Right-Wingers Heads Explode

Media Biased Against Obama

The Center for Media and Public Affairs at George Mason University, where researchers have tracked network news content for two decades, found that ABC, NBC and CBS were tougher on Obama than on Republican John McCain during the first six weeks of the general-election campaign.

During the evening news, the majority of statements from reporters and anchors on all three networks are neutral, the center found. And when network news people ventured opinions in recent weeks, 28% of the statements were positive for Obama and 72% negative.

Network reporting also tilted against McCain, but far less dramatically, with 43% of the statements positive and 57% negative, according to the Washington-based media center.

I hate these incompetent assholes

I don't want to sound like a conspiracy minded nut, but it's becoming more and more obvious that the Bush administration didn't WANT to capture Bin Laden. The question is - why?

U.S. let bin Laden's top bodyguard go

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVY BASE, Cuba — Soon after Osama bin Laden's driver got here in 2002, he told interrogators the identity of the al Qaeda chief's most senior bodyguard — then a fellow prison camp detainee.

But, inexplicably, the U.S. let the bodyguard go.

This startling information was revealed in the fourth day of the war crimes trial of Salim Hamdan, 37, facing conspiracy and material support for terror charges as an alleged member of bin Laden's inner circle.

Michael St. Ours, an agent with the Naval Criminal Intelligence Service, NCIS, provided the first tidbit.

Legacy

The White House has “increased its estimate for next year’s deficit to nearly $490 billion, a record figure that will saddle the next president with deepening budget problems in his first year in office.” The rising deficit “marks a sharp turnaround for Bush’s fiscal legacy. He inherited a $128 billion surplus when he came into office.” - Think progress

Bush has been in office almost eight years

So how come the Jerusalem Post seems to think that Barack Obama has a better grasp of foreign policy than Bush does?

Via Crooks and Liars:

Two months ago in the Oval Office, President George W. Bush, coming to the end of a two-term presidency and presumably as expert on Israeli-Palestinian policy as he is ever going to be, was accompanied by a team of no fewer than five advisers and spokespeople during a 40-minute interview with this writer and three other Israeli journalists.

In March, on his whirlwind visit to Israel, Republican presidential nominee John McCain, one of whose primary strengths is said to be his intimate grasp of foreign affairs, chose to bring along Sen. Joe Lieberman to the interview our diplomatic correspondent Herb Keinon and I conducted with him, looked to Lieberman several times for reassurance on his answers and seemed a little flummoxed by a question relating to the nuances of settlement construction.

On Wednesday evening, toward the end of his packed one-day visit here, Barack Obama, the Democratic senator who is leading the race for the White House and who lacks long years of foreign policy involvement, spoke to The Jerusalem Post with only a single aide in his King David Hotel room, and that aide’s sole contribution to the conversation was to suggest that the candidate and I switch seats so that our photographer would get better lighting for his pictures.

Indeed, the Jerusalem Post added that this may have been Obama’s second trip to Israel, but he “knew precisely what he wanted to say about the most intricate issues confronting and concerning Israel, and expressed himself clearly, even stridently on key subjects.”

And just to make it worse...

McCain isn't doing well among Hispanics, either.

While McCain’s support of the immigration bill — which was eventually voted down — appealed to many Hispanics, it infuriated some conservatives. McCain, his campaign then floundering, promised primary voters that he had “got the message,” vowed to prioritize enforcement and even claimed he wouldn’t have voted for his own bill it if was to have come up again.

The shift in tone placated conservatives while infuriating many Hispanics.

According to Gallup

Obama just opened his largest lead so far.

Sen. Barack Obama now leads Sen. John McCain among national registered voters by a 49% to 40%, according to the latest Gallup Tracking Poll.

"The margin, coincident with the extensive U.S. news coverage of Obama's foreign tour, is the largest for Obama over McCain measured since Gallup began tracking the general election horserace in March."

He's flipping like a hooked fish

I mean, we all know that candidates adjust positions while running, but John McFlipFlop is starting to change them every 30 seconds.

CHICAGO, Illinois (CNN) — Sen. John McCain said Sunday he supports an Arizona ballot initiative aimed at ending race- and gender-based preference programs...

But McCain's own campaign refused to say whether it stands by the candidate's announcement that he supports the ballot initiative.

In an interview broadcast on ABC's "This Week," host George Stephanopoulos asked McCain if he supports a referendum on the ballot in his home state "that would do away with affirmative action."

"Yes, I do," he responded. "I do not believe in quotas. But I have not seen the details of some of these proposals. But I've always opposed quotas."

Stephanopoulos asked, "But the one here in Arizona you support?"

"I support it, yes," replied McCain.

McCain did not indicate that he had a standing opposition to such initiatives, or that he was changing his stance by supporting the initiative in Arizona.

His OWN CAMPAIGN refuses to stand by what he said?

How pathetic is that?

"When I use a word," said Humpty Dumpty, "I use it to mean what I want it to mean - no more , no less."

McCain gets desperate early.

The man doesn't even seem to know how to make an attack ad without tripping over his own feet.

This one is so slimy that it's even being disowned by Republicans.

The Republican senator from Nebraska agreed, saying on Face The Nation that the GOP's presumptive nominee is "treading on some very thin ground here when he impugns motives, and when we start to get into 'You're less patriotic than me, I'm more patriotic.'

"They're better off to focus on policy differences," he said.

"It's just not responsible to be saying things like that, again, if for no other reason than for the good of this country and the world.

"One of these two men, on January 20th of next year, is going to have to bring this country together, and the world, to deal with huge problems. I think the next president is going to inherit an inventory of challenges as big as Franklin Roosevelt inherited on March 4, 1933."

Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., who also accompanied Obama to Afghanistan and Iraq this week, called the ad "completely distorted."

"Senator Hagel, Senator Obama and I visited the combat support hospital in Baghdad to thank those nurses, those doctors, to see patients that were there, to bring a bit of greetings from home and profound thanks," he said. "That should be in the ad that Senator McCain is running.

"I think Senator Obama made a very wise choice [about Germany]. Any suggestion that a visit to a military hospital would be political, he made the wise choice not to go.

"But when we were in Baghdad, we made a point, at the end of a very exhausting day, to go in and see these magnificent young Americans and those doctors and nurses that give such tremendous care - without a lot of fanfare, just to say 'Thanks.'

"We went to Jalalabad to see the soldiers of the 173rd. We stopped in Basra to see our soldiers down there. We went into Anbar province to see soldiers there.

