Every Picture Tells a Story

Why McCain should be sweating bullets:

SIXTY-EIGHT PER CENT of the American people are worried that McCain is going to be an extension of Commander Chimpy McCodpiece, with almost half of all Americans VERY worried about it. And do you know why they're worried that a McCain presidency would simply be a third term for Bush?

BECAUSE A McCAIN PRESIDENCY WOULD BE A THIRD TERM FOR BUSH, THAT'S WHY.

Stick to Your Guns, General Clark!

Wes isn't backing down one damned inch from his ACCURATE AND TRUTHFUL remarks about John McCain. I notice, btw, that one of the people that McCain has brought on board to attack Clark is a particularly vicious, lying Swift Boat thug from 2004, one who called John Kerry a traitor. Now THAT was an attempt to smear a Vietnam veteran, not what Wes Clark said. Anyone who says Clark denigrated McCain's service is either a fool or a liar, maybe both.

Screw the Republicans. Swing the hammer, Wes!!

AMAZING! Even in Retrospect, McCain Would STILL Vote to Invade Iraq

Tell me again why this idiot wouldn't be a bloody freaking disaster.

Yes, I guess the 35,000 dead or wounded Americans, the 100,000+ dead Iraqi civilians, the 2,000,000 refugees, and the $600,000,000,000 spent (so far) all for the sake of eliminating WMDs that DIDN'T EXIST and overthrowing an (admittedly brutal) dictator THAT POSED NO THREAT TO THE UNITED STATES was all worth, wasn't it John?

You right wing hack.

The Rise of the Right Wing Propaganda Machine

Robert Parry has the shocking and infuriating story here. Since the 1980s the Republicans, aided by enormous amounts of money from right wing lunatic Sun Myung Moon and others like him, have established a disinformation-spewing monster that attacks Democrats with a shower of lies and secretly manipulates public opinion in favor of the Radical Right's agenda. Key sections:

... the Reagan administration [built] a domestic covert propaganda apparatus managed by a CIA propaganda and disinformation specialist working out of the National Security Council.

“One of the CIA’s most senior covert action operators was sent to the NSC in 1983 by CIA Director [William] Casey where he participated in the creation of an inter-agency public diplomacy mechanism that included the use of seasoned intelligence specialists,” the chapter’s conclusion stated.

“This public/private network set out to accomplish what a covert CIA operation in a foreign country might attempt – to sway the media, the Congress, and American public opinion in the direction of the Reagan administration’s policies.”

...[The] right-wing domestic propaganda operation not only survived the Iran-Contra fallout but thrived.

So did some of the administration’s collaborators, such as South Korean theocrat Sun Myung Moon and Australian press mogul Rupert Murdoch, two far-right media barons who poured billions of dollars into pro-Republican news outlets that continue to influence Washington’s political debates to this day.

Before every presidential election, Moon’s Washington Times plants derogatory – and often false – stories about Democratic contenders, discrediting them and damaging their chances of winning the White House.

For instance, in 1988, the Times published a bogus account suggesting that the Democratic nominee Michael Dukakis had undergone psychiatric treatment. In 2000, Moon’s newspaper pushed the theme that Al Gore suffered from clinical delusions. [For details, see Robert Parry’s Secrecy & Privilege.]

As for Murdoch, his giant News Corp. expanded into American cable TV with the founding of Fox News in 1996. Since then, the right-wing network has proved highly effective in promoting attack lines against Democrats or anyone else who challenges the Republican power structure.

As President George W. Bush herded the nation toward war with Iraq in 2002-03, Fox News acted like his sheep dogs making sure public opinion didn’t stray too far off. The “Fox effect” was so powerful that it convinced other networks to load up with pro-war military analysts and to silence voices that questioned the invasion. [See Neck Deep.]

**********

In the two decades since the Iran-Contra scandal, both Murdoch and Moon have continued to pour billions of dollars into media outlets that have influenced the course of U.S. history, often through the planting of propaganda and disinformation much like a CIA covert action might do in a hostile foreign country...

Beyond these individuals, the manipulative techniques that were refined in the 1980s – especially the skill of exaggerating foreign threats – have proved durable, bringing large segments of the American population into line behind the Iraq War in 2002-03.

Only now – with more than 4,100 U.S. soldiers and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis dead – are many of these Americans realizing that were manipulated by clever propaganda, that their perceptions had been managed.

For instance, the New York Times recently pried loose some 8,000 pages of Pentagon documents revealing how the Bush administration had manipulated the public debate on the Iraq War by planting friendly retired military officers on TV news shows.

Retired Green Beret Robert S. Bevelacqua, a former analyst on Murdoch’s Fox News, said the Pentagon treated the retired military officers as puppets: “It was them saying, ‘we need to stick our hands up your back and move your mouth for you.’” [NYT, April 20, 2008, or see Consortiumnews.com’s “US News Media’s Latest Disgrace.”]

Bush’s former White House press secretary Scott McClellan described similar use of propaganda tactics to justify the Iraq War in his book, What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception.

From his insider vantage point, McClellan cited the White House’s “carefully orchestrated campaign to shape and manipulate sources of public approval” – and he called the Washington press corps “complicit enablers.”

Read the whole thing, and then tell me you still believe that America is the freest country in the world.

A Former POW's Letter About John McCain You Need to See

(By way of Timothy L. Smith on DKos):


Why I Will Not Vote for John McCain By Phillip Butler, PhD Cdr, USN (ret.)

Dear friends:

As some of you might know, John McCain is a long-time acquaintance of mine that goes way back to our time together at the U.S. Naval Academy and as Prisoners of War in Vietnam. He is a man I respect and admire in some ways. But there are a number of reasons why I will not vote for him for President of the United States.

When I was a Plebe (4th classman, or freshman) at the Naval Academy in 1957-58, I was assigned to the 17th Company for my four years there. In those days we had about 3,600 midshipmen spread among 24 companies, thus about 150 midshipmen to a company. As fortune would have it, John, a First Classman (senior) and his room mate lived directly across the hall from me and my two room mates. Believe me when I say that back then I would never in a million or more years have dreamed that the crazy guy across the hall would someday be a Senator and candidate for President!

John was a wild man. He was funny, with a quick wit and he was intelligent. But he was intent on breaking every USNA regulation in our 4 inch thick USNA Regulations book. And I believe he must have come as close to his goal as any midshipman who ever attended the Academy. John had me "coming around" to his room frequently during my plebe year. And on one occasion he took me with him to escape "over the wall" in the dead of night. He had a taxi cab waiting for us that took us to a bar some 7 miles away. John had a few beers, but forbid me to drink (watching out for me I guess) and made me drink cokes. I could tell many other midshipman stories about John that year and he unbelievably managed to graduate though he spent the majority of his first class year on restriction for the stuff he did get caught doing. In fact he barely managed to graduate, standing 5th from the bottom of his 800 man graduating class. I and many others have speculated that the main reason he did graduate was because his father was an Admiral, and also his grandfather, both U.S. Naval Academy graduates.

People often ask if I was a Prisoner of War with John McCain. My answer is always "No - John McCain was a POW with me." The reason is I was there for 8 years and John got there 2 ½ years later, so he was a POW for 5 ½ years. And we have our own seniority system, based on time as a POW.

