I think J Sid and S the Q have been pallin' around with the wrong people. They sound even battier than usual. Today it's J Sid's turn:
“I respect Sarah Palin,” McCain said in an interview that aired Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union [...]
McCain also told King he continues to “be saddened by the fact that there are still such vicious attacks on her and her family.”
“I've never seen anything quite like it,” added McCain.
Oh really? Then maybe he should click on the links I've provided below. He'll get a real eyeful.
I really get tired of hearing myself say this over and over, but I won't stop until J Sid McCain stops. You want vicious attacks? Here's your vicious attacks.
Reminder #2: Sarah the Quitter has a history of vicious attacks. Compared to the onslaught of racist hate speech she encouraged during the 2008 elections, the snark and/or criticism of Palin have been a bubble bath.
Ralph Reed [...] is quietly launching a group aimed at using the Web to mobilize a new generation of values voters. In addition to targeting the GOP's traditional faith-based allies—white evangelicals and observant Catholics—the group, called the Faith and Freedom Coalition, will reach out to Democratic-leaning constituencies, including Hispanics, blacks, young people, and women.
Faith and Freedom? Really? With actual people of color, young 'uns, and ::gasp!:: women?! That's quite an undertaking. By the way, Ralphie, who's your daddy?
"This is not your daddy's Christian Coalition," Reed said in an interview Monday. "It's got to be more brown, more black, more female, and younger. It's critical that we open the door wide and let them know if they share our values and believe in the principles of faith and marriage and family, they're welcome."
That's swell how he recognizes that people other than white old men exist, isn't it? I'm excited for him. This opens so many doors so wide! See? Even Rushpublic doors have wide stances!
"There's a whole rising generation of young leaders in the faith community, and rather than nab the publicity I did at Christian Coalition, I want to cultivate and train that rising generation," Reed said. "One question is, who is our future Barack Obama, doing local organizing just like he was in the 1990s?"
One: Cultivate and train = Coerce and brain wash.
Two: He's in search of the next Barack Obama, Community Organizer? Did I read that right? WWSS??*
Moving on:
Reed is serving as chairman of the Faith and Freedom Coalition and says he has filed papers with the Internal Revenue Service to register it as a 501(c)(4), a tax-free designation that permits lobbying and certain political activities.Gary Marx, Reed's deputy at the 2004 Bush campaign and Mitt Romney's conservative outreach director in 2008, will help advise the group. Jack St. Martin, a former top Republican National Committee staffer, is running day-to-day operations. [...]
"People of faith today are still a minority, but they're not a beleaguered minority," Reed said. "Twenty years ago, we never had people who had been the chief speechwriter to the president or senior staff at the Justice Department and all that has changed."
One word: Laughable. Okay, two words: Laughable, pathetic. This is the trailer for the Palin fantasy documentary from the ostensibly disturbed wannabe filmmaker I posted about in detail here... in which I describe Mr. Laffy's fond memories of Ziegler's appearance on his dating reality show.
I'm working hard on getting a few (unfortunately milder, edited) clips from that show, but I'm having format-converting issues. So this inane trailer will have to hold us over for now. Here is The Mudflats' take:
In the trailer, you’ll discover that the media is out to get Sarah Palin, and ”thrash” her reputation! [...] According to Ziegler “This [Katie Couric interview] was a tough interview for Sarah Palin because she was hit with things she had never seen before.” (Ummm…..like questions?) [...]
Hear about how Barack Obama has been “anointed” by the media, how he is the chosen one, the savior, and ”The Messiah”, complete with catchy Gregorian chant background music. Notice how Barack Obama shows up in the documentary all grainy and out of focus, while strange green EKG hearbeat graphics bleep in competition with the Gregorian chanting. And when he says something super scary, you’ll see an extreme closeup of his mouth or other facial features.
Suddenly, the scary bleeping and the EKG stop, and Palin herself pops up in her pink suit in the comfort of her living room in Wasilla [...]
The trailer wraps up by showing scenes of African Americans, including Jesse Jackson, being overcome with emotion at Obama’s election. (How dare they?)
Then the EKG flatlines…….THE DEATH OF JOURNALISM….. [...]
If this is the best Ziegler’s got, it’s not particularly flattering for Sarah Palin.
I see he left out the parts about her abuse of office, relentless smearing of Obama, inciting hate speech, inability to speak in understandable sentences, overuse of the word "also", and overall ineptitude.
Invitations to Gov. Charlie Crist's upcoming nuptials are in the mail, and the guest list to the Dec. 12 event has become a source of chatter around the state.
The cream and pale pink invitations to Crist and fiancee Carole Rome's ceremony at First United Methodist Church in St. Petersburg began arriving last week.
Nobody seems to know who's invited. Secret guests? That's a new one.
A card enclosed in the invitations reads: "No gifts please, due to Florida law.''
Let's recap: Imaginary friends, imaginary presents... What happens when he wakes up and realizes he has a very real wife?
