December 18, 2009

It Could Be So Much Worse

I am not real thrilled with the Obama administration this week month semester, but it's good to be reminded just how much worse it could be.

Suppose that a man with a failing, or perhaps cynically selective, memory was President?

Posted by Michael at 05:27 PM | Link | Comments (4)

November 04, 2008

McCain/Palin Bashing (Final Edition)

America doesn't like a loser. Not perhaps our best trait, but there it is.

Monday

Sunday

Saturday

[ Find Your Polling Place | Voting Info For Your State | Know Your Voting Rights | Report Voting Problems ]

Posted by Michael at 12:30 AM | Link | Comments (0)

October 31, 2008

Friday McBush/McSame Bashing (Penultimate Edition)

Vote Early.

currentcoverrow_large.jpg

Friday

Thursday

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Tuesday

Monday

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Friday

[ Find Your Polling Place | Voting Info For Your State | Know Your Voting Rights | Report Voting Problems ]

Posted by Michael at 04:48 PM | Link | Comments (1)

October 24, 2008

Friday McBush/McSame Bashing (Home Stretch Edition)

Despair sets in,

At his Northern Virginia headquarters, some McCain aides are already speaking of the campaign in the past tense. Morale, even among some of the heartiest and most loyal staffers, has plummeted. And many past and current McCain advisors are warring with each other over who led the candidate astray.

One well-connected Republican in the private sector was shocked to get calls and resumes in the past few days from what he said were senior McCain aides – a breach of custom for even the worst-off campaigns.

But let's bash a little bit just in case,

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[article post date corrected]

Posted by Michael at 03:10 PM | Link | Comments (3)

October 17, 2008

Friday McBush/McSame Bashing

Overkill? There's so much to bash, but we don't want a sympathy vote here….

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Posted by Michael at 11:02 AM | Link | Comments (2)

October 10, 2008

Friday McBush/McSame Bashing

News about the Hate Talk Express.

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desperate.jpg

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Posted by Michael at 04:00 PM | Link | Comments (0)

October 04, 2008

Palin Plants Shiv in McCain's Ribs -- Starts 2012 Campaign

How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is
To have a thankless child!
–Lear, 1.4.312

After the economic news — we are now practicing some form of vulgar big-ticket corporatism while hoping the roof doesn't fall in — the biggest news yesterday had to be the fault lines suddenly appearing in the McCain-Palin ticket.

Contrary to the 'straight talk' by McCain about how he routinely consults Palin, it is obvious that she is very much the eighteenth banana when it comes to the decisions that matter: campaign strategy. Thus it was no surprise to learn that McCain's tactically understandable but strategically stupid decision to visibly abandon Michigan was made without Palin. (Tactically, McCain has no hope of carrying Michigan, so every dollar spent there is a waste. And dollars are very rationed given the decision to rely on federal funding. That said, strategically this was no time to be seen to waving a white flag, and the political cost – embracing the stench of failure – will outweigh any financial benefits.)

So long as Palin was a political basket case — cf. the Couric tapes — she had to hunker down and hide behind McCain's skirts. But if the debate changed next to nothing in the electoral math, we can now see that it changed everything in the McCain-Palin relationship.

As the Palin-invigorated Gail Collins put in the New York Times, 'The Republicans were euphoric over Sarah Palin’s debate performance, particularly the part in which she stood tall and refrained from falling off the stage.'

That turns out to win almost no new votes, but it did make the base — pretty much the same people who drove the economy over the cliff — feel a lot better.

And thus, at least within the GOP, Palin moves from political basket case to political barracuda. And the first chomp comes out of McCain's hide: Palin can read the polls. They polls all say that she is not going to be Vice-President next January. So McCain becomes another body for her to step on. If the ticket is dead, the real game becomes the Presidential nomination in 2012. And it's therefore critical for Palin to sow the seeds of a narrative that it was Not Her Fault but rather that of the old, tired, impulsive, stupid McCain and his crew.

