But please look at this video before considering McCain's "heroism"

I sort of thought McCain would renounce his hard right hand turn (without using his signal) as a brilliant ploy and retake the center but his decision regarding Palin sort of dispels any of that... woe is us!

Forced to defend his negative attack ads: what shame!

meanwhile: what did McCain say when he wanted to bash Romney's experience?

But in the bigger-fish-to-fry department, Charlie Gibson gets to sit down with Sarah-cuda and (as requested by Maureen Dowd) not ask any of the following questions:

What kind of budget-cutter makes a show of getting rid of the state plane, then turns around and bills taxpayers for the travel of her husband and kids between Juneau and Wasilla and sticks the state with a per-diem tab to stay in her own home?

Why was Sarah for the Bridge to Nowhere before she was against the Bridge to Nowhere, and why was she for earmarks before she was against them? And doesn’t all this make her just as big a flip-flopper as John Kerry?

What kind of fiscal conservative raises taxes and increases budgets in both her jobs — as mayor and as governor?

When the phone rings at 3 a.m., will she call the Wasilla Assembly of God congregation and ask them to pray on a response, as she asked them to pray for a natural gas pipeline?

Does she really think Adam, Eve, Satan and the dinosaurs mingled on the earth 5,000 years ago?

Why put out a press release about her teenage daughter’s pregnancy and then spend the next few days attacking the press for covering that press release?

As Troopergate unfolds here — an inquiry into whether Palin inappropriately fired the commissioner of public safety for refusing to fire her ex-brother-in-law — it raises this question: Who else is on her enemies list and what might she do with the F.B.I.?

Does she want a federal ban on trans fat in restaurants and a ban on abortion and Harry Potter? And which books exactly would have landed on the literature bonfire if she had had her way with that Wasilla librarian?

Just how is it that Fannie and Freddie have cost taxpayers money (since they haven’t yet)?

Does she talk in tongues or just eat caribou tongues?

What does she have against polar bears?

Here's a great editorial in the Wall Street Journal that issues indictments against the real perpetrators of the death of small towns in America. Please read and pass along.

Here's Mr Straight Talk from back in the day when he was still a "maverick"

Meanwhile, McCain has sunken to a new low: running this ad, he makes the claim that a bill Obama voted for (he never co-sponsored this particular piece of legislation) "teaches comprehensive sex-education to kindergarteners" when actually, it teaches stranger-danger style awareness to the little ones (previously only available down to the 4th grade).

McCain is one sick puppy who will say and do ANYTHING to win this election.

Read all about it...

I was watching coverage of a McCain/Palin event and thought "OMG: John McCain is now the Paris/Britney/Lindsey celebrity he always wanted to be accused Barrack Obama of being." Who'd have thunk it?

...meanwhile...

The Palin reports keep coming in: from the right

Former Bush speechwriter David Frum: "the selection of Sarah Palin invites the question: How serious can he be if he would place such a neophyte second in line to the presidency?"
http://www.nationalpost.com/nationalpost/story.html?id=756704

Shannen Coffin, former counsel to Dick Cheney: " he is one arrogant SOB. McCain is essentially telling the world that he doesn't really need a Vice President. ... McCain has thus made a purely political play without regard for the governance concerns."
http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MTA1MTI2ZjJjMzIwYmE2ZGIxNDAzNDk4NDcwZjg4MDg=

Lyda N. Green, Republican member of the Alaska Senate, representing the G District since 1995, and currently the Senate President, from Palin's hometown: "she's not prepared to be governor. How can she be prepared to be vice president or president?"
http://www.adn.com/news/politics/story/510249.html

Ramesh Ponnuru, senior editor, National Review: "Palin has been governor for about two minutes. Thanks to McCain’s decision, Palin could be commander-in-chief next year. That may strike people as a reckless choice; it strikes me that way. And McCain's age raised the stakes on this issue."
http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MWY0YmM3N2JhMTVkYmI0ZjU0OTBiYTY3NmUyMjgxNTc=

