"My Lobbyists Are Honorable"

Wow.

Sen. John McCain said Friday that while lobbyists serve as close advisers to his presidential campaign, they are honorable and he is not influenced by corruption in the system.

McCain, who has styled himself as an enemy of special interests, defended having lobbyists working for his campaign. He is the expected Republican presidential nominee.

"These people have honorable records, and they're honorable people, and I'm proud to have them as part of my team," McCain told reporters following a town hall meeting in Indianapolis.

If that doesn't sink him, nothing will.

The Washington Post adds:

[W]hen McCain huddled with his closest advisers at his rustic Arizona cabin last weekend to map out his presidential campaign, virtually every one was part of the Washington lobbying culture he has long decried. His campaign manager, Rick Davis, co-founded a lobbying firm whose clients have included Verizon and SBC Telecommunications. His chief political adviser, Charles R. Black Jr., is chairman of one of Washington's lobbying powerhouses, BKSH and Associates, which has represented AT&T, Alcoa, JP Morgan and U.S. Airways.

Senior advisers Steve Schmidt and Mark McKinnon work for firms that have lobbied for Land O Lakes, the UST Public Affairs, Dell and Fannie Mae. [...]

In McCain's case, the fact that lobbyists are essentially running his presidential campaign -- most of them as volunteers -- seems to some people to be at odds with his anti-lobbying rhetoric. "He has a closer relationship with lobbyists than he lets on," said Melanie Sloan of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. "The problem for McCain being so closely associated with lobbyists is that he's the candidate most closely associated with attacking lobbyists."

Public Citizen, a group that monitors campaign fundraising, has found that McCain had more bundlers -- people who gather checks from networks of friends and associates -- from the lobbying community than any other presidential candidate from either party.

Just don't expect to find that information out on your own. Here, for example, is the current front page of the online edition of the Washington Post.

Note that a "pro-surge" editorial by Krauthammer is featured with larger type and graphics than the blurb about McCain and his lobbyist ties.



[Click to Enlarge]

UPDATE I - PALE RIDER

Some delusional wingnut at News Busters has completely the opposite take:

The fallout continues from yesterday's New York Times hit piece on John McCain. The paper itself doesn't seem eager to put up a fight as network news broadcasts, liberal bloggers, journalism professors, and the general public are questioning the Times's journalistic standards.

Yesterday's inflammatory story, which used anonymous sources to forward nine-year-old allegations from his first presidential run suggesting an improper relationship by John McCain with a female telecommunications lobbyist, received prominent front-page placement; today's follow-up on McCain's press conference was relegated to page 20 -- Elisabeth Bumiller's "McCain Disputes That Aides Warned Him About Ties to Lobbyist."

Actually, it's just the opposite--the Washington Post is doing all it can to help McCain with its online edition by touting the "success" of the surge and burying the story about the truth of the matter--and the truth of the matter is, McCain has extensive connections and ties to lobbyists. Who cares about the sex stuff? It's irrelevant.

Your wingnut pushback machine in action, only not so effective these days.

UPDATE II - PALE RIDER

Bwah! I told you he was finished.

Broadcaster Lowell "Bud" Paxson today contradicted statements from Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign that the senator did not meet with Paxson or his lobbyist before sending two controversial letters to the Federal Communications Commission on Paxson's behalf.

Paxson said he talked with McCain in his Washington office several weeks before the Arizona Republican wrote the letters to the FCC urging a rapid decision on Paxson's quest to acquire a Pittsburgh television station.

Paxson also recalled that his lobbyist, Vicki Iseman, attended the meeting in McCain's office and that Iseman helped arrange the meeting. "Was Vicki there? Probably," Paxson said in an interview with The Washington Post today. "The woman was a professional. She was good. She could get us meetings."

The recollection of the now-retired Paxson conflicted with the account provided by McCain about two letters at the center of a controversy about the senator's ties to Iseman, a partner at the lobbying firm of Alcalde & Fay.

So there's nothing there and the media are doing what about it?

I'll tell you what some are doing--some are doing their jobs. Some ain't. And the wingnut smear machine's pushback sucks, doesn't it?

It's the Temperment, Stupid

Steven Benen picks up on this little nugget of Republican in-fighting:

MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. - Mitt Romney's campaign is blasting out automated phone calls that feature a recording of former senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania raising questions about John McCain's "temperament" - a hot-button issue that Romney himself has assiduously avoided.

Santorum said in an interview yesterday that he wrote the script himself, and the campaign deferred to him and approved it.

"I think that to me it is a relevant issue for people to consider," he said. "I think it's one without question that factors into his ability to govern, to form coalitions, and to get things done."

But Romney had insisted as recently as last week that he would not make an issue of McCain's temperament, which some critics have said tends toward the hot-tempered and angry.

Santorum said he had witnessed problems with McCain's temperament, which he declined to detail. "I don't know anybody in the Senate who hasn't. Everybody has their McCain story."

The gift that keeps on giving. McCain is the weakest Republican out there and has only the support of the media and a few establishment Republicans who want to usher him off the stage (like they did with Bob Dole) once he finally shows that he can't win a national election. McCain has run through virtually every dime he's ever collected and has no chance of energizing the base of the Republican Party for more. Do you think Rush Limbaugh is going to help him raise money in South Florida? Do you think any of those US Senators who are tied to Washington Lobbyists are going to open up their rolodex and funnel money to McCain? Do you think anyone from the evangelical base of the party is going to tap the mailing lists and try to solicit funds? They may endorse him and say they support him on the surface, but underneath that surface, no way. They're not going to give money to a loser. They're going to put on a smile in public and swear to campaign for and support McCain, and then they'll go about their business and not contribute so much as a thin dime. Appearances matter. And if it ever appears that McCain is collecting millions from donors and is flush with cash, I'll certainly admit my error. I suspect he won't ever get that huge fundraising bump that Bush got in 1999 and 2000. Not even close to that.