"That is a completely distorted and, I think, inappropriate advertisement."

Heh

He is good at sticking it to them, isn't he?

Obama said he was puzzled that the trip would be considered an "audacious" move for a politician less than four years removed from the Illinois state Legislature.

"I basically met with the same folks that John McCain met with after he won the nomination," Obama said. "Nobody suggested that that was audacious. I think people assumed that what he was doing was [talking] to world leaders who we may have deal with should we become president. That's part of the job that I'm applying for."

"I was puzzled by this notion that somehow what we were doing was in any way different from what Senator McCain or a lot of presidential candidates have done in the past," Obama told the journalists. "Now, I admit we did it really well, but that shouldn't be a strike against me."

Friday Night Videos

Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins. Mean Woman Blues and Blue Suede Shoes.

Full text of Obama's Berlin speech

Courtesy of TPM

This is pathetic.

As I said, I'm almost starting to feel sorry for the guy. While Obama is over in the Middle East, riding helicopters and hobnobbing with world leaders, McCain is reduced to riding a golf cart with old man Bush:



Which really makes him look totally clueless as to what things look like.

And as if THAT wasn't bad eneoug, he winds up trying to defend himself by babbling some nonsense in front of the cheese aisle in a supermarket.




Maybe this should be his next campaign commercial:

Meanwhile, back in America...

working people tell John McCain to keep his filthy hands off of Social Security.

Yesterday in Wilkes-Barre upwards of 70 active and retired union members rallied outside a town hall meeting attended by Senator John McCain to spotlight and protest his recent statement that Social Security is “a disgrace.”

Love this part:

Last week media accounts revealed that despite Senator McCain’s views toward Social Security, he received $23,157 in Social Security benefits in 2007, an average of $1,929.75 each month.

Will ANYBODY be watching McCain?

As if there wasn't enough bad news for McCain, the NFL has scheduled its opening game on the same night as his acceptance speech.

I mean, it isn't as if McCain's acceptance speech was expected to make America flock to the TV set without that, anyway.

I'm almost starting to feel sorry for the poor bastard.

Could that be his strategy? To lock up the pity vote?

Nice hat

Does John McCain know ANYTHING?

I mean really - this is the stuff he pretends he's an EXPERT on. Remember - he said himself he didn't know much about the economy.

Anbar Sheik Cited By McCain Was Assassinated Last Year

The major Sunni sheik who John McCain said was protected by the surge and subsequently helped lead the Anbar Awakening, was actually assassinated by an al-Qaeda led group in midst of the surge.

On Tuesday evening, McCain falsely claimed that the downturn in violence in Iraq's Anbar province was a result of the surge, when in fact the surge began months afterward. Moreover, he said, if it weren't for the work of U.S. forces, the major Sunni figure leading that awakening wouldn't have had the protection he needed.

And how'd that work out for you?

From Wonkette

Here's Obama with German Chancellor Angela Merkel:



She's smiling and relaxed because she knows he won't suddenly turn around and start giving her a neck rub:



“Asked at a news conference on Wednesday what she thought of Obama, Merkel responded: ‘I would say that he is well-equipped — physically, mentally and politically.’” [Reuters]

Heh.

Maybe she'd LIKE him to rub her neck.

Obama bin ein berliner.

And that ain't no jelly doughnut.

Propaganda R Us

CBS falsified part of an interview with McCain to cover up the fact that he made a major factual error.



You can email Katie Couric right here.

Liar

As for McCain's claim that Obama's stance on oil drilling is the reason prices are high.

The Doubletalk Express rolls on.

I almost feel sorry for the poor bastard

But only almost

Senator John McCain blasted Barack Obama yesterday on both foreign and domestic policy, charging that his Democratic presidential rival was "completely wrong" on the Iraq war and is stubbornly opposing an expansion of offshore oil drilling. Trying to compete for voters' attention with Obama's high-profile foreign tour, McCain embarked on a tour of his own designed to shore up his standing on the domestic side.

Is it my imagination or does he just seem to flailing and saying that same old shit that nobody wants to hear?

Brain fart.

Do you think that maybe Al Malaki is just having a ball embarrassing Bush in public and making him squirm?

Do you think maybe he's taking a bit of revenge for having to put up with years of condescension from a total asshole?

Do you think that maybe he thinks that forcing Bush to adopt Obama's position is more fun than sex?

Flip. Flop. Flip.

In case you missed it, Al-Maliki said that he supported Obama's timetable.

Then the Bush administration had a "talk" with him, so he said that was misunderstood.

So today, Al-Mailiki's spokesmen said the same thing - they support Obama's timetable.

He may need another little visit from some Bush Family goons, ya think?

McCain thinks there's an Iraq-Pakistani border

Maybe it's me, but I think a guy who wants to be the Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces should look at a map every once in a while.

I...still...LIVE!

Been in Upstate New York, where hippies and alpacas still roam free. I think Bush has a bounty out on both of them, though.

Holy Crap

How out of touch IS John McCain?

Q: But do you go on line for yourself?

Mr. McCain: They go on for me. I am learning to get online myself, and I will have that down fairly soon, getting on myself. I don’t expect to be a great communicator, I don’t expect to set up my own blog, but I am becoming computer literate to the point where I can get the information that I need – including going to my daughter’s blog first, before anything else.

And how long, exactly, do you think it will take you, John, to "get down" the complex task of clicking a mouse?

Judge tells Bush to cut the crap

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A federal judge overseeing Guantanamo Bay lawsuits ordered the Justice Department to put other cases aside and make it clear throughout the Bush administration that, after nearly seven years of detention, the detainees must have their day in court.

Get this: the administration says that they want more time to add to the evidence they are using to hold the detainees.

I love the Judge's reply to that:

"If it wasn't sufficient, then they shouldn't have been picked up."

Apparently, this thing called "America" is a very alien concept to George W. Bush.

But, by making this request, the administration is admitting that they didn't have enough evidence to hold them in the first place.

Click the picture.

War is Peace; Freedom is Slavery; Ignorance is Strength

And Dick Cheney wanted inconvenient facts thrown into the Memory Hole.

WASHINGTON — Vice President Dick Cheney's office pushed for major deletions in congressional testimony on the public health consequences of climate change, fearing the presentation by a leading health official might make it harder to avoid regulating greenhouse gases, a former EPA officials maintains.

Halve Emissions by 2050

So saith the mighty G8.

