Think David vs. Goliath. On one side there was Wall Street, the corporate ruling class, The White House, Democratic and Republican Party "Leaders," on the other side was the groundswell of grassroots outrage at the $700 billion bailout of Wall Street and financial institutions that created the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression.
Yes, the stock market plunged nearly 800 points, and investors lost $1 trillion. That's Capitalism! On this the RIGHT and the LEFT seem to agree--let "the market" do its thing. Let the American people see the consequences of deregulation and "free market" capitalism. Watch the "anti-government" capitalists crawl on bended knees begging the government, WE THE PEOPLE, to give them a handout.
Now is the time for Progressive Democrats to offer the only alternative-- a FDR program to redistribute wealth from the corporate rich to the working class!
Dibgy is right--it is time for a PROGRESSIVE Shock Doctrine! It's time for Congressional Democrats to start thinking like Democrats again and go on the offensive!
Now is the time for the Democratic Party to show some political backbone and leadership. Forget the Republicans who still cling to the "free market," it's time for the Democratic Party reclaim its legacy, the legacy of FDR and side with the working class.
"Only Palin can save McCain, her party, and the country she loves. She can bow out for personal reasons, perhaps because she wants to spend more time with her newborn. No one would criticize a mother who puts her family first.
"Will someone please put Sarah Palin out of her agony? Is it too much to ask that she come to realize that she wants, in that wonderful phrase in American politics, "to spend more time with her family"?"
There are better, more progressive, alternatives to the Bush/Paulson (Pelosi/Reid) $700 billion bailout of Wall Street, that force the corporate rich to pay for the bailout rather that the working class taxpayers of the U.S.:
Part of me agrees with Richard Dreyfuss, The Debate was Pathetic, especially in the parts where Obama AGREED with McCain, or tried to go to the RIGHT of McCain, on international issues like Afghanistan, Pakistan and Russia.
On the other hand, Obama looked better, more presidential, and was better in style and substance, most of the time. McCain was mean, angry and bitter, but he was more aggressive. Obama needs to learn how to throw more punches, that is what "wins" these debates in the minds of most viewers, not being nice and agreeing with your opponent most of the time.
The Democratic candidate cannot win a national election by criticizing U.S. imperialism in the world or calling for cutting military (though McCain suggested cutting military waste, why didn't Obama??). Obama had to be presidential, and convince "middle America" and swing voters that he could be tough and use military force to "defend America's interests". I think he did that pretty well according to most polls I've seen.
Hopefully in the next two debates Obama will throw some hard punches and do a better job of tying McCain to Bush and the financiers who have brought us to the brink of another depression, and speak out more for the working class and the poor, the real victims of "free-market" capitalism.
I really wish these moderators would ask better questions and hope they don't waste time asking such stupid questions as "Do You think people choose to be gay?"
Newman, one of the greatest actors in history, was also a progressive civil rights and anti-war activist, and a proud member of Richard Nixon's enemy list.
Like a lot of people, I didn't know that all the profit from his products went to charities. I started crying when I saw the news clips of his camp for terminally ill kids. He was a great LIBERAL to his death.
What a Sad Day, but a remarkable human being!
Here's one of the sexiest video clips I've ever seen, a screentest for East of Eden, in which James Dean Asks Newman to "Kiss Me":
Given their past history, I don't have much faith in the Democratic Party leadership in Congress to stand up to Bush and the GOP. Bush's economic crisis has given Democrats a perfect chance to for once and for all KILL the conservative "free market" nonsense that created this crisis. They should stand up to Bush and Wall street.
Instead, it looks like the Democrats (Pelosi & Reid) are trying to work with Bush to bailout Wall street, while conservative Republicans have killed the Bush bailout and side with the American people against the taxpayer bailout. Why are the Democrats HELPING Bush again??
The Bush Administration is clearly trying to forestall the coming economic depression until after the election. Why should Democrats be supporting the Bush rescue plan instead of defending taxpayers against Wall street and the corporate rich? Isn't it clear that John McCain and the House GOP wants to link the Democrats to the Bush Bailout ("socialism") and try to portray themselves as "populists" defending "mainstreet" against "Wall Street"?
It will be a political disaster if the Democrats side with Bush and the Republicans take credit for opposing the Bush bailout of Wall street!
----- And as someone pointed out to me, Bill Clinton and the Democrats did help create this crisis by implementing some of the de-regulation that Wall Street bankers like Robert Rubin wanted. (It was his Secretary of the Treasury , Robert E. Rubin, now an Obama advisor, who helped to do away with come of the regulatory power of the Glass-Steagall act in 1999. That change set the stage for the current crisis in capitalism.)
Read how the Bill Clinton and the DEMOCRATS contributed to the current crisis by supporting deregulation of the financial industry:
In one corner, the "free-market" conservatives oppose government regulation and oppose the $700 billion Bailout of WallStreet, and want less regulation and more corporate tax cuts, on the Left progressives oppose the Bush bailout as well, but want more regulation and increased taxes on the corporate rich and government assistance to homeowners and the middle class.