If you can't get colleagues from your own party who served with you in the most collegial body in the country--The US Senate--then what possible chance do you have of winning? The last time the media got behind a candidate was Rudy, and Rudy ended up getting run out of town on a rail.

Russert Gets it Wrong

Tim Russert, doing his usual bit to encourage us all to go to the blogs for reality and stay away from the ineptitude he and Chris Matthews show every time they try to go on TV, was caught lying again about what's happening in South Carolina:

Russert: Well, it’s Mike Huckabee versus John McCain. Mitt Romney has abandoned the state. He’s heading out to Nevada, which I think he’ll win. But South Carolina’s too close to call. Whoever can turn out most of their base is going to win and have a real chance when they go into Florida the following week.

Huckabee has locked up the evangelical Christians. John McCain has locked up the war veterans.

You know 60 percent of the voters on the Republican side are evangelicals. Huckabee gets 33% of those. With non-evangelicals, it drops down to 11%. He has a very strong base with born-again Christians, but he hasn’t been able to expand it.

When it comes to John McCain and Mike Huckabee, the latest polls are a tossup.

No, that's wrong, as we showed earlier this week. There is a schism within the Vietnam Veterans and a well-financed and vocal group of them is trying to sink McCain's chances in South Carolina. These are actual Veterans doing this, and the statement that 'McCain has locked up the war veterans is wrong.

Now, why would evangelicals reject someone who divorced his wife after committing adultery? Do you think they have some ideas of their own in that regard? I just don't see McCain, Guiliani or even old Newt Gingrich catching fire with the religious crowd. Lifestyle choices, perhaps?

UPDATE: After I wrote this, I forgot to mention that McCain probably doesn't have the support of a key segment of Veterans--that is, Veterans of the Iraq war who don't want to keep re-deploying there every other year for the next 1,000,000 years or whatever.

Since Russert won't correct his statement, and since Friday Catblogging is nice but every day is a day for excitement, we'll just have to look at FIGHTING BEARS!

A Ron Paul Flare-up on Red State Equals Hilarity

Over on Dead State--they only have $15K to go and it doesn't look like the cash is rolling in--they're trying to use whatever means possible to kill Ron Paul. It ain't working.

----------------

Republicans to Ron Paul: Seriously, Get Lost.
Because the subtler versions of this message aren't getting through
By Leon H Wolf

Congratulations, Ron Paul. You've once again managed to come in dead last among candidates who actually campaigned in a primary - except this time, you can't blame it all on those Jesus freaks in Iowa. This was New Hampshire, which should have been your most fertile territory in all the early primary states. And unfortunately, it looks like "your most fertile territory" still pretty much equates to "Republicans don't like you or your message."

At this point, I'd favor action by the Congressional Republican Caucus to extricate you from their ranks. There are lots of reasons for this: the fact that you were, ahem, apparently totally unaware of the racist contents of numerous eponymous newsletters (I swear, that's believable, really), the fact that you thought that the way that Pol Pot cleaned up the mess after we left Vietnam was great, the fact that you've publicly stated that we should not defend South Korea if the North Koreans attacked, the fact that you see Jack Kemp and Bob Dole as terrorists, but not the PLO, and well, we could go on and on. I think there are plenty of reasons listed above that the Republicans in Congress wouldn't want to be associated with you - and it appears that Republican primary voters are also not comfortable with you being associated with our party. And while nobody wants to kick members out of the Caucus when we're in the minority, in extreme cases, it's necessary for people to know that there's a certain level of scum we won't be associated with.

----------------

Riiiiight. Because conservatives in this country want their racism to not look like actual racism so that no one will hold them accountable. See: Rush Limbaugh, Neil Boortz, Michael Savage, Trent Lott, Fox News, etc.

---------------
Commenters reply:

Republican to Leon. Get Lost. by wiseburn
Leon, I always thought the Republican Party had a big tent.
Cato reports 13% of voting age Americans are Libertarian.
http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=6715
We NEED them in the party to get Republicans ELECTED.

You can dislike Paul or his supporters or the way his campaign is run. But don't discount his message of Freedom, Peace and Prosperity. It was fun to see Thompson and Huckabee starting to say some of the same things as Paul in the last debate.

As much as you dislike Paul, his Revolution is bringing people back to the Republican Party. The humungous overspending by Bush and the Republican Congress has alienated many fiscal conservatives. Paul is the only reason many are staying in the Republican Party.

The Bush police state is moving many many independents towards the Democrats. The turnout for Democrats in New Hampshire is the big story from yesterday. Not Paul.

Steve
----------------

Proving that facts simply don't matter in the conservative world, a Ron Paul supporter that didn't immediately get banned on Dead State simply asks--where are you getting your information?

----------------

I'll fess up Leon by satchman2
I was making a point by that - I think you're paraphrasing RP's words to make your point - he didn't say Pol Pot. You said it.

He said using government force to suppress free speech is a type of terrorism - you then took those words and connected them to Dole and Kemp based on their Anti-terrorism act.

You weaken your argument by not sticking to what the man actually said. That sort of slander that doesn't help anyone make good decisions.

---------------

When pressed, "Leon" didn't have much of an answer, except to say that he "inferred" what Paul meant.

In other words, "Leon" can't actually support his attacks with quotes, and anyone who questions him is an idiot.

Thank God for Dead State--you can't make this shit up. They're trying to kill off part of their own base by making up stuff. When the actual mouth-breathing racists start to raise money and show up in the national polls at levels higher than people like Thompson and Guiliani, they panic--what threatens their mainstream access to the average American voter is being given the kiss of death by the likes of Stormfront and David Duke by way of a Ron Paul standing at a podium between Romney and McCain. Isn't it fun to watch them implode? Isn't it fun to watch them fall on their own sword by hitting themselves on the head with a hammer?

