Introducing the FEC approved Swiftboat Network

By GottaLaff

Please, please, please read the entire piece here. This is major. Huge. And about as unAmerican as anything I can think of, all blessed by the FEC. Someone wake me up when this nightmare is over:

Buried deep within the Internet, there is a place called the Federal Election Commission. Buried deeper within the Federal Election Commission, there is a place where any interested party can view requests for advisory opinions, read both sides’ arguments for and against, comment, and listen to the audio of public hearings.

Buried deeper still, are the seeds of a plan to circumvent all election finance laws and everything we know right now about so-called ‘astroturf organizations’ in a perfectly legal, United States Federal Election Commission-approved kind of way. [...]

People who might otherwise make donations to 527 groups (which are subject to campaign disclosure laws), will instead incorporate on their own as Limited Liability Corporations (LLCs). Each corporation will advertise, take polls, or conduct direct media campaigns for or against Federal candidates as they choose. The corporation will not accept any funds from any outside sources. Simply put, wealthy donors will no longer be restricted to current contribution limits or disclosure laws because they will be acting individually as a corporation to put their message on the air. This has long been held to be a First Amendment right of individuals. They’re allowed to spend whatever they want. It isn’t new. [...]

It’s not difficult to imagine 100 different Swiftboat ads, each with the same message but a different messenger, a messenger who is a client of Black Rock Group and involved in the same campaign against the same candidate. [...]

[W]e will be inundated with negative campaign ads funded by shadow entities who will be shielded from the light of day. They will say whatever they want to say in whatever fashion they want to say it, including the usual smear tactics, but will never have to own one word of what they’ve said, because they are shielded by a corporate entity surrounding the individual.

That’s the real problem here. If a Goldman Sachs executive wants to go negative on a candidate and has the funds to pay for it, no one will ever be able to point back to Goldman Sachs, nor will that executive ever have to own the words. Now multiply that by a factor of many, all blasting the same message over radio, tv, push poll, polls, and other means. It’s lucrative for Black Rock Group, shields candidates from associations they’d rather not disclose, and inundates the rest of us with a barrage of ‘nattering nabobs of negativity.’

This isn’t astroturf. It’s a concrete firewall, intended to shield and protect the messenger who brings destructive messages.

Bye bye democracy.

Go. Now. Here.

Anti-Reform Group Internal Memo: “Rumors Of Death Of Public Option Greatly Exaggerated”

By GottaLaff

(click on image to enlarge; via)

Rick Scott's group, CPR, has put out a memo, and it is all too reminiscent of 2004:

In a clear sign that conservatives are worried that the public option could still survive, an internal memo from a top anti-health care reform group claims that “rumors of its death” have been “greatly exaggerated,” discusses plans to run new ads targeting it, and vows to redouble efforts to foment opposition to it at town hall meetings. [...]

The memo discusses a “Martha’s Vineyard ad strategy” that’s set to kick in next week. According to a source familiar with the group’s plans, this is a reference to a planned national ad targeting the public option that will reference the President’s vacation.

Shades of the Swiftboaty anti-Kerry wind surfing campaign? Oh yes, yes indeedy:

“Rumors of the death of the public option have been greatly exaggerated,” reads the memo, which is likely to be taken by liberal groups pushing for the public option as a sign that they need to redouble their fundraising and organizing efforts.

Read the memo. It's all there in blech-ch and white.

And speaking of blech-ch! Here's a brief refresher course on Ricky, plus another reason why you should re-read this earlier post and take action:

CPR chief Rick Scott was ousted as a hospital exec amid a 1990s fraud probe, and the memo will alarm pro-reform forces, because it shows that the anti-reform camp is beginning to sense that victory is within reach on their top goal: Killing the public option.

Don't fret, don't whine, don't cry. Just get on the phone and call.

Health care debate must be fought below the belt

By GottaLaff

Right in the middle of writing this post, I stopped and read this piece about how the White House and the DNC will now try to turn all those nasty town hall mobs and Drudge reports into gold. They plan on making them the face of the opposition by taking on these thugs in new ads, playing by new rules. Good.

Phil Singer, who worked on rapid response for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign and dealt frequently with the largely unfavorable conservative site, said:

"To be sure, Drudge asserts a certain level of influence. But I think it is fair to say Obama exerts a little bit more. And one of the things that has been interesting to watch has been the way that the White House and before that the Obama campaign was able to turn some of the old media rules on their head and create a new media dynamic."

