The Motherload
h/t TPM
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Saturday, September 6, 2008
Today's Talking Point
McCain wants us to believe that Palin is ready to be President of the United States when the campaign openly admits that she is not ready to deal with a press conference.
She's not a "pitbull." She's a bully and a coward.
The press needs to do their job and Palin needs to be made available to them.
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She's not a "pitbull." She's a bully and a coward.
The press needs to do their job and Palin needs to be made available to them.
Read more!
Friday, September 5, 2008
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Am I The Only One Noticing...
...All the "I" statements in McCain's speech tonight? "I did this," "I did that." "It was me who said such-and-such." "It was me who pushed for this."
I. I. I. Me. Me. Me. It sounds so pathetic and reaching. Contrast that Obama's speech last week.
And yet... the American people are just eating it up. Just like they did with Palin's speech.
Seriously, after 8 years, if that old coot wins this shit, I'm thinking about applying for a Canadian work-visa. And no, I don't just mean this in some sort of detached hippie-bullshit way. I mean that I won't want to be an American anymore.
Ugh. Christ. Here, have some Johnny Cash. "Personal Jesus." It rocks my skull.
Could it be any more perfect?
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I. I. I. Me. Me. Me. It sounds so pathetic and reaching. Contrast that Obama's speech last week.
And yet... the American people are just eating it up. Just like they did with Palin's speech.
Seriously, after 8 years, if that old coot wins this shit, I'm thinking about applying for a Canadian work-visa. And no, I don't just mean this in some sort of detached hippie-bullshit way. I mean that I won't want to be an American anymore.
Ugh. Christ. Here, have some Johnny Cash. "Personal Jesus." It rocks my skull.
Could it be any more perfect?
Read more!
A Couple of Quick Points
First of all, Thom Hartmann warns that the Republicans are now working to redefine "Community Organizing" as organizing black people (oooh, scary) and as something bad, minimal, lame, to be despised. Just as they redefined "Liberal" as a bad thing.
We need to jump on it right away and reclaim it for what it is and stop the BS.
TPM has a great article about how to respond to it. Hartmann recommends including a whole lot of pictures of white community organizers.
We also should not underestimate Palin. She is truly vicious.
In addition we should be very afraid of the fundie aspect of Palin. She is not a faux-fundie like Bush. She is the real deal and it is frightening.
It is time to rally the troops. Obama/Biden must win this thing. There is way too much at stake.
UPDATE: Oh, and McCain is losing it.
Seriously, if we are to be afraid, it is of these two extremists.
Read more!
We need to jump on it right away and reclaim it for what it is and stop the BS.
TPM has a great article about how to respond to it. Hartmann recommends including a whole lot of pictures of white community organizers.
We also should not underestimate Palin. She is truly vicious.
In addition we should be very afraid of the fundie aspect of Palin. She is not a faux-fundie like Bush. She is the real deal and it is frightening.
It is time to rally the troops. Obama/Biden must win this thing. There is way too much at stake.
UPDATE: Oh, and McCain is losing it.
Seriously, if we are to be afraid, it is of these two extremists.
Read more!
A Letter to Governor Palin Regarding the War
Mrs. Palin,
You have endured much over the last week or so: attacks on your record, your experience, and even attacks on your family. Your introduction to mainstream America has been a tabloid circus, and I apologize for that. Sadly, it is the world of politics, and I cannot change it.
I cannot say that I would vote for your ticket. Indeed, my experiences compel me otherwise. I may be young, but I have lived much, and sadly my experiences in life have taught me one thing: that there is something very wrong with American society, and there are too few who are able or willing to see it. There is much suffering in our country, Governor, and sadly I feel that your party is too often the source of it. People starve and suffer, both here and abroad, and on nearly every issue I must say that I disagree with you. I disagree fiercely, some might even say venomously. They would not be wrong.
