Red S. Tater Consistently Wrong

UPDATED BELOW
Red S. Tater recently got up on his hind legs and posted "Pre-Remedial Lesson For Democrats On "The War" , snottily stating, "Try to follow along..I'll make it as simple as possible." Note to the Tater toddlers of the world, if you are going to hold yourself up as intellectual elitists, historians and all around smug assholes, you should at least be able to count to three. I'm not kidding because Red goes point-by-point and numbers them 1-2-2-3...

Leaving aside Red's apparent inability to count past two with much success, it is interesting to note he names Clinton twice in his post (to set the tone) and mentions Bush not at all. Even with his fascination with Clinton, he neglects to note the first world trade center attack occurred 37 days after Clinton took office. No one blamed Bush the Senior because when you sit in the big chair you are either responsible or irresponsible. Every terrorist involved in the attack under Clinton is rotting in an American jail.

Bush the shrub was in office for 9 months and had 52 separate warnings according to the bi-partisan 9/11 commission report. Bush never even called a meeting before 9/11 and Osama bin Laden is still in the wind.

But this misses the entire point of Red's post, which is to conflate 9/11 with Iraq. Even Bush the shrub has said there is no connection. I actually missed the memo where Saddam Hussein was planning to invade Nebraska. Iraq did not attack us, they had no WMD's, and were not affiliated with those who did attack us.

Red piddles his pampers shrieking about Saddam and nuclear weapons. This issue was addressed as a red herring. Bush mentioned it in his SOTU address (the famous sixteen words). Condi and Cheney and Ronald Dumsfeld all repeated the "mushroom cloud" scenario to propel us into Iraq.

Joe Wilson exposed this as a fraud, which resulted in Dick Cheney's chief of staff being convicted of numerous felonies and sentenced to prison. Curiously Red included this:

(with full congressional support from the majority of Democrats) the US and it's allies launch an all-out attack on Saddam Hussein and the Republican Guard Army in Iraq...

This is just flat false. For the record, Democrats voted 147-110 against the Authorization to use force in Iraq. Since Red cannot count to three, we shouldn't expect him to understand concepts like more than and less than.

Feeling Sergie

Iraq has over 4 million refugees, 2 million in country and 2 million out of country. Untold thousands have been killed and Baghdad is as segregated as sister-fuck Alabama in 1950. Another factor in reducing violence is plain old bribery. That's right, just like Guido's protection racket, America has put Sunni's (Osama is a Sunni) in Anbar on our payroll, but this shouldn't be considered negotiating with terrorists:

"Right now I've got 34 concerned citizen groups under contract and that is costing me 7.5 million dollars every 60-90 days," Lynch tells AFP, adding that 25 groups are Sunni, nine Shiite.

Also, we put an additional 30,000 troops into Iraq. Red stamps his baby gap cowboy boots and screams, "THE SURGE IS WERRRRKING! WHY WON'T ANYBODY LISTEN!!" Glad he's so happy that Baghdad is getting a ferris wheel. Actually, I am too. Those poor bastards need some reason to smile. Not only did they benefit from all those "freedom bombs" but they had to put up with this shit as well.

Red should stick with the tried and true method of right-wing blogging:

Serial cut-n-paste right-wing talking point pez-dispensers gathering data for the hive-mind collective.

Don't try to think for yourself Tatertoddler, you're working shorthanded.

UPDATE:

I am thoroughly disappointed that Tatertoddler has refused to respond. I think he is yellow. Maybe I have offended his delicate sensibilities, like Nancy did to Boner and the rest of the republicans who scampered in search of their binkies like a fucking worthless sack of pussies.

I posted a comment over at red's blogocrib, which he would never have published except (snicker) I told him I would cut-n-paste it over here. Here is my double dog throw-down to tatertoddler in full:

Hello, Old friend, it's you favorite neighborhood moonbat again. Sometimes I like to stroll through the wing'tard neighborhood and see what's cooking.
I see you got numero uno (that's number one for those of you who hate any language other than European, as opposed to Navajo, Comanche, Cherokee etc). Congratulations.
Of course you realize being number one paints a great big target on your wing'tard ass, and I put up a post over at my place calling you out on your ring of diamond hard stupidity. You don't have a hair on your ass if you take that shit for one minute. Perhaps you are a Boehner republican who runs for his binky when someone says something mean to him.

But this comment isn't about that. Rather a friendly wager. I bet you a steak dinner (yes I dine on red meat) on the Presidency of the United States.

I say Barack Obama wins. What say you? Loser pays and winner picks the restaurant. Has to be in OKC and only two people at the table, you and I.