Now back to my current blog already in progress, and opinion piece by Dan Neil:

How could the left possibly be losing the debate on healthcare reform when its opponent is the roundly loathed health insurance industry -- an ongoing criminal syndicate, in my view, that demands protection money from sick people?

It's because the insurance industry's demagoguery is better and smarter than the reformists' demagoguery.

This is a gunfight to which the reform agenda has brought a dull spoon. [...]

You might as well have Spencer and Heidi advocate for the public option. [...]

The American public is being roasted in a caldron of bull like St. Antipas, and this ad calls for increased reasonableness and bipartisanship? With allies like Big Pharma, who needs enemies?

Meanwhile, the Democratic National Committee, through its Net-roots operation Organizing for America, has spent weeks and millions on the "It's Time" ad spot, a series of close-ups of people telling their sad tales of falling through the cracks of the healthcare system. [...]

Do these advertising strategists even live in America? When it comes to healthcare, appealing to the public's sympathy is a dead end. The whole healthcare debate is precisely about avoiding responsibility for less fortunate citizens. Then the kicker: "It's time for healthcare reform."

That's it? That's the galvanizing take-away? It's the emotional equivalent of "It's time to storm the Bastille." [...]

The insurance industry's ads are more effective. They are big, scary, threatening. Reform gets rolled like the British at the Somme by this ad.

Liberal progressives and advocates are going to have to get down and dirty if they want to win this fight. There's some hope on the horizon, though, in the ad from Americans United for Change [...]

[T]he female narrator asks, "Why do the insurance companies and the Republicans want to kill President Obama's health insurance reform?" Note the yoking of insurance companies to Republicans. Note also that it's Obama's health insurance reform. Evil insurance. [...]

The important thing is that the ad hominem ad is pointed, shrewd and manipulative.

And yes, it's class warfare. But then again, this is war.

Hopefully, after the aforementioned new efforts by Obama and the DNC, this is a war we can win.

Anti-Reform Group Takes Credit For Disrupting Town Hall Rallies

By GottaLaff

In a post back in May, I wrote about David Plouffe's warning about impending SwiftBoat attacks by Rick Scott's gang of thugs. Then, last month, I posted about the developing Rick Scott corporate grassrootery.

Now we see that Hooligan Ricky is going public, taking a bow for interfering with democracy via intimidation:

Conservatives for Patients’ Rights, the operation that’s running a national campaign against a public health care option, is now publicly taking credit for helping gin up the sometimes-rowdy outbursts targeting House Dems at town hall meetings around the country.

CPR is the group headed by controversial former hospitals exec Rick Scott that’s spending millions on ads attacking reform in all sorts of lurid ways, a campaign that’s being handled by the same P.R. mavens behind the Swift Boat Vets.

In response to my questions, a spokesman for the group confirmed that it has undertaken a concerted effort to get people out to the town hall meetings to protest reform. The spokesperson, Brian Burgess, confirmed that CPR is emailing out “town hall alert” flyers, and schedules of town hall meetings, to its mailing list. [...]

CPR spokesman Burgess confirmed that the group had set up a list serv designed to reach out to “third party groups” involved in the health care fight, including the Tea Party activists. And in a statement emailed to me, Scott, who was ousted as a health-care exec amid a 1990s fraud probe, took credit for the town hall showings. [...]

[H]e claimed outrage was spontaneous.

Similarly, America’s Health Insurance Plans, or AHIP, the insurance industry group, has stationed employees in 30 states to track local town hall events.

Be proud, Rick. Take those bows. You may ending up helping our side more than you know.

Rachel, from last night's show:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Sotomayor Tied To Bill Ayers In New Ad By Conservative Group

By GottaLaff

What next? Rushpublic warnings that Judge Sotomayor can see Jane Fonda from her front porch?

The conservative judicial activist group Committee for Justice released an ad on Tuesday connecting Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the '60s radical and Obama campaign scourge Bill Ayers. [...]

"Remember Barack Obama's buddy Bill Ayers? The unrepentant terrorist who bombed American buildings in the 70s? Turns out President Obama has done it again, picking someone for the Supreme Court, Judge Sonia Sotomayor, who led a group supporting violent Puerto Rican terrorists. Is this radical judge the type of person America needs sitting on our highest court? What is he thinking? What was she thinking."

Oooo, scary stuff.

Swiftboating President Obama with links to Bill Ayers worked so well for conservatives in 2008, it was bound to become their default ad campaign. If they keep this up, eventually we should have the entire Supreme Court stacked with liberal Commie Marxist Socialist judges.