An so here it is. Act One of our modern Lear:

Decision On Michigan Questioned By Palin. Sarah Palin questioned Republican presidential candidate John McCain's decision to abandon efforts to win Michigan, a campaign move she said she learned about Friday morning when she read it in the newspapers.

In an interview with Fox News Channel Friday, the Alaska governor said she was disappointed that the McCain campaign decided to stop competing in Michigan. In an indication that the vice presidential candidate had not been part of the decision, she said she had “read that this morning, and I fired off a quick e-mail” questioning the move.

“Todd and I, we'd be happy to get to Michigan and walk through those plants of the car manufacturers,” Palin said. “We'd be so happy to get to speak to the people in Michigan who are hurting because the economy is hurting.”

Of course Palin would love to go to Michigan. There are no electoral votes there for the current ticket, there's nothing in it for McCain, but Palin's argument, no more specious than many others, will be that she has a chance to stitch together the Reagan coalition in 2012, and the lunchpail vote is critical element of that coalition. But saying so out loud only harms McCain. Which is why she did it.

I await, sans bated breath, the stories in Sunday's paper about rivalry and dissension at the top of the Republican ticket.

(Kindred spirit: Emptywheel, Mich-Again)

Posted by Michael at 01:24 PM | Link | Comments (20)

October 02, 2008

McBush/McSame Bashing Special Edition (Palin-Biden Debate Edition)

A special edition because I felt like it.

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Older

Posted by Michael at 08:28 PM | Link | Comments (2)

September 29, 2008

McCain Arcana

Cryptome has links to a .pdf of John Sidney McCain III's commendations and also the DOD's copy of a lightly 'sanitized' version of John McCain Graduate Thesis on POWs.

Posted by Michael at 12:00 AM | Link | Comments (0)

September 26, 2008

Friday McBush/McSame Bashing

I've 'suspended' Friday McCain Bashing for the duration of the Emergency. I hope that makes it more popular.

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Posted by Michael at 11:53 AM | Link | Comments (1)

September 21, 2008

Friday McCain/McSame Bashing (Repaired)

Thanks to the helpful intervention of techs at Dreamhost, I managed to pull up a backup of the blog’s database and find at least 95% of the lost text for last Friday’s McCain bashing entry. So I’m reposting it here even though it's a little dated – the stuff that got cut off previously starts after the horizontal line.

Of course, there's been a ton of good stuff since then…

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Wed

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Earlier

Posted by Michael at 04:16 PM | Link | Comments (0)

September 19, 2008

Friday McCain/McSame Bashing

There's more out there, but I'm traveling…

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Wed

[there were 5(!) more days here, but something seems to have eaten them — I fear I have lost the data unless it's lurking in some cache on my home computer]

Update (11/21): To see the full text, with the missing parts restored, please go to Friday McCain/McSame Bashing (Repaired)

Posted by Michael at 02:00 AM | Link | Comments (6)

September 12, 2008

Friday McBush/McSame Bashing

Target-rich environment.

Posted by Michael at 09:26 AM | Link | Comments (12)

September 05, 2008

Friday McCain-McSame Bashing

I would write something here about McCain's acceptance speech except that — I swear this is true — I literally fell asleep part way through it.

(Note also this week's special Wednesday edition of Wednesday Mostly Palin Bashing.)

Posted by Michael at 11:10 AM | Link | Comments (3)

September 03, 2008

Wednesday Mostly Palin Bashing

There was just too much to wait for Friday.

Can't she quit the ticket already? Then I could get back to bashing McCain….
Posted by Michael at 08:40 PM | Link | Comments (3)

August 29, 2008

McCain's Desperation Move: Sarah Palin

I look forward to how the GOP explains that Gov. Palin is ready to be President.

Meanwhile, here is a tiny bit of Palin-bashing, since it is Friday.

