama has a ‘long track record of being around anti-Semitic, anti-Israel, and anti-American rhetoric.’
This afternoon, CNN’s Rick Sanchez confronted the McCain campaign blogger Michael Goldfarb about its hypocritical criticism of Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-IL) links to Rashid Khalidi. After Sanchez noted that McCain, as chairman of the board at the International Republican Institute, had also given Khalidi nearly $500,000, Goldfarb brushed him off, saying that Obama had a “long track record of being around anti-Semitic, anti-Israel, and anti-American rhetoric”:
GOLDFARB: Look you’re missing the point again Rick. The point is that Barack Obama has along track record of being around anti-Semitic, anti-Israel, and anti-American rhetoric.
SANCHEZ: Can you name one other person that he hangs around with who’s anti-Semitic? … We got Khalidi on the table, give me number two. Who’s the other anti-Semitic person that he hangs around with?
GOLDFARB: Rick, we both know who number two is.
Goldfarb could not or refused to name the individual whom he was referring to, despite Sanchez’s repeated inquiries.
Goldfarb may have been dancing around naming Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Obama, however, has disavowed Wright’s extreme views, and McCain supposedly banned his campaign from using Wright’s record against Obama.
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Iraq gov't wants all US troops gone by end of 2011
BAGHDAD – Iraq wants to eliminate any chance U.S. forces will stay here after 2011 under a proposed security pact and to expand Iraqi legal jurisdiction over U.S. troops until then, a close ally of the prime minister said Thursday.
Those demands, which were presented to U.S. officials this week, could derail the deal — delivering a diplomatic blow to Washington in the final weeks of the Bush administration.
Failure to reach an agreement before year's end could force a suspension of American military operations, and U.S. commanders have been warning Iraqi officials that could endanger security improvements.
The current draft, hammered out in months of tortuous negotiations, would have U.S. soldiers leave Iraq by Dec. 31, 2011, unless the two governments agreed to an extension for training and supporting Iraqi security forces.
But Ali al-Adeeb, a member of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's inner circle, said the government wants that possibility excluded by language adding finality to the end of 2011 date.
"The Iraqi side wants to remove any mention of a possible extension of U.S. troops, fearing that the existing clause might be subject to misinterpretation or could bear different interpretation," he told The Associated Press.
posted by rich at 3:15 PM
Palin says Obama infomercial short on specifics
ERIE, Pa. – Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin says Democrat Barack Obama offered few national security specifics in his infomercial. Palin told 6,000 people at an Erie, Pa., convention center Thursday that her running mate, John McCain is better suited to protect the nation.The Alaska governor also says congressional Democrats want to cut military spending sharply but she says this is not the time to do that.
Palin drew boos from the Erie audience when she said she was glad to be in the home state of the World Series-winning Philadelphia Phillies. Northwestern Pennsylvania baseball fans favor the Cleveland Indians or Pittsburgh Pirates.
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How much detail is she looking for? Obama from day one has given far more detail than McCain ever has - if you can ever pinpoint what position he has on a given issue today!
And I love the fact that she is clueless about the local sports! What a "joe sicpack" she is!
posted by rich at 3:09 PM
McCain camp: Obama gets pass on ads
John McCain campaign manager Rick Davis expressed frustration Thursday that negative ads run by Barack Obama’s campaign do not prompt the same press outrage as ads attacking the Democratic presidential nominee.
A new Obama ad released Thursday repeatedly links McCain to President Bush’s economic policies, showing the two Republicans in the rearview mirror as the car drives past McCain’s tax proposals.
“The most amazingly bankrupt line I’ve seen in this campaign is Barack Obama campaign’s repeated attempt to link John McCain to President Bush,” Davis said on a conference call with reporters. “John McCain held the Bush administrations feet the fire more than anyone else for the first four years of the administration.”
Davis said that the Republican campaign has been given its “share of press criticism” for its negative attacks, but complained that Obama has received a free pass in his attacks against McCain.
“Barack Obama hasn’t been held accountable time and time again,” Davis said. “In the last two weeks, he has attacked Sarah Palin and thrown the George Bush card back on the table.”
“If you bring up his association with William Ayers or Rashid Khalidi it’s, ‘Oh boy, that’s off limits; you can’t do that,’ but they can prosecute a campaign with hundreds of millions of dollars with no accountability.”
Davis insisted that Obama has yet to be fully scrutinized because every person who has offered criticism of the candidate has not been fully heard before coming under fire from the campaign.