Keep up the good work, Committee for (!)Justice(!).

Public Option Enemy No. 1

By GottaLaff

Here we go again... Now they're SwiftBoating health care reform:

The ads are the product of a multimillion-dollar ad campaign designed to derail health care reform—especially what's been dubbed the "public option," which would set up a government-run plan to compete with private insurers. The man behind this ad blitz is the person who might be Public Option Enemy No. 1: one-time hospital executive and longtime Republican donor Richard Scott.

Back in March, Scott spent $5 million of his own money to set up a nonprofit called Conservatives for Patients' Rights. The group aims to be the command center for the right's fight against Democratic reform efforts. With the major interest groups—including hospital companies, pharmaceutical companies, and doctors—that have opposed reform in the past holding their fire this year in order to have a seat at the legislative table, Scott's group has filled the anti-reform void. [...]

Scott isn't foolish enough to say he opposes reform outright. Instead, his group says it wants to promote health care reform that focuses on "choice" (of doctors), "competition" (between private insurers), "accountability" (standardized insurance claim forms and tax reform), and "personal responsibility" (of patients). [...]

"What Rick Scott is doing is talking about protecting the status quo, which is bankrupting businesses and bankrupting families," says Peter Harbage, a fellow at the Center for American Progress, which supports the public option. [...]

Rep. Jerry Nadler, a New York Democrat, was more blunt: "Rick Scott pushing health care reform is like Bernie Madoff attempting to regulate the financial industry," he told Mother Jones.

Scott certainly is an odd spokesman for the right's health care agenda. The giant hospital company Scott led in the 1980s and 1990s, Columbia/HCA, was the subject of a seven-year federal investigation. The probe concluded with the company pleading guilty to 14 felony counts of criminal misconduct and paying $1.7 billion to settle civil charges relating to overbilling of state and federal governments—the largest settlement of its kind in American history. Scott, claiming ignorance of what was going on, was booted by his own board in 1997 and received a $10 million golden parachute with $300 million in stock options for his troubles.

So typically Rushpublic. Incompetent, unethical, unscrupulous... unbelievable.

Stephen Meagher, a lawyer who handled some of the first suits against HCA:

"He says, 'I was never accused of any wrongdoing,' which is technically correct—but his company was accused of tremendous wrongdoing," Meagher says. "He claims vast experience" in the health care field "but no knowledge of his own company."

And true to form, these tactics are having an effect:

Eric Burns, the president of liberal media watchdog Media Matters for America, says Scott's advocacy is having an impact. "Scott is spending an enormous amount of money to influence the debate over health care reform. He's essentially cornered the market on providing false and misleading information on the health care reform debate." [...] And it is not just Media Matters that has criticized the ads—the Annenberg Center's FactCheck.org also found the group's ad "very misleading."

To disseminate its message, CPR has hired the same public relations company that handled the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. [...] But Burns says CPR's ties to CRC are no coincidence. "CPR is essentially the conservative Swift Boat operation for the health care reform debate," Burns says.

The media have certainly aided Scott's efforts to dodge his history and his conflicts of interest. CNN and Fox News, among others, have interviewed Scott without questioning him about HCA or his new company's dependence on the uninsured. [...]

It's all about protecting the health care industry's bottom line, says Nadler. "Scott and his ilk are dead wrong in their opposition to the public option and are particularly suspect in their motivations. The health care industry doesn't see kids with colds; they see dollar signs."

Scott may be fighting a losing battle. Most polls show that the public option is very popular, and this week Sen. Harry Reid, the majority leader, encouraged Sen. Max Baucus to stop seeking GOP votes on the health care legislation he's writing and move forward with a bill with a public option.

Keep calling and writing your representatives. We can't afford to lose this one.

Apparently, the Rushpublics have replaced their favorite little ditty, "Drill Baby Drill". Now, when it comes to Health care, the new refrain is "Die Baby Die".

Plouffe warns of 'swiftboat' attacks on health reform

By GottaLaff

Just as I posted that video of a statement of bipartisanship, I spotted this. Hence, my earlier skepticism. All sorts of alarms started going off, and for good reason:

Days after President Obama and members of Congress said they were confident they can pass health care reform this year, Obama's former campaign manager warned supporters Saturday that opposing forces are lining up to "torpedo" the plan.