And color me unimpressed. There is no decision about when they will BEGIN this "halving," only a resolution to cut it after most of them are dead. How about resolving to do something NOW instead of 40 years from now?

Braincell fart

If Bush says that the phone companies need immunity for doing what he asked them to do - isn't he admitting that he told them to break the law?

Just because he's the nominee doesn't mean he should have any say.

The right-wingers are now terrified that McCain may have a hand in crafting the Republican platform.

Conservative activists are preparing to do battle with allies of Sen. John McCain in advance of September's Republican National Convention, hoping to prevent his views on global warming, immigration, stem cell research and campaign finance from becoming enshrined in the party's official declaration of principles.

McCain is "really out of step with the strong majority of his party," said Myron Ebell, director of energy and global warming policy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, which opposes McCain's positions on climate change. "He might get what he wants. And he might get a change. But I don't think it's going to sit well with a lot of Republicans."

Don't expect the "liberal media" to spend much time talking about the fractured Republicans, though. The Beltway Elite LOVE John McCain - he invites them to barbecues and feeds them fried chicken, after all. Washington "reporters" have a VERY low price tag on their souls and their principles, and fried chicken will do it.

Guess who wants a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq?

IRAQ does.

Don't think that a little detail like that makes any difference to the Most Clueless President Ever, though.

Good news, bad news

The good news is that Al-Sadr seems to be rapidly losing influence in Iraq.

The bad news is that the other guys are just as nuts.

The Supreme Council and its allies are in the forefront now while the Sadrists are absent, but we can see signs already that the struggle among the Shiite religious parties will turn into a violent and armed one again, especially in the south," says Azer Naji, director of strategic and political studies at a research center at Basra University in southern Iraq.

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

But I thought we won that one

41 killed by a car bomb in Afghanistan.

Gee - he's a smart guy

Son of a bitch - according to Fearless Leader, the head of a major nation is actually "a smart guy."

Bush seems sort of surprised by that.

At least this time, he didn't claim to have looked into his eyes and seen his soul.

WTF?

But they distort photographs in such a fair and balanced way.

For the Bush was a Boojum, you see.

I guess the Looking Glass wasn't enough.

Evidence Faulted in Detainee Case

By WILLIAM GLABERSON
Published: July 1, 2008

In the first case to review the government’s secret evidence for holding a detainee at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, a federal appeals court found that accusations against a Muslim from western China held for more than six years were based on bare and unverifiable claims. The unclassified parts of the decision were released on Monday.

With some derision for the Bush administration’s arguments, a three-judge panel said the government contended that its accusations against the detainee should be accepted as true because they had been repeated in at least three secret documents.

The court compared that to the absurd declaration of a character in the Lewis Carroll poem “The Hunting of the Snark”: “I have said it thrice: What I tell you three times is true.”

“This comes perilously close to suggesting that whatever the government says must be treated as true,” said the panel of the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Moron-boy said that there were WMDs WAY more than three times.

They don't seem to have shown up, despite having sought them with thimbles and sought them with care; and pursued them with forks and hope.

The Snark turned out to be Boojum.

Now maybe Bush will softly and suddenly vanish away, and never be met with again.

You can't parody these people.

They are walking satires of THEMSELVES. They actually don't realize what total hypocritical jackasses they are.

Sens. Craig and Vitter team up to co-sponsor Marriage Protection Amendment.

Larry Craig and David Vitter — “two United States Senators implicated in extramarital sexual activity” — have named themselves as co-sponsors of S.J. Res. 43, the Marriage Protection Amendment. If passed, the bill would amend the Constitution to declare that marriage “shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman.”

This guy is on the Supreme Court?

"I didn't bring it into the courts. Mr Gore brought it into the courts." - Scalia, on Bush vs. Gore

Any judge who says that should be removed for incompetence. The name of the case is "Bush vs. Gore." Which means that BUSH brought it to the courts. The Plaintiff's name is always first.

Full case name: "George W. Bush and Richard Cheney, Petitioners v. Albert Gore, Jr., et al."

Scalia doesn't KNOW that?

Is anyone in the press going to call him on it?

A reason to like San Francisco

Heh.

Efforts to rename sewage plant after Bush

A group activists wants to rename one of San Francisco's wastewater treatment facilities the "George W. Bush Sewage Plant."

Members of the Presidential Memorial Commission tell the San Francisco Chronicle that they've already collected 8,500 signatures on a petition to put the proposal before voters this November. If it passes, the Oceanside Water Pollution Control Plant would be renamed when the new president takes office in January.

"It's a very simple yes or no question, and there's no real fiscal impact- just the cost of relettering the sign in front of the plant," organizer Brian McConnell tells the Chronicle. "This is the way the democratic process is supposed to work, even though it's a silly idea in some people's eyes."

As The New York Times notes in its story about the initiative, this is "an honor that Bush is unlikely to embrace."

There's only one problem with naming a Sewage Treatment Plant after George W. Bush:

Sewage Treatment Plants are useful.

Six years

Court rules in favor of Chinese Muslim held at Gitmo

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A federal appeals court ruled Monday that a Chinese Muslim held by the U.S. military was improperly labeled an "enemy combatant" by the Pentagon.

The decision throws into serious doubt the underlying reasons for keeping Hazaifa Parhat in custody for more than six years.

Six years.

Six years, and FINALLY this poor bastard is allowed to say, "You made a mistake - I'm not a terrorist."

He wasn't ALLOWED to do that before. Not in George Bush's America. In Bush's America, an accused man is not allowed to defend himself.

And, according to the court, he's NOT a terrorist. They fucked up. Like they have done again and again and again. They fucked up, and ruined an innocent man's life.

Who is going to give this man six years of his life back?

And why the HELL are we expected the trust the Bush Administration to make these decisions accurately when they have been WRONG about EVERYTHING ELSE?

McCain admits that the war was for oil.

"My friends, I will have an energy policy that will we be talking about which will eliminate our dependence on oil from the Middle East that will...that will then prevent us...that will prevent us from having ever to send our young men and women into conflict again in the Middle East."

Holy CRAP, they're incompetent.

They start an Arab TV network - and then they have it run by people who don't speak Arabic and have no idea what's being broadcast. So they end up broadcasting anti-American and anti-Semitic propaganda. Oh, and misplacing tons of money on the way, just for extra fun.

Unbelievable.

The funniest man on the planet just left us.

R.I.P, George.