“You have to wonder what his version of America is going to look like when people who disagree with him get attacked over and over again,” Davis said.
posted by rich at 3:03 PM
McCain Campaign "Unleashed An October Surprise Of Straight Talk" - OopsIn a stunning reversal of their usual campaign tactics, today John McCain's senior economic advisor Douglas Holtz-Eakin told the truth about John McCain's signature health care tax credit:
Younger, healthier workers likely wouldn't abandon their company-sponsored plans, said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, McCain's senior economic policy adviser.
"Why would they leave?" said Holtz-Eakin. "What they are getting from their employer is way better than what they could get with the credit."
The Obama campaign responded:
This morning, the McCain campaign’s top economic policy advisor unleashed an October Surprise of straight talk when he finally admitted that the health insurance people currently get from their employer is ‘way better’ than the health care they would get if John McCain becomes President. ... Senator McCain has been trying to cover this up for months, but his advisor’s brutal honesty today is certainly better late than never, and it should give every American pause about electing a candidate who has proposed such radical and dangerous changes to our health care system.
posted by rich at 2:00 PM
John McCain can't stop lying about his own record on taxes and Obama's record
If John McCain knew about the internets, he'd know about that thing called "YouTube." And, he'd know that Jed is catching him on his serial lies about his and Obama's record on taxes:
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McCain Shocked That Obama Campaign Would ‘Boycott’ Hostile Media
---McCain should know all about boycotting the media. Some examples:
– McCain canceled an appearance on CNN’s Larry King Live after CNN’s Campbell Brown conducted a tough interview with McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds about Palin’s foreign policy experience.
– Last month, the McCain campaign barred New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd from flying on both the McCain and Palin press planes after she wrote a negative column.
– McCain campaign officials barred Time’s Joe Klein from traveling with them, after he asked McCain an uncomfortable question about foreign policy.
– Campaign officials have repeatedly gone on air to bash journalists after tough interviews, saying that Katie Couric asked Palin “a series of trapdoor questions,” the New York Times “cast aside it’s journalistic integrity to advocate for the defeat of John McCain,” and demanded that the media treat Palin with “deference.”
posted by rich at 1:14 PM
Giuliani Blasts Obama For Links To Middle East Scholar Previously Funded By McCain(Think Progress)In recent days, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and his surrogates have attempted to paint Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) as holding anti-Israel views because of his relationship with Palestinian-American Professor Rashid Kahlidi. Last night on Fox News Channel, Rudy Giuliani continued the anti-Khalidi campaign by claiming that he holds a “very hostile view of Israel” and has “a connection to the PLO.” Giuliani disapprovingly noted that the Woods Foundation funded “Khalidi’s organizations” while Obama was a board member:
Senator Obama and Ayers, sitting on the Woods board, gave something like $70,000 or $80,000 to Khalidi’s organizations that participated in giving — doing these exhibits which would, I think, tell just one side of the story in terms of the Middle East. … But — and all that is available from public record.
In fact, the “public record” shows that Khalidi is a well-respected, mainstream scholar of Middle Eastern studies. As the Washington Post explained in a 2004 profile of Khalidi and his book Resurrecting Empire:
Among other scholars who specialize in the region, [Khalidi’s book] isn’t a radical take on the present state of affairs. Michael C. Hudson, director of the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown, describes Khalidi as preeminent in his field, a courageous scholar and public figure. […]
Khalidi’s book is equally critical of corrupt Arab nationalist regimes and Israeli policies in the occupied territories. It is measured, perhaps even a bit safe in its main argument.
Further demonstrating the inaccuracy of the McCain campaign’s characterization of Khalidi is the fact that while McCain served as chairman of its board, the International Republican Institute distributed several grants to the Palestinian research center co-founded by Khalidi.” Seth Colter Walls reports:
A 1998 tax filing for the McCain-led group shows a $448,873 grant to Khalidi’s Center for Palestine Research and Studies for work in the West Bank. … The relationship extends back as far as 1993, when John McCain joined IRI as chairman in January. Foreign Affairs noted in September of that year that IRI had helped fund several extensive studies in Palestine run by Khalidi’s group, including over 30 public opinion polls and a study of “sociopolitical attitudes.”
As Ezra Klein notes, “This, of course, just goes to show how absurd it is to suggest that Khalidi is some sort of radical polemicist. The guy is such a credentialed and respected scholar that even right-leaning organizations have funded his work, simply because it’s good work.”