::ding!::

David Plouffe [...] wrote in a fundraising e-mail to Obama's massive supporter e-mail list that the same operatives behind the swiftboat campaign that helped end Sen. John Kerry's (D-Mass.) quest to unseat President George W. Bush are regrouping to target Obama's healthcare efforts.

::dingding!::

Rick Scott, who helped fund the swiftboat ads during Kerry's run, is helping to fund a new group that is targeting what he and some Republicans consider an effort by Obama to socialize medicine.

::siren!::

"The swiftboaters are once again trying to sell the American people short," Plouffe wrote. "As during the election, we deserve a serious conversation -- not fear-mongering and deceit. You and I see the importance of healthcare reform every day."

::gasp!:: Oh noes! How can we possibly combat all these Swiftboat attacks?! What effective, folksy-driven means of counterattack can we come up with? A people's revolution, if you will. ::light bulb:: I know! Tea parties! Someone get hold of MSNBC and see it they're up for some genuine, top-down, corporate grassrootery.

Another Swift Boat Vet Bows Out of Obama Attacks

By GottaLaff

Well will you lookee here:

Another veteran of the Swift Boat campaign against John Kerry has indicated he will not participate in financing ads attacking Democrat Barack Obama.

Already, Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens said in interviews that he would bow out to pursue a campaign to end the nation's dependence on foreign oil. Now a second major donor, Texas billionaire Sam Wyly, who has given about $10 million to Republican candidates and causes since the 1970s, has said publicly he will not participate in independent group efforts to tarnish Obama this year. [...]

One clue as to why he might be sitting this election out can be found in his 2000 campaign efforts. Wyly gave $2.5 million to a group that favored then-Gov. George W. Bush over Sen. John McCain. McCain complained bitterly about the ads, calling on the Federal Election Commission and the Federal Communications Commission to investigate the group, which went by the name Republicans for Clean Air.

I just got home from work, so this copy-and-paste will have to suffice until I can catch up.

Shallow Thoughts: Priorities edition

By GottaLaff

I don't have my own computer for awhile, so no Shallow Thoughts logo, but imagine it for a second. ... I'll wait. Okay, thanks. Good. Now we can continue.

This is my favorite the line-o'-the-day:

“Spare me the phony outrage.”
--Barack Obama in response to [fill in Palin/McCain Swiftboat smeary lie here].

Now back to the issues. You remember those, right? Those are the things that affect our lives, our children's lives, and our grandchildren's lives. Matters of public concern. Life-changing policies.

And in case Palin/McCain forgot, lipstick has never been an issue.

Thank you for wading into Shallow Thoughts. Please resume all normal activity.

Obama Quote Of The Day

Via First Draft, it seems Obama has this taken care of. Click here.

At a fundraiser hosted by singer Jon Bon Jovi last night, Sen. Barack Obama "vowed to fight Republican attacks on his character and background more fiercely than John Kerry did in his losing campaign four years ago," the Newark Star Ledger reports.

Said Obama: "We're not going to be bullied, we're not going to be smeared, we're not going to be lied about. I don't believe in coming in second."

Obama's media boycott about to be discussed on MSNBC

By GottaLaff

Re: Yesterday's campaign. Somebody in Comments yesterday asked if it would make the news. It's about to, if you're watching MSNBC. Dan Abrams is about to report on it.

Abrams had a laugh in his voice when he announced Obama's "launching a criminal investigation."

Jon Decker of Reuters is on. Abrams says it's not a legal response so much as a political response by announcing the investigation. It's a way to make their point, he says.

Decker says to respond with more hard-hitting ads, not lawsuits. Abrams says they did (I missed the response ad).

TIME TO GO VIRAL: Obama calls for media boycott, for real.

By GottaLaff
PLEASE DIGG/REDDIT/STUMBLEUPON THIS ONE.
UPDATE: I just got this email from them:

Please send phone number to discuss.

Go to Comments for more.

I emailed them. So should you. Knock yourselves out, because, for once, we have a candidate who's not afraid of the big, bad Swiftboating monster:

In case your were wondering, it appears as though Barack Obama is totally fed up with the mainstream media right along with us. In fact, he's asking us to do something unprecedented in Presidential elections--to target (read: boycott) media that runs the 'William Ayers' attack ad. We knew that the swiftboat attacks were inevitable but now we know damn well that we can help Barack defend himself as we should. All we have to do is turn off the TV. More details from Politico below.

