Showing posts with label Lies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lies. Show all posts
Monday, November 3, 2008
McCain/Palin 24x7 Smear Machine Didn't Work
Numbers like this bolster my sometimes-flagging faith in the American people's resistance to lies and distortions:
Obama's favorable rating is 62% -- the highest that any presidential candidate has registered in Gallup's final pre-election polls going back to 1992.
Yep, after two solid months of nothing but lies, slime, derision and smears being volleyed from McCain's Fortress of Doom, Obama's favorables have climbed to the highest of any Presidential candidate in 15 years. Stay classy America -- you impress me with your ability to tune out the B.S.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Palin: 'Share the Wealth' by Taxing Oil Companies
I'll wade into the McCain/Palin "Socialism! (Be Afraid!)" silliness for a moment by pointing out an interesting bit of irony hypocrisy uttered by $150,000 Caribou Barbie (TM) the Very Serious Republican Vice President Nominee Sarah Palin back in Alaska:
Just last month, in an interview with Philip Gourevitch of the New Yorker, Palin explained the windfall profits tax that she imposed on the oil industry in Alaska as a mechanism for ensuring that Alaskans "share in the wealth" generated by oil companies. [...]
In fact, Alaska's Clear and Equitable Share (ACES) program, which manages the redistribution of oil wealth in Alaska, brings in so much money that the state needs no income or sales tax. In addition, this year ACES will provide every Alaskan with a check for an estimated $3,200.
As Hendrick Hertzberg notes, "Perhaps there is some meaningful distinction between spreading the wealth and sharing it ... but finding it would require the analytic skills of Karl the Marxist."
Quote of the Ages: Anti-McCarthyism
An article by Menachem Rosensaft reminded me of a quote that I heard a while ago from the sad, sad McCarthy Witchhunt(TM) days:
In her 1950 Declaration of Conscience, Margaret Chase Smith said that "I don't want to see the Republican Party ride to political victory on the Four Horsemen of Calumny -- Fear, Ignorance, Bigotry and Smear." John McCain, Sarah Palin and the Republican Party have knowingly resurrected these demons with a vengeance. We must not, we cannot let them get away with it.
Friday, October 24, 2008
McCain Volunteer Made Up Mugging Story
This is truly shameful. The woman who yesterday claimed that she was mugged by a black man who carved a 'B' into her face today admitted that she made the whole thing up. I wonder if the wingnut bloggers (including Matt Drudge) will print a thorough retraction, with an apology for ginning this up.
Police tell KDKA that a campaign volunteer has now confessed to making up a story that a mugger attacked her and cut the letter B in her face after seeing her McCain bumper sticker.
Ashley Todd, 20, of Texas, initially told police that she was robbed at an ATM in Bloomfield and that the suspect became enraged and started beating her after seeing her GOP sticker on her car.
Update: At least the NRO has the fleeting decency to print a lukewarm retraction.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Hatch: Rest of World is Just Jealous of Us
Making what I believe to be one of the most indefensibly inane arguments of this election cycle, Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch recently made the ludicrous claim that America's standing in the world hasn't suffered under Premier Bush's eight-year reign of terror. He goes on to dismiss countries who criticize us as "jealous".
HATCH: There’s a lot of jealousy of the United States, especially in Europe, and France in particular and some of the other nations as well. So naturally they’re constantly poking holes at the United States. … Yeah there’s some irritation with the United States but mainly it’s because we’re so powerful and strong militarily and economically and otherwise.
Doesn't this remind any of you who've watched Jerry Springer of a typically toothless 300-lb. meth-addicted female paramour exclaiming to the long-time girlfriend of the randy cheating boyfriend: "You just jealous!! I look good!!!"ThinkProgress just so happens to have a handy graph that definitively disproves Hatch's fact-free head-in-the-sand bullshit:
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
McCain for 'Socialism' Before He Was Against It
The heights of hypocrisy reached by John McCain in this election are mind-boggling.
McCain and his well-dressed running mate are still running around out there screaming that OMG, Obama is a SOCIALIST! (!!!)
Well, consider this exchange from long, long ago (i.e., 2000) when an audience member asked McCain if a progressive tax system is "SOCIALIST!"
Audience member: "Why is it that someone like my father who goes to school for 13 years gets penalized in a huge tax bracket because he's a doctor."McCain: "I think it's to some degree because we feel obviously that wealthy people can afford more."
Audience member: "Are we getting closer and closer to, like, socialism?"
McCain: "Here's what I really believe: That when you reach a certain level of comfort, there's nothing wrong with paying somewhat more."
As The Daily Show put it:
"That, of course, is the late socialist leader John Mccain. I believe he passed away during the Republican primaries. He will be missed."