John's treatment as a POW:

1. Was he tortured for 5 years? No. He was subjected to torture and maltreatment during his first 2 years, from September of 1967 to September of 1969. After September of 1969 the Vietnamese stopped the torture and gave us increased food and rudimentary health care. Several hundred of us were captured much earlier. I got there April 20, 1965 so my bad treatment period lasted 4 1/2 years. President Ho Chi Minh died on September 9, 1969, and the new regime that replaced him and his policies was more pragmatic. They realized we were worth a lot as bargaining chips if we were alive. And they were right because eventually Americans gave up on the war and agreed to trade our POW's for their country. A damn good trade in my opinion! But my point here is that John allows the media to make him out to be THE hero POW, which he knows is absolutely not true, to further his political goals.

2. John was badly injured when he was shot down. Both arms were broken and he had other wounds from his ejection. Unfortunately this was often the case - new POW's arriving with broken bones and serious combat injuries. Many died from their wounds. Medical care was non-existent to rudimentary. Relief from pain was almost never given and often the wounds were used as an available way to torture the POW. Because John's father was the Naval Commander in the Pacific theater, he was exploited with TV interviews while wounded. These film clips have now been widely seen. But it must be known that many POW's suffered similarly, not just John. And many were similarly exploited for political propaganda.


3. John was offered, and refused, "early release." Many of us were given this offer. It meant speaking out against your country and lying about your treatment to the press. You had to "admit" that the U.S. was criminal and that our treatment was "lenient and humane." So I, like numerous others, refused the offer. This was obviously something none of us could accept. Besides, we were bound by our service regulations, Geneva Conventions and loyalties to refuse early release until all the POW's were released, with the sick and wounded going first.

4. John was awarded a Silver Star and Purple Heart for heroism and wounds in combat. This heroism has been played up in the press and in his various political campaigns. But it should be known that there were approximately 600 military POW's in Vietnam. Among all of us, decorations awarded have recently been totaled to the following: Medals of Honor - 8, Service Crosses - 42, Silver Stars - 590, Bronze Stars - 958 and Purple Hearts - 1,249. John certainly performed courageously and well. But it must be remembered that he was one hero among many - not uniquely so as his campaigns would have people believe.

John McCain served his time as a POW with great courage, loyalty and tenacity. More that 600 of us did the same. After our repatriation a census showed that 95% of us had been tortured at least once. The Vietnamese were quite democratic about it. There were many heroes in North Vietnam. I saw heroism every day there. And we motivated each other to endure and succeed far beyond what any of us thought we had in ourselves. Succeeding as a POW is a group sport, not an individual one. We all supported and encouraged each other to survive and succeed. John knows that. He was not an individual POW hero. He was a POW who surmounted the odds with the help of many comrades, as all of us did.

I furthermore believe that having been a POW is no special qualification for being President of the United States. The two jobs are not the same, and POW experience is not, in my opinion, something I would look for in a presidential candidate. (Emphasis added.--JM)

Most of us who survived that experience are now in our late 60's and 70's. Sadly, we have died and are dying off at a greater rate than our non-POW contemporaries. We experienced injuries and malnutrition that are coming home to roost. So I believe John's age (73) and survival expectation are not good for being elected to serve as our President for 4 or more years.

I can verify that John has an infamous reputation for being a hot head. He has a quick and explosive temper that many have experienced first hand. Folks, quite honestly that is not the finger I want next to that red button.

It is also disappointing to see him take on and support Bush's war in Iraq, even stating we might be there for another 100 years. For me John represents the entrenched and bankrupt policies of Washington-as-usual. The past 7 years have proven to be disastrous for our country. And I believe John's views on war, foreign policy, economics, environment, health care, education, national infrastructure and other important areas are much the same as those of the Bush administration.

I'm disappointed to see John represent himself politically in ways that are not accurate. He is not a moderate Republican. On some issues he is a maverick. But his voting record is far to the right. I fear for his nominations to our Supreme Court, and the consequent continuing loss of individual freedoms, especially regarding moral and religious issues. John is not a religious person, but he has taken every opportunity to ally himself with some really obnoxious and crazy fundamentalist ministers lately. I was also disappointed to see him cozy up to Bush because I know he hates that man. He disingenuously and famously put his arm around the guy, even after Bush had intensely disrespected him with lies and slander. So on these and many other instances, I don't see that John is the "straight talk express" he markets himself to be.

Senator John Sidney McCain, III is a remarkable man who has made enormous personal achievements. And he is a man that I am proud to call a fellow POW who "Returned With Honor." That's our POW motto. But since many of you keep asking what I think of him, I've decided to write it out. In short, I think John Sidney McCain, III is a good man, but not someone I will vote for in the upcoming election to be our President of the United States.


Phil

Wes Clark Being Attacked FOR TELLING THE TRUTH

Check his remarks out in context here:



HE DID NOT DISRESPECT McCAIN'S MILITARY SERVICE. That's Right Wing Noise Machine BULLSHIT. Wes Clark simply stated a fact: John McCain doesn't deserve a free pass on his warmongering and ROTTEN JUDGMENT just because he was a war hero. Obama has been forced to disassociate himself from Clark, which is too bad. Clark is RIGHT. Clark is TELLING THE TRUTH. But I guess in this country that's something you can't get away with.

UPDATE: You can show your support for Wes Clark by signing the Vote Vets petition on this issue here.

T. Boone Pickens: Liar and Coward

The big money crook behind the Swift Boat bastards reveals his true colors. Pickens is just rich, right-wing Republican slime of the worst kind, and this is simply more proof of it. He's been a suck-buddy to the Bush family for decades, and his oil wheeling and dealing and corporate raiding border on the criminal. He is, in short, the epitome of conservative businessmen. It's no surprise, therefore that he's welshing on a bet.

Questions for McCain

From the mind of davefromqueens on DKos. My favorites:


Do you think the American economy is better off now than it was 8 years ago? Explain why or why not.

Define for us specifically what events need to happen in Iraq in order for American troops to withdraw from this country. I don't want spin. I want specific criteria.

What role, if any, did Saddam Hussein play in the attack of September 11, 2001?

Why has Osama Bin Laden not been caught?

Two days after September 11, 2001, Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell said that America got exactly what it deserved on 9/11. Why did you actively seek the endorsement of these two men after they made these anti-American comments?

Explain the cultural similarities and/or differences between Shia, Sunnis, and Kurds.

How would your foreign policy differ from George W Bush's if at all?

For over a year you solicited the support of John Hagee, who calls for the Jews' destruction, who blames the Holocaust on Jews, said Hurricane Katrina was god's way of punishing the citizens of New Orlens for their sinful life, and who once referred to the Catholic Church as the Great Whore. Why did you solicit the support of John Hagee when all these comments were known prior to your solicitation?

Do you believe that the United States should be bound by the terms and conditions of the Geneva Convention which it signed? Explain why or why not.

How did you celebrate your 69th Birthday? Who were you with at the time and what kind of cake did you eat? What major event was occurring at this time?

Why did you vote against emergency funding for the victims of Hurricane Katrina?

Has the national debt increased or decreased under George W Bush's presidency? By how much?

In 2007 you said that you look to Reagan, Teddy Roosevelt and Eisenhower as models. Why isn't the name George W Bush on that list?