McCain gave nearly a million bucks to anti-Jewish terrorist spokesman
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Of course, that's not all. Only one candidate in this race has ties to Nazi sympathizers, and that's John McCain.
PS Don't forget McCain's buddy who said that Hitler was sent by God to kill the Jews.
NB And don't even get me started on Sarah Palin's extensive ties to anti-Semites.
posted by rich at 1:11 PM
posted by rich at 8:19 AM
McCain adviser dismisses evidence of Bush’s Iraq lies as ‘conspiracy theories.’In a recent interview with Der Spiegel, Robert Kagan, a leading member of John McCain’s war cabinet, dismissed wrongdoing by the Bush administration in the run-up to the Iraq war as “conspiracy theories”:
SPIEGEL: Isn’t it true that Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld took advantage of the outrage over the 9/11 terrorist attacks to strike Iraq? Is it even possible anymore to deny that the war was based on manipulation, exaggeration and flat-out lies? […]
KAGAN: In retrospect, we have to admit that Washington could have waited a while longer. That’s a different question. But I think it’s about time we moved beyond this silly conversation and these absurd conspiracy theories.
Matt Duss at the Wonk Room writes, “We can ‘move beyond this silly conversation’ when people like Robert Kagan cease pretending that Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Feith, et al were arguing in good faith about the need to invade Iraq, and stop dismissing the overwhelming evidence of their dishonesty as ‘conspiracy theories.’”
(Think Progress)
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Ignoring McCain’s War Against The Press, Giuliani Criticizes Obama For Freezing Out Hostile NetworkAfter right-wing Florida news anchor Barbara West conducted a “hostile” and “ham-handed” interview with Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) last week, the Obama-Biden campaign canceled an interview that Biden’s wife Jill was set to do with West’s network, WFTV. The campaign also “suggested that future interviews with WFTV were unlikely before Election Day.”
Since then, Fox News has latched onto the cancellation, implying that it means Obama and Biden are unwilling to face “tough and critical questions.” On Fox and Friends this morning, McCain surrogate Rudy Giuliani claimed that “it gives an indication of what an Obama administration would be like”:
QUESTION: And so do you think it’s correct for the Obama campaign to shut out that news outlet, then, and say you will no longer get access to the Obama campaign?
GIULIANI: No. I think it gives an indication of what an Obama administration would be like. I mean, as long as you drink their Kool-Aid, you’re fine. I mean, you’re going to be treated nicely. But if you should ask them an obvious question, I mean, it’s Barack Obama who used the expression spread the wealth. Joe the Plumber didn’t say that to him.
Giuliani’s feigned concern for the plight of the press in gaining access to presidential candidates is ironic given that Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) efforts to restrict media access have been compared to those of the regimes in North Korea, Syria, and Sudan. In fact, during its ongoing war against the press, the McCain campaign has routinely punished journalists it views as hostile by cutting off their access:
– Last month, the McCain campaign barred New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd from flying on both the McCain and Palin press planes.
– Time Magazine’s Joe Klein revealed last week that he too had been barred from traveling with the McCain campaign, telling Politico’s Michael Calderone that the campaign began freezing him out after he asked McCain an uncomfortable question about foreign policy.
– During the Republican National Convention, McCain canceled an appearance on CNN’s Larry King Live after CNN’s Campbell Brown persistently asked flustered McCain flack Tucker Bounds about Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s foreign policy experience and qualifications.
– When Newsweek wrote a cover story in May examining the hardball tactics conservatives might use in the general election, the McCain campaign “threatened to throw the magazine’s reporters off the campaign bus and airplane.”
The McCain campaign’s press punishment doesn’t end with just cutting off access. At one point, campaign staffers “even considered pulling out of one of the three presidential debates because it would be moderated by Tom Brokaw, a former NBC News anchorman.” Apparently Giuliani doesn’t believe that such belligerence towards the media gives any “indication” of what a McCain administration would be like.
