McCain’s Rage

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More Hate in the Gutter

Now I know the McCain campaign has become desperate. They are getting slammed on the economy, so they’ve resorted to a last ditch attempt to smear Obama’s character. A few things about that: 1) the Wright/Ayers/terrorist claims are old and tired, 2) they promised to run a clean, respectful campaign, so they just look like pitiful liars, and 3) these smears only work with people who were already voting for McCain.

Today they seem to be reaching out to this voter, and others like him. It’s sad. But at some point we must draw the line.

So today at a rally in Florida, when Sarah Palin started talking about Barack Obama someone in the crowd yelled “kill him!” Seriously? I hope that person got singled out by the Secret Service and questioned, but I’m not going to hold my breath.

Is that really how you want to win? And is this really someone we’re going to elect President? Someone who stands by while his fellow American, his fellow colleague from the Senate gets called a “terrorist” and he says nothing. A man who has his own questionable associations, but allows his running mate to accuse Obama of ‘palling around with terrorists.’ Come on, now. We deserve better than that. And our grandchildren, who are going to inherit this mess that this kind of shamelessness created, deserve better than that.

 

Media Blackout: McCain-Palin in Hiding

First, there’s Sarah Palin. She has yet to hold a press conference and take questions from the press. It’s been almost a month since she was anounced, her popularity is plummeting, so what are they waiting for?

Today I read this: “Palin Bans Reporters from Meetings with Leaders” (AP)

Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, who has not held a press conference in nearly four weeks of campaigning, on Tuesday banned reporters from her first meetings with world leaders, allowing access only to photographers and a television crew.

CNN, which was providing the television coverage for news organizations, decided to pull its TV crew, effectively denying Palin the high visibility she had sought.

I’m not sure of the strategy behind this approach. Sarah Palin has only given us a few memorized lines, which continue to be repeated though they’ve been debunked as lies. It seems like you’d want to give us some new meat to chew on, some substance, so that we could form some ideas about you other than the fact that you’re a liar. Help us to move past the bridge to nowhere and the pitbull in lipstick. We have no choice but to assume that there truly is no substance behind the few, shallow details we’ve been given about Sarah Palin.

And now McCain is avoiding the media, too.

As of this writing, it has been 39 days and 22 hours since Sen. John McCain last held a news conference (despite having promised to hold weekly Q&A sessions with the press if he’s elected). According to the Democrats, it’s been 24 days and 11 hours since his running mate, Sarah Palin, held one. (WaPo)

There’s even a website to help us count.

Something very strange is happening here. The McCain campaign is shunning the media, who has consistently been his biggest ally througout the years. Seems to me that making the press angry will only encourage them to scrutinize you more, follow-up with tough questions, and maybe even try to get back at you for treating them so poorly.

Good luck, John McCain and Sarah Palin. You’re going to need it.

 

McCain Plays Dumb About Fiorina’s Payout

I have a theory that’s picking up steam. John McCain really offended women with his choice of Sarah Palin. In the past few weeks, every time a woman interviews McCain or one of his surrogates, they ask the tough questions they’ve been largely avoiding throughout this campaign. It’s even happening on Fox News and The View!

The latest in the series of women asking the tough questions came this morning from Meredith Vieira.

Unwilling to let McCain play dumb (like usual when he doesn’t want to answer a question) she follows up about Carly Fiorina’s compensation package. He insists that she did a good job as CEO and that he doesn’t know the details of her ‘golden parachute.’ Vieira presses further, noting that he’s been complaining all week about the fat cat CEOs who get big bucks while their employees get laid off. She reminds McCain that Fiorina is “an example of exactly the kind of person you say is at the root of the problem.” (ThinkProgress)

UPDATE: More women speaking out on McCain-Palin: Campbell Brown, Wanda Sykes, Andrea Mitchell, Shushannah Walshe, Lilly Ledbetter, …

 

McCain: Make Health Care Like Banking Industry

The gods are conspiring against John McCain this year. There was bad weather when he was trying to visit an oil platform in the Gulf, all those crazy zealots prayed for rain at the DNC but instead got Ike at the RNC, and then came the economy. On the day of one of the biggest economic crises in modern history, McCain made the mistake of claiming that the fundamentals of the economy are strong.

And now this. Paul Krugman of the NY Times points out an unfortunately timed piece by McCain in the current September/October 2008 issue of Contingencies magazine, in which he suggests deregulating the health care market just like the banking industry.

Opening up the health insurance market to more vigorous nationwide competition, as we have done over the last decade in banking, would provide more choices of innovative products less burdened by the worst excesses of state-based regulation.

Oops.

Of course this view is nothing new in the McCain camp, just bad timing. A few weeks back, the architect of McCain’s health care plan insisted that Americans shouldn’t use the word ‘uninsured’ because we all have ER access. Did you know they also want to wipe out your employer-provided health care plan? And then tax you on the benefits you receive. Really. It’s the tax increase no one is talking about.

And just imagine the world of hurt our seniors would be in today if McCain and Bush had succeeded in privatizing Social Security. Though he has contradicted himself several times about whether or not he supports privatization. One thing is clear, he’s not clear on what Social Security is or how it works. Yet he still wants to gamble away our retirement security.