  • The kindest thing Progressive Alaska can say is that she's Photogenic. Note: the Vogue cover is photoshopped; reality is boring.
  • What's the right historical parallel?
    • Jonathan Singer, MyDD, Sarah Palin is Spiro Agnew?
    • Harriet Miers (pace Scarborough)?
    • Dukakis?
    • Powerline, a very conservative blog, says, Geraldine Ferraro: “If she really is the nominee, will it come across as a desperation move, a Hail Mary, as Mondale's choice of Ferraro did in 1984? I'm afraid so. Her experience just doesn't justify a place on the ticket.”
  • Palin's Foreign Policy Experience — none, basically.
  • A little whiff of scandal: Palin staff pushed to have trooper fired:
    Gov. Sarah Palin on Wednesday revealed an audio recording that shows an aide pressuring the Public Safety Department to fire a state trooper embroiled in a custody battle with her sister.
Posted by Michael at 11:55 AM | Link | Comments (21)

August 22, 2008

FMB - Friday McBush Bashing

Some pretty brutal stuff this week. And something subtle too. And then …. THE GAFFE ….

Posted by Michael at 12:09 AM | Link | Comments (5)

August 15, 2008

Friday McBush Bashing (Olympic Edition)

Turns out McCain's approach to foreign policy is rather more bellicose than anyone (other than a hard-core neo-con) imagined in their most horrible dreams.

Posted by Michael at 12:00 AM | Link | Comments (4)

August 12, 2008

Imagine a Graph, with Demeaning on One Axis, Stupid on the Other...

I dunno. I suspect it's not the single most demeaning ad ever put out by a major party presidential campaign, and I'm prepared to believe it's not the most stupid (although I wonder), but is this new McCain (web only) ad Fan Club the most simultaneously demeaning and stupid ad ever put out by a major party Presidential candidate?

Could be.

TPM says Having found most pundits to be incorrigible morons on racial/sexual messaging, McCain decides to push a bit further … (the key point, supposedly, is Hot [white] chicks dig Obama but to my untrained eye, this one is just simply moronic and an insult to the Republic).

I think “Anonymous Liberal” at Crooks & Liars got it just right when he wrote what he'd have Obama say in response to all this rot,

My opponent has taken to calling me a “celebrity” in all of his commercials. The suggestion, I can only assume, is that all of you (gesturing to the crowd) show up at events like this and donate your time and your money to this campaign because you’re all adoring groupies who are obsessed with me. Now, that would certainly be flattering if it were true, but I’m not going to delude myself. The reality is I can’t act, I can’t sing, and my personal life is incredibly boring.

The truth is that no one would be paying any attention to me at all if I wasn’t talking about things that really matter to a lot of people. You’re not here tonight–and you’re not watching at home–because you want to be entertained. Lord knows there are plenty of things that you could be doing with your time right now that would be far more entertaining than listening to me. No, you’re here tonight because you love your country and you’re concerned about the direction it’s been heading over the last eight years.

You’re not here tonight to see what kind of outfit I’m wearing or to hear my latest hit single–and if you are, I think you’re probably going to be disappointed. No, you’re here because you want change, you want a government that fights for people like you and not on behalf of powerful special interests; you want a government that keeps you safe by pursuing a rationale foreign policy abroad and keeps your family secure by creating jobs, ensuring access to affordable health care, and fighting for energy independence.

That’s why you’re here. That’s why you’re volunteering your time at record levels. That’s why you’re contributing your hard-earned money in record amounts.

So remember, when John McCain and his surrogates call me a “celebrity,” they’re not insulting me; they’re insulting you. They’re insinuating that you are a mindless groupie rather than a concerned citizen, a fan rather than a voter.

But it’s not going to work. You know why you’re here, you know why you’re watching, and you’re much smarter than they give you credit for.

Perfect.

Update (6pm): As Larry notes, they took down that copy of the video. So try this one. Or if that fails, search for “Fan Club” site:youtube.com at Google

Posted by Michael at 12:00 AM | Link | Comments (3)

August 08, 2008

Friday McBush Bashing

[Note: If you are reading this via the news feed, you may wish to click through to see the videos. There are some good ones this week.]