Did you ever curse at a Senate colleague while on the job? If yes, how many different colleagues have you cursed at?

Have you ever gotten into a physical altercation with any member of Congress. If yes, how many physical altercations did you get into with any member of Congress.


Give 'em a look. They're all pretty good. And then ask yourself:

Why isn't McCain being asked these questions by the national media?

Glenn Beck: Idiot

Of course, my title is redundant. He is claiming that the ANWR oil field will yield 100 million barrels of oil a day, an overstimate of SEVEN THOUSAND PER CENT. (The true figure would be, at maximum, about 1.45 million.)

Will CNN correct him? Don't hold your breath.

Again: why does this ludicrous right-wing hack deserve a show on CNN?

McCain's ASTOUNDING Record of Flip-Flops

Steve Benen has the remarkable list here. Highlights:

* McCain supported the drilling moratorium; now he’s against it.
* McCain strongly opposes a windfall-tax on oil company profits. Three weeks earlier, he was perfectly comfortable with the idea.
* McCain thought Bush’s warrantless-wiretap program circumvented the law; now he believes the opposite.
* McCain defended “privatizing” Social Security. Now he says he’s against privatization (though he actually still supports it.)

Wait, I’m not done with the last two weeks yet….

* McCain wanted to change the Republican Party platform to protect abortion rights in cases of rape and incest. Now he doesn’t.
* McCain thought the estate tax was perfectly fair. Now he believes the opposite.
* He opposed indefinite detention of terrorist suspects. When the Supreme Court reached the same conclusion, he called it “one of the worst decisions in the history of this country.”
* McCain said he would “not impose a litmus test on any nominee.” He used to promise the opposite.

Benen notes that McCain has switched positions on major issues FORTY-EIGHT TIMES. This is so he can basically grovel to the wishes of right-wing fanatics.

John McCain: Don't like his positions? Wait a week.

General Clark Tells the Truth About McCain's So-Called Foreign Policy "Expertise"

As in, he doesn't really have any:

Baracknophobia!

McCain vs. McCain, Round 3!

Condolences to Tim Russert's Family and Friends

Fifty-eight is way too early to check out. I often was critical of Russert, but this is still very sad news.

Still Think McCain Won't Be a Bush Clone?

Check it out:

More Evidence of the Republican Gutter-Level Campaign Against Obama

Sheer, despicable racism, pure and simple. (Scroll up to see image.) It really is, after all, the foundation stone of American conservatism.

John McCain: Right-Wing Fanatic on Reproductive Rights

McCain: Opposed to abortion under ANY circumstances, even if a woman has been raped, even if she's a 14 year-old who's been molested by her father, even if the woman will die if the pregnancy continues.

McCain: Siding with those who want to abolish ALL forms of birth control, even going so far as to hint that he would favor overturning the key Supreme Court decision that legalized birth control.

McCain is a full-throated enemy of women's rights in every area, but no more so than in reproductive issues. He wants to reduce women to 2nd class status, just like the rest of Radical Extreme Right. I would hope any self-respecting, independent woman would reject McCain out of hand.

via videosift.com

This is Why We Need to Win This Year

(Click for larger image. Hat Tip: Bartcop)

Prominent Republican Says, Yes, McCain WOULD Be An Extension of Bush

Read and weep, right here, wingnuts of America.

A John McCain Quote We Need to Ask Him About

Digby has linked to this, and it's a powerful statement written by John McCain some years ago in a forward to a book about the Vietnam War. Check it out:

It was a shameful thing to ask men to suffer and die, to persevere through god-awful afflictions and heartache, to endure the dehumanizing experiences that are unavoidable in combat, for a cause that the country wouldn’t support over time and that our leaders so wrongly believed could be achieved at a smaller cost than our enemy was prepared to make us pay. No other national endeavor requires as much unshakable resolve as war. If the nation and the government lack that resolve, it is criminal to expect men in the field to carry it alone.

Does it sound like any conflict we're involved in now?

More on Phil Gramm, McCain's Walking Disaster of an Advisor

Involved in the creation of the massive Reagan deficits? Check. Involved in the S&L fiasco under Bush I? Check. Mixed up in the Enron stench? Check. Involved in deregulating the finance sector with catastrophic results? Check. Involved in the subprime meltdown? Check. Everything Phil Gramm has touched has turned to crap, in typical right-wing reverse Midas fashion.

Joe Conason and his commenters lay it all out here.

Electing McCain: Recipe for disaster? Check.

McCain vs. McCain, Round 2

This is HILARIOUS! Spread it around!

John McCain's Chief Economic Advisor, Phil Gramm: Out-and-Out Bastard

From the late, great Molly Ivins, a deeply insightful column about one of the worst human beings who has ever sat in Congress--Master Con-Man/Insider/Right-Wing Fanatic Phil Gramm. Excerpts:

Gramm both looks like a snapping turtle and has the personality of one. When he ran for president in 1996 and finished fifth in Iowa, all the profiles written of him included the line "Even his friends don't like him." Self-righteous and strident, Gramm demonized his opponents and used bitter, polarizing rhetoric. During a Senate debate over Social Security, a member pointed out that the proposal under consideration would hurt 80-year-old retirees. "Most people don't have the luxury of living to be 80 years old," Gramm scoffed, "so it's hard for me to feel sorry for them." Well, there is that.

On another occasion, Gramm ridiculed a newspaper photo of poor people who were forced to cut corners to put food on the table. "Did you see the picture?" Gramm asked a crowd. "Here are these people who are skimping to avoid hunger and they are all fat!... We're the only nation in the world where all our poor people are fat." During the fight over health care reform, Gramm said, "We have to blow up this train and the rails and the trestle and kill everyone on board." When an elderly widow in Corsicana told him that cutting Medicare would make it more difficult for her to remain independent, Gramm said, "You haven't thought about a new husband, have you?"

When he first ran for Senate in 1984, Gramm's main attack ad focused on how his opponent, a young state senator, had received a check for $600 raised by a gay group at a male strip joint in San Antonio. He had not solicited the contribution and promptly returned it, but Gramm ran lurid ads about the gay strip show for months.

**********

Gramm, the great crusader against government spending, has spent his entire life on the government tit. He was born at a military hospital, raised on his father's Army pay, went to private school at Georgia Military Academy on military insurance after his father died, paid for his college tuition with same, got a National Defense Fellowship to graduate school, taught at a state-supported school, and made generous use of his Senate expense account. In 1987, a Dallas developer named Jerry Stiles flew a construction crew to Maryland to work on Gramm's summer home. Stiles spent $117,000 on the project but was kind enough to bill Gramm only $63,433. When Stiles got in trouble for misusing funds from a savings and loan he owned, Gramm did him some "routine" favors with regulators. Stiles was later convicted on 11 counts of conspiracy and bribery.

As a member of the Senate Finance Committee and the recipient of enormous banking contributions, Gramm did an even bigger favor for the financial industry in 1999 when he sponsored the Financial Services Modernization Act allowing banks, securities firms, and insurance companies to combine. The bill weakened the Community Reinvestment Act, which requires banks to help meet the credit needs of low- and moderate-income neighborhoods. Gramm described community groups that use the CRA as "protection rackets" that extort funds from the poor, powerless banks. The bill is also a disaster for the privacy of bank customers and weakens regulatory supervision. As Gramm proudly declared, "You're not going to find a single bank, insurance company, or securities company that will say they were hurt financially by this bill."