Here's a little history for you Dead Staters on why Ron Paul is so popular and why the Republican Party's legacy is so shameful.

William Raspberry, June 14, 2004:

And to tell the truth, I might have let this period of national mourning pass without a sour note. But I was in Mississippi when I heard the news of his death, and it came just one day after a white Mississippi newspaper editor proudly handed me a copy of the Philadelphia, Miss., paper, the Neshoba Democrat.

Philadelphia, county seat of Mississippi's Neshoba County, is famous for a couple of things. That is where three civil rights workers -- Michael Schwerner, James Chaney and Andrew Goodman -- were murdered in 1964. And that is where, in 1980, Republican presidential candidate Ronald Reagan chose to launch his election campaign, with a ringing endorsement of "states' rights."

It was bitter symbolism for black Americans (though surely not just for black Americans). Countless observers have noted that Reagan took the Republican Party from virtual irrelevance to the ascendancy it now enjoys. The essence of that transformation, we shouldn't forget, is the party's successful wooing of the race-exploiting Southern Democrats formerly known as Dixiecrats. And Reagan's Philadelphia appearance was an important bouquet in that courtship.

----------------

See, that's where Ron Paul got the idea that he could be nuts in public and have strange ideas. That's where he gets that whole "Dixie" mentality about how Abraham Lincoln was wrong and power hungry and that slavery was actually great for African-Americans. He didn't pull it out of his ass. He just looked to the most popular Republican in the last hundred years and fell into lock-step with all the rest of you.

He is you, and you certainly don't like having that pointed out to you, do you?

Because Taking Away Rights is What They're All About

Update--From ThinkProgress.org

Huckabee flip-flops on birthright citizenship. Yesterday, the Washington Times reported that former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee would “amend the Constitution to prevent children born in the U.S. to illegal aliens from automatically becoming American citizen.” The paper relied on Minutemen founder James Gilchrist for it’s scoop, but Huckabee disputed the claim, saying he had “no intention” of denying the right of “birthright citizenship.” But the Times reports today that Huckabee told it in August that he “would support changing” birthright citizenship:

But he previously had taken a position in an interview with The Times on his campaign bus in Iowa in August.

“I would support changing that. I think there is reason to revisit that, just because a person, through sheer chance of geography, happened to be physically here at the point of birth, doesn’t necessarily constitute citizenship,” he said at the time, according to the audiotape of the interview. “I think that’s a very reasonable thing to do, to revisit that.”

Birthright citizenship is explicitly laid out in the 14th amendment, which begins, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States.”


The Moonie Times has a little blurb about what Mike Huckabee is willing to say in order to get elected:

Mike Huckabee wants to amend the Constitution to prevent children born in the U.S. to illegal aliens from automatically becoming American citizens, according to his top immigration surrogate — a radical step no other major presidential candidate has embraced.
Mr. Huckabee, who won last week's Republican Iowa caucuses, promised Minuteman Project founder James Gilchrist that he would force a test case to the Supreme Court to challenge birthright citizenship, and would push Congress to pass a 28th Amendment to the Constitution to remove any doubt.

Brilliant! Every time a Republican runs for office, they do so by claiming that they want to "amend" the Constitution to take away rights from the American people. This is a brilliant strategy, one that should guarantee a generation of Republicans at least 33% of the total vote in future elections.

Just some background on the people who are supporting Huckabee--the Minutemen--their website has interesting articles like this one, by a "protected" writer:

-------------------
Citizens Being Silenced - Illegal Aliens Trying To Sew Our Months Shut!
Saturday, December 22, 2007 - Silenced Writer

From: deleted to protect writer
Sent: Friday, December 21, 2007 4:26 PM
Subject: illegal immigrant harassment
Dear Minuteman Project:



I am a [housewife and concerned neighbor] who just moved to the Glendale, Arizona area and moved into my apartment without the opportunity of checking the area out first.

My next door neighbors consist of what appears to be at least 12 non-English speaking Mexican nationals [witches? Magical Spell Casting Fairies?] living in a small 2 bedroom apartment. Some drive inconsistent vehicles and there is a constant flow of traffic all day. They all appear to either stay home all day or leave in shifts or constantly go in and out the door to the front of their patio all evening long. Sometimes there are up to 8 cars parked for that one apartment. They seem to change up vehicles sometimes. [Is this magic?]

Even though I have never said anything to them, especially when they play super loud Mexican fiesta music, they constantly harass me by throwing trash in my yard, knocking on my door all times of the night, slamming doors, shocking me with floor thumping when I try to sleep. This happens on a daily basis. [Plus, I can't get any vacuuming done.]

I live alone and do not have family nearby. [My husband always claims I'm seeing things! Bah!] I have never done anything to them. I have always been against illegal immigration and now I know why. The latest wave of immigrants is trying to take over and claim this country as their territory. They are ignorant, rude, and jealous of Americans who are legal. They are not interested in assimilation like the older wave of immigrants who just wanted to work hard and try to make it.

I just wanted to know if you or someone associated with your organization could share some advice for me. [I am desperately in need of someone to pay attention to me]

Even though they stare at me and act as though they dare me to come out when they do something, I do not know if the police would be able to stop them from terrorizing me unless they physically assault me, which I would like to prevent because I am afraid of that.

If someone can help me, refer me or give me advice, I would be forever grateful, At the end of my rope! [I can't watch them as much as I would like, what with my blackouts.]

My lease will be up in the near future and I am moving, but don't know what to do until then as they are causing me unwarranted aggravation and discomfort every single day. It's bad enough that I can't be with my family at Christmas but instead with this.