The week started with McCain successfully putting the race card “issue” (subtext: Obama is black!) on the front pages, so that was good for him. On the other hand, the idea that McCain is old and grumpy got more traction too. We then found out the answer to last week's question whether McCain could go any lower and dirtier — Yes, he can! — as we moved to a McCain ad suggesting Obama is the anti-Christ (yes, really). And that was only the weekend.

Then McCain was up — his weird commercials had taken the focus off issues that matter like jobs and the war.

Then facts — and Paris Hilton — bit back.
Posted by Michael at 12:00 AM | Link | Comments (3)

August 06, 2008

His Lips Are Moving

Pumped: It looks real, but it's true, so that's the giveaway that this “McCain Ad” must be a fake:

Posted by Michael at 09:24 PM | Link | Comments (0)

August 03, 2008

New Low For McCain Campaign: Obama == The Anti-Christ

Normally I save the anti-McCain stuff for Friday, as don't want the blog to become a one-note operation. But this …

The McCain campaign just released another anti-Obama commercial, The One.

Perhaps to most viewers this one will seem like the political equivalent of scoring against yourself as much of it is about how wonderful Obama is, and the attack part involves a clumsy use of Charlton Heston. But there may be a (very evil) method to the madness: SoonerG at Daily Kos suggests that the point of the latest McCain ads is to depict Obama as the anti-Christ. Don't laugh. The first thing I thought of when I saw the ad was that it was a dog-whistle call-out to evangelicals who would be offended by Obama's suggestion that “a light will shine down upon you” and inspire people to vote for him. But it could well be that other people will see it as a more direct appeal (consider, a Google search for “obama anti-Christ” finds “about 990,000” pages).

In light of last week's attack on a Unitarian church for being too “liberal,” is it so far-fetched to worry that some unhinged true believer may hear all this and decide he has a call to assassinate the anti-Christ? It's perhaps fortunate that, as one Christian pastor put it to me via email, “the people who believe in the anti-Christ tend to believe that he/she is too powerful for one person to take out with a .30-.06.”

Nevertheless, McCain is playing with nuclear weapons here. It's despicable.

Here's what a poster at Progressive Revival had to say,

A vote for Senator Obama is a vote for the man we think will make the best President, not for a new Messiah. As Christians, we have one Lord And Savior. Jesus Christ. It is blasphemous to suggest otherwise.

And it is beyond offensive to suggest that Senator Obama is a false Messiah or the anti-Christ himself. How low can we go? It shows the McCain campaign is willing to make a mockery of our faith to feed people's fears. Christians need to reject this out of hand.

We will be calling on the McCain campaign to repudiate this ad and take it down immediately. If you would like to add your voice to this effort, please email me at mara@matthew25.org.

Finding something even lower will be a great challenge for McCain. Based on the past couple weeks, however, I'm now ready to believe they are up to it.

Posted by Michael at 03:10 PM | Link | Comments (25)

August 01, 2008

Friday McBush Bashing

Although superficially this was a better week than last week's disaster, since McCain's attack ads shaped a good bit of the campaign narrative, I'd argue that in retrospect this week may turn out to be the one that the McCain campaign jumped the shark. The negative ads were so untrue and undignified that even the national press started to notice. Which means that if this continues McCain is going to have trouble with his base.

Note: this week's summary cuts off a bit earlier than usual due to my being in the wrong time zone…

Posted by Michael at 03:18 AM | Link | Comments (1)

July 30, 2008

Harsh

This new anti-McCain video, THE COMMANDER IN CHIEF TEST from Humanitainment.com feels a little too harsh to be effective. That's a shame in a way, since the clips are very damning. But to my eye the overlays somehow trivialize them and reduce their sting.

Posted by Michael at 04:57 PM | Link | Comments (3)

The Tin Ear

Faced with reporters calling him on his dishonesty in his latest campaign commercial, McCain doubles down and stonewalls. See Kos, Who's Lying? John McCain or Andrea Mitchell?.