On Hardball just now, Chris Matthews said that Gramm-pa McCain "deserves the Nobel Peace Prize for not bringing up Jeremiah Wright." He lauded Grammps ad nauseam for the way he's handled himself. Yes, I'm serious. And yes, there is now a fork in my right eye.
Earlier he chided an Obama spokesman for saying it's been a tough campaign, using Liddy Dole's "Godless" attacks against Kay Hagan to illustrate what a nasty campaign really is. He said the Obama v. McCain battle was (paraphrasing) like throwing puffballs (or something equally benign and ridiculous).
No, I'm not kidding. I need a fork for the other eye.
I used to try to watch that train wreck of a show... until it became too painful. It's interesting that Gramm-pa was such a fan that he actually has a favorite episode!
That's kind of like having a favorite drug addict. Oh wait. He does.
As Ellen hinted in an IM to me just now, we'd all like to live in Alaska where they determine their own guilt or innocence, no matter what the legal decisions are (IWRC* Palin's denial that she, too, was in the clear, for example):
"I've not been convicted yet," the Alaska Republican insisted Thursday in a meeting with the editorial board of the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. "There's not a black mark by my name yet, until the appeal is over and I am finally convicted, if that happens. If that happens, of course I'll do what's right for Alaska and for the Senate ... I don't anticipate it happening, and until it happens I do not have a black mark."
A federal court jury on Monday convicted Stevens on seven counts of lying on Senate disclosure forms to conceal more than $250,000 in gifts and renovations to his home from VECO Corp. founder Bill Allen.
Not guilty by reason of losing all touch with reality.
A local school district official confirmed after the event that of the 6,000 people estimated by the fire marshal to be in attendance this morning, more than 4,000 were bused in from schools in the area.The entire 2,500-student Defiance School District was in attendance, the official said, in addition to at least three other schools from neighboring districts, one of which sent 14 buses.
There’s really no better way to create the illusion of enthusiasm for a candidate than by enlisting the support of children who presumably face punishment for skipping school if they don’t attend.
I wonder if there will be a pop quiz about what Gramm-pa said? I'm betting half of those kids dozed off.
This video is from CNN.com, broadcast October 25, 2008.
Yeah, yeah, nuclear safety, blahblahblah, meltdown, blahblah, Three Mile Island never happened blahblah, "the environment" is code for "socialist Commie terrorism" blahblahblah:
The Republican candidate referenced the final presidential debate Oct. 15, in which Obama qualified McCain's support of nuclear energy and offshore drilling with the need to protect the environment.
"You know, the other night in a debate I said his eloquence is admirable but pay attention to his words," McCain said. "We talked about offshore drilling and he said he would, quote, 'consider' offshore drilling. We talked about nuclear power. Well, it has to be safe, environment, blah blah blah."
The crowd seemed to enjoy McCain's flippancy, bursting into cheers before he could continue.
Joe Wurzelbacher, the most famous plumber in America thanks to John McCain and Sarah Palin, told conservative talk radio host Laura Ingraham Friday he's considering a run for Congress in 2010.
This could be a case of clogged pipes. Is there a doctor in the house? Anyone got a snake?
That would pit Wurzelbacher against longtime Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur for Ohio's 9th district on the state’s northern border, which includes Toledo and Sandusky. "I'll tell you what, we'd definitely be in one heck of a fight, Marcy Kaptur definitely has a following in this area," he said of the possibility. "But, you know, I'd be up for it."
Joe's been into the Drano again. I just know it.
Ingraham herself said she would immediately volunteer for his campaign and help him with campaign advertising and PR. Meanwhile, the National Republican Congressional Committee said they would welcome Wurzelbacher's candidacy with "open arms.”
Well, they sure can't welcome him with an open mind, so I guess arms will have to suffice.
But a spokesman for Kaptur told CNN Wurzelbacher is already off on the wrong foot.
"We just had another big layoff at the jeep plant, another 800 workers," Kaptur spokesman Steve Fought said. "So embracing Bush-McCain economics is kind of a strange way to launch your campaign. I'd have to question that strategy."
Launching his campaign with a bunch of lies might be a tad detrimental, too.
Wurzelbacher's comments come a week after a group of college Republicans launched a Web site with the hope of drafting him for a congressional run.
“Washington, DC is broken and it needs to be fixed. Joe Wurzelbacher has a real-world perspective and the right attitude to clean up the mess on Capitol Hill,” says the group’s Web site, which carries the slogan, “Plunge the crap out of Washington.”
In the rural Teoc community of Carroll County, Miss., where the ancestors of Sen. John McCain owned enslaved Africans on a plantation, black, white and mixed-race family members unite every two years for their Coming Home Reunion, on the land where the plantation operated.
Some of McCain’s black family members say they are not sure exactly where they fall on the family tree, but they do know this: They are either descendants of the McCain family slaves, or of children the McCains fathered with their slaves.