I cannot tell you how much you are going to be missed.

Heh.

Baracknophobia

Chapter VI: The Media Go Insane

This is maybe the weirdest election I've ever seen. When in the hell have you ever seen a decision about public financing treated as a scandal and turned into headlines?

Obama made ABSOLUTELY the right decision - the one that would give him the most money to campaign with - and that's what has them all reaching for the smelling salts. The Democrat is actually playing to win, and that's not allowed.

As a fine example of the double standard, here's from back in February. You probably don't remember it; it wasn't big news.

Feb. 23, 2008

Sen. John McCain is facing criticism from the government's top campaign finance regulator over his handling of an application for public financing last fall.

Early in the primary season, the Arizona Republican's campaign was almost broke and struggling to raise the type of money his competitors were. He applied for federal matching funds from the Federal Election Commission in order to continue with his campaign.

Now that McCain is the Republican front-runner and raising more money than he would be allowed to use if he took the public funds, he intends to use private donations to continue financing his campaign.

On Thursday, FEC chairman David Mason sent McCain a letter arguing that the candidate might be required to use the public funding until he answers questions about the loan he used to kickstart his campaign.

In his letter, Mason said McCain needs to assure the commission that he did not use the promise of public money to help secure a $4 million line of credit he obtained in November.

In a statement to reporters on Friday, a McCain spokeswoman said that since the campaign never received any money from the federal government, it was free to opt out of the matching funds.

The senator himself, well-known for his campaign-finance reform efforts, expressed no concern about the letter.

The FEC determined that McCain was entitled to at least $5.8 million. However, McCain did not obtain the money, and he notified the FEC earlier this month that he would bypass the system, freeing him from its spending limits.

Opting out of the federal funds would be crucially important to McCain's success, allowing him to spend however much he wants.

But now John McCain is shocked - SHOCKED - that Obama is opting out of the system.

And the press - which buried the above story on page 33, if they mentioned it at all - is now VERY troubled by the same damned thing.

Obama and 9/11

For way the hell too long, the Republicans have acted like they owned 9/11, and the Democrats - because they're idiots - have gone along with it. Despite the fact that by any sane measurement, the Republican response to 9/11 should be a mark of shame, not pride.

Barack Obama seems to get that:

The other side likes to use 9/11 as a political bludgeon. Well, let’s talk about 9/11.

The people who were responsible for murdering 3,000 Americans on 9/11 have not been brought to justice. They are Osama bin Laden, al Qaeda and their sponsors – the Taliban. They were in Afghanistan. And yet George Bush and John McCain decided in 2002 that we should take our eye off of Afghanistan so that we could invade and occupy a country that had absolutely nothing to do with 9/11. The case for war in Iraq was so thin that George Bush and John McCain had to hype the threat of Saddam Hussein, and make false promises that we’d be greeted as liberators. They misled the American people, and took us into a misguided war.

Here are the results of their policy. Osama bin Laden and his top leadership – the people who murdered 3000 Americans – have a safe-haven in northwest Pakistan, where they operate with such freedom of action that they can still put out hate-filled audiotapes to the outside world. That’s the result of the Bush-McCain approach to the war on terrorism.

Democrats get testicles

Rudy gets smacked like the little unprincipled weasel that he is.

The Obama campaign and the DNC struck back at Giuliani for criticizing Obama for pointing out the handling of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing trial as an example of how to deal with terrorists in American courts.

“Democrats are not going to be lectured to on security by the mayor who failed to learn the lessons of the 1993 attacks, refused to prepare his own city’s first responders for the next attack, urged President Bush to put his corrupt crony in charge of our homeland security, and was too busy lobbying for his foreign clients to join the Iraq Study Group,” DNC spokeswoman Karen Finney said. “Rudy Giuliani, can echo the McCain campaign’s false and misleading attacks, but he can’t change the fact that John McCain is promising four more years of President Bush’s flawed and failed policies on everything from energy security and the economy to the war in Iraq.”

But...but...he's America's mayor! He's Rudy 9/11! You aren't supposed to tell the truth about him! You aren't supposed to rip his phony act into little pieces. That's not allowed!

Heh.

No shit

NPR headline:

Nation's Levees May Need Overhaul

National Fourth Amendment Defense Day

Go ye and read.

More Levees Break

In this day and age, when we have the greatest technology ever known to humanity - even AFTER the disaster in New Orleans; even AFTER the collapse of the Minneapolis bridge - they still HAVEN'T learned.

The TINIEST portion of the money we are PISSING AWAY in Iraq - the TINIEST portion of the money that is going to enrich Dick Cheney's bloated, fattened, gluttonous, greedy buddies - could have prevented this.

But nope - that wouldn't make Bush's friends richer, so they DON'T CARE.

Levees from around the world

The Associated Press is the Stupidest Organization in the World

I thought it was the Recording Industry Association of America. I was wrong.

They now want to charge bloggers for excerpting AP articles.

The pricing scale for excerpting AP content begins at $12.50 for 5-25 words and goes as high as $100 for 251 words and up. Nonprofit organizations and educational institutions enjoy a discounted rate.

FIVE WORDS.

"Hello. How do you do?"

$12.50

There is, of course, no doubt that this will last fro an even shorter time than when the New York Times blocked access to Maureen Down and Paul Krugman, and for the same reason - the sudden realization that "Shit! Nobody is reading us." Everybody on the planet will just quote Reuters, and nobody will read AP articles anymore.

I guess I'll quote Reuters instead of AP, too. It IS tempting, though, to just quote AP anytime I damned well please, but marqueed top and bottom with "The Associated Press Sucks."

That would be juvenile, though, wouldn't it?

GOP Tactics are why Bin Laden is free

Thus saith Obama.

Bush: Terrorist Recruiter

[T]here are serving U.S. flag-rank officers who maintain that the first and second identifiable causes of U.S. combat deaths in Iraq — as judged by their effectiveness in recruiting insurgent fighters into combat — are, respectively the symbols of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo. - Former Naval Counsel Albert Mora

Cute little old ladies get married

Obviously, they are a major threat to the world as we know it. The next thing you know, they'll be buying groceries and watching television.

Gore Endorses Obama

Al Gore to appear with Obama at Detroit rally

FLINT, Mich. - Former Vice President Al Gore, a highly respected figure in the U.S. Democratic party, was set on Monday to appear at a Detroit rally with presidential candidate Barack Obama, where he will pledge to do all he can to help Obama win the White House.