In my opinion this is a very serious error: the political press will stick to its 'objective' he said/she said approach no matter how ridiculous the issue except for facts they personally witness. You can bamboozle the press with fake numbers if you can find one economist to vouch for them. You can say your goal is a balanced budget and world peace while you propose huge deficits and wars (worked for Bush!). But you can't tell the press not to trust their lying eyes.

I'm surprised that McCain has learned to take the press so much for granted that he thinks they will sit still even for this. I think it may reach up to bite him — at least until he makes nice again.

Posted by Michael at 06:31 AM | Link | Comments (1)

July 28, 2008

A Very Rovian Commercial

This is a very Rovian commercial:

It's Rovain quality is to attack Obama for the very characteristic that is McCain's greatest weakness.

Posted by Michael at 06:45 PM | Link | Comments (4)

July 25, 2008

Friday McBush Bashing

McCain had a bad week.

Posted by Michael at 12:00 AM | Link | Comments (1)

July 19, 2008

McCain Tries Subliminal Ad to Link Obama to Terrorism

The McCain electoral strategy is coming into focus: they figure their only hope is to get American to think that a dark-skinned Democrat must be a terrorist. Why else highlight letters that spell out something like “Al-Qaeda Commentary” over a picture of Sen. Obama? (The full video is the McCain site under “Obama on Iraq”.

ba al qd c me t ry.JPG

Subliminal ads are nothing new for the GOP (see for example Subliminal Seduction, GOP Style). And the guy making McCain's commercials? He's the guy who did the famous “RATS” commercial for Bush. (For details see here and here.)

Posted by Michael at 10:22 AM | Link | Comments (0)

July 18, 2008

Friday McBush Bashing (Netroots Edition)

I think McCain's 'tell' — the sign he is prevaricating — is when he blinks a lot. Just watch any video on YouTube and judge for yourself. (Hmm. Turns out I'm not the only one to notice this. See, for example, Matthew Yglesias.)

This hypothesis should be easy to test: Kos, there are just so many falsehoods to pick from.

OK, onwards with this weeks ridiculously long list of quality McCain bashing:

Posted by Michael at 12:00 AM | Link | Comments (0)

July 11, 2008

Friday McBush Bashing ("I Hate the Bloggers" Edition)


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Posted by Michael at 12:00 AM | Link | Comments (1)

July 04, 2008

Friday McBush Bashing

Posted by Michael at 12:15 AM | Link | Comments (0)

June 27, 2008

Friday McBush Bashing

June 20, 2008

Friday McBush Bashing (Holiday Edition)

Not surprisingly, McBush's poll numbers are slipping in key battleground states…

Posted by Michael at 12:33 AM | Link | Comments (0)

June 13, 2008

Friday McCain Bashing

sigh

Posted by Michael at 12:00 AM | Link | Comments (0)

June 06, 2008

Friday McCain Bashing (Embarassement of Riches Edition)

These are only the highlights of the past week's bounty:

I can't keep up with this.

Posted by Michael at 12:00 AM | Link | Comments (2)

May 30, 2008

Friday McCain Bashing

Posted by Michael at 12:04 AM | Link | Comments (0)

May 23, 2008

Friday McCain Bashing

Veterans object to McCain's failure to support new GI Bill:

Update: Bonus bash — In 2000, McCain admits he’d be too old to run in 2008

Double bonus: People who have nothing to hide don’t act like they have something to hide — so why is McCain playing games with his health records?

Posted by Michael at 10:16 AM | Link | Comments (2)

May 19, 2008

Too Good To Wait for Next Friday

The folks at The Real McCain have done another video. It's a doozy.

Posted by Michael at 12:00 AM | Link | Comments (9)

May 16, 2008

Friday McCain Bashing

Posted by Michael at 12:00 AM | Link | Comments (4)

May 13, 2008

The Age Issue

Senators who say that they are too old to be Vice President — and one ringer.

Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.)
“No. I’m too old.”
Born: May 7, 1932

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa)
“I’m too old to be vice president”
Born: September 17, 1933

Sen. John McCain
Wants to be President
Born: August 29, 1936

Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.)
“When I was much younger I would have probably said, ‘Sure, I’ll be glad to accept it,’ but I’m 70 years [old] and they need a younger person for the job.”
Born: December 7, 1937

Posted by Michael at 06:55 PM | Link | Comments (2)

May 09, 2008

Friday McCain-Bashing: Out of Touch

Crooks and Liars, John McCain's Top 10 Out-of-Touch Moments

Sample:

2. “Great progress economically” during the Bush years. If Americans’ financial woes are all in their heads, John McCain’s assessment of George W. Bush’s economic leadership is pure hallucination. Asked by Bloomberg’s Peter Cook on April 17 if Americans would say they are better off today “than before George Bush took office more than seven years ago,” McCain replied:

“I think if you look at the overall record and millions of jobs have been created, et cetera, et cetera, you could make an argument that there’s been great progress economically over that period of time.”

Mugged by reality, McCain’s firm response to the classic Ronald Reagan question (”are you better off now?”) lasted exactly 24 hours. The next day on April 18, the so-called maverick acknowledged Americans are “hurting badly” and concluded, “Americans are not better off than they were eight years ago.”

Bonus bash: Arizona Republic, n tight Senate votes, McCain not a maverick: When it matters the most, he seldom bucks his own party

And this one really deserves weekly posts of its own: We’ll ‘never’ see the McCains’ tax returns?

Posted by Michael at 12:00 AM | Link | Comments (0)

May 02, 2008

Friday McCain-Bashing: Double Talk Edition

Pop-Up Double Talk, Episode 2: Health Care

Bonus double-talk: Compare this statement at TPM:

Slowly but surely, Republican presidential candidate John McCain is putting some distance between himself and unpopular President Bush.

This week it was the ill-timed “Mission Accomplished” banner that the White House hung behind Bush five years ago when Bush declared major combat operations over in Iraq.

“I thought it was wrong at the time,” McCain said in Cleveland Thursday
With this video of what McCain actually said at “the time”:
CAVUTO: … Senator — after a conflict means after the conflict, and many argue the conflict isn't over.

MCCAIN: Well, then why was there a banner that said 'mission accomplished' on the aircraft carrier? … the conflict — the major conflict is over, the regime change has been accomplished.
Posted by Michael at 03:45 PM | Link | Comments (0)

Don't Ask McCain to Discuss Things He Doesn't Want to Talk About

It seems you can get thrown out of a town meeting and questioned by the Secret Service for asking a Republican candidate to deny a published story that he once lost his temper and called his wife a bad name.

Ask a rude but nonetheless legal and reasonable question, get thrown out of a public meeting. Such is 'democracy' in these United States.

(Note, incidentally, that McCain didn't deny it.)

It sounds as if McCain is trying to get into a Bush Bubble, where he'll be protected from anything he doesn't want to see or hear. Which makes sense if you consider he's running to serve Bush's third term. But definitely makes you wonder who he'll find to reprise the Cheney role as veep….

Posted by Michael at 12:00 AM | Link | Comments (6)

April 28, 2008

RNC Whining About DNC McCain Ad

There is a country in which the ruling party has made a concerted effort to keep a factually accurate advertisement by the largest opposition party off TV by appealing to the owners of TV stations to prevent the ad from airing.

No, not Zimbabwe. The USA.

Today the RNC sought to prevent the DNC from airing its anti-McCain ad by calling on TV stations not to air it. The DNC responded immediately.