XX [Mrs Kravitz],
Glendale, Arizona
-------------------

You know, if Mike Huckabee wants to permanently link the Republican Party to this freak show, I'm all for it.

Michael Scherer Does His Part to "Dumb Down" the National Dialogue

In the swirl of bullshit that has been written by reporters and pundits who seem to want to push each other out of the way and stand in front of the crowd and scream "I'm the one who's wrong and doesn't know anything!" at the top of their lungs, this post stands out:

From TIME's "Swampland" blog

January 5, 2008 10:25
The GOP's High School Debate: The cool kid vs. the valedictorian
Posted by Michael Scherer

Here's one thing you need to know about John McCain. He's always been the coolest kid in school. He was the brat who racked up demerits at the Naval Academy. He was the hot dog pilot who went back to the skies weeks after almost dying in a fire on the U.S.S. Forrestal. His first wife was a model. His second wife was a rich girl, 17 years his junior. He kept himself together during years of North Vietnamese torture and solitary confinement. When he sits in the back of his campaign bus, we reporters gather like kids in the cafeteria huddling around the star quarterback. We ask him tough questions, and we try to make him slip up, but almost inevitably we come around to admiring him. He wants the challenge. He likes the give and take. He is, to put it simply, cooler than us.
---
And you have the audacity to call yourself a reporter after writing that paragraph? You have the gall to call yourself "a journalist?"

After writing that paragraph--and after an editor allowed it to be published--EVERYONE associated with bringing that little pearl to the forefront of the American dialogue about politics and the 2008 election should have been fired. Fired and sent home. Fired and then forced to carry their belongings out through the front door with a uniformed security guard at each elbow. Fired and asked not to write anymore.

It's all well and good to write in a parody style, in a cutesy style, and to use different techniques to make a point about something.

But that one paragraph explains it all--the media is not to be trusted anymore. They are not serving the interests of their readers by coming up with such mind-blowing insanity. They are not doing their jobs. They are not representing their trade or their craft anymore. They are not well versed in the ethics of their profession anymore. They don't care if they lie, they don't care what they write, they just want to get what their opinion is out into the open so that it can fit whatever theme they're trying to push. They are shameless and incompetent.

Here's what you REALLY need to know about John McCain--he is a caricature of a leader. He lacks the temperament and the judgement to be President. Everyone who knows anything about him knows it. He is a pariah in the Senate because of this. His public life is full of incidents where he denigrates, insults and berates people just because he can--just like an insecure bully. He left his first wife to take up with his second wife--just like a family values Republican always does. He is not respected in foreign policy circles. He doesn't have the first clue what is really going on in Iraq. His statement that we can keep US troops in Iraq for a "million years" is the single biggest gaffe of his campaign so far. He is not qualified to be President of the United States by virtue of his record, NOT his resume--in fact, one would have to conclude that his record, NOT his resume, is the very thing that highlights why we have to question the adoration the media has for him. They don't have a clue as to how to separate the two.

Un-fucking-believable.

The Implosion of the Republican Party

Dammit, man! Can't you see that dog is hurt and can't run?

That's not why I called you all here today. I saw this on the Daily Kos this morning--it's from conservative money man Richard Viguerie:

Mike Huckabee's victory in the Iowa caucuses is bad news for the Republican Party.

"Mike Huckabee is a Christian socialist. He is a good man, but with a Big Government heart. He is the most liberal of all the Republican presidential candidates on economic issues.

"Huckabee's approach to every problem or perceived problem is to pass a law and launch another government program. If you like President George W. Bush, you'll love Mike Huckabee.

[snip]

"Now Huckabee wants to go back to a two-legged stool—social issues and defense. He would saw off the economic leg. That's a recipe for disaster for the Republican Party. Economic and traditional conservatives would stay home in droves, turning the country over to the Democrats.

Wow!

That's what they're saying about the winner of the Republican Iowa Caucus? That's what they're going to do to Huckabee? Unbelievable. "Traditional" conservatives are who, exactly? I thought they were the God squad crowd, and that crowd put Huckabee over the top last night. That crowd stood up and said no to a multi-million dollar effort by Mitt Romney--and they did so entirely because of the issue of religion. There is no other explanation for it. Romney outspent Huckabee at astronomical levels and poured his heart, his soul and his family into Iowa. And they took one look at his faith and turned the cold, cold cheek of rejection towards him. Somewhere, Jesus is weeping at the thought that his Republican brothers could have such hard hearts. Boo hoo, my friends. Boo hoo.

I am an enthusiastic Huckabee supporter. I really, really, really want him to win the Republican nomination. He is the best hope for electing a Democrat this year. In fact, Republicans will stay away in droves if he is their candidate--a redux of 1996 and the disaster that was Dole-Kemp.

Now, don't get me wrong--Vice President Chuck Norris would be a kickass improvement. Chuck would personally go to Iran and kill everyone, probably within the confines of a 1 hour show. Chuck still has some touch up work to do in the Nam, you know. Plus, no matter what anyone says, that's a beard that could be Presidential, if need be.

Did you know there are literally thousands of bad pictures of Mike Huckabee out there? I simply did not know that...

Watch out, Huck--THIS is How They Get You

I had to take a screen shot and save this and put it up:



With all of the stock photos of Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee out there, THIS was the photo MSNBC.Com ran on their website at around 9:20PM Eastern Time. I took a screenshot of it, didn't color balance it, just wiped some of the marginal stuff out and tried to focus on the detail on his face and the headline. There is no intentional distorting of the image, and I don't use Photoshop.

What you might see if you look closely is a Nixonian look to Huckabee--he has the five o'clock shadow of Dick Nixon and he is prominently displaying his lopsided, almost snaggletoothed smile. His cheeks are washed either with makeup or something along the lines of bad clown rouge.It's Not A Flattering Photo, is what I'm saying.