To be fair, Gramm occasionally found it in his heart to assist the poor -- like the time he suggested that mothers on welfare would be better off working for $2.50 an hour. A more typical Gramm vote, though, came on an energy bill that benefited oil and gas companies at the expense of consumers. "There are winners and losers in every economic decision," Gramm said portentously. He was then getting more oil and gas money than any other member of the Senate.

Gramm has been a MAJOR player in the subprime mortgage meltdown that is wreaking so much havoc. One observer has put it well: There isn't a single predatory financial practice that Gramm hasn't supported, worked for, and lobbied for. He is the lowest of the low, a right wing Welfare Queen who basically defecates on the poor while lining his own pocket and the pockets of his rich buddies with government cash. AND THIS IS McCAIN'S CHIEF ECONOMIC ADVISOR. One of the architects of our current fiscal insanity is giving advice to the Republican candidate for president.

Want four more years of Bush-style catastrophe? Support McCain. Want a total scumbag like Gramm running our nation's economic policies? Support McCain. Want to turn America toward a more hopeful future? Hell, that's easy:

VOTE FOR BARACK OBAMA ON NOVEMBER 4

Vincent Bugliosi is My New Hero

This will blow your mind:



I say: PROSECUTE THAT MURDERING SON OF A BITCH BUSH.

McCain's Pro-Iranian Senior Advisor and Lobbyist Friend

It's none other than ultra-low life Charlie Black, who has had his hands in more dubious business than almost any other fixer and hustler in Washington politics. The highlights from this story:

In the summer of 2005, John McCain's chief strategist Charlie Black, working for his firm Black, Kelly, Scruggs & Healey, was paid $60,000 to lobby the U.S. government on behalf of the Chinese oil conglomerate CNOOC. At the time, CNOOC was mounting an aggressive bid to buy Unocal, a California-based oil giant, and Black was tasked with churning up congressional support. But the bid ultimately fell through, in part because of objections over the China oil industry's ties to Iran, a country in which it had already invested tens of millions of dollars.

"This transaction poses a clear threat to the energy and national security of the United States," wrote Rep. Joe Barton, a Texas Republican. "U.S. national energy security depends on sufficient energy supplies to support U.S. and global economic growth. But those supplies are threatened by China's aggressive tactics to lock up energy supplies around the world that are largely dedicated for their own use."

Flash-forward nearly three years and Black's old client -- which later scored a $16 billion deal with the Iranian government -- could now create major headaches for his current boss. On Monday, McCain, in a speech at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, called for a broad and aggressive international campaign to divest from Iran.

Remember, folks, with these right-wing Republicans, it's ALWAYS do as I say, not as I do.

BTW, this Charlie Black is a real piece of work. Check this out:

On Iraq, John McCain Doesn't Know What the Hell He's Talking About

In John McCain's arrogant, stupidly wrong opinion, he considers himself an "expert" on Iraq and offers to "educate" Barack Obama on the situation there. OK, so let's look at this "expert's" opinions and views on the Iraq War:

--He is dead flat WRONG on Al Qaeda's relationship with Iran.

--He is dead flat WRONG about the situation on the ground.

--He is dead flat WRONG about the number of troops currently in Iraq.

--He has REPEATEDLY confused the difference between Sunni and Shia Islam, an elementary-level mistake.

And remember, this is the same John McCain who claimed we would "greeted as liberators"; the same John McCain who predicted the struggle for Iraq would be short-lived; the same John McCain who has repeatedly said the "next six months" would be critical; the same John McCain who, absurdly, keeps claiming the war was the right thing to do while working to undermine the GI Bill to aid Iraq War veterans.

And this is supposed to be his area of "expertise"!! My God, what a dangerous fool this man is!

BTW, here is a REAL Middle East expert discussing McCain's shocking ignorance and deception. It's a must read.

P.S. Remember this post from your rampant friend J. Miller from 2 May.

McCain and W: Blood Brothers

John McCain has voted with Bush (when McCain has bothered to vote) ONE HUNDRED PER CENT this year. Last year McCain voted with Bush NINETY-FIVE PER CENT, and has an overall NINETY PER CENT pro-Bush voting record since 2001.


"Maverick" John McCain? What a joke.

REMEMBER: McCAIN WOULD BE NOTHING BUT A THIRD TERM FOR BUSH.

Psychotic Cretin Michelle Malkin Strikes Again

The pathetic story is here.

The sad things about this?

1. That Dunkin' Donuts actually caved in to this right wing idiot.
2. That the right wing idiot probably thinks she struck a blow against the "Islamofascists".

Really, just when I think conservative pundits couldn't get any stupider or more irrational, they always surprise me. You'd think I'd have learned by now.

On Memorial Day 2008

We today honor those who fell at Lexington and Concord, Saratoga and Yorktown. We honor those who fell in defending Ft. McHenry and those who marched with Winfield Scott. We recall those who "gave the last full measure of devotion" at Antietam and Gettysburg. We honor those who charged San Juan Hill, fought at Belleau Wood, and died at Guadalcanal, Anzio, Normandy, and Iwo Jima. We reverently remember those who sacrificed at Inchon, Khe Sanh, and in the Gulf War. And we honor those who have fallen in the current struggle. And we always, always remember: WE MAY CRITICIZE THE WAR, BUT NEVER THE WARRIORS.

May all rest in peace. And please, some day Lord, may there be no new ones.

"Well, both if we could."

Unbelievable. Horrible. Typical Fox "News".

McCain Debates McCain!

Right here.

Heh heh.

McCain Preacher Hagee: God Sent Hitler to "Hunt" the Jews

If this doesn't convince you Hagee is a ranting psychotic, nothing will. And remember, McCain sought Hagee's endorsement for an entire year.

This son of a bitch Hagee is one of the worst people in America. He's also damned dangerous, and he would be a MAJOR influence on McCain. For my money, that's absolutely damning.

OBAMA FOR PRESIDENT

I'll Be Away for a Week

Back atcha on Wednesday, 21 May.

The Bush "Legacy"

Wow. Check this out.

Says it all, as far I'm concerned.

Ha ha ha! This is So DAMN Funny

He's always been an asshole, apparently.

Women, Are You Pregnant Because You Were Raped or Victimized by Your Father?

Then John McCain says "too bad." You can't get an abortion. Even if the preganancy might kill you, he will still not make an exception.

Look. I'm generally anti-abortion, too. But to force someone who has undergone a horrible sexual assault to bring the assailant's child to term is perverse. A first trimester abortion, prior to the onset of brain wave activity and sentience, is morally a gray area, and one in which we could say the sooner the better. McCain has simply caved in to far right fanatics on this issue.

By the way, McCain's right-wing buddies ARE TRYING TO OUTLAW BIRTH CONTROL AS WELL. They also think they have the right to dictate the private sexual behavior of adults. These people are Stalinists who seek to regulate the most intimate aspects of human life--and John McCain has thrown his lot in with them whole-heartedly.

You've been warned.

This One Should Be Played on National TV

"We get off on warfare!"

Chilling. Absolutely chilling.