I noticed that you have moderated your comments and some of mine get scrubbed. I'll post this comment as an update, just so it'll see the light of day, and America will know that I am calling you out as a braindead chickenshit wing'tard. Defend yourself.

Red plays checkers while I play chess. Where are you, stoopid?? Red Rover Red rover...

Three Estimates

Remember all those chuckles about John Edwards $400 dollar haircuts and the label "Breck Girl?" Seems John McCain has hired an "American Idol" make-up artist who charges nearly $6,000.00 a pop. How mavericky can one swell fellow be? Hat tip to Watertiger.

McCain's Position On Bailout

I'd love to write all about it, but apparently John McCain does not have a position on the bailout. He suspended his campaign, went on all three networks to say he was suspending his campaign, to show leadership during this time of economic crisis. How can he lead if he doesn't know his position? Seems like he is waiting for someone to tell him what to do.

Aide For Palin

I watched the interview from the chirpy little tart, Katie Couric, conducted with Sarah "Bible Spice" Palin . Trying to make the "proximity" point of foreign policy experience is difficult from a polished debater, which Bible Spice clearly is not. She is not even coherent, to the point it was painful, even pitiful to watch. Since I am a good liberal who hates to see other people suffer so badly, I will lend a hand.

"Gosh Katie, it really is the silly season isn't it? (flash spectacular smile here) I can understand how non-Alaskans may be confused about this, but they haven't lived their entire lives and spent every waking moment in the shadows of the evil empire, which by the way, is re-surging. As to how that relates to foreign policy experience, I am acutely aware of the very real existence of anti-democratic forces."

It really isn't that difficult to fashion a coherent response to a question you absolutely, positively know is coming. Either Palin is totally clueless, her ideology is so wacked out extreme she must spout gibberish lest the fanaticism show through, or her handlers really suck. None of these are good options that America can risk.

And by the way, New York is closer to Moscow than Anchorage.

Bush Asks For Billions In Bailout

Anytime Democrats talk about providing health care for Americans they are called Socialists. Bush just announced the government must seize the means of production in America so we can afford to continue to buy cheap shit at WalMart that was made in China. Is this the grim reaper of the idea of America? Who shall we seize next, the auto industry, credit card companies? Going from the Wild West of unregulated raw capitalism to complete government control seems like a rather big change.

McCain will spend the next several days searching for a camera showing him doing stuff. Since he won't campaign I guess it's good he has such a solid veep to continue. Oh, wait...

McCain Suspends campaign

Republican presidential candidate John McCain will suspend his campaign tomorrow and return to our capitol to resolve our national credit crisis. According to his statement today, partisan rancor is the problem:

[...]
I am calling on the President to convene a meeting with the leadership from both houses of Congress, including Senator Obama and myself. It is time for both parties to come together to solve this problem.

We must meet as Americans, not as Democrats or Republicans, and we must meet until this crisis is resolved. I am directing my campaign to work with the Obama campaign and the commission on presidential debates to delay Friday night’s debate until we have taken action to address this crisis.

I am confident that before the markets open on Monday we can achieve consensus on legislation that will stabilize our financial markets, protect taxpayers and homeowners, and earn the confidence of the American people. All we must do to achieve this is temporarily set politics aside, and I am committed to doing so.

Following September 11th, our national leaders came together at a time of crisis. We must show that kind of patriotism now. Americans across our country lament the fact that partisan divisions in Washington have prevented us from addressing our national challenges. Now is our chance to come together to prove that Washington is once again capable of leading this country.
(emphasis added)

I understand the senior senator from Arizona wanting to appear like a leader and all mavericky and stuff, but the problem here is anything but partisan squabbling. The problem is credibility and incredulity.
The current crisis was announced in the shadow of the 7th anniversary of Bush's 1st crisis, 6th anniversary of his 12th crisis, 5th anniversary of his 23rd crisis and 2nd anniversary of his 134th crisis. The crisis management administration managed to lurch from from crisis to crisis, each and every one full of scary brown people farting mushroom clouds capable of breeching levee's.

With an expression like a bull looking at a new gate, our Rexall Ranger Commander Guy proclaimed, "No one could have anticipated...(insert crisis here)," and would embark on a policy binge of disaster capitalism for his clients. Every. Single. Time.

Hence, the credibility problem. See, trust is like virginity, once you have lost it, you're fucked.

Many Americans bought the claim that by being invaded by 19 fanatics with box cutters, who did tremendous damage, we faced an existential threat to end all life as we know it. Many others merely got drunk on blood lust.

Now, we are told by the same administration that another existential threat exists right around the corner that threatens to end all life as we know it. Only this time it is not scary brown people, but venture capitalists and unregulated mortgage brokers. They broke our economy but can fix it, maybe, if we give them a trillion dollars.