I could criticize you on many counts. I could say that your voting record is a train-wreck of corruption; I could say that your involvement with Senator Ted Stevens only betrays your true willingness to cozy up to back-room politics. I could comment on your involvement with a radical secessionist group, and question the judgement of a government official who does not believe in the power of the American government to achieve legitimate good. I could comment on the sad situation regarding your daughter, Bristol, and on the bitter irony that one who votes against funding for teen mothers suddenly finds her own house visited by such travail. I could comment on how you enable a party that ridicules peace as weakness, that values free-markets over free speech. I could comment about how your ideology moralizes and tries to legislate values that run contrary to human nature, only to have its own believers fail under such policies' insupportable burden.
But I'm not here to comment on any of that. No, no, as we small-town folk are fond of saying, "I have bigger fish to fry."
Do you truly wish to know, Governor, why I will not be voting for you and Senator McCain? Do you truly want to know WHY I look at you and see only what is wrong with my country? Do you? Regardless of your answer, I plan to tell you anyway. It's actually fairly simple.
You have spoken in the past of your faith. You are a devout woman, as I am a devout man, though no doubt you would find my faith somehow "un-American." No matter. You have spoken in your own church, this Wasilla Assembly of God, of our engagement in Iraq as "a task from God." You believe that our mission there is one of divine importance, one whose plan must be "God's plan." You have taken our war in that country, and assigned it a Holy label.
So I ask you, Governor Palin, who have admitted to "not really considering" the war in Iraq, this one question: What, Governor, about that engagement, can possibly have come from God?
Already, I know what you're going to say. You're going to try to talk to me about the oppressions of Saddam Hussein, about the lack of religious freedom that existed under his regime. No matter that you remain ignorant of the fact that Christians lived and worshipped openly prior to the war; no matter that your running mate cannot even distinguish between Sunni and Shiite (to say nothing of Druze or Chaldean). No, I can hear you spouting already about our sacred mission to spread Freedom; never mind that in the last eight years, countless people, both American and otherwise, have starved on the reduced-calorie version your party would offer us. You will talk to me about how people are prospering, how the world is safer than it has ever been.
So I ask you, Governor Palin: safer for whom?
For our fellow Americans, who according to our policy experts are actually LESS safe than they were post-9/11? For the citizens of Iraq, who now daily must cope with kidnappings, executions, and public bombings? For the women of Iraq, the secular of whom can no longer wander outdoors without donning the headscarf from which we fought to liberate them? Certainly not our servicemembers overseas, whose morale collapses daily under the weight of equipment shortfalls and repeated deployments? Surely not their families, who bear the burden alone, or the forgotten veterans who do the same? Safer for your son, who leaves for that place soon himself. I wonder: will he be going as an officer, or as one of the enlisted who bears the true burden?
Are you willing to bet your son's life on the word of your God?
Our VA denies our heroes proper treatment, while our recruiters lie us into uniform. On all sides of the divide, people suffer and die, and you would still tell me that this war has been executed under the banner of Christ, of God? I ask you, Governor Palin: What kind of God do you follow? Certainly no loving God I was ever raised with; certainly no God I would be willing to follow. So when you wonder why I and my kind will not be voting for you, I answer you in return: Because you are so certain in your justice, in your virtue, that you cannot see the evils carried out in your name. Worse yet, I do not even think that you would be willing. I would speak to you of my friends, fallen and ignored, and you would call me a traitor for invoking their memory. But it is you, Governor, who are the traitor. You, and your entire party, your entire belief system.
When our goodwill abroad is vanished, when our Armed Forces collapse under the weight you have asked them so selfishly to bear, you will have none to blame but yourselves. Your ideas about this war are monstrous, a sin against the American spirit. You, madam, justify your sins in the name of God, and then you ask us to support you in that belief--we who would die for you, we who would kill for you. Your statement in that church, Mrs. Palin, says all I need to know about what you believe.
This may be your Holy Vision of "Country First," Governor, but it is certainly not mine.
Read more!
You have endured much over the last week or so: attacks on your record, your experience, and even attacks on your family. Your introduction to mainstream America has been a tabloid circus, and I apologize for that. Sadly, it is the world of politics, and I cannot change it.