State House Speaker John Harris, a Republican from Valdez, was astonished at the news. He didn't want to get into the issue of her qualifications. "She's old enough," Harris said. "She's a U.S. citizen."
Former House Speaker Gail Phillips, a Republican political leader who has clashed with Palin in the past, was shocked when she heard the news Friday morning "This can't be happening, because his advance team didn't come to Alaska to check her out..." Phillips said. http://www.adn.com/news/politics/story/510249.html

I just heard some excerpts from McCain's acceptance speech and either he's full of sh!t or he has changed his position on EVERYTHING (my gut tells me it's the former). He now promises change but change from what? From the past eight years? Change from him supporting Bush/Cheney over 90% of the time? My sense is that McCain is about to do a serious back-flip in order to distance himself from his record -- stand clear!
 

Sarah Palin gave (or was given) a huge speech last night: still, is she ready to lead - or do anything? She has still not spoken to any reporters, outside of an interview for People magazine but the intense interest in her has caused the McCain campaign to go on a full fledged assault of the media (so maybe she NEVER will speak to reporters). Kind of makes you wonder: if we never ever heard of her before and she is now the proverbial heartbeat away from McCain, shouldn't we naturally be interested in who she is, where she stands on issues affecting us and what she's done in her own political career? I know I'm sick of the Cheney secrecy deal: as a hunter, has Palin ever shot a lawyer in the face? How about a non-lawyer?

Personally speaking, I'm still disappointed that McCain didn't pick Traitor Joe for his running mate: as a resident of CT, I was hoping the nation would get to see what a wonderful weirdo we have here in the Nutmeg State.
 

At a certain point, the 'POW card' seems to be worse than the 'race card': you know, we can't criticize Obama because he's black but it's okay for McCain to forget the number of homes he and his wife own because "he was a POW": this is sad. 

Must read: Sarah "Barracuda" Palin -- have you ever known/worked with someone like this woman?
 

I'm trying to think what objects I own in such multiples... bills (for sure). I don't think my house even has seven rooms and McSame has seven HOUSES?

Cindy McCain sporting a wrist-cast after suffering an injury in a McDuck style "money-fight". Says hubby" ...may have been a stack of 50's!"

Explain to me again: which one of these guys is the elitist?

from the AP wire: it could be a typo but I think it's a Freudian slip.

Plus the "cone of silence": why was McCain not in it?

NBC and NY Times both agree: something stinks here...
 

And this from The Boston Globe: A Pile of Words -- using analytical software to measure the words of posts on the blogs of campaign website of John McCain and Barack Obama, this image resulted:

What this means is that John McCain is not running on his own accomplishments and his minions are disseminating the talking points of tearing down the other candidate instead of offering McCain's own vision: perhaps he has none...
 

Here's something from July 11, 2008 that bears a re-read: McCain's Broken Marriage and Fractured Reagan Friendship

I keep thinking as I read this, "Wow... what if this were Obama! Or even Obama's minister! How would the media handle that?"

You know, people have been asking me why I'm doing this -- I'm doing it because McCain has changed so dramatically! So much about McCain has been ignored and underreported -- people need to research what happened with his first wife: how he left her and the kids (the children still don't speak to him). So much for "family values"! His current millionaire wife was snared with her hand in the "cookie jar" at her pharmaceutical charity: I'm ok with all of this except when I try to imagine the heat that would come down on Obama for such "indiscretions". McCain has flip-flopped on TORTURE (of all things!) and people are either ignorant of it or have not heard of his change in position: the MSM media seems to keep this fact pretty well hidden.

So for all these reasons (and more) I will continue to publish my universally ignored rants about what McCain has become. Thanks for reading.

Millions poured into McCain's campaign from unsuspecting "donors"...