That's the incredulity part. So John, the problem isn't partisanship. The problem is the rage these guy's are hearing from the phone calls they are getting from home. It isn't the politicians that need to be convinced, it is the public and that will be a very hard sell. I for one say no deal.

Simple Question

Bush has pointed to his tax cuts on numerous times taking credit on economic issues. Someone needs to ask him about this current meltdown, namely, is he responsible or irresponsible.

Ask the question

The Politics Of Failure

So, with 47 days before the election the Republican administration has admitted how hard they suck. They are completely and utterly incompetent, can't manage a one-stall shithouse and demand a seven hundred billion dollar blank check of our money, with a side of bipartisanship, which means give them everything they want so they can screw up even further.

They are kidding, right? This squalling brat with the gaping maw demanding an instant trillion dollar public tit to suck is not a bastard child. We have paternity tests these days--called votes--and the DNA of this massive turd comes from the father of John McCain's economic plan, Phil Gramm.

I am not interested in any talk of bipartisanship here. They want to rob us and they want a "clean" crime--no strings, no congressional or judicial review, just give them the money or this trillion dollar tumor they birthed, fed and nurtured will topple us into the abyss.

Remember the "Economic Stimulus Package" the little people received? Seems it was only a loan and they want the money back with 400 percent interest. In return, we get their toxic loans. Enjoy.

The Republican administration, indeed the entire Republican party, with the aide of entirely too many blue dog democrats want to take money from those who play by the rules and give it to the money exchangers who buy their own rules. Let me say this as clearly as I can--They are robbing us. Republicans are completely and utterly incompetent, they just admitted that in front of our very faces, including all those democrats that think they have to act like a completely insane asshat to get elected.

Not a political issue? Ha ha ha ha ha ha. They are kidding right?

Myopic

Something seems to be seriously wrong with the "solutions" being catapulted out of Washington for this economic crisis. All rewards are directed at about a dozen or so firms in the financial services industry at the expense of the 300 million citizens they serve. It is for our good we are told so we should give them About $3,200.00 (and rising) from every man, woman and child in America.

Everything in this country was created to serve the citizen; a country where the law is king. The government is of, by, and for the people of the United States. Where did the idea come from that the citizens are hostages to incredibly stupid people and we must pay a ransom or something Worse! Than! Ten! Hitlers! will happen?

If a company is too big to fail then they should not exist--start enforcing the Sherman-Clayton anti-trust act. All golden parachutes for fleeing executives of companies they have crushed must be confiscated by the United States Treasury. Any CEO compensation of companies doing business in America greater than 50 times the amount of the average worker they employ shall be taxed at a rate of 95 percent. Any company receiving so much as a nickel of bailout money must show that the entire board, CEO and all of upper management has completed an approved credit counseling course (like, you know, regular folks filing for bankruptcy, just for humiliation). All corporations are stripped of citizenship.

Those are just a few ideas. Really, congress has got to hear from us regular folks or they will give Hank Paulson a seven hundred billion dollar blank check of taxpayer dollars to reward his Wall Street buddies for their colossally bad judgment. Does anyone think this is a good idea? Does anyone have strings they would like to hook to the money? Let me know what you think.

McCain Losing The Woman Vote

Lilly Ledbetter gives us a clue when she quotes McCain on the issue of equal work for equal pay. McCain dismissed the wage gap between men and women by saying women just "need education and training." With patronizing comments like that, no wonder Obama/Biden lead McCain/Palin in the polls by 16 points among women voters.

Bush Proposes Income Redistribution

A massive $700 Billion wealth redistribution plan comes on the heels of nationalizing the largest and most powerful insurance company in the country and will virtually seize control of the mortgage industry as well as huge chunks of financial services. This is by far the most radical departure of fundamental American principles during the Bush era, which is not a small thing. Captains of Industry, Masters of The Universe, also known as Wall Street speculators demanded and received removal of key regulations. Now that their orgy of gambling has reached epic proportions in losses, those who were not responsible (you) are asked to pay for their losses.

The Plan, which in typical Bush simpleness, is only three pages long. I can make it even simpler. Hank Paulson, Bush's treasury secretary, demands the taxpayers give seven hundred billion dollars to his crooked Wall Street buddies. Here is the best part:

Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.

So, Hank wants a seven hundred billion dollar blank check of tax payer money just handed to him as he emerges from a phone booth after a quick wardrobe change. Somehow, this does not seem like a good idea to me.