Gov. Howard Dean and Joe Sandler, the DNC's General Counsel, held a telephone press conference a few minutes ago. (As it was a last-minute deal, even I got to listen in.) They started by categorically denying the RNC's charge that the DNC's ad was in any way coordinated with either the Clinton or Obama campaigns. Dean said “I know of no conversations of any kind that have taken place with the campaigns” about the ad. (Had the ad been coordinated, it would count as an in-kind contribution which would have legal consequences; if it's fully arms-length, it's a legal independent expenditure.)

Sandler said that so far none of the networks running it (MS-NBC and CNN) have said they will pull the ad. So far, the ad is slated for cable only. From which I deduce this isn't a hugely expensive ad buy. Ordinarily you would not expect the RNC to add oxygen to such a small flame; tying McCain to his own remarks about Iraq must really hurt.

The RNC also claimed in its publicity blitz that the ad is false, and thus could expose stations that run it to some sort of liability. That's a weak argument, since the ad uses McCain's own words, and DNC Chairman Dean made hay with it. “I understand the RNC thinks it is illegal to criticize Sen. McCain,” Dean said, and he basically invited them to sue.

Here's one bet that they won't: this is just scare tactics. And if they do sue, they'll lose. (Outside Zimbabwe.)

Posted by Michael at 04:54 PM | Link | Comments (2)

April 27, 2008

Belated McCain Bashing

I was busy on Friday, but here's the DNC's anti-McCain ad.

It's a good one.

Hope they run it everywhere and often.

PS. And it's fair, too

Posted by Michael at 06:01 PM | Link | Comments (5)

April 18, 2008

Friday McCain-Bashing

Seems like there are an awful lot of things that are younger than John McCain.

He's older than…Iceland?

Posted by Michael at 09:25 AM | Link | Comments (0)

April 16, 2008

McSame Video

Progressive Media launches its first commercial, McCain: Out of Touch.

I gather opinions are divided as to whether this is effective or boring.

Posted by Michael at 11:38 AM | Link | Comments (0)

April 08, 2008

The Real McCain

Lots of buzz about Cliff Schecter's new book “The Real McCain”. It certainly supports what I've heard — that he's a real hothead. For example, McCain Once Physically Attacked Fellow Congressman. And there's another alleged unsavory episode here, which the author says is vouched for by three witnesses, but apparently McCain now denies it.

Are these disqualifying issues? Not alone, no. But they are not exactly encouraging either.

Bonus McCain bashing: Senator Straight Talk Won't Go on the Record with Project Vote Smart — he's on their Board and he won't answer their questions! Wait, make that he was on their Board.

Posted by Michael at 12:13 PM | Link | Comments (2)

March 27, 2008

Today's McCain Site

Free Ride: John McCain and the Media

Bonus: compare NSN Fact Check: McCain's Rhetoric Doesn't Reflect Reality with how your news source cover's McCain's latest foreign policy speech.

Posted by Michael at 12:00 AM | Link | Comments (2)

March 26, 2008

New McCain Blog

Say hello to Straight Talk McCain.

Bonus link: Crooks & Liars, Campaign spending limits don't apply to mavericks

Posted by Michael at 12:00 AM | Link | Comments (0)

March 24, 2008

The McCain Plan Really is More Wars

Anatol Lieven writes in the Financial Times, Why We Should Fear a McCain Presidency.

(via The Washington Note, McCain's Rogue State Rollback Sounds Like John Foster Dulles & Curtis LeMay)

I thought “Less jobs. More wars.” was a parody of McCain's platform. I didn't realize it was the platform…

Posted by Michael at 06:58 PM | Link | Comments (0)

McCain Confronts Modernity

There is a really funny moment, about a third of the way into this video Mac or PC?, in which John McCain explains how he uses computers.

Posted by Michael at 03:52 PM | Link | Comments (1)

March 22, 2008

Logo

(via Needlenose, Psst… Pass it on).

Posted by Michael at 05:28 PM | Link | Comments (0)

March 21, 2008

McMeme

Energy Smart launches a phrase that I think might take hold: McFlip, McFlop, McSame?