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According to senior Bush administration officials, the U.S. is “actively considering talks with elements of the Taliban” — “a major policy shift that would have been unthinkable a few months ago.” The officials said that “the recommendation calls for the talks to be led by the Afghan central government, but with the active participation of the U.S.”(Think Progress)
posted by rich at 8:01 AM
Gov. Sarah Palin spent over $51,000 in taxpayer dollars to “remodel the governor’s Anchorage office suite and spruce up her mansion and office in Juneau,” the Boston Herald reports. Palin spent $5,380 of the funds on a “72-inch wooden display case” that houses sports memorabilia, “native artwork, and “a Klondike Trail mug.”(Think Progress)
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Many Kentucky voters misinformed about Obama’s faith.A poll of likely Kentucky voters finds that, “despite heavy national media attention about Obama’s faith, more than half of likely Republican voters — 54 percent — and one of every four Democrats in the state do not know that the Democratic presidential nominee is a Christian.” The poll indicated that “14 percent of likely Kentucky voters — 28 percent of Republicans, 4 percent of Democrats and 11 percent of independents — think Obama adheres to the Muslim faith.” Mahmoud Shalash, imam of the Islamic Center of Lexington, argued that the poll numbers are the result of a deliberate fear-mongering campaign:
“I am concerned that some people are spreading this rumor for political purposes, trying to exploit the anti-Islamic sentiment in this country that ties Muslims with terrorists,” Shalash said. “I don’t blame the ignorant bigots as much as the educated people who try to perpetrate this.
UpdateFlashback: Colin Powell on Meet the Press last Sunday: "Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer is no. That's not America. Is there something wrong with a seven-year-old Muslim American kid believing he or she could be president? Yet I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion that [Obama] is a Muslim and might have an association with terrorists. This is not the way we should be doing it in America."
posted by rich at 7:38 AM
Kyl Says Bush Is Blame-Free In Financial Mess: ‘The President Doesn’t Run The Economy’Today on CNN’s Late Edition, Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) claimed President Bush’s economic agenda had nothing to do with the current financial crisis, insisting defiantly that Bush “doesn’t run the economy”:
KYL: George Bush doesn’t run the economy. He didn’t create this problem. His tax rates being lower actually helped for six years create the second largest economic growth that we’ve had in the history of the country in recent years. … The President doesn’t run the economy.
The current financial crisis is a direct result of Bush running the economy. Bush’s massive tax cuts for the wealthy have contributed to record inequality and historic deficits and debt. The administration gutted several “specific regulations” of the financial system, helping plunge Wall Street into the mess it is facing today.
Embracing a common conservative talking point, Kyl tried to lay all the blame for the crisis on the lack of regulation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. As Alan Greenspan, SEC Chairman Chris Cox, and former Treasury Secretary John Snow — along with the Wonk Room — have stated, this is false.
CAP’s Scott Lilly noted that for the past eight years “we have papered over the fact that American consumers do not have the purchasing power to sustain economic expansion.” Why? Bush’s policies have done nothing for the majority of Americans.
If Bush or any president doesn’t run the economy, then who does, Sen. Kyl?
posted by rich at 7:36 AM
Right-Wing Florida News Anchor Asks If Obama Is A Marxist; Defends Questions As ‘Probing’(Think Progress)Yesterday, Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) sat for an interview with Barbara West of WFTV Orlando. West loaded her interview questions with right-wing smears, likening progressive tax policies to Marxism. Biden responded to West’s ridiculous line of questioning with disbelief:
“I don’t know who’s writing your questions,” Biden told West later in the interview. When West asked if Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) wanted to “turn America into a Socialist country like Sweden,” Biden said, “I don’t know anybody who thinks that except the far right-wing of the Republican Party.”WEST: You may recognize this famous quote, “from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs.” That’s from Karl Marx. How is Sen. Obama not being a Marxist if he intends to spread the wealth around?
BIDEN: Are you joking? Is this a joke? … Or is that a real question? (LAUGHTER).
posted by rich at 7:32 AM
Boy, 8, shoots himself to death at Mass. gun showWESTFIELD, Mass. – With an instructor watching, an 8-year-old boy at a gun fair aimed an Uzi at a pumpkin and pulled the trigger as his dad reached for a camera.
It was his first time shooting a fully automatic machine gun, and the recoil of the weapon was too much for him. He lost control and fatally shot himself in the head.
Now gun safety experts — and some gun enthusiasts at the club where the shooting happened — are wondering why such a young child was allowed to fire a weapon used in war. Local, state and federal authorities are also investigating whether everyone involved had proper licenses or if anyone committed a criminal act.
"It's easy to lose control of a weapon like that ... they are used on a battleground for a very good reason," said Jerry Belair, a spokesman for Stop Handgun Violence, based in Newton, Mass. "It's to shoot as many times as you possibly can without having to reload at an enemy that's approaching. It's not a toy. It's not something to play with."