 

3 Ways Palin is like Bush

There are probably more than 3, but James Fallows’ piece at The Atlantic really rang true for me. He discusses three traits that Bush brings to decision-making that have been disastrous for our country.

The truly toxic combination of traits GW Bush brought to decision making was:

1) Ignorance
2) Lack of curiosity
3) “Decisiveness”

That is, he was not broadly informed to begin with (point 1). He did not seek out new information (#2); but he nonetheless prided himself (#3) on making broad, bold decisions quickly, and then sticking to them to show resoluteness.

We don’t know for sure about #2 for Palin yet — she could be a sponge-like absorber of information. But we know about #1 and we can guess, from her demeanor about #3.   Most of all we know something about the person who put her in this untenable role.

Her claim that she didn’t blink when McCain asked her to be VP scares many people. It’s admirable to be smart enough to know when you’re in over your head on something.

John Dickerson at Slate has a similar observation:

Finally, like Bush, Palin does not appear to let her unfamiliarity with the material hold her back. She was at pains throughout the interview to demonstrate her decisiveness. This makes political sense: What better way to reassure people about her ability as a leader than to look decisive?

But by repeatedly asserting that she will “not blink,” Palin was eerily Bush-like. She offered a black-and-white worldview of bold decisions made quickly and changed reluctantly for fear of showing weakness. Sound familiar?

Bush would never admit he was wrong about anything. He was so quick to jump to conclusions. What’s wrong with Palin saying that she consulted with friends and family, did some research, and then came to the conclusion she was up for the job? Her false sense of confidence despite her increasingly obvious ignorance is exactly like Bush.

Not to mention the secrecy (private email account for government business), warmongering (Russia?!), fear of science (no stem cell research, but lots of creationism), disdain for the constitution (refusing to cooperate with investigations, subpoenas), etc.

*   *   *

Dear McCain-Palin supporters,

Do you really want 4 more years of George Bush’s policies? Please help me to understand your reasoning. Are you happy with war, greed, and ignorance?

Sincerely,

Noticed

*   *   *

UPDATE: Oh, and then there’s that whole executive branch connection to Cheney. (ThinkProgress)

 

CNN Calls McCain-Palin on Their Lies

Reporters are beginning to do their jobs. When candidates repeatedly make claims that have been debunked already, they’re calling them out on these lies. Tucker Bounds has repeated his lies so often that it’s almost as if he actually believes them to be true. Sarah Palin admitted that the “thanks, but no thanks” claim is a stretch. But then she turned right around and put it back in her stump speech.

What I don’t understand is why they are lying about simple facts that are so easy to fact-check, such as whether or not Palin has been to Iraq. CNN hits the nail on the head on this one. The lies are designed to appeal to the base, who are conditioned to believe the candidates and hear what they want to hear. So their latest strategy is to bank on the fact that people are “blinded by love?”

 

Promoting Loyalists: How Palin = Bush

Shortly after McCain announced Palin as his running mate he began to tout her experience as the commander-in-chief of the Alaska National Guard. But then it seemed that several people in Alaska were insisting that she didn’t actually have any authority or responsibility when it came to the Guard.

There was the pressing interview by Campbell Brown in which McCain spokesperson Tucker Bounds couldn’t name any actual national security experience Palin had.

As VetVoice reports:

Sunday 31 August 2008: Major General Craig Campbell, Adjutant General of the Alaska National Guard, tells the AP that:

he and Palin play no role in national defense activities, even when they involve the Alaska National Guard. The entire operation is under federal control, and the governor is not briefed on situations.

The quote is used against Palin throughout the media for several days.

Wednesday 3 September 2008: Major General Craig Campbell does significantly more damage to Palin’s credibility in this piece in the Boston Globe:

And while the Alaska National Guard operates a launch site for a US anti-missile system at Fort Greely, about 100 miles south of Fairbanks, the Alaskan governor is not in the site’s chain of command and has no authority over its operations, according to Maj. Gen. Craig E. Campbell, the adjutant general of the Alaska National Guard who commands the roughly 3,800 state militia members.

Then all of a sudden, just 2 days after the statement above, Maj. Gen Campbell flip-flops. He goes on Fox to talk about how well Sarah Palin commands the National Guard:

National Guards are state military forces run by governors, and Sarah Palin does it great.”

Hmm…I wonder what made Campbell change his mind?

Could it be the promotion he received 2 days after his positive comments?

Lt. Gen. ( Alaska ) Craig E. Campbell, the adjutant general of the Alaska National Guard and commissioner of the Department of Military & Veterans Affairs, received his third star, signifying Governor Sarah Palin’s support of the Guard and her commitment to reinforcing the cooperation between federal and state military assets.

Palin took the opportunity to promote Campbell ahead of any pending emergency that may occur with the upcoming fall storm season. This allows Alaska to have more of a say in times of state disasters.

“This is about Alaskans serving Alaskans.  The promotion is a statement that the Alaska National Guard is the state military force responsible for responding to state issues, at the direction of the Governor,” Governor Palin said.  “The decision to promote the Adjutant General to Lieutenant General is based on a fundamental states’-rights stance, for which Alaska has a strong historical position.”

Silencing dissent. Promoting loyalists. Remind you of anyone…?