White and black members of the McCain family have met on the plantation several times over the last 15 years, but one invited guest has been conspicuously absent: Sen. John Sidney McCain.
Wouldn't you think that someone with black family members would refrain from encouraging racist campaigning? Just a thought.
“Why he hasn’t come is anybody’s guess,” said Charles McCain Jr., 60, a distant cousin of John McCain who is black. “I think the best I can come up with, is that he doesn’t have time, or he has just distanced himself, or it doesn’t mean that much to him.”
Other relatives are not as generous.
Lillie McCain, 56, another distant cousin of John McCain who is black, said the Republican presidential nominee is trying to hide his past, and refuses to accept the family’s history.
“After hearing him in 2000 claim his family never owned slaves, I sent him an email,” she recalled. “I told him no matter how much he denies it, it will not make it untrue, and he should accept this and embrace it.”
She said the senator never responded to her email.
Sure he did. She just didn't realize it would be in the form of a robocall.
Although Charles is uncertain who will get his vote for president, several of John McCain’s black and white relatives are supporting his Democratic rival, Sen. Barack Obama.
How very un-"pro-American" of them.
The McCain campaign did not respond to repeated questions about John McCain’s black relatives, or about his relatives of both races who support Obama. Pablo Carrillo, a media liaison with the McCain campaign, said the senator was aware of his African-American relatives, but asked the reporter to put his questions into writing, and that someone would get back to him.
After the reporter sent questions in writing, and made repeated follow-up phone calls, neither Sen. McCain nor anyone else from the campaign responded.
Why, one might think Gramm-pa is distancing himself from his very own family members, because they're, you know... ::whispering:: "black":
In addition to distancing himself from his black family members, John McCain has taken several positions on issues that have put him at odds with members of the larger black community.
While running for the Republican Party nomination in 2000, he sided with protesters who were calling for the rebel battle flag to be removed from the South Carolina statehouse, only to alter that position later.
"Some view it as a symbol of slavery. Others view it as a symbol of heritage,” John McCain said of the flag. "Personally, I see the battle flag as a symbol of heritage. I have ancestors who have fought for the Confederacy, none of whom owned slaves. I believe they fought honorably.’’
I've seen more evolved thinking in an aviary.
After he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1982, McCain voted against the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. national holiday in 1983. When he arrived in the U.S. Senate in 1986, he joined North Carolina Sen. Jesse Helms in opposing the holiday again, and voted in 1994 to cut funding to the commission that marketed it.
John McCain also aligned himself with former Arizona Gov. Evan Mecham.
Mecham was the governor in McCain’s home state of Arizona from January 1987 to April 1988, when he was impeached and removed from office for campaign finance violations. As a state senator and governor, Mecham publicly used racial slurs against black people and other minorities. He was also a member of the John Birch Society, which opposes civil rights legislation. In 1986, Mecham campaigned for governor on a promise to rescind the state’s recognition of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, which he did in 1987.
What an honorable guy. His honorable campaign, his honorable supporters, and his honorable running mate reflect his honorableness. As you can tell, I'm holding my tongue.
“He is denying his black and white relatives in Teoc,” said Joyce McCain, 54. “I think he may not want the country to know his family’s full history, but times have changed and we need to move on, and that’s why I’m supporting Obama.”
I can't link to it yet, because the L.A. Times letters-to-the-editors page hasn't yet updated, so I'll just type it out (the author lives in Washington):
...If you are totally ignorant, please don't vote.
I had a scary encounter this morning. The tenant in my front unit asked me what the sign in my window-- Obama/Biden-- meant. My jaw dropped and I looked at him to see if he was serious. He was!
I explained that they were running for president and vice president, then went in the house, shaking my head. This guy is a single dad, about 35 years old, born and raised in the good old U.S.A. I wonder if he's registered to vote? That would be even scarier.
And they say Obama is scary? No. Here's scary (h/t Alec):
A senior campaign aide who agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity admitted that Palin’s knowledge of Russia may be limited to the way someone from Miami might obtain a general feel for Latin America.
“It is very much being able to look off the tip of Alaska,” the aide said. “Metaphorically, I’m talking about.”
I have a general feel for sushi. Consider me a marine biologist.
On CNN just now, the McCain surrogate just placed blame for our horrendous economy on Bill Clinton. Clinton created the bubble, even though Republicans de-regulated everything, you see. He said so, and therefore it is gospel.
Except that Hillary Rosen just swatted that one away.
Oh, and no matter who messed us up, Gramm-pa Sid is the one person who can fix this, doncha know. Ignore the past 8 years the way we're supposed to ignore the first 3 or 4 years of the Iraq occupation. It all started with the Surge.
And now, it all begins with the meltdown. There is no past. There is no blame. Nothing preceded this, and Grammps and his merry band-o'-lobbyists will make it all better.
Sure they will.
By the way, James Carville just swatted that one away.
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