In fact, it is the exact opposite of a good idea. Unfortunately, virtually all of those in power who will vote on this piece of shit idea are beholden to the same corporations who have run our government for decades. These are the corporations who also own our media outlets who have completely ignored the dramatic and breathtaking change this bailout/nationalization and what it means to America, choosing to focus on saving us from economic doom by adopting the Bush Plan.

We are all being punked, played for saps, suckers and chumps. Witness the wild orgy of trading on Wall Street Friday after it was announced the little people will clean up their mess. Absolutely no public official who votes to take money out of my pocket and give it to the Wall Street crooks deserves to stay in office.

Fact Free Punditry

Oklahoman blogger, Red S. Tater, cut-n-pasted a complete article by Amanda Platelle from the UK mail online. Her headline compares Palin to Lady Di and her article makes further comparisons of Palin to Madonna, the Pope, deemed her epic, heroic, astonishing and carrying the hopes of a nation on her shoulders.

Okay, fine, it is understandable to cheerlead for your candidate, but the idolatry here is a tad strong. The problem I have are several completely false statements Amanda makes and Red parrots. Here are just a few:

And here (Palin) is a campaigner who next week will man the barricades at a public protest against Iran's President Ahmadinejad.

False. This was posted over at Politico two days before your article, and was indeed widely known to everyone awake:

The organizers of an anti-Iran rally Monday rescinded their invitation to Alaska Governor Sarah Palin after Democrats protested that her presence would turn the event into a political rally, McCain campaign and Jewish community sources said.

But the real whopper in the whole article is this one:

Women are traditionally more likely to vote than men. And recent polls show most women prefer the McCain/Palin ticket by a margin of anything up to 20 per cent.

One explanation is the Hillary factor. Disgruntled by Obama's rejection of Mrs Clinton, many of Hillary's female supporters, especially the swing voters, are switching to Palin.

Hillary had 10 million women vote for her in the Democratic primaries. There's a lot to play for - and Palin is playing them like a maestro.

Amanda has made a sweeping claim, backed up by "recent polls" that she fails to cite. It brings to mind the belief that "80 percent of all statistics are made up on the spot." A recent poll conducted by CBS/NYT suggest the exact opposite of what Amanda claims. Before McCain picked Palin to be his running mate, McCain enjoyed a 7-point lead among white women. After the Palin pick Obama closed the 7-point gap and pulled ahead by 2 points with white women and leads by an impressive 16 points among all women.

The Red's and Amanda's of the world love to parade around making claims that "the left" and "liberal elitists" hate and despise Governor Palin without citing a single example. It is a typical rightwing ploy of feigned victimization and mock outrage to distract from the actual records of their leaders. And the records of John McCain and Sarah Palin are simply unworthy of support.

Bailout

The Republican mantra of deregulation is the primary cause of our current economic meltdown. The central core of the Republican philosophy is "get government off our backs," as Ronald Reagan famously put it, "The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.'" This macho anti-government mantra, ironically, put people in office who did not believe in government. As a result of the deregulation orgy of our financial markets, unregulated predators armed with highly sophisticated and complex mortgage schemes were unleashed on the American people.

The predators were not concerned with the loans being repaid since they received all of their money upon closing of the loan, and bundling them all up and reselling them on the stock market, nestled comfortably between pensions and the space reserved for the privatization scheme of social security. Now, all those who are so "terrified" of governmental "help" are, well, asking the government for help.

The bill for this will be astronomical, and the Republicans performed exactly as their clients asked, namely to remove "cumbersome government regulations" so they would be free to pillage as they saw fit. In return for services rendered, Republican clients reward them with huge bribes, also called contributions, to run ads back home against "Teh Gay" and abortionists, eevil libruls and down home values.

A perfect example of this is Jim Inhofe, the United States Senator from Oklahoma. One of the most reliable of rubbery stamps for the Bush Economic Miracle (over 90 percent) and his corporate benefactors, Inhofe has drawn the scrappy progressive challenger Andrew Rice. Predictably, Inhofe points to Rice's state senate record of supporting more rights and freedom, or to put it another way, getting government out of Oklahoma citizens personal lives, and smears Andrew as advancing the gay/abortion agenda.

This is in the hopes of trying to deflect attention away from Inhofe's own extremist views and voting record, like opposing virtually any bill that would have benefited our military. From body armor to up-armored vehicles to increased funding for the VA to increased time between deployments, Inhofe has a perfect record of voting against those in the military. I have noticed a couple of Veteran organizations have endorsed Inhofe and have not had time to discover why. One of them endorses almost exclusively republicans, and frankly, any veterans organization that would endorse anyone with such a horrible voting record toward veterans should be suspect.