And do you think that's an accident? The people who live in the rich village of Washington DC don't want Huck to win anything other than a one-way ticket for him, his bass, and Chuck Norris back to Hicksville.

When you see pictures like this, you have to call out the friggin' media on them.

Fox News excludes Ron Paul from the final debate

Pravda Fox News, the official propaganda machine of the GOP, is running scared from Ron Paul. They must find his adherence to Constitutional principles wholly intolerable, since they refused to let him participate in the final debate before the voting starts. (Remember, Fox also refused to run a pro-Constitution ad.)

Now, don't confuse me with a Paul supporter - I'm not - and no, I won't be converted in comments - but I am a Democracy supporter.

Now I feel bad for somewhat supporting the exclusion of Gravel from subsequent debates after his "love" rant last August, because that exclusion led to the exclusion of Kucinich, who is the one true progressive who articulates liberal positions and ideals, but isn't electable. We went down the path of letting the M$M decide who will be heard, and this is the payoff. The GOPers are excluding the only anti-war candidate in the Republican field. (I WAS WRONG. I SHOULD HAVE RAISED HELL WHEN GRAVEL WAS EXCLUDED. And so should have you, and you, and you, and you, and you. Let's learn a lesson from our mistake.)

In the case of Paul, the only reason to exclude him is to silence him on opposition to the war. And he called 'em on it:

Ron Paul said the decision to exclude him from a debate on Fox News Sunday the weekend before the New Hampshire Primary is proof that the network “is scared” of him.

“They are scared of me and don’t want my message to get out, but it will,” Paul said in an interview at a diner here. “They are propagandists for this war and I challenge them on the notion that they are conservative.”

When 70% of America agrees about something, that's strong consensus. Unfortunately, it runs counter to the agenda of the war-whores at Faux News, and rather than deal with it, they chose to silence the lone voice of opposition.

Chickenshit bastards.

Ooops! Version 2.0-Mitt Romney edition

Mitt Romney, a man with no shame and an overwhelming compulsion to say anything to get the Republican Nomination for President said, in 1978:

"My father and I marched with Martin Luther King Jr. through the streets of Detroit." [from a 1978 interview with the Boston Herald.]

Now, we know this is laughably untrue, and a whopper of gigantic proportions.

Is it a bigger whopper than John Kerry mistakenly claiming to have spent Christmas in Cambodia?

One wonders if Romney will be tarred and feathered with the same enthusiasm by the lackluster and incompetent reporting corps that is failing to cover any of the substantive issues in this race for the Presidency.

...and yes, a candidate who lies about what he and his father did or did not do on the issue of civil rights, especially when they were members of the Mormon church, is a big issue. Up until 1978, you couldn't be a member of the Mormon church if you were black, after all.

The Huckabee Meltdown: Part I

The Casper Milquetoast of the Republican horserace is having the Baptist-preacher version of a week rather like Rudy!™ had last week. It's looking more and more like Mike Huckabee may have peaked exactly one month too soon. He apparently reached his apex on Sunday, when a Des Moines Register poll put him in the lead in Iowa and another poll put him in second place nationally.

First, he totally blew it on the NIE, and showed the world that not only does he not know anything - he is so clueless he doesn't even suspect anything.

When asked Tuesday about the latest intelligence estimate on Iran (released Monday! It was in all the papers!) he was totally ignorant. Hadn't even heard of the NIE, and it sure sounded to me like he doesn't even know what an NIE even is. (An NIE is an aggregate analysis that pulls together the information collected by all 16 intelligence agencies. Serious presidential candidates should know this, or bow out.)

Lemme put it this way - one of my grandmothers died in 1996, and she knows about this NIE.

David Paul Kuhn: I don’t know to what extent you have been briefed or been able to take a look at the NIE report that came out yesterday ...

Huckabee: I’m sorry?

Kuhn: The NIE report, the National Intelligence Estimate on Iran. Have you been briefed or been able to take a look at it —

Huckabee: No.

Kuhn: Have you heard of the finding?

Huckabee: No.

Kuhn then summarized the NIE finding that Iran had stopped work on a clandestine nuclear program four years ago and asked if it “adjusts your view on Iran in any sense."

Kuhn: What is your concern on Iran as of now?

Huckabee: I’ve a serious concern if they were to be able to weaponize nuclear material, and I think we all should, mainly because the statements of Ahmadinejad are certainly not conducive to a peaceful purpose for his having it and the fear that he would in fact weaponize it and use it. (He pauses and thinks) I don’t know where the intelligence is coming from that says they have suspended the program or how credible that is versus the view that they actually are expanding it. … And I’ve heard, the last two weeks, supposed reports that they are accelerating it and it could be having a reactor in a much shorter period of time than originally been thought. (emphasis mine)

That is a pretty big pile of hot, steaming stupid to step in right there. He might as well throw those shoes away...

And it illustrates perfectly what scares me the most about Huckabee. He would most certainly be a patsy for the Zionist Christianist whack-jobs who want to get Armageddon ginned up and their natural evil allies, the right-wing Jewish crazies (Bill "the Bloody" Kristol, Norman Podhoretz) who, so far as I can tell, simply want to kill as many brown Muslim people as they can. (Well, they want other people to do the killin' for 'em, because they are candy-assed chickenhawks with penis issues who are apparently still stinging from getting their asses kicked on the playground in third grade - but you get the idea.)

I, personally, am tickled pink that he fucked up so spectacularly. Because if you like the warmongering and the machinations of the fake-Christianist we have now - you would just LOVE the real deal...

Throw Momma Under the Straight Talk Express

I come across a LOT of this kind of thing when I'm commenting or reading blogs. If someone doesn't have Daddy issues, they have Mommy issues.