Want Four More Years of Neocon Lies and War? Go With McCain

The invaluable Glenn Greenwald again exposes the astonishingly dishonest Neocon liars that dominate Republican foreign policy. These gutter-level frauds are now desperately pushing for a war with Iran. The extent of their mendaciousness is almost beyond belief. They claim they are not agitating for a war, but their record of lies proves otherwise. Excerpts:

In late 2006, I wrote about virtually identical deceit from this same group, that time with regard to Iraq. On National Review in December of 2006, Ledeen -- just as the Beltway establishment was finally turning against the war in Iraq and in the wake of a lengthy Vanity Fair article identifying the neocons who were to blame -- claimed: "I opposed the military invasion of Iraq before it took place."

In fact, Ledeen, throughout 2002 and 2003, had repeatedly and explicitly urged the invasion of Iraq in countless venues, including: The Wall St. Journal's Op-Ed Page ("If we come to Baghdad, Damascus and Tehran as liberators, we can expect overwhelming popular support"); in an interview with David Horowitz's Front Page ("Question #2: Okay, well if we are all so certain about the dire need to invade Iraq, then when do we do so? Ledeen: Yesterday."); on MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews ("if President Bush is to be faulted for anything in this so far, it's that he's taken much too long to get on with it, much too long"); and in National Review (calling for "the desperately-needed and long overdue war against Saddam Hussein and the rest of the terror masters").

**********

The neoconservative war-lovers behind this effort have not changed, nor have their tactics. They realize, as many of them acknowledge, that they will have four more years in power if John McCain is elected. But they also realize that he may not be, and that their last hope for their long-desired attack on Iran lies in convincing the current administration to provoke one before its tenure ends. As much as one wishes it weren't true, as much as the fixation on petty election issues might obscure it, the truly depraved extremist group that brought us the invasion of Iraq still exerts substantial influence and is quite busy trying to exert it.

Want four more years of these rotten Neocan bastards dragging your country into one war after another? Then support John McCain.

I, on the other hand, being reasonably sane, will be voting for Barack Obama. I hope you will be, too.

The TRUE U.S. Inflation Rate: Between 6 and 9%

Kevin Phillips has the appalling story here. The government's chief measure of inflation, the Consumer Price Index, virtually ignores the costs of food and energy--two things everyone has to buy in quantity!! Foreign investors and bankers know the real story and are acting accordingly. Excerpt:

Critics, by contrast, smell a potential disaster. Oil is up over 80 percent in the last twelve months. The New York Times' consumer reporter, W.P. Dunleavy, wrote on May 3 that his own groceries now cost $587 a month, up from $400 a year earlier. That's a 40 percent increase. Reports in the financial press make frequent reference to foreign investors who distrust the U.S. dollar because they calculate true U.S. inflation at 6% to 9% including food and energy.

California economist John Williams, who runs an organization called Shadow Statistics, contends that if Washington still used the CPI measurements applied back in the 1970s, inflation would be in the 10 percent range. My own analysis, set out in much more detail in an article in the May issue of Harper's, comports with that of the cynical foreign investors.

Therein lies the danger. If the current inflation rate is really 6-9 percent instead of the 2-3 percent claimed by government and most U.S. money managers, then Washington's official estimates that the economy still grew at a rate of some 0.6 percent in the first quarter of 2008 become nonsense. Subtracting a 6-9 percent inflation rate from nominal GDP growth would identify an economy that was deteriorating and shrinking, not growing. Concerned foreign dollar-holders would become even more concerned.

Many writers love to prattle on endlessly about the supposedly growing prosperity of the Middle Class. Such specious arguments often rely on CPI data, which Phillips here exposes as fraudulent. In truth, the Middle Class of this country is squeezed and pressured on all fronts. (If we are honest, the mad frenzy to possess everything everyone else seems to have is part of what's wrong as well.) Most Middle Class families must contend with health care worries, multiple jobs, little time off for most people, and now the skyrocketing prices of food and energy. Consumer debt has reached phenomenal levels and housing costs have bitten deeply. All in all, it paints a grim picture--one which official Washington is loathe to recognize.

Ladies and Gentlemen, The Next President of the United States, Barack Obama

After a big win in North Carolina and a razor-close finish in Indiana, Obama now has an effectively insurmountable lead for the Democratic nomination. He will be the nominee. I hope that all factions of the Democratic Party, all Independents, and all decent Republicans worried about the course our nation is on will unite to put him in the White House and vastly enlarge the Democratic majorities in Congress so that the business of helping this country recover from the catastrophic effects of eight years of Radical Right-wing government can begin.

OBAMA FOR PRESIDENT

Rampant Readers, I Need Your Help

Please, please, PLEASE spread this around.

McCain is getting a pass on outrageous associations. That's got to stop.

McCain's Friend John Hagee: Dangerous Lunatic

This is a thousand times more alarming than the nonsense being thrown around about Jeremiah Wright. John Hagee, whose endorsement John McCain sought FOR AN ENTIRE YEAR, is quite frankly a mentally unbalanced lunatic. Some (extensive) excerpts, which I hope the author of the original will forgive:

Beyond Hagee's demonizing of Catholics and Catholicism, pastor Hagee appears radically anti-American to the extent that he hopes and expects, as evidenced by a 2006 Hagee appearance on WHYY's "Fresh Air" radio show and also in Hagee's 2006 best-seller "Jerusalem Countdown", that God will incinerate most Americans now living - with a nuclear strike on America's coastal regions. In 2006 Presidential hopeful John McCain appeared to hold a similar view on possible outcomes of a US war with Iran. In an April 2nd, 2006 appearance on Meet The Press, Senator John McCain, describing to Tim Russert McCain's view of the possible result of a US war with Iran, declared war with Iran "could be Armageddon".

Recently it has come to light that John Hagee declared "America is under the curse of God" but Hagee has also stated that, in the war he predicts will ensue a US or Israeli attack on Iran, God will punish the majority of Americans living, immolating them in a Russian nuclear strike on America's east and west coasts. Given that Hagee has repeatedly advocated for a US and/or Israeli attack on Iran, and especially in light of enthusiastic adjectives ("thrilling", for example) with which Hagee describes the expected outcome of such an attack on Iran, it logically follows that John McCain endorser Texas megachurch pastor John Hagee hopes and advocates for a US foreign policy course that expects would kill the majority of Americans now alive.

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On the available evidence it is not clear if Hagee expects that the nuclear incineration of what Hagee himself notes would comprise most Americans now living would be "thrilling", whether Hagee feels the "Rapture" which he expects will vacuum him and other "Bible-believing" (fundamentalist) Christians up to Heaven, prior to that nuking, where they can safely look down on the ensuing global carnage, will be "thrilling" or whether Hagee feels that the "Rapture" and the nuking of America would both be "thrilling". [more on Hagee's 'thrilling' worldview]

**********

A close reading of Hagee's statements and writings shows Hagee's belief closely follow the mainstream view of Apocalyptic Premillennial Dispensationalism, that most Jews in Israel (and presumably along with them most non-Jews as well) will be killed in the train of events and conflicts following "Ezekiel's War". In that view, a "remnant" of Jews who have converted to Christianity, traditionally numbered at 144,000 (12,000 for each of the 12 Tribes of Israel), will survive and will be granted superhuman, divine powers to, acting as what some have termed "super Billy Grahams", will evangelize all humans who have survived the predicted global holocaust.