Ask The Question

Wolf Blitzer of CNN had The Donald on the Situation Room today and asked him about Sarah Palin. Donald Trump gushed effusively about Governor Palin and had harsh words for Joe Biden. We wonder what he would do if one of his apprentices built a building on land without a clear title.
From a report filed by Randi Kaye, a CNN reporter:

WASILLA, Alaska (CNN) -- The sports complex that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's supporters call her most visible legacy as mayor of her hometown left the town paying inflated prices for the land and huge legal bills, according to court records.

The complex features a soccer field, a running track and an indoor hockey rink with heated seats. Palin campaigned for a sales tax increase to finance the $14.7 million project, winning approval for the half-cent levy by a margin of 20 votes.

Palin is now the Republican nominee for vice president. Her supporters call the arena the crowning achievement of her 1996-2002 tenure as mayor.

"She really was very, very passionate about this right from the start," Wasilla Recreation Manager Bruce Urban said.

But the city never obtained clear property to the title until this year, after a lengthy court battle with developer Gary Lundgren, who owned part of the land on which the complex sits.
[...]

So, Donald, in your world is Sarah Palin a keeper? How about some more information on her management skills and business acumen...

[...]
"She inherited the city with no debt, and suddenly we have a lot of debt," she said. "I don't think that labels her as a true fiscal conservative."
[...]

Of course the term that does define her is "credit card conservative," of the neocon Bush/Cheney mold. Here is the bottom line, Donald:

[...]

The city originally paid $145,000 for part of the land. The rest of it was valued at about $21,000.

It ended up paying more than $1.5 million, not counting its own legal fees.

[...]

Not a very impressive showing if you ask me. I couldn't believe the whole segment. The Donald looked like a foolish hack and Wolf looked like a fanboy.

Second Best; Try Harder

It has come to my attention that my blog is the second most influential in the state of Oklahoma on a per post basis (i.e. maxximus impactus, minimus verbiage). I have no idea what kind of yardstick they use over at BNN, but it is good to have one. I promise to only use my powers for good.

Zookeepers

If a zookeeper felt the cages and walls and glass walls of the zoo was too confining and decided to smash the glass and walls and cut the bars of the cages, in effect, de-regulating his zoo, would he be a good zookeeper?

Of course, many of his customers would get killed and many of his charges, the animals, would suffer the same fate.

Funny how so many of the captains of industry rail against the walls until they are removed, only to find ashes and dust in the very near future. Like Keating, Lehman, AIG, Freddie and Fannie.

Regulations are not just to protect the consumer, but to protect the regulated as well.

Truck drivers, of which I are one, are regulated. Most get paid by the mile, some get paid a percentage of the load, and even fewer get paid by the hour. We are regulated by hour of service and we must, by federal law, keep logbooks to conform to the law.

In effect, the Federal Government, in a very real sense, limits the income of truck drivers by limiting the amount of miles/hours one can drive in a day/week. What business does the Gubmint have limiting the money I earn?

It may become unpleasant if a whole herd of 80,000 lbs trucks came barreling through your neighborhood, the drivers coked to the gills on their third west-coast turnaround since the last time they visited a pillow.

We live in this zoo. Republican toolboxes contain torches and sledgehammers and hacksaws and "fundamentally" believe Americans are strong enough to walk through this meatgrinder.

Or, you can just vote for Democrats.

Fundamentals

On the day that the stock market suffered the second largest loss since 9/11, Senator McCain quoted Herbert Hoover by declaring the fundamentals of our economy are strong. Ignoring the loss of over 600,000 jobs this year, gas prices so high those out of work cannot afford to look for new ones, massive trade deficits, crushing national debt, startling home foreclosure rates, across the board inflation in everything except real wages, I was puzzled at his claim.

He cleared it up by saying he was talking about me. The "fundamentals" John McCain was talking about was the American worker, which is what I am.

That's right, OilFundamentalGuy is the fundamental John McCain was talking about. My puzzlement increased, as no one has ever called me a fundamental before.

Of course this is the same ridiculous Rove/Bush ploy used against opponents of the Iraq war. McCain, clearly in the Phil Gramm mode of seeing all of this as a "mental recession" thinks he can cheerlead massive failures away by saying "Go Team Go!" McCain simply changes the definition of what he said so those who laugh in his face, in the Mcain/Bush/Rove playbook, hate American workers.

McCain was scrambling so hard to hit the right notes to correct his obvious elitism, he was opposed to excessive government regulations on one network interview and in favor of excessive government regulation on another network within one hour.

The bottom line in all of this is these are serious times. We now see the fruits of the labor of the failed economic policies of the Republican Revolution for the past twenty years. No Republican at all should feel safe in this environment.