Make no mistake about it-the primary objective of Republican strategists is to portray Senator Barack Obama as a threat to our national security. Ever since the convention started, the cable networks have been scouring the streets in search of hostile protesters that could be linked to Obama in a way that undermines his peaceful grassroots movement for change.

The recent William Ayers ad plays on the theme of Obama-is-the-enemy and highlights the Republican platform in 2008. Some Republican Billionaire and accomplice of the Swiftboat Veterans for Truth paid for the Ayers ad.

Fortunately for us, the Obama campaign is making good on its promise to prevent McSame's efforts to extend the reign of Bush through the same old lies and tricks.

From Politico: Obama’s campaign has written the Department of Justice demanding a criminal investigation of the “American Issues Project,”

Furthermore, the Obama camp has also written 2 letters to news networks

Here is the key of the whole article from Politico and the essence of the message from our most excellent Presidential nominee:

"The Obama campaign plans to punish the stations that air the ad financially, an Obama aide said, organizing his supporters to target the stations that air it and their advertisers."

So far we have 93,000 emails from people like you and me supporting this target (read: boycott).

KEEP UP THE GOOD FIGHT!

Note: CNN and Fox News would not comment on their willing participation in this unpatriotic, dangerous and possibly illegal attack on Obama.

Update 1: Thanks guys and gals for all the passion I see here! [...] Here's the contact info. I've gathered so far. Mojo for Dengre for the tip.

Corporate Headquarters

Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc.
10706 Beaver Dam Road
Hunt Valley, Maryland 21030
410-568-1500 (Main Telephone)
410-568-1533 (Main Fax)

Update 2: I'm hearing that the main culprit in the perpetuation of the Ayers swiftboating scheme is Sinclair. Here's a link to their comment form. Tell them how you feel about anti-American activities directed at United States Senators.

Email Sinclair

Go for it, guys. Let's show them this time around, we're not going to let them get away with it.

Swiftboat Lawyer, Willie Horton Strategist Team Up for 2008

It's only started to get ugly.

Jason Hancock at our sister site Iowa Independent has a great revolving-door catch today. Hancock reports that two all-stars in attack dog campaigning are on board at American Future Fund -- a conservative advocacy group running ads in tight Congressional races across the country.

AFF's legal counsel is none other than Ben Ginsberg, a Washington-based power lawyer who stepped down as chief outside counsel to the Bush-Cheney campaign in 2004 after news broke that he had represented the Swift Boat Veteran's for Truth -- the group that ultimately harpooned the Kerry campaign.

On the strategy side of the organization we find Larry McCarthy, who created the infamous soft-on-crime Willie Horton ad, credited with sinking Michael Dukakis in 1988.

AFF is expected to be a major player in this election cycle, spending an arm and a leg on TV and radio ads in battleground states, like Minnesota and Colorado. (Iowa Independent has a selection of some of the group's ads here.) How much will they spend, exactly? We don't know:

Because of the way the group is organized under Internal Revenue Service guidelines for nonprofit organizations it does not have to disclose its donors and is not governed by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

Dear L.A. Times: Faith Forum, Jerome Corsi edition

By GottaLaff

The L.A. Times letters are always interesting:

Re "Contrasting styles, views in sharp focus," Aug. 17

Even though I strongly believe in the separation of church and state, I listened with interest to the Saddleback forum on the radio. I was surprised to see how Barack Obama's and John McCain's answers were portrayed in the subhead of the article in The Times.

Instead of saying that Obama was open and thoughtful, it called him "analytical" and "nuanced." Instead of saying that McCain pandered, it said he answered "crisply" to "greater applause." In that forum, did anyone expect that McCain wouldn't get greater applause? I was pleasantly surprised at how much applause Obama did get, without obviously pandering to the audience.

Obama was clearly the more impressive candidate; but you'd never know from your subhead.

And...

I'm shocked that The Times didn't raise the issue of whether a religious official should inject himself into a political discussion. Rick Warren's questions frame the race in an evangelical Christian context -- to the detriment of citizens who don't share those beliefs. The founders separated government from religion not to persecute Christians but to ensure that all could believe, or not believe, as they desired.

As U.S. senators, neither Obama or McCain should be promoting any particular religion. And church officials should not attempt to influence the voting preferences of their flocks, regardless of which religion is doing the influencing. Citizens must be free to select candidates without interference from religion -- not to promote a secular society, but to protect freedom of belief for all.

And...

Re "Character is key, Warren says," Aug. 18

That Warren won't vote for an atheist shows extreme prejudice -- much as a racist won't vote for Obama, but cites reasons other than prejudice to account for his mind-set.