It almost looked like the Democratic "Leaders" in Congress were about to bailout Bush and Wallstreet by going along with a revised plan, but John McCain and House Democrats sabataged the plan with a new plan to CUT corporate taxes and CUT regulation more.
I'm afraid the Democrats were about to be out manouvered by the GOP once again. It is looking like McCain and House Democrats are going to try to take the "populist" banner by opposing the Bush plan and leaving Democrats to blame for supporting the "socialist" Bush/Paulson plan. It seemed like the conservative Republicans have been the most outspoken opponents of the Bush plan, while the Democratic Leaders (Pelosi/Reed) were left defending some version of the Bush plan.
Some progressive Democrats have been speaking out against the bailout plans, but they have not been as vocal as the conservative Republicans.
Obama should NOT allow McCain and the GOP to take the populist position and link him to the Bush bailout of Wall Street!
The Democrats need to follow the example of Sen. Bernie Sanders and offer a progressive alternative that will put the burden of any "bailout" on the corporate rich rather than the working class.
THIS DEBATE ON HOW TO DEAL WITH THE BUSH ECONOMIC CRISIS SHOULD BE A DEBATE BETWEEN THE BASIC PRINCIPLES OF CONSERVATIVES VS. PROGRESSIVES! WHO SHOULD PAY? WHO SHOULD BENEFIT? The Corporate Rich or the Working Class? This is the basic issue that divides Liberal/Progressives and Conservatives! The Democratic Party MUST defend the liberal/progressive principles and not compromise to help bailout Bush and the Republicans! This is THEIR economic crises, the consequences of their policies (deregulation and corporate welfare) and as painful as it may be, the American people need to feel the pain of "free market" capitalism! Then maybe we can have a movement for democratic socialism and dump the corporate two-party system!
Watch Socialist Bernie Sanders take on right-wing capialist (corporate socialist!) Larry Kudlow on CNBC!
This is a MUST read/see! Back when she was running for Governor, the visiting preacher at the Wasilla Assembly of God, Thomas Muthee (a “witch-hunter” from Kenya), “anointed” her to fight witch craft and “the enemy” (non-Chistians) and preached about how “tongue-speaking” Pentecostals should take over the government (Schools, media, etc.), and then he and the church “laid hands” on Sarah Palin to anoint her the Gov. of Alaska! This is the nutcase that John McCain chose to be V.P.!
Will the mainstream media play this the way they did Rev.Wright???
UPDATE: The media has only focused on Muthee's comments about witchcraft and saying that he was praying to protect her from witchcraft, but have missed the REAL problem with Muthee's sermon and the anointing of Sarah Palin. He was preaching about the goal of a THEOCRATIC government ran by "spirit-filled" (i.e., pentecostal) Christians.
He also made an anti-semitic statement that was overlooked: If you go to 1:20 into this Youtube, you will hear Muthee, who later anointed Palin, say the following words in Palin's presence:
"The second area whereby God wants us, wants to penetrate in our society is in the economic area. The Bible says that the wealth of the wicked is stored up for the righteous. It's high time that we have top Christian businessmen, businesswomen, bankers, you know, who are men and women of integrity running the economics of our nations. That's what we are waiting for. That's part and parcel of transformation. If you look at the -- you know -- if you look at the Israelites, that's how they work. And that's how they are, even today."
Let's see if the mainstream media picks up the REAL story...
Learn what is behind the Bush/Paulson bailout in Naomi Klein's "Shock Doctrine": Now Is the Time to Resist Wall Street's Shock Doctrine (Basically, she shows how this bailout is part of the "Shock Doctrine Capitalism" by which conservative Republicans use crises to push their de-regulation/privatization schemes to enrich the corporate rich. If John McCain is elected, they will use the trillion $$ bailouts to justify cutting social programs and privatizing Social Security, etc..)
John McCain's Chief of Staff, Mark Buse, has been Outed by Michael Signorile and given the Roy Cohn Award by Mike Rogers on BlogActive for his support of the most anti-gay candidate for President of the United States.
Signorile has a lot of information on Buse, one of the 60 or more lobbyists in the McCain Campaign, including testimony from his ex-boyfriend, and apparently Buse has some comrades over at the Uncle Tom Log Cabin Republicans, who have endorsed John McCain despite his anti-gay record and positions simply because he voted against the FMA (never mind he supports the Arizona and California anti-gay marrriage amendments!). Guess the Uncle Tom Republicans think that if John McCain is elected they will have a foot in the door of the White House.
Roane State Community College drop-out Becky Ruppe, "Democratic" candidate for the Tennessee Senate, continues to attack the rights of gays and lesbians to show that she is more conservative than her Republican opponent:
"I am a pro-life, pro-gun, oppose-gay-marriage Democrat," says Ruppe, 45, who now serves as Morgan County executive.
On the matter of gay marriage, Ruppe says she has gotten some grief from members of her own party for her stance. She cites a West Tennessee gay activist blogger who urged Democrats to vote Republican rather than back a Democrat disloyal to party principles.
Well, I think Becky Ruppe is a disgrace, but I hope progressive Democrats can find someone else to vote for other than her or her Republican opponent. Maybe there is a third-party candidate, or someone they can write-in.