It's The Economy, Stupid

Since the benefits of the Bush Economic Miracle, that McCain promises to continue, are in full flower, it is important to lay out what is occurring in plain English. The safeguards that were put into place in the aftermath of the Great Depression were removed because the "Social Darwinists" prevailed after a twenty year and $200 million lobbying campaign in congress purchased enough politicians to unleash the predators on the American consumer.

See, not all regulations are bad.

Case in point is the Glass-Steagall Act, which placed a firewall between those who take deposits (commercial banks) and investment banks. What happened in the Great Depression is the fictional account holder (I'll call him John) had ten grand worth of stocks in RCA. At the time, RCA was the dot com of the era, radio being big shit and all. Now John, bought this stock on the margins, meaning he didn't have to shell out ten grand at the time, just a small percentage of it.

John hears from his sisters next door neighbors cousin's babysitter that there is an even hotter stock, so he goes to his bank to purchase those stocks. His only collateral is his ten grand in RCA, which is gold, right? So they happily loan him money to buy more speculative stocks on the margins (a percentage of the worth).

See the problem here? A cascading effect occurred which caused a massive depression. The removal of the Glass-Steagall act is named after its primary opponent, Phil Gramm, who is McCain's recently dismissed, but completely adored, chief economic adviser. Mr. Gramm is the one who said Americans are "a nation of whiners" and said this is merely a "mental recession."

It is easy to parade around like the Phil Gramms of the world, scolding people for their lack of work ethic and questioning their mental fitness, especially when his boss has so many homes he can't even recall how many. The hard part is just being a regular person and fighting against these $200 million lobbying efforts which purchases avenues allowing predators to rape, pillage and plunder our economic infrastructure.

Make no mistake, the individuals that benefited from the "Bush-McCain Economic Miracle" have achieved generational wealth. We need some Change We Can Believe In.

We Are Not Amused

One thing that I have learned is to not be a passive reader. With a background in journalism, I understand what a summary lead is and the inverted pyramid style of news writing. I tend to get miffed when the lede is buried, and many times wonder if the reporter is merely stupid, lazy, or just outright biased.

Jamison Foser, over at Media Matters, does an outstanding job of showing exactly how this is done citing a single example at The Washington Post:

Here's an example: Yesterday, The Washington Post ran an article about McCain's attacks on Obama, including his false charge that Obama's use of the phrase "lipstick on a pig" was a sexist reference to Sarah Palin. Paragraphs 1, 5, 6, and 7 contained the allegation in various forms. Paragraphs 9 and 10 were about McCain allies saying the attacks were working. Paragraph 11 finally brought the first indication that the attack wasn't true.

Constructing the article that way privileges the false claim. Readers have it drummed into their heads, over and over again, before they finally see a fleeting suggestion that it isn't true.

So how else could the Post have constructed that article? Well, the article could have begun not with an unchallenged recitation of McCain's false claim, but with a very different frame: "John McCain launched another dishonest attack on Barack Obama, the latest in a long line of claims that have been debunked and denounced by neutral observers as false, misleading, and in some cases, lies." It could have gone on to detail the growing body of evidence that McCain is running a dishonest campaign and to note that McCain risks being seen as a serial liar who will say anything to get elected.

Sound judgmental? Maybe. But it's quite consistent with coverage of Al Gore in 2000 -- coverage about things he said that were not actually false.

So we have someone running for President, who dubs all his vehicles, buses, jets, whatever, to be The Straight Talk Express, who is in truth a serial prevaricator. One would think a cub reporter would be able to write a story about the conflict and contrast of the imagery versus the reality.

Of course, they don't let cub reporters anywhere near these guys, because their are rules, or something.

Go read Jamison's whole article.

Andrew Vs Inhofe

In todays bumper sticker campaign sloganeering, our incumbent and challenger for United States Senator for Oklahoma have chosen their theme's. It seems Oklahoma Republican Senator James Inhofe is claiming victimhood of being a Hollywood target, and Democratic challenger Andrew Rice is claiming Inhofe has "gone Washington."

I find it odd that an incumbent with far superior name recognition, a vastly superior campaign warchest stuffed full of oil money can whine effectively about being a victim. We remember Mickey Edwards campaign, full of whine and pathetic pleas for help. It didn't save his job because a public servant works for us, not the other way around.

Certainly Al Gore receiving an Emmy for his "Inconvenient Truth" brings into focus Hollywood due to Inhofe's staunch ridicule of climate change, and perhaps he needs to point westward to deflect attention away from his support of those benefiting from high gas prices and the Republican reign of an economy in DEFCON 2.

Andrew Rice's claim that Inhofe has "gone Washington" is an apt description for an incumbent Senator that has been one of the most rubbery stamps for the failed Bush agenda. I would like to see a picture of David Boren handing his broom to Rice.