I cannot say that I would vote for your ticket. Indeed, my experiences compel me otherwise. I may be young, but I have lived much, and sadly my experiences in life have taught me one thing: that there is something very wrong with American society, and there are too few who are able or willing to see it. There is much suffering in our country, Governor, and sadly I feel that your party is too often the source of it. People starve and suffer, both here and abroad, and on nearly every issue I must say that I disagree with you. I disagree fiercely, some might even say venomously. They would not be wrong.
I could criticize you on many counts. I could say that your voting record is a train-wreck of corruption; I could say that your involvement with Senator Ted Stevens only betrays your true willingness to cozy up to back-room politics. I could comment on your involvement with a radical secessionist group, and question the judgement of a government official who does not believe in the power of the American government to achieve legitimate good. I could comment on the sad situation regarding your daughter, Bristol, and on the bitter irony that one who votes against funding for teen mothers suddenly finds her own house visited by such travail. I could comment on how you enable a party that ridicules peace as weakness, that values free-markets over free speech. I could comment about how your ideology moralizes and tries to legislate values that run contrary to human nature, only to have its own believers fail under such policies' insupportable burden.
But I'm not here to comment on any of that. No, no, as we small-town folk are fond of saying, "I have bigger fish to fry."
Do you truly wish to know, Governor, why I will not be voting for you and Senator McCain? Do you truly want to know WHY I look at you and see only what is wrong with my country? Do you? Regardless of your answer, I plan to tell you anyway. It's actually fairly simple.
You have spoken in the past of your faith. You are a devout woman, as I am a devout man, though no doubt you would find my faith somehow "un-American." No matter. You have spoken in your own church, this Wasilla Assembly of God, of our engagement in Iraq as "a task from God." You believe that our mission there is one of divine importance, one whose plan must be "God's plan." You have taken our war in that country, and assigned it a Holy label.
So I ask you, Governor Palin, who have admitted to "not really considering" the war in Iraq, this one question: What, Governor, about that engagement, can possibly have come from God?
Already, I know what you're going to say. You're going to try to talk to me about the oppressions of Saddam Hussein, about the lack of religious freedom that existed under his regime. No matter that you remain ignorant of the fact that Christians lived and worshipped openly prior to the war; no matter that your running mate cannot even distinguish between Sunni and Shiite (to say nothing of Druze or Chaldean). No, I can hear you spouting already about our sacred mission to spread Freedom; never mind that in the last eight years, countless people, both American and otherwise, have starved on the reduced-calorie version your party would offer us. You will talk to me about how people are prospering, how the world is safer than it has ever been.
So I ask you, Governor Palin: safer for whom?
For our fellow Americans, who according to our policy experts are actually LESS safe than they were post-9/11? For the citizens of Iraq, who now daily must cope with kidnappings, executions, and public bombings? For the women of Iraq, the secular of whom can no longer wander outdoors without donning the headscarf from which we fought to liberate them? Certainly not our servicemembers overseas, whose morale collapses daily under the weight of equipment shortfalls and repeated deployments? Surely not their families, who bear the burden alone, or the forgotten veterans who do the same? Safer for your son, who leaves for that place soon himself. I wonder: will he be going as an officer, or as one of the enlisted who bears the true burden?
Are you willing to bet your son's life on the word of your God?
Our VA denies our heroes proper treatment, while our recruiters lie us into uniform. On all sides of the divide, people suffer and die, and you would still tell me that this war has been executed under the banner of Christ, of God? I ask you, Governor Palin: What kind of God do you follow? Certainly no loving God I was ever raised with; certainly no God I would be willing to follow. So when you wonder why I and my kind will not be voting for you, I answer you in return: Because you are so certain in your justice, in your virtue, that you cannot see the evils carried out in your name. Worse yet, I do not even think that you would be willing. I would speak to you of my friends, fallen and ignored, and you would call me a traitor for invoking their memory. But it is you, Governor, who are the traitor. You, and your entire party, your entire belief system.