In his book "Jerusalem Countdown", pastor Hagee states that historical anti-Semitism, culminating in the Holocaust, resulted from God's curse upon Jews, as a people, because of the ancient Jewish worship of idols described in the Bible. In the book Hagee also writes that Hitler and the Nazis were acting as divine agents, to drive European Jews towards Palestine where, per Hagee's view, God appears to demand be their only residence on Earth and where, according to Hagee's apocalyptic theological views, those Jewish settlers will be most killed in the conflict Hagee militates for by advocating an attack on Iran.

The extermination of most of the world's Jews and the conversion of the surving remnant?? Hitler as a divine agent?? A "thrilling" nuclear war which will kill most Americans?? WHAT IN THE HELL IS THIS??

McCain has said he rejects the "offensive parts" of Hagee's beliefs. My question is:

WHICH ONE OF HAGEE'S BELIEFS ISN'T OFFENSIVE TO McCAIN?!?

Jeremiah Wright would have NO influence in an Obama administration. John Hagee would have MAJOR influence in a McCain administration. Draw your own conclusions.

Take the Quiz! Bush or McCain?

It's loads-o-fun and it's right here.

And if you do well enough, you can guess the difference between McCain and a carrot!

(Thanks, Geneve!)

Something You HAVE to Pass Around

It's an amazing list of John McCain's contradictory, inaccurate, inconsistent, and just downright boneheaded remarks about the Iraq War. Some examples to whet your appetite:

On the Run-Up to War

"But the fact is, I think we could go in with much smaller numbers than we had to do in the past. But any military man worth his salt is going to have to prepare for any contingency, but I don't believe it's going to be nearly the size and scope that it was in 1991."John McCain, September 15, 2002.

On Saddam's Weapons of Mass Destruction

"I remain confident that we will find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq."John McCain, June 11, 2003.

On Being Greeted as Liberators

"There's no doubt in my mind that we will prevail and there's no doubt in my mind, once these people are gone, that we will be welcomed as liberators."John McCain, March 24, 2003.

On a Rapid Victory and Mission Accomplished

"Well, then why was there a banner that said mission accomplished on the aircraft carrier?"John McCain, responding to assertion by Fox News' Neil Cavuto that "many argue the conflict isn't over," June 11, 2003.

"We're either going to lose this thing or win this thing within the next several months."John McCain, November 12, 2006.

On the Safe Streets of Baghdad

"[There] there "are neighborhoods in Baghdad where you and I could walk through those neighborhoods, today."John McCain, after touring a Baghdad market wearing a bulletproof vest and guarded by "100 American soldiers, with three Blackhawk helicopters, and two Apache gunships overhead, April 1, 2007.

On President Bush and His Team

"We are very fortunate that our president in these challenging days can rely on the counsel of a man who has demonstrated time and again the resolve, experience, and patriotism that will be required for success and the hard-headed clear thinking necessary to prevail in this global fight between good and evil."John McCain, on Dick Cheney, July 16, 2004.

On the Non-Existent Alliance Between Al Qaeda and Iran

"[It is] common knowledge and has been reported in the media that al-Qaeda is going back into Iran and receiving training and are coming back into Iraq from Iran, that's well known. And it's unfortunate."John McCain, March 18, 2008.

On a Permanent American Military Presence in Iraq

"I asked McCain about his 'hundred years' comment, and he reaffirmed the remark, excitedly declaring that U.S. troops could be in Iraq for 'a thousand years' or 'a million years,' as far as he was concerned."David Corn, January 3, 2008.

This guy has to be stopped. The best quote I've heard on McCain?

"McCain will be like Bush on steroids."

Miserable Failure Bush Now Most Rejected President in History

The details can be found here.

Oh, and just as a reminder:

On the 5th Anniversary of "Mission Accomplished": What Digby Said, Part 9,275

Digby rips into Commander Codpiece here and it's letter-perfect. Bush's disgusting dress-up game that day almost made me puke. (The disgrace of that gesture was only overshadowed by the craven, mewling, Bush-worshiping behavior of the press as noted by Eric Alterman here. The Bush Suck-Up Festival that day was surely one of the low points in the history of the media.)

Over 4,000 of our best young men and women dead. Over 30,000 others injured, many of them horribly. At least 100,000 dead Iraqis, 2,000,000 more Iraqis in exile, and potentially trillions of dollars down the drain. Just so little Georgie could prance around and pretend he's a real by-God man.

And you wonder why I hate him?

A Warning From a Great American

Few people have contributed more to humanity than Norman Borlaug, father of the Green Revolution that has saved the lives of uncounted millions of humans. So when he's worried about the epidemic of stem rust disease that is devastating the world's wheat crop, I'm worried, too. The United States under Bush was initially playing a positive role in this crisis, but, unsurprisingly, the Bush Administration's usual behavior took over:

But more recently, the administration has begun reversing direction. The State Department is recommending ending American support for the international agricultural research centers that helped start the Green Revolution, including all money for wheat research. And significant financial cuts have been proposed for important research centers, including the Department of Agriculture’s essential rust research laboratory in St. Paul.

This shocking short-sightedness goes against the interests not only of American wheat farmers and consumers but of all humanity. It is tantamount to the United States abandoning its pledge to help halve world hunger by 2015.

If millions of small-scale farmers see their wheat crops wiped out for want of new disease-resistant varieties, the problem will not be confined to any one country. Rust spores move long distances in the jet streams and know no political boundaries. Widespread failures in global wheat production will push the prices of all foods higher, causing new misery for the world’s poor.

Really, is there anything these Republican conservatives do any more that DOESN'T causes devastating damage to the world?

"The Sweet Talk Express"

Heh heh heh. Gawd, I just love it.

Why Isn't Limbaugh Being Arrested?

The charge: inciting to riot. Limbaugh is hoping for AND CALLING FOR violence at the Democratic National Convention in Denver in August.

He won't be arrested. He won't be suspended. He won't be driven off the air.

Why? Because in America, right wing radicals can do or say anything they want with impunity.

Don't believe it? Ann Coulter, a sick, homicidal maniac, casually calls for the mass extermination of the Iranian people. Nothing happened in response.

Ted Nugent, perverted, gun-masturbating idiot, threatens Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama with death by machine gun. Virtually nothing happened in response.

John Hagee, John McCain supporter, says he wants a preemptive nuclear strike on Iran to provoke Armageddon, the End of the World, and the extermination of the vast majority of the world's Jews. The reaction was maybe one-one thousandth of that generated by Barack Obama's pastor's intemperate remarks.

The radical right can say or do ANYTHING, aided and abetted by their buddies in the national media. Remember, Brian Williams of NBC calls Limbaugh his friend. Think he'll make a big deal out of this Limbaugh thing?

There is no "liberal media". The media is controlled largely by conservative corporations. Never forget that. I've said it before, I'll say it again:

Democrats and progressives, the corporate media are your enemies. Treat them as such.

The Ultimate Reject and His Apostle, St. John

His name is George W. Bush, and he has now achieved the highest DISAPPROVE rating in the history of the Gallup organization, which has been polling since FDR's time.

BTW, did you know that so-called "maverick" John McCain has supported Bush in the Senate
NINETY PER CENT OF THE TIME?