The Tennessee Democratic Party will remain in the dark ages as long as Democratic voters keep voting for right-wing candidates like Ruppe. As for the argument that we have to vote for conservative Democrats to help the Tennessee Democratic party control the state government, why should we care if anti-gay, right-wing Democrats bash gays for political gain rather than right-wing Republicans?
I don't care which is elected, there is no difference! We need more progressive candidates.
He makes a great argument about how dangerous Sarah Palin would be with her finger on the nuclear button because of her irrational religious beliefs.
For More From Sam Harris on Palin See Palin: Average Isn't Good Enough (And watch the videos of her speaking at the Wasilla Assembly of God to understand WHY we should be concerned!)
Deep-seated racial misgivings could cost Barack Obama the White House if the election is close, according to an AP-Yahoo News poll that found one-third of white Democrats harbor negative views toward blacks - many calling them "lazy," "violent" or responsible for their own troubles.
The poll, conducted with Stanford University, suggests that the percentage of voters who may turn away from Obama because of his race could easily be larger than the final difference between the candidates in 2004 - about 2.5 percentage points.
Certainly, Republican John McCain has his own obstacles: He's an ally of an unpopular president and would be the nation's oldest first-term president. But Obama faces this: 40 percent of all white Americans hold at least a partly negative view toward blacks, and that includes many Democrats and independents.
More than a third of all white Democrats and independents - voters Obama can't win the White House without - agreed with at least one negative adjective about blacks, according to the survey, and they are significantly less likely to vote for Obama than those who don't have such view....
After years of preaching the gospel of "free market" capitalism to other countries, the U.S. is now "nationalizing" U.S. financial industries!
It's amazing how the corporate rich oppose any "government handouts" for the working class or the poor but love it when the U.S. government (we the taxpayers) bail them out. Funny how we never have money to insure healthcare for everyone, or free college education like most European countries, but conservative Republicans always find money for the military-industrial complex and their corporate financiers. Why not provide some of this "socialism" for the American working class?
Here's a Democratic Socialist response to the economic crisis from Sen. Bernie Sander's
Read Sen. Bernie Sander's Statement Outlining a progressive response to the crisis HERE.
Brad Pitt has donated $100,000 to fight California's November ballot initiative that would overturn the state Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage. "Because no one has the right to deny another their life, even though they disagree with it, because everyone has the right to live the life they so desire if it doesn't harm another and because discrimination has no place in America, my vote will be for equality and against Proposition 8," Pitt said Wednesday.
But remember, according to John McCain, "The Fundamentals of The Economy Are Strong"! His economic advisor who helped create the financial meltdown, Phil Graham, says this is all a "mental recession" and we should all just quit whinning!
Even though the Palin campaign has tried to discredit reports that she tried to ban library books (and a list circulating on the internet turns out to have been a list of books that are commonly the target of book banners), it turns out she DID try to remove two books from a public library--both dealing with homosexuality!
A box of Obama Waffles is seen in Washington, Saturday, Sept. 13, 2008. A vendor at a conservative political forum was selling boxes of waffle mix depicting Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama as a racial stereotype on its front and wearing Arab-like headdress on its top flap. The product was meant as political satire, said Mark Whitlock and Bob DeMoss, two writers from Franklin, Tenn., who created the mix and sold it for $10 a box at the Values Voter Summit sponsored by the lobbying arm of the Family Research Council.
While Obama Waffles takes aim at Obama's politics by poking fun at his public remarks and positions on issues, it also plays off the old image of the pancake-mix icon Aunt Jemima, which has been widely criticized as a demeaning stereotype. Obama is portrayed with popping eyes and big, thick lips as he stares at a plate of waffles and smiles broadly.
Placing Obama in Arab-like headdress recalls the false rumor that he is a follower of Islam, though he is actually a Christian.
On the back of the box, Obama is depicted in stereotypical Mexican dress, including a sombrero, above a recipe for "Open Border Fiesta Waffles" that says it can serve "4 or more illegal aliens." The recipe includes a tip: "While waiting for these zesty treats to invade your home, why not learn a foreign language?"
Republican "family Values" defenders Newt Gingrich and Matt Romney were among the prominent conservatives who spoke at the right-wing political conference.
The LIES of Sarah Palin and John McCain keep piling up, and the media is finally starting to point them out.
Sarah Palin LIED about opposing the "Bridge to Nowhere", which she supported before it came under scrutiny. She has LIED about opposing earmark ("pork") as Gov. of Alaska
And the McCain/Palin campaign LIED about Obama's "lipstick-on-a-pig" comment, claiming he was making a sexist comment about Palin when he was clearly criticizing the McCain/Palin claim of being for "Change" but wanting to continue the same failed policies of George W. Bush (actually, if you want to interpret the comment literally, I think Obama was calling Bush and his policies the pig!)
Never mind the mortgage crisis, unemployment, healthcare, the Iraq Occupation, etc. THIS is what the American Media is talking about??? Lipstick on a Pig!!!