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
ADN: Sarah Palin is 'Ignorant' or 'Orwellian'
The Alaska Daily News put up a scathing rebuke in a new editorial in reaction to Sarah Palin's Troopergate scandal.
Quote of the article:
Sarah Palin's reaction to the Legislature's Troopergate report is an embarrassment to Alaskans and the nation.
She claims the report "vindicates" her. She said that the investigation found "no unlawful or unethical activity on my part."
Her response is either astoundingly ignorant or downright Orwellian.
Read the whole thing.
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Friday, October 10, 2008
McCain Campaign Attacks Michelle Obama
Well, I guess one of the last vestiges of decency left to the McCain campaign is now burning in a smoldering heap:
The McCain campaign is now broadening their attack on Obama's past association with William Ayers to include Michelle Obama -- even though McCain has repeatedly said spouses should be off limits during the campaign.
The attack? Bernardine Dohrn, Ayers' wife and fellow former Weatherman, went to work in 1984 for the major Chicago-based national law firm of Sidley & Austin, and three years later, Michelle joined the mega-firm as well.
That's the entire attack. We wish we were joking. But we aren't.
John McCain, you are a despicable man and should be ashamed of yourself.
Ex-Governor Un-Endorses McCain
Republican ex-Governor William Milliken of Michigan today un-endorsed McCain, saying he is disappointed with McCain for the tenor of his campaign and his increasingly negative personal attacks against Barack Obama.
Sarah Palin Calls Obama a Coward
I am kinda glad I have to go out of town on business next week. It will at least partially shield me from having to become emotionally overwrought at the dangerous, hateful and bilious rhetoric spewing from Sarah Palin's filthy mouth.
At a rally today, Sarah Palin accused Obama of being a coward. There is nothing this vile, despicable woman won't say:
So you know, Ohio, from now until Election Day, you're gonna hear our opponents go on and on about how they'll, quote, fight for you. But since my running mate won't say this on his own behalf I will say it for him. And that is, in this campaign there is only one man who has every really fought for you. [John McCain is] [t]he only man who has ever really fought for you and the only man with courage.
Palin Camp Reaches New Height of Lying Chutzpah
After stonewalling the Troopergate in Alaska for over a month and refusing to be interviewed in the ensuing investigation, Sarah Palin's official McCain campaign hack lawyer is complaining that the report to be released today on her wrongdoing won't be complete because they didn't interview her. Seriously:
Palin's lawyer, Thomas Van Flein, tried to preemptively discredit the report, telling the ADN that it won't be comprehensive because Branchflower didn't interview Palin or her chief of staff, Mike Tibbles.
"They didn't even try to interview the governor. You want to know why she reassigned Monegan, it would be nice to talk to her. They didn't even try," Van Flein said. "It's a report that's going to be half-done at best. And anything that's half-done will likely be half-baked."
Chief Ayers Prosecutor Defends Obama
This is pretty remarkable. The chief prosecutor in the Weather Underground case has come out with a letter to the editor in the New York Times decrying McCain's attempts to smear Obama by trying to exaggerate Obama's fleeting acquaintanceship with Ayers:
As the lead federal prosecutor of the Weathermen in the 1970s (I was then chief of the criminal division in the Eastern District of Michigan and took over the Weathermen prosecution in 1972), I am amazed and outraged that Senator Barack Obama is being linked to William Ayers’s terrorist activities 40 years ago when Mr. Obama was, as he has noted, just a child.
Although I dearly wanted to obtain convictions against all the Weathermen, including Bill Ayers, I am very pleased to learn that he has become a responsible citizen.
Because Senator Obama recently served on a board of a charitable organization with Mr. Ayers cannot possibly link the senator to acts perpetrated by Mr. Ayers so many years ago.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Keith Olbermann Special Comment: Sarah Palin and Terrorists
Here is the video of Keith Olbermann's Special Comment aired tonight on Sarah Palin her recent bullsh*t terrorist comments:
Monday, September 29, 2008
Blame Democrats? House Leadership Blasts Back
McCain and the GOP leadership earlier today blamed anyone and everyone (but themselves) for the failure of the bailout bill, singling out Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi for their wicked, wicked ways:
Well, Banking Committee Chairman Rep. Barney Frank was having none of it:“Just before the vote, when the outcome was still in doubt, Speaker Pelosi gave a strongly worded partisan speech and poisoned the outcome.
This bill failed because Barack Obama and the Democrats put politics ahead of country.”
A good jab from the video above:
Here's the story. There's a terrible crisis affecting the American economy. We have come together on a bill to alleviate the crisis. And because somebody hurt their feelings, they decide to punish the country... I'll make you an offer. Give me those twelve peoples' names and I will go talk uncharacteristically nicely to them and tell them what wonderful people they are and maybe they'll now think about their country.