When our goodwill abroad is vanished, when our Armed Forces collapse under the weight you have asked them so selfishly to bear, you will have none to blame but yourselves. Your ideas about this war are monstrous, a sin against the American spirit. You, madam, justify your sins in the name of God, and then you ask us to support you in that belief--we who would die for you, we who would kill for you. Your statement in that church, Mrs. Palin, says all I need to know about what you believe.
This may be your Holy Vision of "Country First," Governor, but it is certainly not mine.
Read more!
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
It's Over
Now someone needs to tell Harriet.
And in case you're in disagreement, you should hit the US magazine website:
Next, Britney Spears shows up at the GOP convention to do an intervention.
Read more!
And in case you're in disagreement, you should hit the US magazine website:
Next, Britney Spears shows up at the GOP convention to do an intervention.
Read more!
Kicking Ass, Reported and Unreported
Dennis Perrin:
Of course many of the protests that occurred in Denver were kept low-key. A desire to win the White House back, even by the portions of the left prone to protest, makes them amiable to keeping it quiet or even accepting low-level favors by the Dems in return for not protesting. Oddly enough - even though 'blac bloc' and other anarchists despise Democrats as much as they do Republicans, violence and police confrontation in Denver was certainly a rarity. It makes you wonder why.
Non-charged reporting of yesterday's protests:
Authorities say splinter groups caused most of protest violence
Mass show of peaceful dissent soon makes violent descent
250 protesters arrested, including Amy Goodman
I want to know - who the fuck are the jackasses whom always have to start the violence?
Read more!
Much of this happened in Denver, and except for Glenn Greenwald, who made some critical noise about the overwhelming police presence protecting the corporate few, not many libloggers created a fuss, especially once the Dem superstars emerged to beckon and wow the faithful. At that point, any possible concern liberals might have had about police state measures flew out the window. Meanwhile, antiwar dissidents were clubbed, pepper sprayed, and arrested by Denver's finest, while the majority of Democrats were applauding their political bosses and weeping about "change."
Of course many of the protests that occurred in Denver were kept low-key. A desire to win the White House back, even by the portions of the left prone to protest, makes them amiable to keeping it quiet or even accepting low-level favors by the Dems in return for not protesting. Oddly enough - even though 'blac bloc' and other anarchists despise Democrats as much as they do Republicans, violence and police confrontation in Denver was certainly a rarity. It makes you wonder why.
Non-charged reporting of yesterday's protests:
Authorities say splinter groups caused most of protest violence
Mass show of peaceful dissent soon makes violent descent
250 protesters arrested, including Amy Goodman
I want to know - who the fuck are the jackasses whom always have to start the violence?
Read more!
Monday, September 1, 2008
"(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (to Party!)"
With a big hat tip to iamcoyote, the republi-con hyprocisy is in high gear. (my highlights)
No night off for these republi-con party animals... I'm convinced they were glad the convention got curtailed by an act of God!
And yes, after what this country has been put through for the last 8 years, I'm an intolerant liberal blogger.
One observant Democratic challenger was ready to go... as pointed out by DvilleDem at Daily Kos.
UPDATE: Now we know why ATA was supporting a republi-con convention party. ATA (American Trucking Association) will support higher fuel taxes. The bastards...
Read more!
MINNEAPOLIS-- As residents of New Orleans were fleeing Hurricane Gustav, top Republican party officials donned pink boas and swigged vodka shots at a wild whirl of corporate and lobbyist-paid parties this weekend in Minneapolis-St. Paul.
Many corporate sponsors and their lobbyists carried through with plans for lavish entertainment of GOP lawmakers and others despite calls from the campaign of Sen. John McCain that Republicans should tone down the convention festivities.
"We will be contacting corporations and others to ask them to be respectful of events in the gulf," McCain campaign manager Rick Davis said Sunday afternoon.