“Over the past 18 months, Barack Obama has united a movement. He knows change does not come from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue or Capitol Hill. It begins when people stand up and take action,” Gore said in a letter to his supporters, asking them to help him raise money for Obama.

*sigh*

Let's Pretend

I'm Voting Republican

I'm Voting Republican

Fight the smears

Barack Obama has set up a website designed to expose false rumors and smears.


http://www.fightthesmears.com

Obama on the Separation of Church and State

I heard some buzz from secular folks worried a bit that Obama has a pretty blatant reach-out to religious folks.

If your one of them, this may answer your questions:

The laws and Constitution are designed to survive, and remain in force, in extraordinary times.

High Court sides with Guantanamo detainees again

"The laws and Constitution are designed to survive, and remain in force, in extraordinary times." = Judge Kennedy

What bothers me is that this even needs to be SAID. How the hell did we get so screwed up as a nation that the idea above actually had to go to the SUPREME COURT? And MIGHT have been voted down - it was actually CLOSE.

This USED to be elementary school civics. I mean, they've been holding people for SIX YEARS. And not charging them with anything. You can't hold people indefinitely and refuse to say what for. Holy crap. What were other four thinking? That the Almighty Government can just anything they damned well please?

I like this, too:

"The White House had no immediate comment on the ruling. White House press secretary Dana Perino, traveling with President Bush in Rome, said the administration was reviewing the opinion."

He's "reviewing the opinion"? For what? Does he think that he has the final say over it?

He probably DOES think that.

Obama's Baby Mama

Fair and balanced.

Okay - so what are the Democrats going to do

Nice to see how those fiscally responsible Republicans have LOST 23 billion dollars of taxpayers' money.

Gee, maybe it was actually STOLEN, and they looked the other way. Ya think?

This is insanely frustrating. The criminality is right there, everybody knows it's right there, and the only people in a position to do something about it do nothing.

BBC uncovers lost Iraq billions

A BBC investigation estimates that around $23bn (£11.75bn) may have been lost, stolen or just not properly accounted for in Iraq.

The BBC's Panorama programme has used US and Iraqi government sources to research how much some private contractors have profited from the conflict and rebuilding.

A US gagging order is preventing discussion of the allegations.

The order applies to 70 court cases against some of the top US companies.

While President George W Bush remains in the White House, it is unlikely the gagging orders will be lifted.

To date, no major US contractor faces trial for fraud or mismanagement in Iraq.

Henry Waxman, who chairs the House committee on oversight and government reform, said: "The money that's gone into waste, fraud and abuse under these contracts is just so outrageous, it's egregious.

"It may well turn out to be the largest war profiteering in history."

In the run-up to the invasion, one of the most senior officials in charge of procurement in the Pentagon objected to a contract potentially worth $7bn that was given to Halliburton, a Texan company which used to be run by Dick Cheney before he became vice-president.

Unusually only Halliburton got to bid - and won.

So there's Waxman, calling it "egregious." Ok - so whatcha gonna do about it? Act indignant?

"I’m not informed enough on it. Let me find out. You know, I’m sure I’ve taken a position on it on the past. I have to find out what my position was. Brian, would you find out what my position is on contraception?" - John "Straight Talk" McCain

What an idiot

Bush REGRETS talking like a swaggering asshole.

With his historical legacy clearly in sight, after tens of thousands of American soldiers, Afghans and Iraqis and others - sometimes whole, innocent families - have been killed or maimed for life in different aspects of his aimless "war on terror," George W. Bush has told interviewers at the British daily, the Times, that he "regrets" the "bitter divisions" his war-making policies have caused and that he is "troubled about how his country [has] been misunderstood." He told the newspaper's reporters: "I think that, in retrospect, I could have used a different tone, a different rhetoric."

The paper notes that Bush "admitted to the Times that his gun-slinging rhetoric made the world believe that he was a 'guy really anxious for war' in Iraq. He said that his aim now was to leave his successor a legacy of international diplomacy for tackling Iran. Phrases such as 'bring them on' or 'dead or alive' he said, 'indicated to people that I was, you know, not a man of peace.'

You're NOT a man of peace, OBVIOUSLY, you clueless jerk. You ARE really anxious for war. You did everything POSSIBLE to make sure you got to start one, REMEMBER? Including bullshitting like there was no tomorrow about what your own intelligence people said, REMEMBER?

Remember THIS?

Minutes before the speech [announcing the start of the Iraq war], an internal television monitor showed the president pumping his fist. "Feels good," he said.

Man of peace not anxious for war, my ass.

And notice how he presents the quote: "dead or alive." That's it. Just "dead or alive."

No, Georgie, what you said was, "OSAMA BIN LADEN, dead or alive." Why didn't you mention the first part, Georgie? Hmmmmmmmmmmm?

John McCain Video

This is brutal. Send it to everyone you know.

Ho! On the Port Side. A Congressman with balls!

One Congressman. Two balls. A rare combination.

Rep. Kucinich introduces Bush impeachment resolution

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Rep. Dennis Kucinich, a former Democratic presidential contender, said Monday he wants the House to consider a resolution to impeach President Bush.

I KNOW it won't go anywhere, but sometimes you the right thing to do is just speak the truth and get it out there.

Scotty is going to testify

Former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan, whose scathing memoir about his time in the Bush administration sent waves through Washington D.C., has agreed to testify before the House Judiciary Committee, a senior committee official told The Huffington Post.

If you listen closely, you can hear the dulcet sounds of shredding paper, sweat dripping, fingers pointing and knives entering backs.

It's the economy, stupid.

And Obama just delivered an economic smackdown of John McCain and George W. Bush

Water on Mars

Wow. This is the first photo ever actually showing water on Mars.

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0504/WaterOnMars2_gcc.jpg

Health Food

McDonald's is taking steps to make their food healthier.

They're temporarily removing the tomatoes.

That's right - the tomatoes.

Of all the things that they finally took health steps over.

No problem feeding you a cow that's taken about 6 pounds of drugs per day since birth.

No problem grounding up and breading some mystery meat and calling it "fish."

No problem with frying potatoes in a three-day-old pot of fat.

But they worry about the tomatoes.

Well, isn't that special

Lawyer: U.S. Destroyed Gitmo Torture Notes
Charges Arise In Case Against Canadian Man Detained When He Was 15

(AP) The Pentagon urged interrogators at Guantanamo Bay to destroy handwritten notes in case they were called to testify about potentially harsh treatment of detainees, a military defense lawyer said Sunday.