Once again, the Republican attack machine has managed to divert the medias attention away from real issues to smear Obama. It looks like the McCain campaign's strategy is to hide behind Sarah Palin and play the gender card against any attacks from the Obama camapaign. (Sound familiar?)
The media is running scared once again! MSNBC caved in to the right-wing media machine and is dropping Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann from anchoring any more election coverage. (Wonder when FOX will be dropping O'Reilly and Sean Hannity??)
The corporate media (Republican-controlled) is just as gullible as the American people to the right-wing smear machine.
It looks like this is backfiring on the McCain/Palin campaign!
Lots of people have been expecting, suggesting that Obama should let Hillary Clinton go after Sarah Palin, and maybe Obama hoped she would, but Hillary will have none of it.
I wonder if these articles are connected to this one: Poll Shows Big Shift to McCain Among White Women A Washington Post/ABC News survey published on Tuesday found most of McCain's surge in the polls since the Republican National Convention was due to a big shift in support among white women voters.
Could these white women be racist?
Maybe Hillary Clinton, and some of her bitter supporters, want Obama to loose, and want Palin/McCain to beat him to avenge her from the primary defeat and Obama passing over her for V.P. (and so Hillary can run again in 2012)??
And I'm tired of hearing all these claims of "sexist" attacks on Hillary Clinton from the OBAMA Campaign... I CHALLENGE ANYONE TO DOCUMENT ONE INSTANCE OF A SEXIST ATTACK ON HILLARY CLINTON BY BARACK OBAMA OR HIS CAMPAIGN!
Obama's first appearance on Fox News' the O'Reilly Factor does not look promising at all. (Obama actually agrees with O'Reilly and McCain that "The Surge" was very successfull!). On This Week on ABC Obama even questions whether he will rescind the Bush tax cuts on the rich if the recession worsens!
In the meantime, McCain/Palin are Now Leading Obama/Biden--USA Today/Gallup: 50% McCain/Palin, 46% Obama/Biden (McCain/Palin get 54% of "Likely Voters"!)
The Obama campaign has not even tried to expose the TRUTH about Sarah Palin, so most voters seem to like her and the McCain/Palin ticket. The Democratic "strategists" have once again made a major mistake by NOT aggressively going after Sarah Palin. Why didn't the Obama campaign have an ad exposing the truth about Sarah Palin right after she spoke at the RNC? The GOP had ad an out the day after Biden was nominated!
Apparently the Democratic "strategists" thought that just running against George Bush and high gas prices (which Obama could not affect in the short run if he were elected) would win the election. They have still not learned from 2000 & 2004 how to fight back against the right-wing political machine.
Democratic "strategists" and many progressive bloggers and talk shows, have advised the Obama campaign to ignore Sarah Palin and focus on the McCain/Bush economy. They think that the American voters are smart enough to focus on the issues and the record of the Republicans the past eight years. I've even heard several liberal commentators predict that McCain will drop Sarah Palin soon. Instead, Palin is now the star of the Republican party and is drawing more crowds than John McCain!
Once again the Democrats are underestimating the stupidity of American voters!
It is unbelievable that McCain, who was politically dead a few months ago, is now ahead of Obama in an election year in which Bush's approval rating is 30% and voters have turned sour on the Republican Party. Obama & Biden are great candidates, and the GOP is very unpopular, so why are they not way ahead? Part of the blame must be the continual errors made by Obama and the Democratic Party in not attacking McCain/Palin and the GOP as hard as they should and capitulating on so many issues. They have not been as good as the McCain campaign has been on staying on the offensive and sticking to a clear message. And some Hillary Clinton supporters, a minority but still significant in a close election, refuse to support the Democratic ticket and are voting for McCain/Palin.
The media is also a major problem. The corporate media has focused on personal attacks rather than on the issues, which has played right into the Republican's strategy.
If the Democratic Party loses to John McCain, Sarah Palin and an unpopular Republican Party, they should just close the party down after the election.
You have to read it for yourself. An excellent expose of the McCain/Palin fiasco that the Obama campaign should use.
So far, however, the Obama campaign has refused to attack Sarah Palin directly, and the campaign says it has no plans to do so. If the Obama campaign thinks they can ignore Sarah Palin and focus on McCain and Bush they will loose this election.
"But as for that v.p. talk all the time, I'll tell you, I still can't answer that question until somebody answers for me what is it, exactly, that the v.p. does every day?"
--July 31, 2008, CNBC's "Kudlow & Company"
On Iraq:
"I've been so focused on state government, I haven't really focused much on the war in Iraq. I heard on the news about the new deployments, and while I support our president, Condoleezza Rice, and the administration, I want to know that we have an exit plan in place."
--March 21, 2007, Alaska Business Monthly
"Pray for our military men and women who are striving to do what is right. Also, for this country, that our leaders, our national leaders, are sending [American soldiers] out on a task that is from God. That's what we have to make sure that we're praying for, that there is a plan and that that plan is God's plan."
--June 8, 2008, Wasilla Assembly of God Church
On creationism:
"Growing up with being so privileged and blessed to be given a lot of information on, on both sides of the subject--creationism and evolution. It's been a healthy foundation for me. But don't be afraid of information and let kids debate both sides."