Ohio Democrats Have the Right Idea!

McCain's Free Pass

Joe Conason describes the two different standards that are applied to Democrats and media darling John McCain here. (Subscription or day pass may be required). Excerpts:

Why otherwise would the campaign press corps have demanded the Clinton tax returns while nobody insists that McCain release the returns filed by him and his beer heiress wife, Cindy? When the Arizona Republican releases his 2007 return, as he has done today, will anyone urge him to cough up returns from previous years, as the Clintons did? It is an act of transparency that he has neglected to fulfill for the past quarter-century of his public service, without a peep from his press fans (despite the precedent of his wife's highly questionable shopping-mall investment with savings and loan crook Charles Keating).

And having raked Bill Clinton's charitable foundation for evidence of conflicts of interest, when will the press corps take another look at McCain’s "Reform Institute," the nonprofit think tank that has served as a soft-money conduit and cushy sinecure for his political advisors?

Will anyone ask McCain why he doesn't wear an American flag pin, the burning question that the ABC anchors pressed on Obama? Perhaps the former POW deserves a pass on that issue, but it is interesting to note that photos of McCain with a flag pin are very scarce -- which may simply prove that not every patriot must constantly sport Old Glory on his lapel.

It would be refreshing to place the likes of Gibson and Stephanopoulos and their peers on the witness stand for a change to explain their choices and prejudices. Why did they require Democrats to make tax-cutting pledges that are based on bad economics and worse journalism? Why should they focus on Obama's tenuous connection with a reprehensible but inconsequential figure like former Weatherman Bill Ayers, when they have never mentioned the White House coddling of Cuban exile terrorists? Why do they obsess over the "bitter" gaffe by Obama while passing so lightly over the confusion of Sunni and Shia groups by McCain, supposed master of foreign policy?

Why? Because the vast majority of our elite media corps is violently hostile to Democrats and all snuggly-wuggly with conservative Republicans. Again, we have to call them on this, and repeat, again and again:

"The Liberal Media label is a right-wing myth--and a damned lie."

The Beltway Media: Blood Enemy of the Democrats

If you have been one of the few regular readers of this little blog, you know that I consider America to be a nation in crisis. This crisis has been brought on in no small measure by media figures who are determined to smear and destroy every Democratic candidate for president. (BTW, the phrase "Liberal Media" is an absurd lie. There is no such thing. It's a conservative fairy tale circulated to intimidate media people.) Their favorite method for doing this is to widely parrot and faithfully circulate every radical right-wing slander and talking point directed at Democrats. In EVERY election, the Democratic candidate is "elitist", "out of touch", "not a Regular American", "not one of us", and other similar vomit. Meanwhile, Republican silver spoon aristocrats like George W. "Aw, shucks, y'all, I'm just like you are" Bush are given the red carpet treatment, fawned over, protected, and portrayed as Real People. Never mind Bush's phony accent, his phony ranch, his multi-million dollar personal wealth, or his amazing record of failing his way upward through the use of family clout and corrupt influence. Why, he's WAY better than any of those fancy-pants librul Democrat Party types, ain't he? Now, Barack Obama is being subjected to the same filthy, despicable tactics. As always, the inimitable Glenn Greenwald is on the case:

The reason the establishment press fixates on these adolescent themes has nothing to do with what "Americans" want. It has everything to do with the fact that it's what these journalists always do; it's what they're programmed to do; and, at this point, it's all the empty and slothful media stars know how to do.

Critically, they're not just assaulting Obama (and, before him, Clinton and Edwards) with randomly selected petty trash. It's purposeful and familiar: all of these Drudgian paper cuts are intended to expose Obama as an exotic, bizarre, effete, vaguely American-hating elitist who is out of touch with Regular Americans and plagued by a personality so unlikable that you can't possibly vote for him even if you agree with him on all of the issues -- just as was true for virtually every national Democratic leader before him. All of this happens while the media reverence for John McCain and his character, "strength," likability and integrity grow -- far beyond even the affection they acknowledge they have long harbored for the amiable war hero, George W. Bush, and which is obligatorily directed at the canonized Ronald Reagan.

As I wrote in Great American Hypocrites:

As always, Drudge rules their world and they become his echo chamber. If he selects a petty, personality-smearing story to trumpet, and the media (as they always do) dutifully follows, then that alone constitutes "proof" of the story’s importance, evidence that "plenty of people" care about it, which in turn justifies the media's continuous chatter about it.

Most certainly, the press will pretend to be above it all ("this is not something that we, the sophisticated political journalists, care about, of course"). But they yammer about Drudge-promoted gossip endlessly, and then insist that their own chattering is proof that it is an important story that people care about. And because they conclude that "people" (i.e., them) are concerned with the story, they keep chirping about it, which in turn fuels their belief that the story is important. It is an endless loop of self-referential narcissism—whatever they endlessly sputter is what "the people" care about, and therefore they must keep harping on it, because their chatter is proof of its importance.

They no longer even need Drudge to lead the way. They find that path on their own now. Journalists like [David] Brooks and his friends fixate on these issues because they're what interests them, because it takes no work and no thought to chatter about it, because they have been fed their trashy storylines by right-wing operatives ever since they formed their partnership with them during the Clinton sex witch hunts, and because the people who become media stars become media stars because this is what they do best (Digby has more on that here). Blaming the American public for the behavior of these journalists only compounds the deceit and scurrilousness of it, particularly given that nobody is more removed and insulted from what "Regular Americans" think than the coddled, pack-mentality media stars who fantasize that they are their spokesmen.

Now, couple this with the fact that the vast majority of Beltway Media people are fervently supporting McCain. They purvey pro-McCain BS 24/7, throw him namby-pamby softball questions, and ignore his $100 MILLION+ personal fortune while portraying him as just a "regular guy". They also ignore McCain's neglect of veterans issues, his bitterly right wing stance on reproductive issues, his corruption, his vile temper, and his questionable mental stability. But Barack Obama is subjected to a constant wave of petty, lying, idiotic bullshit because he is the likely Democratic nominee. We have to call these bastards on it NOW before they succeed in bamboozling enough Americans to get another right-wing radical Republican in the White House.

Remember, Democrats and progressives: the Beltway Media figures ARE YOUR ENEMIES. Treat them in the way they deserve to be treated. They need to be DEFEATED, not compromised with.

Period.

More Stupid Economic Ideas from McCain

He proposes a massive shift of money from consumers to the oil companies--er, I mean a gas tax "holiday" . He also continues the utterly irresponsible policy of advocating the continuation of Bush's tax breaks for the wealthy. Excerpts from Jared Bernstein's post:

First, the gas tax holiday is smart politics but lousy policy. As Taplin aptly described, high gas prices are sending an important economic signal and jamming that signal is ill-advised. On the other hand, as one of the commenters points out, this idea could really help some strapped families.

The problem is there's absolutely nothing to stop the oil companies from claiming a big chunk of this subsidy by raising the pretax price of gas at the pump. Prices go up in the summer anyway, and I'll bet you a gallon of premium that they go up even more than usual, such that some of that 18.4 cents/gallon ends up back in Exxon's wallet, not yours.

Which leaves us with a nice little transfer from taxpayers to oil companies. Nice work, John.