Nice touch

Barack Obama has a "Thank You Hillary" page up, which includes his response to Senator Clinton's endorsement.

He also a big "Thank You Hillary" right on his home page, but you don't see it until you skip over the donation request.

Hillary supports Obama

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama had a private meeting last night.

The nerve of them, not letting the press in on it. Our Beltway Blowhards must be VERY hurt.

Ok - they lied

We knew that. It's now confirmed by the Phase II report.

The question is: can this story FINALLY get legs so that American citizens are informed of what sort of filthy chicanery started this filthy war?

Here's Keith Olbermann and Richard Clarke, transcript courtesy of Liberal Oasis:

OLBERMANN: I use the word lie. The [Senate] report does not use the word lie. Are there lies?

CLARKE: There certainly are and this is a big report. What it says is statements by the president were not substantiated by intelligence. And then it stays statements by the president were contradicted by available intelligence. In other words, they made things up. And they made them up and gave them to Colin Powell and others who believed them.

I think Colin Powell did not know he was lying, but he was. He was given intelligence that people in the intelligence community at the time knew were not true. This is not a case of 20/20 hindsight. This is a case of what was available then.

The National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq and weapons of mass destruction was read by seven senators before they voted to go to war. And one was the chairman of the intelligence committee, Bob Graham, who read it and went to the floor of the Senate and said, I read it. I'm chairman of the Intelligence Committee. It's not persuasive. There's not a good case here for this war.

So people had the opportunity at the time, if they were reading the intelligence that was available to them. And to say that this is only something that we could have known years later, it's just not true.

OLBERMANN: We knew about Senator Graham's doubts. We already knew about the dissident intel agencies, the doubts about the aluminum tubes were instantaneous, the doubts about the clandestine meetings in Germany that never happened. What are we to make now, in the light of the political realities of today, of Senator McCain's undiminished enthusiasm for and defense of war, and specifically this remarkable claim that every intel assessment of the time was screaming WMD?

CLARKE: Senator McCain's statements are contradicted by the facts too, the facts in a Senate report, the facts that Republican senators voted for. He is a big proponent of the war but he is also now justifying the intelligence claims of the president, which now we have the evidence, we have the proof, four years too late, that those statements were flat-out wrong. And these weren't close calls. They made things up.

Phase II, in which Doris gets her oats

“Before taking the country to war, this Administration owed it to the American people to give them a 100 percent accurate picture of the threat we faced. Unfortunately, our Committee has concluded that the Administration made significant claims that were not supported by the intelligence. In making the case for war, the Administration repeatedly presented intelligence as fact when in reality it was unsubstantiated, contradicted, or even non-existent. As a result, the American people were led to believe that the threat from Iraq was much greater than actually existed.” - Jay Rockefeller, commenting on the Phase II report on Pre-War Intelligence

Here's the actual report.


When asked about this, Dana Perino said (ready?):

"PERINO: That dissent amongst experts within the intelligence community at some level did not reach the president."

Wow. The President of the United States was out of the loop.

Some defense.

Record foreclosures

It appears the housing slump is deepening, as home foreclosures and late payments continue to set records.

According to the Mortgage Bankers Association's first-quarter report, more than 1 million homes across the country were in foreclosure as of March 31.

Of course, according to the Republicans, this does NOT indicate that there is anything wrong with the economy. Everything is just GREAT. It HAS to be, because...well, because their ideology says it MUST be.

It's like a religion without a god. Or a religion where God is The Market. Mammon himself.

And that is the basic problem with Republican economics: their ideas don't work, and they can't change those ideas, because it is a religion.

Their Republican Religion says that the Market is A PANACEA.

Their Republican Religion says that Government solutions are ALWAYS BAD.

REALITY, of course, says that sometimes one is the best tool, sometimes the other.

But the Republican Party has now taken an ideological economic position that is AS EXTREME AS IT IS POSSIBLE TO BE.

And of COURSE that doesn't work. No more than Communism - which is the equal and opposite error - works.

And they can't change.

The Democrats on the other hand - for all their faults - at least recognize the idea of BALANCE in economics, and are therefore able to ADJUST WHAT THEY DO to deal with pragmatic reality.

Which is why Republicans policies turn everything FUBAR. The economy, foreign policy, everything.

Is Matt Drudge Supporting Obama?

From Politico

The man sickens me like the smell of rotten meat, but he actually has influence.

Clever dude

When Obama gave his unofficial acceptance speech, he gave it in precisely the same arena where John McCain will give his official acceptance speech in Denver Minneapolis.

This will mean that the news media will compare and contrast the two speeches.

This means that Obama may well have overshadowed McCain's speech before he's even given it.

And I doubt that that was an accident.

"Every gut instinct Bush had was wildly off the mark and hideously damaging to all concerned. It seems that if you trust your gut without ever feeding your gut any facts or news or contrary opinions, if you keep your gut on a steady diet of grandiosity, ignorance, sycophants, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, those snap decisions can be ruinous." - Maureen Dowd

Senator Clinton will suspend her campaign on Friday Saturday

As Red Skelton said, "Good night, and God Bless."

If she isn't the pick for Veep (Obama may not offer it; if he does, she may not want it), wouldn't she make a GREAT Senate Majority Leader?

UPDATE: In my email, from Senator Clinton's campaign:

On Saturday, I will hold an event in Washington D.C. to thank everyone who has supported my campaign. Over the course of the last 16 months, I have been privileged and touched to witness the incredible dedication and sacrifice of so many people working for our campaign. Every minute you put into helping us win, every dollar you gave to keep up the fight meant more to me than I can ever possibly tell you.

On Saturday, I will extend my congratulations to Senator Obama and my support for his candidacy. This has been a long and hard-fought campaign, but as I have always said, my differences with Senator Obama are small compared to the differences we have with Senator McCain and the Republicans.

I have said throughout the campaign that I would strongly support Senator Obama if he were the Democratic Party's nominee, and I intend to deliver on that promise.

When I decided to run for president, I knew exactly why I was getting into this race: to work hard every day for the millions of Americans who need a voice in the White House.

I made you -- and everyone who supported me -- a promise: to stand up for our shared values and to never back down. I'm going to keep that promise today, tomorrow, and for the rest of my life.

I will be speaking on Saturday about how together we can rally the party behind Senator Obama. The stakes are too high and the task before us too important to do otherwise.