--October 25, 2006, gubernatorial debate
On global warming:
"A changing environment will affect Alaska more than any other state, because of our location. I'm not one, though, who would attribute it to being man-made."
--August 29, 2008, Newsmax
On energy:
"I think God's will has to be done in unifying people and companies to get that gas line built, so pray for that."
--June 8, 2008, Wasilla Assembly of God Church
On receiving $1.8 million in federal earmarks for the city of Wasilla:
"FYI This does not include our nearly one million Dollars from the Feds for our Airport Paving Project. We did well!!!"
--June 14, 1999, Wasilla City Council Informational Memorandum 99-62
On that "Bridge to Nowhere":
Question: "Would you continue state funding for the proposed Knik Arm and Gravina Island bridges?"
Palin: "Yes. I would like to see Alaska's infrastructure projects built sooner rather than later. The window is now--while our congressional delegation is in a strong position to assist."
--October 22, 2006, Anchorage Daily News
On library books she doesn't like:
"What would your response be if I asked you to remove some books from the collection?"
--October 1996 conversation with librarian Mary Ellen Emmons, Anchorage Daily News
On the secessionist Alaskan Independence Party:
"Your party plays an important role in our state's politics ... keep up the good work, and God bless you."
--2006 video address to Independence Party's convention
On Ivana Trump:
"We want to see Ivana because we are so desperate in Alaska for any semblance of glamour and culture."
--April 3, 1996, Anchorage Daily News
On running Wasilla:
"It's not rocket science. It's six million dollars and fifty-three employees. "
--October 1996, Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman
On being governor:
"I will unambiguously, steadfastly, and doggedly guard the interests of this great state, as a mother naturally guards her own. Like a Southeast Eagle and her eaglets, or, more appropriately here in the Carlson, like a Nanook defending her cub."
--December 4, 2006, inaugural address
On the prospect of becoming a candidate for vice president:
"It kind of cracks me up. It is so far out of the realm of possibility and reality."
Gov. Sarah Palin's Wasilla Bible Church is promoting the Focus on the Family's "Love Won Out" Conference that claims to convert gays into heterosexuals through prayer.
Wow! Watch the Trailer for MILK, the new Gus Van Sants movie about gay rights leader Harvey Milk, starring Sean Penn. Penn Looks and acts just like Harvey! Hope he wins an Oscar. Coming in November I think.
Sarah Palin grew up in the Pentecostal Assemby of God (one of the craziest Christian sects). In a recent address (June) to the graduating class of commission students at the Waskilla Assembly of God, Palin painted the current war in Iraq as a messianic affair in which the United States could act out the will of the Lord.
"Pray for our military men and women who are striving to do what is right. Also, for this country, that our leaders, our national leaders, are sending [U.S. soldiers] out on a task that is from God," she exhorted the congregants. "That's what we have to make sure that we're praying for, that there is a plan and that that plan is God's plan."
Religion, however, was not strictly a thread in Palin's foreign policy. It was part of her energy proposals as well. Just prior to discussing Iraq, Alaska's governor asked the audience to pray for another matter -- a $30 billion national gas pipeline project that she wanted built in the state. "I think God's will has to be done in unifying people and companies to get that gas line built, so pray for that," she said.
The Pastor, Ed Kalnins, has also preached that critics of President Bush will be banished to hell; questioned whether people who voted for Sen. John Kerry in 2004 would be accepted to heaven; charged that the 9/11 terrorist attacks and war in Iraq were part of a war "contending for your faith;" and said that Jesus "operated from that position of war mode."
See Also, Sarah Palin's Pastor Problem: Palin's pastor, Larry Kroon, invited the founder of Jews for Jesus, David Brickner, to speak at her church on August 17th, Politico's Ben Smith reported. According to its mission statement, Jews for Jesus is an organization that tries: "to make the messiahship of Jesus an unavoidable issue to our Jewish people worldwide."
Palin and her family were present in the church for Brickner's sermon. In the sermon, he made a number of inflammatory claims, most particularly about terrorist attacks in Israel. "Judgment is very real and we see it played out on the pages of the newspapers and on the television. It’s very real," he opined. Speaking of his son, who had recently been in Jerusalem, he said: "When Isaac was in Jerusalem he was there to witness some of that judgment, some of that conflict, when a Palestinian from East Jerusalem took a bulldozer and went plowing through a score of cars, killing numbers of people. Judgment -- you can't miss it."
Cindy McCain's Outfit at the Republican Convention:
Oscar de la Renta dress: $3,000 Chanel J12 White Ceramic Watch: $4,500 Three-carat diamond earrings: $280,000 Four-strand pearl necklace: $11,000–$25,000 Shoes, designer unknown: $600 Total: Between $299,100 and $313,100
Rachel Maddows Exposes some of the LIES told by McCain & Palin at the GOP Convention:
Sarah Palin is proving to be a good Republican Politician--She knows how to LIE!
This is what’s wrong with our politics. At the Republican convention, speaker after speaker just flat-out lied, and our news media isn’t calling them on any of it. YOU CAN’T GET THE STORY FROM THE PUNDITS.