Now, I'm not going to get into the science of this. The Blue Girl, she knows science. Me? "Science!" is something someone yells in a Thomas Dolby song. I don't know if Arizona Senator John McCain has issues with his Daddy or his Mommy. Even a man of advanced age can have them. And if anyone had a lot to live up to in the Daddy department, it would be McCain, what with his already well-documented lineage. I believe his grandfather was one of the last Admirals to be relieved of command in World War II--something like that. Admittedly, I don't have a vast command of knowledge about McCain or particularly care for him as a politician. It's not Republican vs Democrat. (I am a Democrat but there are occasionally Republicans who ARE NOT sexual deviants or full blown insane criminal gangsters to admire).

John McCain is a crook. Sorry, kids. He was, and will always be, one of the Keating 5. Look it up sometime.

John McCain has an undeserved reputation as a maverick. That is largely an invention of a sympathetic Washington DC reporter/media/pundit class that has no connection to the reality you and I know.

John McCain has never stood up for what's right during this war. He's never said or done anything that could be construed as trying to do the right thing or taken this administration to task in a substantive way. Every carefully worded statement has been designed to appeal to the Republican Primary Voters which, if polling is to be believed, have already rejected him outright long before the actual primaries are to be held.

Now, today, we see that John McCain's mother has had something to say about equally ridiculous Mitt Romney:

[I won't link to Breitbart.com]
MEREDITH, N.H. (AP) - John McCain's 95-year-old mother, in a swipe at her son's rival Mitt Romney, said Friday that Mormons were to blame for the scandal that rocked the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics.
During an appearance on MSNBC, Roberta McCain laid out why her son, John, deserves to win the Republican presidential nomination. But in evaluating McCain's primary rivals, she criticized Romney's Mormon faith and his time in Salt Lake City.

"As far as the Salt Lake City thing, he's a Mormon and the Mormons of Salt Lake City had caused that scandal. And to clean that up, again, it's not a subject," Roberta McCain said.

John McCain quickly stepped in: "The views of my mothers are not necessarily the views of mine."

I find this astonishing on so many different levels. Dead center at the top of this blog is the slogan "Coexist," which expresses a sentiment of religious tolerance that is sorely lacking in the modern day discourse in this country. So, first of all, to the folks who call themselves Mormons--whoa. Ya'll must be a tad bit pissed at this kind of thing. I understand how you might feel. But she's 95. I suspect she might deserve to get a pass for saying something like that, which is obviously insensitive and wrong. People of that age tend to express things of that nature. Of course her views aren't your views--why did you need to say that? She's 95 and she just said something that, to be completely fair, shouldn't be held against McCain at all. It would be wrong to think that McCain is 100% of the same mind as his own mother--no one is 100% of the same mind as their mother.

Second of all, there are a lot of reasons to not want to support Mitt Romney. He is a perfect example of the modern politician who will say or do anything to get elected. It must be the haircut--otherwise, how else to explain how the man ever got elected to anything in the first place.

Third--and I know I'm seriously burying the lede here--what is up with John McCain throwing his mother under the bus like that in public? Notice how quickly he cuts her off. Why not just come out and say it, dude--

Wow! I didn't know my mom was going to say something THAT stupid. Okay, Mom--you're going back on the meds!

Can America really elect a man who would do that to his mother? If my mother said something like that, I'd cringe. I'd wince. I would definitely make it known that I didn't agree with her. But I wouldn't jump on her and try to silence her and humiliate her like that.

You know, you're not human unless you've been embarrassed by your mother. This is a true story--when I was five years old, a horse kicked me with both hind legs, square in the chest, and threw me into the air a good ten feet. And it didn't hurt me a bit. It did leave me with two horseshoe imprints on my chest. And for weeks afterward, no matter where we went, my mother would pull up my shirt and show everyone the horseshoes on my chest.

What are you gonna do?

Well, if you're John McCain, and you're already a freaked out putz who is terrified of being humiliated in the Republican Presidential primary, you jump on your mother in a televised interview and you humiliate her and make her look bad.

Sometimes, you just have to sit there and smile nervously.

Bullshit. I Call Bullshit...

The pandering jackass who happily posed with this sign did not "misspeak" - and certainly not twice in ten seconds - when he said this:

“Actually, just look at what Osam — Barack Obama — said just yesterday. Barack Obama, calling on radicals, jihadists of all different types, to come together in Iraq.”

His loyal minion and amoral mouthpiece, Kevin Madden, said he "misspoke" while referring to Osama bin Laden's just-released single that shot to the top of the Wingnut Top 40 overnight.

Umm, Kev - you are a fuckin' liar - he started to say it right and corrected himself.

Care to try again, Wormtail?

How's about this? Try a little honesty.

"Hey, have you seen the polling? This kind of petty, junior-high crap is all we got if we want Mitt to be the guy who loses to Hillary next November!"

No Newt is Good News

In what was possibly the shortest potential presidential run in modern memory, Newt Gingrich has withdrawn from the Republican horserace.

"What?" You might be saying at this shocking news. "Newt is out?"

Yes, children. Newt is out.

"But when did he get in?" you just exclaimed.

To which I answer, in my most deadpan delivery..."Thursday."

It was just Thursday that the Newt told supporters that if they would pledge at least $30 million to his campaign over the three-week period starting Monday and ending Oct. 21, he would run for the Republican nomination. For months he had hinted that he would run if no one else appeared able to take on the Democrats in 2008. (Talk about your grandiose affect!)

Being the Pander-Bear that he is, he announced his intent to think about considering the possibility of maybe in the future forming an exploratory committee to test the waters for possibly launching a presidential run on the anniversary of the rollout of the Contract On America Contract with America. He even came up with a schmaltzy, pandering event so there would be a name for his announcement, such as it was...

Ready to wretch involuntarily?