This is pretty weird: average people with little interest in the election have "donated" up to $2,300 to John W McCain... read on
 

I live in Oxford, CT so I bristle whenever the rightwing nuts claim "there haven't been any terrorist attacks since 9-11!" and "that's no coincidence!" You see, inspite of most Americans inability to remember what happened before the TV show went to a commercial, Ottilie Lundgren, of Oxford, CT was killed by exposure to anthrax in November of 2001: some two months AFTER 9-11. Her funeral was held in the church where my son went to Boy Scout meetings; she went to a hair salon my wife had been to, we shopped at the same Stop and Shop... so now, we're safe??? The suspect has been "suicided" -  how many inconvenient characters have disappeared this way during Bush's reign of error? Moreover: how many times have I watched cop shows/movies and seen the police force a move on the part of some heinous criminal by using the media as a megaphone to challenge them to strike again? Too many times to make me feel at all safe: remember this - if there is another anthrax attack, you can be sure the ruling class will hoard the cipro and there will be none for the rest of us!
  

Paris Hilton's dad (& McCain campaign contributor) takes issue with "the ad".

Granddad gets in on the fun! << Barf Alert (as they say) conservative blog-link

I've said it before -- McCain = Bush
 

This is the fourth negative ad in a row for McCain: he is comparing Obama to Paris Hilton and Britney Spears! WATCH:

Obama's response was characteristically cool and measured: "Does McCain have any ideas or is he totally negative?"

McCain is beginning to experience a pushback from the media on this ad which is full of false assertions! Imagine that! And from Andrea Mitchell (Mrs. Alan Greenspan to the uninitiated).
 

Would anyone care to place a bet that McCain had TWO commercials ready? One where he criticizes Obama for exploiting the wounded to political ends and then this? (BTW, nice 3 pointer Senator O)

One might make the argument that Bush (and by proxy, McCain) would rather lose a war than cancel an insane tax-cut, y'know?
 

Nice microphone handling, John!

"Poppy: kin I drive... pul-eeze???"

Light turnout for McCain rally in Wilkes-Barre, PA (Pennsylvania will be a battleground state in the general election)

Huh!? I wonder why we haven't seen this photo of the Wilkes-Barre rally? Typical mainstream media! It looks sold-out to me... oh wait: this ISN'T McCain's rally: this was Obama's rally in the same space in April. Oh well, as I said: typical mainstream media and... Pennsylvania will be a battleground state come November.

Also: You Can't Make This Stuff Up!

One of my favorite tidbits - when Bush took office, gasoline was $1.87 a gallon and oil was $23 dollars a barrel! Granted, everything does go up in price but how could this astronomical rise happen? Oh yeah, bad policy... nevermind!

Policy that McCain plans to continue, BTW.

So will McGetOffMyLawn come forward and explain his goons? And, you know: this librarian makes some very valid points -- why is "McCain = Bush" offensive?

After watching, you are now more qualified than ever to choose a new leader in November.

Earlier: Let me apologize here: I've been trying to post daily and missed all of this week... it isn't that McCain has gotten better - more like I've been very busy...

Here, to make up for my lapse, are the ten worst gaffes from this past week:

1. McCain unambiguously called Social Security "an absolute disgrace." This is not a quote taken out of context. John McCain called one of the most successful and popular government programs, which uses the tax revenues of current workers to support retirement benefits for the elderly "an absolute disgrace." This is shocking - and if uttered from Obama's mouth would dominate the news coverage and the Sunday shows, as pundits would speculate about the massive damage the statement would cause him among retirees in Florida.

2. McCain's top economic policy adviser calls Americans a bunch of "whiners" for being worried about the slumping economy. Words cannot fully explain how devastating this statement should be from Phil Gramm. You would think it would be enough to sink McCain's campaign. Of course McCain only thinks that the economic problems are psychological.

3. Iraqi leaders call for a timetable for U.S. withdrawal, McCain gets caught in a bizarre denial and flip flop. The Iraqis now want us to begin planning our withdrawal - McCain however wants to stay foooorrreeevvveerrrr. So what does McCain say - First, he refuses to accept Maliki's statement as being true. Then he concedes that it was an accurate statement, but was probably just a political ploy to curry favor with his own people and WOULD NOT influence his determination to keep US troops in Iraq indefinitely. Yet, McCain in 2004 at the Council on Foreign Relations said that if the Iraqis asked us to leave, we would have to go. No matter what. But that was apparently a younger and less experienced John McCain.