They smeared Barack Obama repeatedly and told lies big and small.
Here’s just a few of them:
- Sarah Palin and John McCain claim that Barack Obama wants to raise our taxes, but the vast majority of families are way better off under Barack Obama’s plan. JOHN MCCAIN ACTUALLY WANTS TO TAX OUR HEALTH BENEFITS!!! Barack Obama’s plan only raises taxes on people with individual incomes over a quarter-million dollars.
- Sarah Palin and John McCain lie and claim that their plan is better for people like us. They don’t cut taxes for us hardly at all, and wipe out that cut with their plan to tax our health benefits!!!! Barack Obama actually cuts middle class taxes to try to restore fairness that was lost under Bush.
- Sarah Palin lied when she said Barack Obama had authored “no major law, not even in the state senate.” This is just a bald-faced lie. In fact, just in the US Senate, Barack Obama passed the most sweeping reform package since Watergate, and reached across party lines to pass, with Senator Lugar, legislation to help keep nuclear weapons out of the hands of terrorists and, with Senator Coburn, legislation to create a revolutionary database that makes government more transparent and accountable.
- Sarah Palin and John McCain continue to lie about Barack Obama’s energy plans. They keep pushing more drilling as the main answer to our problems, when it won’t do anything to lower the price of gas. And then they claim Barack Obama, in the words of Palin, “is against producing [more energy]. Barack Obama is for producing more clean energy and ending our addiction to oil. He has the most comprehensive energy plan of any Presidential candidate in history.
- The Republicans keep attacking Barack Obama’s plans for Iraq, even though the Iraqi government AND THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION just signed an agreement that follows the plan Barack Obama has been advocating for months.
- It’s the same thing on negotiations and diplomacy. Sarah Palin attacked Barack Obama for holding the position that the Bush Administration has belatedly been forced to adopt: holding direct talks with Iran. We’re too strong a country to be afraid of talking to Iran.
It goes on and on. I’m tired of the lies.
The AP exposes some of the GOP Lies at the Republican Convention last night:
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and her Republican supporters held back little Wednesday as they issued dismissive attacks on Barack Obama and flattering praise on her credentials to be vice president. In some cases, the reproach and the praise stretched the truth.
Some examples:
PALIN: "I have protected the taxpayers by vetoing wasteful spending ... and championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress. I told the Congress 'thanks but no thanks' for that Bridge to Nowhere."
THE FACTS: As mayor of Wasilla, Palin hired a lobbyist and traveled to Washington annually to support earmarks for the town totaling $27 million. In her two years as governor, Alaska has requested nearly $750 million in special federal spending, by far the largest per-capita request in the nation. While Palin notes she rejected plans to build a $398 million bridge from Ketchikan to an island with 50 residents and an airport, that opposition came only after the plan was ridiculed nationally as a "bridge to nowhere."
PALIN: "There is much to like and admire about our opponent. But listening to him speak, it's easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform _ not even in the state senate."
THE FACTS: Compared to McCain and his two decades in the Senate, Obama does have a more meager record. But he has worked with Republicans to pass legislation that expanded efforts to intercept illegal shipments of weapons of mass destruction and to help destroy conventional weapons stockpiles. The legislation became law last year. To demean that accomplishment would be to also demean the work of Republican Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, a respected foreign policy voice in the Senate. In Illinois, he was the leader on two big, contentious measures in Illinois: studying racial profiling by police and requiring recordings of interrogations in potential death penalty cases. He also successfully co-sponsored major ethics reform legislation.
PALIN: "The Democratic nominee for president supports plans to raise income taxes, raise payroll taxes, raise investment income taxes, raise the death tax, raise business taxes, and increase the tax burden on the American people by hundreds of billions of dollars."
THE FACTS: The Tax Policy Center, a think tank run jointly by the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute, concluded that Obama's plan would increase after-tax income for middle-income taxpayers by about 5 percent by 2012, or nearly $2,200 annually. McCain's plan, which cuts taxes across all income levels, would raise after tax-income for middle-income taxpayers by 3 percent, the center concluded.
Obama would provide $80 billion in tax breaks, mainly for poor workers and the elderly, including tripling the Earned Income Tax Credit for minimum-wage workers and higher credits for larger families.
He also would raise income taxes, capital gains and dividend taxes on the wealthiest. He would raise payroll taxes on taxpayers with incomes above $250,000, and he would raise corporate taxes. Small businesses that make more than $250,000 a year would see taxes rise.
MCCAIN: "She's been governor of our largest state, in charge of 20 percent of America's energy supply ... She's responsible for 20 percent of the nation's energy supply. I'm entertained by the comparison and I hope we can keep making that comparison that running a political campaign is somehow comparable to being the executive of the largest state in America," he said in an interview with ABC News' Charles Gibson.
THE FACTS: McCain's phrasing exaggerates both claims. Palin is governor of a state that ranks second nationally in crude oil production, but she's no more "responsible" for that resource than President Bush was when he was governor of Texas, another oil-producing state. In fact, her primary power is the ability to tax oil, which she did in concert with the Alaska Legislature. And where Alaska is the largest state in America, McCain could as easily have called it the 47th largest state _ by population.