A president does not act alone -- he has a Cabinet, advisors and the Constitution. Human advisors are more likely to give informed advice than the supernatural advi- sor(s) of the ultra-religious.

And finally:

Re " McCain denies flippant remark on 'Obama Nation,' " Aug. 16

McCain quips about Corsi's new book on Obama: "Gotta keep your sense of humor." But in August of 2004, McCain disavowed an ad based on Corsi's "Swift boat" attack on John Kerry, saying: "I deplore this kind of politics. I think the ad is dishonest and dishonorable."

In August of 2004, McCain was not a candidate, and did not benefit from Corsi's smear tactics -- but that was then, and this is August of 2008. He should have swiftly disavowed Corsi, but he missed the boat.

Jerome "I'm being Swiftboated" Corsi on Fox and Friends: The Death Threats Video

By GottaLaff


Here is the video that goes with the post below. Enjoy the delusional mental derangement.

Poor Jerome Corsi. He's being Swiftboated.

By GottaLaff



[Laffy Note: I had a great video for this one, but it, too, refused to upload.] Video added.

Those mean ol' Democrats. They've gone and hurted Jerome Corsi's wittle feelings! He appeared on Fox and Friends and his best friend Steve Doocy cuddled him as he wa-a-ahed and blubbered his way through the interview. He was responding to charges made against him and his piece of -- book.

"Essentially it calls you a liar and a bigot," suggested Fox's Steve Doocy.

"I think some juvenile leftists have taken over the Obama campaign and gotten a hold of Photoshop," Corsi replied. "Now I'm getting death threats and hate mail from Obama supporters."

"You're getting these death threats because you wrote a book," Doocy agreed, "and in fact there's a website, Daily Kos, that's published your home address."

RAW STORY has been unable to find Corsi's home address at Daily Kos -- only his email and the address and phone number of one of his employers -- but it is possible that it was posted and then removed by site moderators. [...]

"A lot of people have suggested," continued Doocy, "well, the Obama campaign is not going to allow their candidate to get swiftboated once again by this guy. Do you feel almost as if you yourself are being swiftboated?"

"In a way, but I also think the Obama campaign is making the identical mistakes of the Kerry campaign," Corsi replied. "They started now calling me names and trying to get the New York Times to introduce me as a gadfly. ... They're quibbling about details."

Gosh, I sure as heck hope he's the forgiving type. I just couldn't handle the guilt if he weren't.

Larry King Live- "Obama Nation" Author VS Media Matter's Waldman

This guy is so scummy he just oozes ick. And no, I'm not talking about Paul.(who is looking kinda cute in that "I'm a smart man" way I like)

PS- The Obama campaign just logged over 2 million individual donors. Suck on that Corsi!!!.

Question Of The Day

Why the hell is cowardly punk with a huge paycheck Jerome Corsi on MSNBC being attacked/defended by Contessa Brewer about his new piece of...... fiction, when Cliff's book was ignored? Media Matters has the rundown on his list of lies.

Deep Thought

Am I the only one that wants John Kerry to just haul off and deck one of the smug, smarmy Republicans that enabled the horrid Swift Boat attacks? Man, I'd pay good money for that (if I had any).

BTW, Kerry rocked just now against Kyl** on RFTWH- that's what brought this thought on.

**Oops, sorry Kyle, and corrected.

John Sidney McSurrogate: The Muslims "are going to kill us."

By GottaLaff

Not a day goes by that we aren't perversely entertained by J Sid or one of his mouthpieces. In this case, it was a McSwiftBoater:

On a conference call with reporters, John McCain surrogate Bud Day doesn't do much to endear his candidate to Muslims:

One of John McCain's fellow POW's in Vietnam defended the war in Iraq, saying, "The Muslims have said either we kneel or they're going to kill us.''

...

Colonel Bud Day added: "I don't intend to kneel and I don't advocate to anybody that we kneel, and John doesn't advocate to anybody that we kneel.''

Muslim leaders have complained that they have been vilified as terrorists since the Sept. 11 attacks.

A McCain campaign spokesman declined to disavow the comments.

Bud Day is best known for his work with the Swift Boat Veterans For Truth, attacking John Kerry in the 2004 election. He's now a member of McCain's Truth Squad. The McCain campaign brought Day out recently to criticize comments made by Wesley Clark about McCain's experience.

Looks like J Sid needs a truth squad for his Truth Squad.