Firing Up The Base

It was bound to happen. Jim Inhofe, the seasoned Senator from Oklahoma made another ridiculous comment, which should not be surprising coming from such a ridiculous person. This time, the senile Senator questioned Senator Obama's patriotism. A blogger who goes by SusanG at the Daily Kos posted his slur and asked fellow Kossacks to donate fundage to Andrew Rice, the Democrat with progressive values who is opposing Inhofe. Over $10,000 was raised in less than 24 hours.

Of course Inhofe, being bought and paid for by the energy sector is way ahead in the fund raising department, since the oil and gas industries are the most profitable industries in the history of the planet right now. Inhofe has taken more money from people buying overpriced gas than any other politician who did not run for President this year except for Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky and John Cornyn, R-Texas.

Right from our pockets to the energy lobbyists to Senator James Inhofe. He has earned his pay too, by loudly denouncing the worldwide scientific consensus of climate change. He points to the critics, who are mainly geologists on the energy companies payroll as proof there is no agreement.

It will be a tough fight for Andrew Rice, but State Senator Rice has faced difficulties before. See, he lost his brother in the World Trade Center attack on 9/11. Curiously, he did not fall into the scorched earth policy of the Bush administration and did not endorse the invasion of Iraq, since, well, they had nothing to do with the death of his brother, and the one who did is still unaccounted for.

Inhofe is a supporter of the Iraq invasion and occupation, yet I cannot find a single bill that he voted for that the veterans wanted. Stuff like body armor or up-armored equipment, increased funding for the VA--Inhofe has opposed all of that.

We have a good choice in Andrew, but the huge piles of money all the special interest groups have showered on Inhofe, coupled with our right-wing newspaper, means it will be tough for Rice to get his message through. He needs all of our help and we need to send Inhofe back to Tulsa.

Donate Here.

What We Know About Sarah Palin

She took over as mayor of a small town in Alaska with the population of slightly over 5,000 people and virtually no debt and left office with over $20 million in long term debt, or about $3000 in debt per person. This was primarily due to a sports complex built through an increase in sales tax which Sarah Palin advocated, but not obtaining clear title to the land. A legal battle continues today, which has significantly raised the price. A wastewater treatment facility was needed, but the sports complex is what they got. However, Palin is labeled a "fiscal conservative."

This is in line with the Bush McCain definition of fiscal conservatism as well.

One of the biggest symbols of political pork, the famous "bridge to nowhere" has been roundly renounced by Governor Palin multiple times:

Palin claimed she “championed reform of earmark spending by Congress, and I told the Congress thanks but no thanks on that ‘Bridge to Nowhere,’” she said, ommiting [sic] mention that she’d campaigned for governor supporting the bridge. [Albuquerque, NM, 9/6/08]

PALIN: And I’ve championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress. In fact, I told Congress thanks, but no thanks, on that “Bridge to Nowhere.” [Dayton, OH, 8/29/08]

PALIN: I told the Congress “thanks, but no thanks,” for that Bridge to Nowhere. [St. Paul, MN, 9/3/08]

This is an outright falsehood. Before this particular issue became so radioactive, Governor Palin actively supported it. Is this an example of "straight talk" we can expect from the judgement of John McCain?

Governor Palin is running on the message of "reform" promising to shake-up the good old boy network. As mayor of Wassilla, she hired a lobbying group and received the services of Steven W. Silver, former chief of staff to the recently indicted senior senator of Alaska, Ted Stevens. All told, the small town of Wasilla received nearly $27 million dollars worth of earmarks during Palin's administration.

Indeed, during her tenure as Governor, Alaska continues to lead the nation in federal earmarks on a per capita basis.

I find Sarah Palin's claims about being a reformer, being against pork and willing to shake up the good old boys network to be disingenuous. Hopefully, she will address these inconsistencies soon by sitting down with someone who will ask her to square these things up. Hopefully, they will stay away from her personal life.

Another Case For Blogger Ethics Panel

A local blogger takes me to the woodshed:

He is an embarrassment to all the bloggers whether right or left or undecided.
His use of the N word violates the new more friendly racial tone of our country.

I am deeply offended by his attempt to stir up racial discord.

All my life I have supported equal rights for black Americans in our country.
All my life I have been uncomfortable with the way non blacks treated the people of color.
My first experience with the black community was picking cotton with my family near Atoka, Oklahlma.(sic) The field next to us was filled with black people from white haired Seniors down to 4 year olds moving down the rows.
I asked my Daddy why those dark Indians were not allowed to pick in the field with us. It is because they are N...... and cannot be around white people.
Daddy was wrong and Kitten Stomper is worse than he was.