MCCAIN: "She's the commander of the Alaska National Guard. ... She has been in charge, and she has had national security as one of her primary responsibilities," he said on ABC.
THE FACTS: While governors are in charge of their state guard units, that authority ends whenever those units are called to actual military service. When guard units are deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, for example, they assume those duties under "federal status," which means they report to the Defense Department, not their governors. Alaska's national guard units have a total of about 4,200 personnel, among the smallest of state guard organizations.
FORMER ARKANSAS GOV. MIKE HUCKABEE: Palin "got more votes running for mayor of Wasilla, Alaska than Joe Biden got running for president of the United States."
THE FACTS: A whopper. Palin got 616 votes in the 1996 mayor's election, and got 909 in her 1999 re-election race, for a total of 1,525. Biden dropped out of the race after the Iowa caucuses, but he still got 76,165 votes in 23 states and the District of Columbia where he was on the ballot during the 2008 presidential primaries.
FORMER MASSACHUSETTS GOV. MITT ROMNEY: "We need change, all right _ change from a liberal Washington to a conservative Washington! We have a prescription for every American who wants change in Washington _ throw out the big-government liberals, and elect John McCain and Sarah Palin."
THE FACTS: A Back-to-the-Future moment. George W. Bush, a conservative Republican, has been president for nearly eight years. And until last year, Republicans controlled Congress. Only since January 2007 have Democrats have been in charge of the House and Senate.
It's funny what Republican pundits say when they think nobody's watching. Today, John McCain's former campaign chief Mike Murphy and former Reagan speechwriter Peggy Noonan were caught on tape after an NBC interview. They shared their real thoughts on McCain's judgment in selecting Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate.
Noonan asked, "The most qualified? No." She called the selection of Palin "political [B.S.]." Murphy called McCain's selection gimmicky and cynical. The video and transcript are below:
TRANSCRIPT:
Mike Murphy, former McCain advisor: You know, because I come out of the blue swing state governor work. Engler, Whitman, Thompson, Mitt Romney, Jeb Bush. And these guys, this is all like how you want to (inaudible) this race. You know, just run it up. And it's not gonna work.
Peggy Noonan, former Reagan speechwriter: It's over.
Murphy: Still, McCain can give a version of the Lieberman speech to do himself some good.
NBC's Chuck Todd: Don't you think the Palin pick was insulting to Kay Bailey Hutchinson, too (inaudible)
Noonan: I saw Kay this morning.
Murphy: They're all bummed out.
Todd: I mean, is she really the most qualified woman they could have turned to?
Noonan: The most qualified? No. I think they went for this, excuse me, political [B.S.] about narratives and (inaudible) the picture.
Murphy: I totally agree.
Noonan: Every time the Republicans do that because that's not where they live and it's not what they're good at and they blow it.
Murphy: You know what's really the worst thing about it? The greatness of McCain is no cynicism and this is cynical.
Joseph LIEberman LIED to the Republican National Convention Tuesday night!
First, he said he was a "Democrat," but he is NOT. He left the Democratic Party when he lost the primary in CT and formed his own Idependent party!
Second, he LIED when he claimed Barack Obama never worked across party lines. Obama worked with many Republicans, including Richard Lugar on stopping the spread of nuclear weapons and ethics reform!
Third he LIED when he accused Obama of cutting off funding for the troops. Obama tried to end the war funding to bring the troops home, but has pushed for MORE funding to help the troops, and supported the new GI bill which John McCain opposed!
He also LIED when he said he was NOT going to attack Obama at the RNC and only praise John McCain.
JOSEPH LIEBERMAN IS A LIAR!
I can't wait until the Democrats can kick his stinky butt out of the Democratic caucus and strip him of any chair positions he has in the U.S. Senate!
Once again, the Uncle Tom Log Cabin Republicans have sold out the LGBT community! While every other LGBT political organization has condemned the GOP ticket's anti-gay agenda, the Uncle Tom Republicans have thrown us under the bus!
Why? Because he voted against the Federal Marriage Amendment! Nevermind that he not only supported, but starred in ads for, the Arizona anti-gay marriage amendment, and supports all other such anti-gay state amendments! Nevermind that John McCain has sold his soul to the Christian Right and now embraces their anti-gay, theocratic agenda! Nevermind that John McCain/Sarah Palin oppose the Employment Non-Discrimination Act! Nevermind that Jonn McCain/Sarah Palin support the anti-gay "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy!
The choice between the team of Senators Barack Obama and Joe Biden and the anti-equality ticket of Senator John McCain and Governor Sarah Palin could not not be more clear. On virtually every issue of equality, the two tickets come down on starkly different sides.