**********

Finally, and this is the most worrisome aspect of McCain's economics, if he gets what he wants, he has two fiscal choices: deeply cut entitlement programs, especially those related to health care, or blow a massive hole in the budget.

I give the details here, but the arithmetic is simple: you can't extend the Bush tax cuts forever, same with the war, end the AMT, finance big health care subsidies, and slash the corporate tax rate all on the backs of "savings from earmark, program review, and other budget reforms." Like I said, you either end much of government as we know it--a standard conservative goal--or become unsustainably indebted.

Folks, this guy is a dangerous ignoramus. The Democrats MUST stop their internecine warfare and train their political guns on McCain, the biggest threat to America's survival since...well, George W. Bush.

John McCain: Uncensored, Unreported, Unhinged

Check out this and see if you don't agree.

I wonder: why won't our political press tell us about--

--McCain's connection to some pretty shady characters in Arizona's underworld?

--The full extent of McCain's vicious temper?

--McCain's connection to Sun Myung Moon (through Charlie Black, a lobbyist supporter of "Mr. Intergrity")?

--The full story of how McCain has crawled to Religious Right fanatics?

--The ways in which a McCain presidency would simply be a third term for Bush?

--"Mr. Straight Talk's" lies, deceptions, and spine-cracking flip-flops?

Gee, could it be that most of the Trad Media is in the tank for St. John? Hmmmm.

McCain: Ignoramus or Knuckle-Head?

You decide!

...Groaning error is nothing new when this famous straight-talker heads out on the trail. During Campaign 2000, McCain made an endless string of policy errors—errors which his pals on the bus tended to gaze away from. You name it, the hopeful seemed to bungle it: Tax cuts, prescription drug prices, health care, school voucher plans. But reporters tended to downplay his blunders, focusing instead on his highly authentic straight-shooting maverick straight-talk. He seemed to be comfortable in his own skin as he authored his string of mistakes.

When McCain made his foolish remarks in that Baghdad market last year, we ran through some of these previous episodes. As McCain keeps bungling Sunni and Shia, some have asked if he’s showing his age. But McCain has always bungled big-time. See THE DAILY HOWLER, 4/4/07, for a run-down from earlier days.

We asked a question in last year’s post, as we did during Campaign 2000: When a senate veteran knows so little about a string of policy matters, is it possible that his serial ignorance betrays some sort of a character problem?

Is McCain's Violent Temper a Disqualification for the Presidency?

Read the disturbing details here.

Man, this guy is scary. He definitely has unresolved rage issues.

How McCain's Friends in the National Media Cover for Him

The outrageous details are here.

McCain's favorite pastor wants to nuke Iran to help bring on the freaking Apocalypse.

Response from the national media:

(Sounds of crickets chirping.)


UPDATE: If you want me to publish your comments, do NOT do the following things:

1. Recycle discredited right-wing slanders and lying Republican talking points.
2. Indulge in racist insinuations.
3. Send me a comment in all CAPS. That's the equivalent of shouting at me, and no one shouts at me on my own blog. Got it?

Mr. "Support the Troops" McCain and the New GI Bill

Martin Luther King was murdered the next evening--40 years ago, 4 April 1968.

God bless you, Martin

How Bad Does It Have to Get?

Any nation that would return the Republicans to power after the nightmare our country has gone through since 20 January 2001 is going to die. In fact, voting Republican this year is no more or less than an expression of national suicide. How much worse does it have to get, America, before you wake up out of this absurd right-wing dream world you live in?

1. YOUR COUNTRY WAS LIED AND MANIPULATED INTO A NEEDLESS WAR. That war has killed over 4,000 of our best young people, wounded more than 30,000 others, often cruelly, and mentally shattered countless others. It has killed perhaps more than 100,000 Iraqi civilians, driven 2,000,000 other Iraqis into exile, and immensely strengthened radical Islamists in Iran. Iraq is again descending into civil chaos after a brief lull. Every one of the stated premises for the war has turned out to be false. And yet, many of you want to vote for the one man--McCain--who will keep this monstrous conflict going indefinitely, and who even hints at wanting to expand the war into Iran.

WHY?

2. YOUR NATION'S ECONOMY IS TEETERING ON THE BRINK OF DISASTER. Economic analysts are already using the frightening term "worst since the Great Depression" to describe the escalating crisis our economy is in. Government debt has risen SIXTY PER CENT under George W. Bush. The economic con artists have been building a financial house of cards, and now it's crumbling, as the deepening mortgage meltdown attests. Right-wing Republican economic idiocy has caused this dilemma. And yet, many of you want to vote for someone--McCain--who has pledged to keep the same failed policies in place, or even accelerate them.

WHY?

3. CORRUPTION AND INCOMPETENCE HAVE SELDOM BEEN MORE WIDESPREAD. Republican cronies, crooks, and incompetents have looted the federal treasury at a shocking rate. The Iraq War has been a gold mine for Republican-connected companies like Halliburton and KBR. Corporate greed and corruption, such as in the case of Bear Stearns, are the worst since the 1890s. The Katrina disaster was only one symptom of the breakdown of government in America and Republican mishandling of virtually every issue. And yet, many of you are prepared to vote for a man, John McCain, who is more tied into lobbyists and Republican special interests than almost any other politician in America.

WHY?

4. REPUBLICAN SOCIAL POLICIES HAVE BEEN A DISASTER. Under the Republicans since 2001, poverty has risen. The number of those without medical insurance has risen. The gap between the wealthiest and the poorest has enormously expanded. "Abstinence-only" sex education has been a wretched, miserable failure. The gap in the life expectancy between rich and poor has grown. And yet many of you are prepared to vote for a man who has one of the most radical right voting records in the Senate, McCain.

WHY?

5. RIGHT WING FANATICS AND LUNATICS CONTROL THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. From Pat Robertson to John Hagee, borderline-insane zealots control the Republican Party. Hagee is trying to bring on a war with Iran to precipitate the Apocalypse. Many who run the Republican Party are so-called "Dominionists" who want to drive anyone who isn't a right-wing fundamentalist End Times Protestant out of the government, or even deprive them of citizenship. Hatred of Roman Catholics, hatred of Jews (despite the "pro-Israel" rhetoric of many of these nut cases), hatred of women, murderous hatred of gays, and a lust for a worldwide religious war are common themes among these profoundly dangerous people. These same lunatics hate science, hate public education, hate environmental protection, hate the court system, and are determined to interject the government into the most personal of all decisions, from the Terri Schiavo tragedy to how married people can have sex. (No joke.) And yet many of you want to vote for someone--McCain--who crawls to these people, begging for their support.

WHY?

People, your nation is in crisis. Despite what the McCain-loving hacks in the media tell you, and despite what the conservative-controlled corporate media are tring to sell you, we're in big trouble. Almost 80% of Americans say this country is headed in the wrong direction. And yet, McCain--who would be nothing but a third Bush term-- has a better than even shot at winning. Why? Because he was a hero in Vietnam? Many men were heroes in Vietnam. Are they necessarily therefore qualified to be president? I respect McCain and honor him for his service, but it doesn't mean he should be president. His record in public life has been atrocious. His policies are utterly wrong for America. He is allied with some of the most dangerous people in the country. He is the new leader of the political party that is strangling this country's future to death. And yet, he might win. So one more time, I ask:

WHY?