Yet, last night lobbyists for the National Rifle Association, Lockheed Martin and the American Trucking Association put on a raucus six-hour party at a downtown bar featuring music by the band "Hookers and Blow." There was no evidence of any actual prostitutes or cocaine.
No night off for these republi-con party animals... I'm convinced they were glad the convention got curtailed by an act of God!
And yes, after what this country has been put through for the last 8 years, I'm an intolerant liberal blogger.
One observant Democratic challenger was ready to go... as pointed out by DvilleDem at Daily Kos.
I can't wait for the pictures of this party.Congressman Bill Shuster (R-PA), a GOP House deputy whip, was seen meeting with a group of lobbyists, who bemoaned McCain's call to tone down the parties which had already been paid for...
On the Sept. 1st Broadcast of ABC’s World News Tonight however, the Congressman can be seen arguing with reporters, fighting for his right to party.
Shuster’s opponent in the 9th Congressional district Tony Barr made the following statement. "We are saddened but not really all that shocked. At a time when the citizens of the Gulf Coast and literally running for their lives, and citizens here in the 9th District are feeling the pinch of an economy floundered by the policies of George Bush and Bill Shuster, where is our Congressman? Holding court with lobbyists who advocate the same failed polices that got us into this mess in the first place. At a time when drugs and drug related crime are the scourge of our streets, there’s Bill Shuster, partying with "hookers and blow!"
UPDATE: Now we know why ATA was supporting a republi-con convention party. ATA (American Trucking Association) will support higher fuel taxes. The bastards...
Read more!
Family Values
Family values means "supporting" your 17-year-old daughter's "decision" to follow through with an unplanned pregnancy and get married. Married at 17.
Bizarre. Forced motherhood has never felt like "family values" to me.
Realize "very quickly" indeed. Who is really getting "punished" in this deal? The kid who has to "grow up too quick" or the baby who has to be raised by the kid who has to grow up too quick?
UPDATE: BTW Palin opposed sex ed. (obviously)
And, Obama says stay out of it to all of us. I agree for the most part. But the hypocrisy is stunning.
Read more!
Bizarre. Forced motherhood has never felt like "family values" to me.
"Our beautiful daughter Bristol came to us with news that as parents we knew would make her grow up faster than we had ever planned,"
"Bristol and the young man she will marry are going to realize very quickly the difficulties of raising a child, which is why they will have the love and support of our entire family," she said.
Realize "very quickly" indeed. Who is really getting "punished" in this deal? The kid who has to "grow up too quick" or the baby who has to be raised by the kid who has to grow up too quick?
UPDATE: BTW Palin opposed sex ed. (obviously)
And, Obama says stay out of it to all of us. I agree for the most part. But the hypocrisy is stunning.
Read more!
Getting It Right On The Second Try
You can smell where this is going. Our Republican Government, which botched the first disaster 3 years ago, is about to get a make-over as a competent manager of disaster relief. They'll get it right (at least the initial part where the news cameras will be on) and in the eyes of the media, be redeemed.
The Media is writing the narrative already. (Bless Athenae)
"It's an opportunity!" the operatives boldly state. (h/t to EV)
I hope to god I'm wrong. And I hope that provenance sees fit to deliver the gulf coast a miracle.
Update: Don't miss tristero's post comparing the Democratic and Republican responses to the hurricane. It fits perfectly into what I'm seeing - the GOP is using this as a marketing opportunity and the news media is rewarding them by enabling it.
And now that the primary battle is long over, Krugman is posting sense again.
Read more!
The Media is writing the narrative already. (Bless Athenae)
"It's an opportunity!" the operatives boldly state. (h/t to EV)
I hope to god I'm wrong. And I hope that provenance sees fit to deliver the gulf coast a miracle.
Update: Don't miss tristero's post comparing the Democratic and Republican responses to the hurricane. It fits perfectly into what I'm seeing - the GOP is using this as a marketing opportunity and the news media is rewarding them by enabling it.
And now that the primary battle is long over, Krugman is posting sense again.
Read more!
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