I know as I continue my lifelong work for a stronger America and a better world, I will turn to you for the support, the strength, and the commitment that you have shown me in the past 16 months. And I will always keep faith with the issues and causes that are important to you.

In the past few days, you have shown that support once again with hundreds of thousands of messages to the campaign, and again, I am touched by your thoughtfulness and kindness.

I can never possibly express my gratitude, so let me say simply, thank you.

Sincerely,

Hillary Rodham Clinton

McCain Speech: "That was AWFUL!"

Also Sprach Jeff Toobin

Lime-Green McCain

Just thought I'd point out that while Barack Obama gave an absolutely great speech last night, John McCain...well...didn't.

"Atrios: "It'll make you look like the cottage cheese in a lime jello salad. Always a good look for an older gentlemen... The aesthetics of McCain's speech, just mercifully completed before a slightly energized crowd of literally dozens, was awesome in how dreadful it was. No matter what Harold Ford thinks, who was somehow thoroughly moved by lime-jello McCain."

Here is a rather hysterical and brutal exceprting of the "Worst. Speech. Evar."

If Obama rhymed with Montana, I could write a great headline.

Obama won Montana, and he now is officially the presumptive nominee.

Remarks as prepared:


Tonight, after fifty-four hard-fought contests, our primary season has finally come to an end.

Sixteen months have passed since we first stood together on the steps of the Old State Capitol in Springfield, Illinois. Thousands of miles have been traveled. Millions of voices have been heard. And because of what you said - because you decided that change must come to Washington; because you believed that this year must be different than all the rest; because you chose to listen not to your doubts or your fears but to your greatest hopes and highest aspirations, tonight we mark the end of one historic journey with the beginning of another - a journey that will bring a new and better day to America. Tonight, I can stand before you and say that I will be the Democratic nominee for President of the United States.

I want to thank every American who stood with us over the course of this campaign - through the good days and the bad; from the snows of Cedar Rapids to the sunshine of Sioux Falls. And tonight I also want to thank the men and woman who took this journey with me as fellow candidates for President.

At this defining moment for our nation, we should be proud that our party put forth one of the most talented, qualified field of individuals ever to run for this office. I have not just competed with them as rivals, I have learned from them as friends, as public servants, and as patriots who love America and are willing to work tirelessly to make this country better. They are leaders of this party, and leaders that America will turn to for years to come.

That is particularly true for the candidate who has traveled further on this journey than anyone else. Senator Hillary Clinton has made history in this campaign not just because she's a woman who has done what no woman has done before, but because she's a leader who inspires millions of Americans with her strength, her courage, and her commitment to the causes that brought us here tonight.

We've certainly had our differences over the last sixteen months. But as someone who's shared a stage with her many times, I can tell you that what gets Hillary Clinton up in the morning - even in the face of tough odds - is exactly what sent her and Bill Clinton to sign up for their first campaign in Texas all those years ago; what sent her to work at the Children's Defense Fund and made her fight for health care as First Lady; what led her to the United States Senate and fueled her barrier-breaking campaign for the presidency - an unyielding desire to improve the lives of ordinary Americans, no matter how difficult the fight may be. And you can rest assured that when we finally win the battle for universal health care in this country, she will be central to that victory. When we transform our energy policy and lift our children out of poverty, it will be because she worked to help make it happen. Our party and our country are better off because of her, and I am a better candidate for having had the honor to compete with Hillary Rodham Clinton.

There are those who say that this primary has somehow left us weaker and more divided. Well I say that because of this primary, there are millions of Americans who have cast their ballot for the very first time. There are Independents and Republicans who understand that this election isn't just about the party in charge of Washington, it's about the need to change Washington. There are young people, and African-Americans, and Latinos, and women of all ages who have voted in numbers that have broken records and inspired a nation.

All of you chose to support a candidate you believe in deeply. But at the end of the day, we aren't the reason you came out and waited in lines that stretched block after block to make your voice heard. You didn't do that because of me or Senator Clinton or anyone else. You did it because you know in your hearts that at this moment - a moment that will define a generation - we cannot afford to keep doing what we've been doing. We owe our children a better future. We owe our country a better future. And for all those who dream of that future tonight, I say - let us begin the work together. Let us unite in common effort to chart a new course for America.

In just a few short months, the Republican Party will arrive in St. Paul with a very different agenda. They will come here to nominate John McCain, a man who has served this country heroically. I honor that service, and I respect his many accomplishments, even if he chooses to deny mine. My differences with him are not personal; they are with the policies he has proposed in this campaign.

Because while John McCain can legitimately tout moments of independence from his party in the past, such independence has not been the hallmark of his presidential campaign.

It's not change when John McCain decided to stand with George Bush ninety-five percent of the time, as he did in the Senate last year.

It's not change when he offers four more years of Bush economic policies that have failed to create well-paying jobs, or insure our workers, or help Americans afford the skyrocketing cost of college - policies that have lowered the real incomes of the average American family, widened the gap between Wall Street and Main Street, and left our children with a mountain of debt.

And it's not change when he promises to continue a policy in Iraq that asks everything of our brave men and women in uniform and nothing of Iraqi politicians - a policy where all we look for are reasons to stay in Iraq, while we spend billions of dollars a month on a war that isn't making the American people any safer.

So I'll say this - there are many words to describe John McCain's attempt to pass off his embrace of George Bush's policies as bipartisan and new. But change is not one of them.

Change is a foreign policy that doesn't begin and end with a war that should've never been authorized and never been waged. I won't stand here and pretend that there are many good options left in Iraq, but what's not an option is leaving our troops in that country for the next hundred years - especially at a time when our military is overstretched, our nation is isolated, and nearly every other threat to America is being ignored.

We must be as careful getting out of Iraq as we were careless getting in - but start leaving we must. It's time for Iraqis to take responsibility for their future. It's time to rebuild our military and give our veterans the care they need and the benefits they deserve when they come home. It's time to refocus our efforts on al Qaeda's leadership and Afghanistan, and rally the world against the common threats of the 21st century - terrorism and nuclear weapons; climate change and poverty; genocide and disease. That's what change is.

Change is realizing that meeting today's threats requires not just our firepower, but the power of our diplomacy - tough, direct diplomacy where the President of the United States isn't afraid to let any petty dictator know where America stands and what we stand for. We must once again have the courage and conviction to lead the free world. That is the legacy of Roosevelt, and Truman, and Kennedy. That's what the American people want. That's what change is.