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posted by rich at 7:00 PM
US official: Raid on Syria killed leader of cellSUKKARIYEH, Syria – A cross-border raid by U.S. special forces killed the al-Qaida-linked head of a Syrian network that smuggled fighters, weapons and cash into Iraq, an American counterterrorism official said Monday. Blood stained the earth in this border village as anguished Syrians buried relatives they said were killed in the U.S. helicopter attack Sunday. Some shouted anti-American slogans and carried banners reading "Down with Bush and the American enemy."
The operation targeted the home of Abu Ghadiyah, the nickname for the leader of a key cell of foreign fighters in Iraq, the U.S. official told The Associated Press from Washington. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive intelligence.
The U.S. Treasury Department has named Abu Ghadiyah as one of four major figures in al-Qaida's Iraq wing who were living in Syria.
U.S. authorities have said Abu Ghadiyah's real name is Badran Turki al-Mazidih, an Iraqi in his early 30s who served as al-Qaida in Iraq's head of logistics in Syria since 2004. His job included providing foreign fighters with passports, weapons, guides and safe houses as they slipped into Iraq and made their way to Baghdad and other major cities where the Sunni insurgency was raging.
Sunday's operation in Sukkariyeh, about five miles from the Iraqi border, came just days after the commander of U.S. forces in western Iraq called the Syrian border an "uncontrolled" gateway for fighters into Iraq and said efforts were being stepped up to secure it.
The raid was another sign the United States is aggressively launching military raids across the borders of Afghanistan and Iraq to destroy insurgent sanctuaries. In Pakistan, U.S. missile strikes have killed at least two senior al-Qaida operatives this year.
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posted by rich at 6:58 PM
Feds disrupt skinhead plot to assassinate ObamaWASHINGTON – Two white supremacists allegedly plotted to go on a national killing spree, shooting and decapitating black people and ultimately targeting Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, federal authorities said Monday.
In all, the two men whom officials describe as neo-Nazi skinheads planned to kill 88 people — 14 by beheading, according to documents unsealed in U.S. District Court in Jackson, Tenn. The numbers 88 and 14 are symbolic in the white supremacist community.
The spree, which initially targeted an unidentified predominantly African-American school, was to end with the two men driving toward Obama, "shooting at him from the windows," the court documents show.
"Both individuals stated they would dress in all white tuxedos and wear top hats during the assassination attempt," the court complaint states. "Both individuals further stated they knew they would and were willing to die during this attempt."
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McCain must be so proud of his supporters!
posted by rich at 6:56 PM
Stevens guilty on 7 counts, won't quit Senate raceWASHINGTON – Ted Stevens, a pillar of the Senate for 40 years and the face of Alaska politics almost since statehood, was convicted of a seven-felony string of corruption charges Monday — found guilty of accepting a bonanza of home renovations and fancy trimmings from an oil executive and then lying about it.
Unbowed, even defiant, Stevens accused prosecutors of blatant misconduct and said, "I will fight this unjust verdict with every ounce of energy I have."
The senator, 84 and already facing a challenging re-election contest next Tuesday, said he would stay in the race against Democrat Mark Begich. Though the convictions are a significant blow for the Senate's longest-serving Republican, they do not disqualify him, and Stevens is still hugely popular in his home state.
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The sooner this pal of Palin's is out of the picture, the better!
But, just another case of corruption and Palin going hand in hand.
posted by rich at 6:52 PM
McCain warns of dangers of Dem controlKETTERING, Ohio – John McCain launched an aggressive attack against Barack Obama on Monday, hoping to remind voters of the GOP’s economic brand after a month of unprecedented government intervention in the financial markets.
“This election comes down to how you want your hard-earned money spent,” McCain said to a small audience at the Renaissance hotel in downtown Cleveland. “Do you want to keep it and invest it in your future, or have it taken by the most liberal person to ever run for the Presidency, and the Democratic leaders who have been running Congress for the past two years — Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid?”
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This sounds wonderful to me!
posted by rich at 6:45 PM
More questions about voting roil Indiana countyCROWN POINT, Ind. – An Indiana county still recovering from a primary night black eye is embroiled in a new election-year drama that could determine whether Democrats win Indiana's presidential contest for the first time in more than four decades.
Weeks after questions arose over suspect voter registrations, a Republican lawsuit seeks to close early voting sites in three heavily Democratic Lake County cities: Gary, East Chicago and Hammond. Democrats say the GOP is trying to suppress minority voting. Four judges have already weighed in on the case, which is headed to the state's Court of Appeals.
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Palin allies report rising campaign tensionEven as John McCain and Sarah Palin scramble to close the gap in the final days of the 2008 election, stirrings of a Palin insurgency are complicating the campaign's already-tense internal dynamics.