Here it comes...

Solutions Day.

Solutions Day!

Can you stand it??? Can you even fucking stand it???

It was pure political theater, but Carrie had a better run on Broadway.

By noon Saturday the Republican's quintessential reptile had scampered on out of the race. He would have had to resign from the helm of his tax-exempt "political organization."

"Newt is not running," spokesman Rick Tyler said. "It is legally impermissible for him to continue on as chairman of American Solutions (for Winning the Future) and to explore a campaign for president."

Gingrich decided "to continue on raising the challenges America faces and finding solutions to those challenges" as the group's chairman, Tyler said, "rather than pursuing the presidency."

Whatever.

Cash those checks, Newt. It's all about priorities, after all. And really...did anyone have any doubt at all where the Newt's priorities really lie?

Pathologies on Parade

I am watching the panel of Republican hopefuls on ABC's This Week - good Lord these morons are delusional. The first thing I hear out of Romney's mouth - he was touting the fallacious feel-good assessment of those chuckleheads O'Hanlon and Pollack and telling us things are looking up in Iraq. (He should read the post right below this one.) Romney is a master of rewriting history, insisting (when asked about Iraq) that "They attacked us on 9/11! They attacked us!" (I think he should be comMITTed) *Benito* Giuliani is still taking credit for things in New York that are not his successes to claim, and Congressman Combover (Tancredo) is insisting that when the State Department takes to task the things he says, like we should bomb Mecca, he feels better about the things he says.

Folks, when Ron Paul, dubbed "Congresman Clueless" by my patron saint Molly Ivins, is the sanest representation on the stage, y'all are screwed.

Snobbery and Efrontery From the GOP Candidates

Damn. I so wanted to see the republican candidates face the nation – literally and take questions from the hoi polloi like the Democrats did last Monday. Giuliani's spokesperson says he is unlikely to participate, and Romney has openly scorned the format. Interviewed Wednesday by the Manchester (N.H.) Union Leader, he said he's not a fan of the CNN/YouTube format. Referring to the video of a snowman asking the Democratic candidates about global warming, Romney quipped, "I think the presidency ought to be held at a higher level than having to answer questions from a snowman." (Yes, Mitt. Much better to take pre-screened questions from a friendly GOP-fluffing media whore than someone that actually is directly affected by presidential policies. Moron.)

But only two candidates have agreed to the YouTube debate format…Ron Paul and Mad Jack Insane.

It smacks of the pre-screened audiences that the Buhies surrounded their boy (and I do mean boy) with in the 2004 campaign.

The conclusion I draw is that they are all afraid of the electorate – probably with good reason – I might add.

Erin Neaves, 25-year-old mother of three, uploaded this question: "You hear a lot about supporting the troops from the Republicans, and we're not getting any kind of support from the government ..... We are getting more than 15-month deployments. We are getting cut out of our bonuses. ..... How will you support the troops?" She's a Democract and her husband serves in the U.S. military.

John King, a paramedic student at Cincinnati State, has a direct question for Giuliani about his business, Giuliani Partners. "I'm not saying that's wrong to make money off your image, but why are you keeping it such a secret -- the clients, how much they paid you, what kind of work you did for them?" asks the 24-year-old Republican.
Patrick Ruffini, former eCampaign director at the Republican National Committee who served as online adviser to Giuliani for a few months earlier this year, said it would "very problematic" if the Republican candidates declined. "What's worse -- questions from the public, many of whom are supporters, or questions from the media, who many Republicans believed are biased? This is YouTube. That's not something they'd want to snub," Ruffini said.

Remember that they all snubbed the NAACP except Tancredo.

If they snub the electorate outright, especially when participatory Democracy is taking off like a shot from a gun, thanks to the Internet and sites like YouTube, the effect will be to pour a quart of vinegar in a gallon of milk, and the result will be a spoiled Republican brand for at least two decades.

So…Good on ‘em! Stick to those principles, Republicans, and scorn the electorate! It’s almost as good as finally getting that pony for Christmas!

Who?

Apparently, some guy named Jim Gilmore has dropped out of the Republican primary race.

Who knew he was even running? (I kid - you know I kid)

He was another Johnny Two-Note (Immigration & the Anti Choice agenda).

His position on Iraq was very similar to Dick Lugar's, he just got their a week earlier.

One down, eight to go...

I owe someone a beer...I thought that Insane would be the first to go. I really did.

Oh, Sweet Irony! Can You Even Stand It?

Sometimes I read something and I just collapse in a fit of giggles like I'm a giddy little schoolgirl. Seriously - every day the stable of Republican wannabes - and I do mean wannabes - does something that I derive absolute mirthsome glee from.

McCain takes a stroll, Rudy punks out when it's time to put up, and now, Romney rewrites reality. I mean seriously - can you even stand these fools? WTF, Mate?

“…for conservatives like me, facing reality is not a source of fear. It is a source of confidence. I am convinced that America--and our friends--can overwhelm any threat, but only if we acknowledge it, confront it, and respond thoughtfully and strategically.” Mitt Romney, earlier today in a speech at the American Enterprise Institute.

And not one word in the entire speech about Iraq.

I think that speaks volumes all by itself, don’t you?

Seriously – how could I ever hope to top that?

Write your own jokes here.

I'm too busy right now, what with the being nonplussed and all.

Reason number – oh hell, I’ve lost count – why I want the Republicans to run Rudy in 2008

I have frankly never taken Julie-Annie seriously as a candidate, and not jut because every time he opens his mouth I hear Sylvester the Cat. Unless the goal of the Republicans really is to make Bush look competent - then I guess I can see backing the one guy guaranteed to be worse...

In March of 2006, when the Iraq Study Group was established, the Resident appointed Rudy to one of the Republican seats on the panel.