But let's just look at his comment that Maliki's statement is "just politics." If that is true, then it must also be true that the American military presence in Iraq is so unpopular with Iraqis that the government is forced to push for a timetable in order to survive at the ballot box. That's a reason to stay for 100 years.

4. McCain's economic plan to cut the deficit has no details and is simply not believable. There are so many things here. McCain pledges he would eliminate the deficit by the end of his first term (the campaign latter flip flop flipped about whether it was four years or eight years), but does not provide any details about how he would do it. Economists on both sides of the political aisle said that this was simply not believable, especially given McCain's other proposals to a) cut individual and corporate taxes even further, b) extend the Bush tax cuts and c) massively increase defense spending on manpower (200,000 more troops) and d) maintain a long-term sizable military presence in Iraq.

5. McCain's deficit plan includes bringing the troops home represents a major Iraq flip-flop. Speaking of the long-term military presence - a story that has gotten absolutely no attention is that McCain now believes the war will be over soon. The economic forecasts made by his crack team of economists predict that there will be significant savings during McCain's first term because we will have achieved "victory" in Iraq and Afghanistan. The savings from victory (ie the savings from not having our troops there) will then be used to pay down the deficit. The only way this could have any impact on the deficit in McCain's first time is if troop withdrawals start very soon. So McCain believes victory is in our grasps and we can begin withdraw troops from Iraq pretty much right away -- doesn't sound that different from Obama's plan does it. Someone should at least ask McCain HOW HE DEFINES VICTORY - and why he thinks we will achieve it in the next couple of years.

6. McCain campaign misled about economists support. In the major press release the McCain campaign issued to tout its Jobs for America economic plan that would balance the budget in 4 years, it included the signatures of more than 300 economists who the campaign claimed to support the plan. Only problem is that the economists were actually asked to sign up to SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT. Um, hello?

7. McCain makes a joke about killing Iranians. Haha... that's just McCain being McCain. I am sure that is exactly how it is being reported in Tehran. This guy is running for President not to become a talk radio pundit. Yet according to the AP this was just a humanizing moment between candidate and spouse - I am not sure when joking about the deaths of civilians became humanizing.

8. McCain denies, flatly, that he ever said that he is not an expert in economics. Are you kidding?

9. McCain distorts his record on veterans benefits in response to a question from Vietnam Veteran, who then proceeds to call McCain out on it.

10. McCain demonstrates he knows nothing about Afghanistan and Pakistan. McCain said "I think if there is some good news, I think that there is a glimmer of improving relationship between Karzai and the Pakistanis." Pat Barry notes how crazy this comment is..."Just what "glimmer" is McCain talking about?? Maybe he's referring to President Karzai's remarks last month, which threatened military action in Pakistan if cross-border attacks persisted? Or maybe McCain is talking about Afghanistan's allegations that Pakistan's ISI was involved in a recent assassination attempt on Karzai? Maybe in McCain's world you could call that a silver-lining, but in reality-land I'd call it something else."

(source: Max Bergmann)
 

McCain will come under fire for the last few remnants of his "maverick" agenda: global warming, stem cell research, campaign finance reform and immigration. What remains to be seen is whether he will roll on these issues, as he has on EVERYTHING else: torture, bailout for the billionaires, endless war in Iraq, FISA, rightwing judges, right to choose, etc, etc. Eight years of Bush has taken a toll on everyone, but especially John McCain, who can now proudly claim the mantle of George W Bush and lay aside his "straight talk" as he refines the art of BS.
 

Holy serendipity, Batman!!! Sort of makes you think... (hopefully...)

In 2004, Republicans demanded fuller disclosure about the considerable fortune of Teresa Heinz Kerry, wife of Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry.
Now, the GOP is reaping what it sowed.

"...reminding you that John McCain does not lead an elitist lifestyle..." LOL!