Although the fried green one did not provide a link, I am guessing he was referring to this post. Of course as any literate person can clearly see, all the racist terms in that post were quotes from Republican/conservatives. I find it rather odd to be called "an embarrassment to all the bloggers whether right or left or undecided," by a blogger that cannot correctly spell the state he calls home. We should not set aside his claim of being "deeply offended" by my "attempt to stir up racial discord."

That's his job, and he works hard at it too with posts like Islamic Marxism...is this the real religion of ObamaNation. He just copies and pastes a Wikipedia article and adds at the bottom, "Perhaps someday scholars will add Baraka Hussien Obama, Junior to this list!"

Not everyone will agree with the policies of Senator Obama, but this kind of attack, making the candidate out to be "the other" one to be feared, merely by childish, baseless fearmongering is the type of thing I was pointing out in my previous post, and the blogger at Fried Green Onions is the exact type of person I was talking about.

One only wonders if Fried Green Onions is "uncomfortable" with the way he treats "the people of color."

McCain Accepts Nomination

A summary of John McCain's acceptance speech:



Ayup.

Further Questions About Governor Palin

I am deeply concerned that John McCain has selected as his running mate someone closely affiliated with a separatist group who has their own National Anthem and does not fly the flag of the United States. This is not a small matter like choosing to wear a lapel pin or not. If someone chooses to belong to a radical separatist group or march in peace rallies is of little concern to me, but when a Presidential nominee chooses his Vice President that is associated with an group who is anti-American at their core, it is a matter of grave concern.

This matter cannot be shouted down as sexist or any other "attack the messenger" modus operandi generally employed by the right-wing. Any dissension about our invasion of Iraq has been met by "troop hater" and "un-American" by Bush apologists and have made careers out of trying to "out-patriot" those who disagree with their positions.

Their standard bearer is John McCain and his very first Presidential decision, indeed the ONLY Presidential decision a candidate can make, is the choice of his second in command who has questionable loyalties to this country.

John McCain cannot salvage this disaster. Even if Governor Palin resigns for "family reasons" it will remain a very black cloud on the judgement of John McCain.

h/t The General

McCain; Noun, Verb, POW

Seems Pappy McCain is a one-trick pony. He answers all questions by bringing up his POW status. When he is criticized for not knowing how many homes he owns, he simply reminds people he remembered when he didn't have a home and was a guest of the Hanoi Hilton. When asked if Americans should get the same kind of health care a Senator gets he quips about the time he got health care from another government. One of his fellow prisoners wishes he would knock it off:

If he does take his fellow prisoners advice, I am assuming he will use his "Onion belt strategy."

He Lost His Dog Whistle

Republicans are usually very clever using code words, dog whistles only rabid followers can understand, which is a trademark of the southern strategy.

Atwater: You start out in 1954 by saying, 'Nigger, nigger, nigger.' By 1968 you can't say 'nigger' - that hurts you. Backfires. So you say stuff like forced busing, states' rights and all that stuff. You're getting so abstract now [that] you're talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you're talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is [that] blacks get hurt worse than whites.

And subconsciously maybe that is part of it. I'm not saying that. But I'm saying that if it is getting that abstract, and that coded, that we are doing away with the racial problem one way or the other. You follow me - because obviously sitting around saying, 'We want to cut this,' is much more abstract than even the busing thing, and a hell of a lot more abstract than 'Nigger, nigger.'

Well, Rep, Lynn Westmoreland, R-GA, decided to throw away the dog whistle:

Westmoreland was discussing vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin’s speech with reporters outside the House chamber and was asked to compare her with Michelle Obama.

“Just from what little I’ve seen of her and Mr. Obama, Sen. Obama, they’re a member of an elitist-class individual that thinks that they’re uppity,” Westmoreland said.

Asked to clarify that he used the word “uppity,” Westmoreland said, “Uppity, yeah.”

He probably isn't even aware the word "uppity" is a racially charged term, and just because he feels Negroes should know their station in life does not make him a racist either.

The case for the next President is clear, Bush's approval ratings are similar to those of several social diseases and explosive diarrhea. John McCain offers more of the same. Senator Obama offers a vastly better choice, but their are a large percentage of Americans desperately searching for the slightest excuse not to vote for a black man. Any nail they can hang their racist cloaks on other than skin color will do. Muslim, patriotism, experience, radical wife/preacher, whatever. Truth does not matter. Hopefully enough Obama supporters will turn out on November 4 to overcome this. I believe he will be our next President, nevertheless, they will nuke him for his entire term(s) so we need to have his back.

Time to drag America into the 21st century.