Four Republicans close to Palin said she has decided increasingly to disregard the advice of the former Bush aides tasked to handle her, creating occasionally tense situations as she travels the country with them. Those Palin supporters, inside the campaign and out, said Palin blames her handlers for a botched rollout and a tarnished public image — even as others in McCain's camp blame the pick of the relatively inexperienced Alaska governor, and her public performance, for McCain's decline.
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OK, I'm sure the staff could have made some different decisions, but Palin has proved to be utterly corrupt, vile, self-serving, and dumb as a rock. No sane person would want her to run anything other than the local bar.
posted by rich at 5:04 PM
More racist McCain supporters at rally in Denver
This is the most racist I've seen McCain supporters act to date. Talking about "putting a monkey in the White House." Talking about wearing turbans. About Obama being a communist. People, this is what the Republican party has been turned into. Does anyone, Republican or Democrat, really want to be associated with these people? Judging by the growing number of senior Republican leaders, and now even top McCain supporters, abandoning McCain and endorsing Obama, the answer is apparently no. Just watch these people. What a sad spectacle. What an embarrassment.
posted by rich at 10:30 AM
posted by rich at 10:03 AM
Mahoney a no-show for debate.A sell-out crowd at the Forum Club in West Palm Beach did not get what they came for this afternoon. A scheduled debate between Florida congressman Tim Mahoney (D) and his Republican challenger Tom Rooney did not take place as scheduled because Mahoney did not show up. He objected to the presence of TV cameras. Mahoney, who has admitted to having multiple affairs and may have paid off one of his mistresses, said the cameras would create a “circus” atmosphere. Rooney attended today had the entire event to himself, responding to questions posed by the moderator.
Update - ABC reports that Mahoney demanded his mistress "attend fundraisers and 'tease c-ck' to bring in more donations from the male members of the public." He also reportedly demanded that she "engage in sexual conduct with another woman for his enjoyment."
posted by rich at 9:50 AM
AP INVESTIGATION: Palin pipeline terms curbed bids---
ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Gov. Sarah Palin's signature accomplishment — a contract to build a 1,715-mile pipeline to bring natural gas from Alaska to the Lower 48 — emerged from a flawed bidding process that narrowed the field to a company with ties to her administration, an Associated Press investigation shows.
No guarantee gas pipeline will be builtANCHORAGE, Alaska – Contrary to Gov. Sarah Palin's campaign promises to "build a pipeline quickly," the massive project to send natural gas south is still no sure thing.
TransCanada Corp. has been awarded a state license, but still needs approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which is years away. Canadian regulators must sign off on their portion. First Nation tribes in Canada are objecting to the proposed route. And even if it sails through financial and regulatory hurdles, TransCanada still has no obligation to build the pipeline.
If the company doesn't complete the project, it could still receive up to $500 million in state subsidies, with startup costs split evenly until the company tries to secure contracts to ship gas through the supply channel. Between the time TransCanada locks in shipping commitments and files for a federal permit, the state will pick up 90 percent of the tab even before ground is broken.
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posted by rich at 9:39 AM
posted by rich at 9:28 AM
Democrats claim McCain violating fundraising rulesWASHINGTON – The Democratic Party plans to file a complaint with federal regulators that accuses Republican John McCain's presidential campaign of various violations of campaign finance law.
In a letter to the Federal Election Commission to be submitted Monday, the Democratic National Committee alleges McCain has received donations from 6,653 individuals who exceeded the legal $2,300 limit by at least $1,000 and 23 donation in excess of $50 from anonymous donors. The DNC cited one donor who appeared to have given more than $56,000.
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We know that he violated his own rules way back in the primaries. This is no surprise, but the media just doesn't want to follow up on it for some reason.
posted by rich at 9:26 AM
McCain Adviser Endorses Obama
The Wall Street Journal today rounds up the horde of prominent Republicans jumping ship to Barack Obama. Now one of John McCain's actual advisers has switched sides:
Charles Fried, a professor at Harvard Law School, has long been one of the most important conservative thinkers in the United States. Under President Reagan, he served, with great distinction, as Solicitor General of the United States. Since then, he has been prominently associated with several Republican leaders and candidates, most recently John McCain, for whom he expressed his enthusiastic support in January.