McCain Blames Obama for Failure of Bailout -- Seriously
If I didn't need a job right now and such antics might make people look twice at me, I would be smashing my head against my computer monitor right now and screaming profanities in tongues.
I know, I should try to not let these things affect me but, well, some things are really beyond the fucking pale. The McCain campaign just issued a statement blaming Obama for the failure of the bailout bill:
[Cue primal scream...] In these trying moments, just repeat the mantra I suggested earlier, "The Blame Falls Mainly on McCain."“Just before the vote, when the outcome was still in doubt, Speaker Pelosi gave a strongly worded partisan speech and poisoned the outcome.
“This bill failed because Barack Obama and the Democrats put politics ahead of country.”
Blame for Bailout Plan Falls Mainly on McCain
Now that Congress has scuttled the revised Bush/Paulson bailout plan, can we all now agree that the blame for the failure falls squarely on McCain's shoulders?
Before you start tut-tutting me over this notion, consider the fact that McCain's top surrogates were all over the airwaves over the last several days giving the lion's share of the credit to McCain for ushering in an alleged bipartisan consensus. Here are some examples from Think Progress:
“[T]his bill would not have been agreed to had it not been for John McCain. … But, you know, this is a bipartisan accomplishment, a bipartisan success. And if people want to get something done in Washington, they just watch John McCain.” — Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, 9/29/08
“Earlier in the week, when Senator McCain came back to Washington, there had been no deal reached. … What Senator McCain was able to do was to help bring all the parties to the table, including the House Republicans.” — Senior adviser Steve Schmidt, 9/28/08
“But here are the facts, and I’m not overselling anything. The fact is that the House Republicans were not in the mix at all. John didn’t phone this one in. He came and actually did something. … You can’t phone something like this in. Thank God John came back.” — Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), 9/28/08
“Before John McCain suspended his campaign yesterday, the situation that we’re looking at today looked very different then. After he showed leadership and called for bipartisanship, for us to partisanship aside and tackle this solution head on, here we are.” — Spokesman Tucker Bounds, 9/25/08
Now that this supposed bipartisan consensus has failed in an epic and explosive way, isn't turnabout fair play?
If McCain and his surrogates want to go running around giving McCain credit for drumming up conservative support for the bailout plan, shouldn't they be required to also lay the blame on McCain for his failure to deliver the aforementioned support?
As Andrew Sullivan puts it:
If McCain is to receive, or at least claim, credit for a compromise is he now to blame for the failure of the compromise? Will he now abandon his newly found populism and go back to being the free market zealot that he once claimed to be given that the base of his party has spoken so loudly? In short - I think this puts John McCain in an even more difficult position. "His" compromise failed and now he must stay in Washington until this is resolved or admit that the suspension of his campaign was in fact nothing but a stunt!
Update: Even the ultra-conservative National Review sees dark clouds on McCain's failure/blame horizon:
Not that it's the most important fallout, but this vote is very bad for McCain. He was trying to get House Republicans on board, after all, and he failed. Blaming the Democrats for the failure will not and should not work, given the ratios on both sides.
Repeat after me: "The Blame Falls Mainly on McCain."
Palin Both Incompetent and a Liar
Reflecting on the Palin-Couric interview intellectual catastrophe, let us not forget that she is not only a bad interviewee but also a pathological liar. Andrew Sullivan sums up the state of her lies as of today:
Palin could not have asked her girls for permission to accept McCain's veep offer if she also says she accepted the offer unblinkingly and right away. Palin did fire a police chief even as she insisted to a reporter she hadn't. She did violate the confidential medical records of Mike Wooten. She hasn't met with any trade missions from Russia. She does not have any gay friends that anyone can find. She did not oppose the Bridge to Nowhere. She did not sell that plane on eBay. Her Teleprompter did not fail in her convention speech. Alaska's state scientists did not conclude that polar bears were in no danger. She did deny publicly that humans had anything to do with climate change.
Alaska does not provide "nearly 20 percent of the U.S. domestic supply of energy," as she claimed. The gas pipeline she touts as her major "mission accomplished" has not broken ground and may never do so. She did not take a pay-cut as mayor of Wasilla. And on and on. Anyone with Google can check all of these out. Including reporters.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Quote of the Day
Wisdom from conservative Daniel Larison on John McCain's fake 'suspension' of his campaign:
In the end, knowing when you can contribute something and knowing when to avoid complicating an already difficult situation by intruding on ongoing negotiations is what separates grandstanding from leadership. It is what separates the simple egomaniacs from the ambitious pols who nonetheless have some idea what public service is. McCain’s belief that he is indispensable in a time of crisis is the surest sign that he is unfit for any office in republican government, much less the chief magistracy of the Republic.
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