A smart fella with an eye toward the oval and a weak foreign policy hand would have been all over that appointment and thrown himself into it whole heartedly, taking the opportunity to pump up his street cred and become something of an expert on Iraq – you remember Iraq – the biggest foreign policy cock-up since Suez – that Iraq.

Rudy couldn’t be bothered to attend any of the meetings tho – it interfered with his lucrative public speaking schedule.

Steve Benen has the best takedown I’ve read so far, and The Hill has more details.

Giuliani failed to show up for a pair of two-day sessions that occurred during his tenure, the sources said - and both times, they conflicted with paid public appearances shown on his recent financial disclosure. Giuliani quit the group during his busiest stretch in 2006, when he gave 20 speeches in a single month that brought in $1.7 million.

On one day the panel gathered in Washington - May 18, 2006 - Giuliani delivered a $100,000 speech on leadership at an Atlanta business awards breakfast. Later that day, he attended a $100-a-ticket Atlanta political fundraiser for conservative ally Ralph Reed, whom Giuliani hoped would provide a major boost to his presidential campaign.

The month before, Giuliani skipped the session to give the April 12 keynote speech at an economic conference in South Korea for $200,000, his financial disclosure shows.

Giuliani's campaign said that the former New York mayor did participate in Iraq Study Group activities but refused Newsday's repeated requests to explain how.

Instead, they referred to a May 24, 2006, letter Giuliani sent to the Republican co-chairman and former secretary of state James Baker. In it, Giuliani praised the group's "truly important mission" but cited his time commitments for why he couldn't give the group "the full and active participation" it deserved.

One source familiar with the group's activities recalled that Giuliani did participate in an early conference call in spring 2006 that was mainly organizational. But Giuliani's name is mentioned nowhere in the group's final report, which lists more than 160 people who were consulted.

By giving up his seat on the panel, Giuliani has opened himself up to charges that he chose private-sector paydays and politics over unpaid service on a critical issue facing the nation.

Not only that, but the 10-member group - also called the Baker-Hamilton commission - was no ordinary blue-ribbon panel, instead chartered by Congress and encouraged by the president to find a way forward in Iraq.

It was enough for me to write him off as a moron and a punk when he put the terrorism response center in the basement of the primary terror target in the world after it had already been attacked once. It was enough for me that he informed his wife in the media that he was dumping her for his mistress. It was enough for me that too many first responders died because the radios were incompatible (this is a big issue for me. I have paid the price in hot situations when radios aren’t compatible. I get pissed off right quick over comms fuck-ups) He gave a friend the contract instead of standardizing the communications system for the city, and a couple of hundred of New York’s finest died because they couldn’t hear the warnings that the buildings were going to fall down.

Rudy Guiliani is persona non grata in my eyes, can’t say his name without I have to spit. He’s a phony, he’s a punk and he has no character. And when it came time to actually step up and do something for his country – you know the “put up” part – he punked us to cash the big checks. He couldn’t be bothered to actually perform in the service of the nation.

Can we have a new rule, please? Call it Basic Rule of Politics Number 1: When you punk out on the put up, you have to shut up.

Patriotism is not bluster and a tiny American flag on your lapel. Patriotism is the quiet devotion of a lifetime spent in service and dedication without thinking "what's in it for me?" Rudy fails that patriotism test with flying colors.

Checking Rudy

In 1996, Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani of New York, appointed Jerome M. Hauer, left,
to lead the Office of Emergency Management.

It would not have hurt my feelings any if Julie-Annie would have had the nomination secured and then the deluge had started.

But alas, that was not meant to be. He is instead being bitten in the ass by his phony terrorism record at this early date.

And ask any first responder anywhere in the country – Rudy is a f*#king joke on the terror-fighter front. He had a couple of bullhorn moments while the country was in shock, but really, that’s all he has. Behind the rhetoric he is just a torture-lovin’ coward.

The most significant criticisms leveled at him come from his former head of Emergency Management, Jerome Hauer:

In recent days, Mr. Hauer has challenged Mr. Giuliani’s recollection that he had little role as mayor in placing the city’s emergency command center at the ill-fated World Trade Center.

Mr. Hauer has also disputed the claim by the Giuliani campaign that the mayor’s wife, Judith Giuliani, had coordinated a help center for families after the attack.

And he has contradicted Mr. Giuliani’s assertions that the city’s emergency response was well coordinated that day, a point he made most notably to the authors of “Grand Illusion,” a book that depicts Mr. Giuliani’s antiterrorism efforts as deeply flawed.

Mr. Hauer was one of the closest advisors Mr. Guilliani had in his inner coterie. He served in the Guilliani administration for four years, and emerged as one of the best-known emergency preparedness experts in the field, and has been a frequent guest on television news shows and discussion panels.

When Mr. Hauer criticizes, it isn’t dismissed as the rantings of a contrarian crank, it is instead taken seriously. Or should be.

But wait…there’s more…

The part of the Times piece I found particularly disturbing was the bit toward the end that put me in the mind of Bubble Boy and his Craven Cabal:

Fred Siegel, the author of “The Prince of the City: Giuliani, New York and the Genius of American Life” (Encounter Books, 2005), said the trust that members of Mr. Giuliani’s inner circle invested in each other was the reason no one apart from Mr. Hauer had ever emerged as even an occasional critic.

“The core of the administration was that these guys would always pull together,” said Mr. Siegel, who once served as speechwriter for Mr. Giuliani. “Once a decision was made, that was it. There wouldn’t be any second-guessing.”

Do we really need four more years of administration-comes-first-and-the-country-can-go-to-hell?

I don’t think so. We are going to be lucky to emerge from the Bush maladministration with our nation intact. If a smarter, more authoritarian version of Bush emerges from the 2008 pack to become president, we may as well call the time of death for the American experiment.