This week, Fried announced that he has voted for Obama-Biden by absentee ballot. In his letter to Trevor Potter, the General Counsel to the McCain-Palin campaign, he asked that his name be removed from the several campaign-related committees on which he serves. In that letter, he said that chief among the reasons for his decision "is the choice of Sarah Palin at a time of deep national crisis."
posted by rich at 2:10 PM
McCain says Obama would harm middle class
DENVER – Republican presidential nominee John McCain said Friday that if his Democratic rival Barack Obama is elected along with a Democratic Congress the middle class is "going to be put through the wringer." McCain told a noisy rally in Denver, "The answer to a slowing economy is not higher taxes, but that is exactly what is going to happen when the Democrats have total control in Washington."
Obama has proposed a tax increase on the 5 percent of taxpayers who make more than $250,000 a year and advocates tax cuts for those who make less.
The Arizona senator ridiculed the idea that any tax increases would be narrowly targeted and, at the same time, sought to link Obama to the unpopular Congress.
"Anytime you hear talk of a targeted tax increase, you might want to double-check the skill of the marksman — the U.S Congress has been known to fire wildly," McCain said. "America didn't become the greatest nation on earth by giving our money to the government to spread the wealth around."
posted by rich at 1:09 PM
Palin denies accepting $150K in designer clothes
ORMOND BEACH, Fla. – Sarah Palin is blaming gender bias for the controversy over $150,000 worth of designer clothes, hairstyling and accessories the Republican Party provided for her, a newspaper reported Thursday.
"I think Hillary Clinton was held to a different standard in her primary race," Palin said in an interview with the Chicago Tribune posted on the newspaper's Web site Thursday night. "Do you remember the conversations that took place about her, say superficial things that they don't talk about with men, her wardrobe and her hairstyles, all of that? That's a bit of that double standard."
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Funny that she is missing the biggest point in this - that the party bought these items for her illegally and that it was such a huge expense for a salt-of-the-earth hockey-mom!
Also, has she already forgotten the ridiculous story about Edwards' haircut and even McCain's outrageously priced shoes (not to mention Cindy McCain's $100,000+ - or whatever it was - gown that she worn to the convention).
It's the legality and the hypocrisy, stupid!
And, concentrating on their priorities:
Palin stylist draws higher pay than policy adviser
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posted by rich at 1:00 PM
posted by rich at 12:12 PM
Palin inadvertently criticizes herself for supporting Bridge to Nowhere.
In her first policy address, which covered special needs children, Gov. Sarah Palin claimed today that Congress spends “some $18 billions on earmarks for their political pet projects.” Palin then slammed the “Bridge to Nowhere” earmark, which, ironically, she strongly supported:
Congress spends some $18 billions on earmarks for their political pet projects. And that right there is more than the shortfall to fully fund IDEA. … You guys have heard some of the examples of where those dollars go. You’ve heard about the bridges, and you’ve heard about some of these pet projects that really don’t make a lot of sense.
posted by rich at 12:09 PM
Police: McCain Volunteer's "Mutilation" Story Made Up
UPDATE:
A Pittsburgh police commander says a volunteer for the McCain campaign who reported being robbed and attacked near a bank ATM in Bloomfield has confessed to making up the story. Police say charges will be filed. More details to follow.
More of the story from AP: A McCain campaign volunteer who reported that a tall black man robbed her and then cut a "B" onto her cheek after seeing a McCain bumper sticker on her car has been given a polygraph test because of "inconsistencies" in her story, police said.
Among other things, police said photos and bank card information from an automated teller machine where the college student claimed she was robbed do not show her using the machine at the time, police said.
posted by rich at 11:17 AM
Palin Betrays Base On Immigration Amnesty
With 12 days to go until the election, today was the wrong time for Sarah Palin to shoot herself in the foot and alienate her base. But that's what she has done, in style, on Univision.
Interviewer: To clarify, so you support a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants?
Palin: I do because I understand why people would want to be in America. To seek the safety and prosperity, the opportunities, the health that is here. It is so important that yes, people follow the rules so that people can be treated equally and fairly in this country.
posted by rich at 10:11 AM
posted by rich at 10:07 AM
Indiana election official calls Obama "black Hitler"
Indiana is a key swing state. Her job is overseeing vote counts. This woman needs to lose her job, now. More from AP:
A Republican county election clerk distributed copies of an apparent chain letter referring to Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama as a "young, black Adolf Hitler" to two employees but later told police she intended it to be a joke....
Doug Lechner, Republican Party chairman in the county just south of Indianapolis, said the letter was unacceptable and taints Jackson's ability to appear unbiased in administering this year's election. County clerks are responsible for training poll workers, providing all voters an opportunity to cast their ballot without influence, and overseeing vote counts.