Change is building an economy that rewards not just wealth, but the work and workers who created it. It's understanding that the struggles facing working families can't be solved by spending billions of dollars on more tax breaks for big corporations and wealthy CEOs, but by giving a the middle-class a tax break, and investing in our crumbling infrastructure, and transforming how we use energy, and improving our schools, and renewing our commitment to science and innovation. It's understanding that fiscal responsibility and shared prosperity can go hand-in-hand, as they did when Bill Clinton was President.

John McCain has spent a lot of time talking about trips to Iraq in the last few weeks, but maybe if he spent some time taking trips to the cities and towns that have been hardest hit by this economy - cities in Michigan, and Ohio, and right here in Minnesota - he'd understand the kind of change that people are looking for.

Maybe if he went to Iowa and met the student who works the night shift after a full day of class and still can't pay the medical bills for a sister who's ill, he'd understand that she can't afford four more years of a health care plan that only takes care of the healthy and wealthy. She needs us to pass health care plan that guarantees insurance to every American who wants it and brings down premiums for every family who needs it. That's the change we need.

Maybe if he went to Pennsylvania and met the man who lost his job but can't even afford the gas to drive around and look for a new one, he'd understand that we can't afford four more years of our addiction to oil from dictators. That man needs us to pass an energy policy that works with automakers to raise fuel standards, and makes corporations pay for their pollution, and oil companies invest their record profits in a clean energy future - an energy policy that will create millions of new jobs that pay well and can't be outsourced. That's the change we need.

And maybe if he spent some time in the schools of South Carolina or St. Paul or where he spoke tonight in New Orleans, he'd understand that we can't afford to leave the money behind for No Child Left Behind; that we owe it to our children to invest in early childhood education; to recruit an army of new teachers and give them better pay and more support; to finally decide that in this global economy, the chance to get a college education should not be a privilege for the wealthy few, but the birthright of every American. That's the change we need in America. That's why I'm running for President.

The other side will come here in September and offer a very different set of policies and positions, and that is a debate I look forward to. It is a debate the American people deserve. But what you don't deserve is another election that's governed by fear, and innuendo, and division. What you won't hear from this campaign or this party is the kind of politics that uses religion as a wedge, and patriotism as a bludgeon - that sees our opponents not as competitors to challenge, but enemies to demonize. Because we may call ourselves Democrats and Republicans, but we are Americans first. We are always Americans first.

Despite what the good Senator from Arizona said tonight, I have seen people of differing views and opinions find common cause many times during my two decades in public life, and I have brought many together myself. I've walked arm-in-arm with community leaders on the South Side of Chicago and watched tensions fade as black, white, and Latino fought together for good jobs and good schools. I've sat across the table from law enforcement and civil rights advocates to reform a criminal justice system that sent thirteen innocent people to death row. And I've worked with friends in the other party to provide more children with health insurance and more working families with a tax break; to curb the spread of nuclear weapons and ensure that the American people know where their tax dollars are being spent; and to reduce the influence of lobbyists who have all too often set the agenda in Washington.

In our country, I have found that this cooperation happens not because we agree on everything, but because behind all the labels and false divisions and categories that define us; beyond all the petty bickering and point-scoring in Washington, Americans are a decent, generous, compassionate people, united by common challenges and common hopes. And every so often, there are moments which call on that fundamental goodness to make this country great again.

So it was for that band of patriots who declared in a Philadelphia hall the formation of a more perfect union; and for all those who gave on the fields of Gettysburg and Antietam their last full measure of devotion to save that same union.

So it was for the Greatest Generation that conquered fear itself, and liberated a continent from tyranny, and made this country home to untold opportunity and prosperity.

So it was for the workers who stood out on the picket lines; the women who shattered glass ceilings; the children who braved a Selma bridge for freedom's cause.

So it has been for every generation that faced down the greatest challenges and the most improbable odds to leave their children a world that's better, and kinder, and more just.

And so it must be for us.

America, this is our moment. This is our time. Our time to turn the page on the policies of the past. Our time to bring new energy and new ideas to the challenges we face. Our time to offer a new direction for the country we love.

The journey will be difficult. The road will be long. I face this challenge with profound humility, and knowledge of my own limitations. But I also face it with limitless faith in the capacity of the American people. Because if we are willing to work for it, and fight for it, and believe in it, then I am absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs to the jobless; this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal; this was the moment when we ended a war and secured our nation and restored our image as the last, best hope on Earth. This was the moment - this was the time - when we came together to remake this great nation so that it may always reflect our very best selves, and our highest ideals. Thank you, God Bless you, and may God Bless the United States of America.

Your media elites at work.

1) Where do they FIND these people?

2) Is there a way that I can get paid an insane amount of money for being a completely empty-headed moron?

Media Matters:

Brooks thinks Obama wouldn't seem to "fit[] in naturally" at an Applebee's salad bar -- maybe because Applebee's doesn't have them

Summary: On MSNBC, David Brooks asserted that "less educated" and "downscale" people "look at [Sen. Barack] Obama, and they don't see anything," adding: "And so, Obama's problem is he doesn't seem like the kind of guy who could go into an Applebee's salad bar, and people think he fits in naturally there." Applebee's officials have confirmed to Media Matters that its restaurants do not have salad bars.

And I just want to point out that - in addition to the total embarrassment detailed above, this is ANOTHER example of the fact that our pundit class has become TOTAL SHIT.

"Is he the kind of guy who could go into Applebee's"?

Honestly - can it GET any more vacuous and imbecilic than THAT?

Applebee's - holy crap.

Obama has clinched

According to the AP.

Now let's beat John McCain, send the criminals packing, and fumigate the White House.

And pressure President Obama and Democratic Senate to press charges against the damned crooks.

John McCain says he will win "in January"

That will probably make him feel better after losing in November.

More of this

I have wondered for years now why Republicans think that their opinions on foreign policy have any credibility at all anymore. I mean, once you walk - loudly and positively - into the biggest clusterfuck anybody has ever seen, people usually start taking your pronouncements with a grain of salt.

John McCain apparently doesn't get that.

Barack Obama does.

The Obama campaign has two questions for McCain: 1) how will his foreign policy be different from George Bush’s, and 2) if it is not different, why should anyone expect better results than Bush has achieved?

The Antichrist is a Gay Jew

At least according to Pastor Hagee, whose endorsement McCain so ardently sought.