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Obama/Biden: Supports the Employment Non-Discrimination Act McCain/Palin: Opposes the Employment Non-Discrimination Act
Obama/Biden: Supports federal hate crimes legislation McCain/Palin: Opposes federal hate crimes legislation
Obama/Biden: Supports adoption rights for LGBT Americans McCain/Palin: Opposes adoption rights for LGBT Americans
Obama/Biden: Supports federal benefits for same-sex couples McCain/Palin: Opposes federal benefits for same-sex couples
Obama/Biden: Supports the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" McCain/Palin: Opposes the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"
Obama/Biden: Supports immigration equality for same-sex couples McCain/Palin: Opposes immigration equality for same-sex couples
Obama/Biden: Supports the repeal of the "Defense of Marriage Act" McCain/Palin: Opposes the repeal of the "Defense of Marriage Act"
- When asked by the Family Research Council to star in an anti-equality ad in Arizona (in support of an anti-marriage constitutional amendment), John McCain said "yes." Voters in his home state ultimately rejected his plea to support the discriminatory measure.
- The 2008 Republican Party Platform, written under the leadership of John McCain, clearly calls for legal discrimination against LGBT Americans in adoption, family law and military service.
- Sarah Palin campaigned for the anti-marriage constitutional amendment in Alaska. The amendment served as a model for anti-LGBT activists across the country as they sought to pass similar measures in other states.
- Sarah Palin currently supports efforts to strip Alaska employees of workplace benefits simply because of their sexual orientation. In fact, Sarah Palin has lent her support to a ballot initiative along these lines.
- Sarah Palin wasted $1.2 million in taxpayer money on a "vanity" vote which asked Alaska residents if the state government should discriminate against state employees simply based on their sexual orientation. The vote was non-binding and the only subject on the ballot. Yet, the legislation calling for the vote was important enough to Palin for her to make it the first piece of legislation that she signed into law.
Now the Republicans are using another tactic from the Hillary Clinton playbook--play the gender/sexism card everytime someone criticizes you.
The issue with Sarah Palin is NOT her sex, it is that she is UNQUALIFIED to be V.P. or President! The issue with her pregnant daughter is NOT the morality of her daughter, it is the political hypocrisy of McCain and Palin supporting abstinence only "sex education" (which obviously does not work even in the home of the religious fanatics who oppose real sex education!) and opposing the legal right of women to end an unwanted pregnancy, even in the case of rape or incest!
You would think that REAL feminists would be concerned about those issues!
The Media is missing the real issue, and the Republicans are getting away with using the gender card to blunt any real criticism of their candidates!
According to USA Today/Gallup Poll, Obama leads 50%-43% among registered voters. In the USA TODAY Poll taken Aug. 21-23, the Illinois senator held a 4-percentage-point lead.
•Obama eliminated McCain's advantage as "a strong and decisive leader." By 46%-44%, those surveyed says that characteristic applies more to Obama than McCain. Before the convention, McCain held an 8-point advantage. Obama has a 13-point advantage as someone who "shares your values," almost double the edge he held before. He has an 8-point advantage as someone who is "honest and trustworthy"; pre-convention, they were equal.
•On handling issues, Obama and McCain are rated equally in handling Iraq — 47% prefer Obama, 46% McCain — while McCain has a 9-point advantage in handling terrorism. Before the convention, McCain had a 22-point lead. Obama has a 19-point lead in managing the economy.
•Obama has eased concerns about experience, but they remain a significant factor. Fifty percent of those surveyed say they are very or somewhat concerned about his experience. Before the convention, 57% were.
•McCain's favorable-unfavorable rating was 54%-38%, a healthy mark but his highest unfavorable this year. Obama's rating was 61%-32%.
* Pregnant 17 year old daughter (but supports abstinence only sex education and opposes abortion even in cases of rape or incest!) * Ties to wacko Alaska Independence Party * Trooper gate * Ties to indicted Ted Stevens' 527 * Used "earmarks" to fund "bridge to nowhere" she now says she opposed
NEW YORK (AP) -- This Labor Day finds workers in worse shape than they've been in years, according to a scorecard released Monday by Rutgers University.
In its first national labor scorecard, the Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations said more than 10 percent of Americans are unemployed, discouraged from seeking work or underemployed. That is a nearly 25-percent increase from one year earlier.
Professor Douglas Kruse, a labor economist who created the scorecard, said a sharp decline in the number of Americans able to find full-time jobs, along with growing consumer debt and health care costs, were causes for concern.
"But there are some bright spots long term," Kruse said, including improvements in workplace safety, a small but growing percentage of employers offering support for childcare and employee wellness programs, and more Americans who are completely satisfied with their jobs.
Meanwhile, the Labor Department last week said the number of people signing up for jobless benefits declined for the third straight period but remained above 400,000 -- an indicator of a slowing economy.
The Rutgers labor scorecard offered other sobering findings:
About 530,000 were subject to mass layoffs in the last year, growth of nearly 5 percent, but a lower rate than five and 10 years ago. The median weekly earnings for American workers have not grown in real terms over the last eight years. At $6.55, the federal minimum wage is worth 40 cents less per hour, in inflation-adjusted dollars, than it was a decade ago. While employer-assisted childcare and employee wellness programs have grown quickly over the last decade, they still cover less than one quarter of American workers. Roughly 4 percent of the workforce wants to work full-time, but is working part time because they can't find full-time work. The scorecard, which doesn't assign grades but charts whether indicators are improving or getting worse, is based primarily on data from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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