Even the Republicans agree that this woman is now tainted. She needs to be fired NOW.
posted by rich at 9:31 AM
posted by rich at 9:28 AM
Memo To Palin: Fruit Fly Research Has Led To Advances In Understanding Autism
This morning, Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) gave her first policy speech urging the federal government to fully fund the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), “a law ensuring services to children with disabilities throughout the nation.” In the speech, Palin cited the need to do more for children with disabilities such as autism:
For many parents of children with disabilities, the most valuable thing of all is information. Early identification of a cognitive or other disorder, especially autism, can make a life-changing difference.
Palin claimed that the amount that Congress spends on earmarks “is more than that short fall to fully fund IDEA.” She then ridiculed some of the projects — such as “fruit fly research” — saying they have little or no value:
Where does a lot of that earmark money end up anyway? […] You’ve heard about some of these pet projects they really don’t make a whole lot of sense and sometimes these dollars go to projects that have little or nothing to do with the public good. Things like fruit fly research in Paris, France. I kid you not.
Palin did not specify what fruit fly research earmark she was referring to (presumably a grant for olive fruit fly research), but she is apparently unaware that scientific research with fruit flies has led to valuable discoveries that have boosted autism research, as a study at the University of North Carolina demonstrated last year:
[S]cientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine have shown that a protein called neurexin is required for..nerve cell connections to form and function correctly.
The discovery, made in Drosophila fruit flies may lead to advances in understanding autism spectrum disorders, as recently, human neurexins have been identified as a genetic risk factor for autism.
The study of fruit flies has also been used for other autism research and "revolutionize[d]” the study of birth defects.
posted by rich at 9:19 AM
posted by rich at 9:13 AM
Virgil Goode campaign touts ‘real America and real Virginia.’
Yesterday at a campaign rally, Virginia Del. Don Merricks (R) spoke about his support for Rep. Virgil Goode (R-VA), echoing recent remarks by McCain campaign surrogate Nancy Pfotenhauer that “real Virginia” is only where McCain is winning. Both Merricks and Goode implied that the “real Virginia” is where people are “philosophically in-tune” with Republicans.
posted by rich at 9:11 AM
Palin: ‘I don’t know’ if abortion clinic bombers are terrorists.’
In her interview with NBC’s Brian Williams, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said that Bill Ayers is “no question” a terrorist because he sought to destroy the U.S. Capitol and the Pentagon. Palin, however, refused to apply the same label to abortion clinic bombers:
Q: Is an abortion clinic bomber a terrorist, under this definition, governor?
PALIN: (Sigh). There’s no question that Bill Ayers via his own admittance was one who sought to destroy our U.S. Capitol and our Pentagon. That is a domestic terrorist. There’s no question there. Now, others who would want to engage in harming innocent Americans or facilities that uh, it would be unacceptable. I don’t know if you’re going to use the word terrorist there.
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has repeatedly voted against protecting Americans from domestic terrorists carrying out violence at abortion clinics.
posted by rich at 9:05 AM
posted by rich at 9:03 AM
Palin derides ‘elites,’ but then says she rejects labels.
During an interview with NBC’s Brian Williams which aired tonight, Gov. Sarah Palin offered two contradictory statements in the span of just a few minutes. When asked who is “an elite,” Palin answered: “Oh, I guess just people who think they’re better than anyone else.” Moments later, here’s how Palin responded when asked if she’s a “feminist”:
I’m not gonna label myself. And I think that’s what annoys a lot of Americans – especially in a political campaign – is to start trying to label different parts of America, different backgrounds.
Palin seemed not to realize that, just minutes earlier, she was labeling different parts of America.
posted by rich at 8:59 AM
McCain: Obama represents a Bush third term.
In a statement responding to reports that nearly 500,000 more Americans claimed unemployment benefits this week, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) tried to link Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) to President Bush’s failed economic policies.: “Barack Obama’s only answer is to double-down on the Bush Administration’s legacy of out-of-control spending.” The Wall Street Journal notes that this claim “hangs on the thread of proposed spending increases by Obama,” adding that Obama nevertheless "opposes most major aspects of Bush’s economic legacy, including making permanent the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, which McCain supports.”
posted by rich at 8:56 AM
Rove Blames Market Volatility On Obama: It Reflects ‘People’s Concerns’ About An Obama Presidency
posted by rich at 8:55 AM