Posted by Michael at 02:26 PM | Link | Comments (0)

March 20, 2008

McCain's Take on Purim

Kevin John Heller brings us McCain on the Jewish Holiday Purim.

Really, about all you can say to that is, Oy vey.

Posted by Michael at 09:04 PM | Link | Comments (4)

March 09, 2008

McCain UnHeroic Outside of Prison

There's no debate that John McCain was heroic as a POW. Unfortunately, his behavior in uniform in more normal circumstances is more controversial.

The case for the prosecution is laid out at John Mccain: Unfit to serve as Commander-In-Chief, a screed aptly summarized by its subhead: “The spoiled son of military privilege got a free ride throughout his military career despite repeated instances of sex scandals and screw-ups.”

I knew he dated strippers. (And so what?) But losing five planes, three in training accidents or while joyriding (or should that be 'skylarking'?) and two in the field—is that some sort of post-WWII record?

And this doesn't even begin to get to the question of his more recent judgment about Iraq, Iran, or other wars…

Posted by Michael at 07:46 PM | Link | Comments (11)

March 08, 2008

McSame: The Video

McCain : No Change

Posted by Michael at 09:01 PM | Link | Comments (0)

March 05, 2008

The Case for Voting McCain

Posted by Michael at 07:37 PM | Link | Comments (2)

February 28, 2008

The McCain Songbook

From the folks at Bravenewfilms comes, John McCain sings “Bomb Iran”:

Posted by Michael at 06:54 PM | Link | Comments (0)

February 27, 2008

Latest from the 'Straight Talk Express'

Hullabaloo: Honor and Integrity.

Posted by Michael at 12:00 AM | Link | Comments (0)

February 14, 2008

A Valentines Day Love Story

Sweetheart Deal

Posted by Michael at 11:22 AM | Link | Comments (1)

February 13, 2008

McCain Votes Against Banning Waterboarding

Maverick Fails The Test: McCain Votes Against Waterboarding Ban.

He was against torture before he voted for it.

Posted by Michael at 08:10 PM | Link | Comments (6)

February 12, 2008

McCain vs. the YouTube Generation

In what likely will be my only decent piece of political prognostication this electoral cycle, back in November 2006 I predicted that John McCain would be undone by YouTube, saying “it's interesting to see just how out of touch with modern realities the increasingly aging McCain seems to be. Pre-YouTube it might have been possible to campaign out of both sides of one's mouth, but that approach is in the dustbin of history now.”

The media will let you run away from what you say in the primaries. YouTube will not. Yesterday I posted a masterly example of what McCain is in for. Here's another, hot on its heels, that's almost as good, YouTube - John McCain: No, You Can't.

In the competition between the YouTube generation and a 71-year-old with a penchant for gaffes and the occasional doubletalk, don't bet on the get-off-my-lawn guy.

Posted by Michael at 12:01 AM | Link | Comments (2)

February 11, 2008

Brilliant Obama/McCain Video

Someone has done a brilliant takeoff of the Obama video that is taking the Internet by storm.

It's not a parody of the video exactly, although it has parodic aspects. The real target is McCain.

Posted by Michael at 12:23 PM | Link | Comments (2)

February 09, 2008

A Tale From the Forked Tongue Express

Carl Pope, Sierra Club Executive Director, takes a ride on the Forked Tongue Express, and writes that John McCain Should Be Ashamed. Here's the start:

I have just listened to carefully coached staff members for Senator John McCain lie repeatedly about the Senator's failure to show up and vote on the first Senate economic-stimulus package, which included tax incentives for clean energy. I am in a state of shock not because of the Senator's vote, although that disappointed me, nor over his desire to avoid public accountability for that vote — that's politics. But to carefully coach your Senate staff (I assume the Chief of Staff, not the Senator, was the author of this shameful performance) in how to mislead callers in such depth is appalling, and surprising, because it was almost certain to be found out.

He's got details.

Posted by Michael at 09:42 PM | Link | Comments (1)

February 08, 2008

McCain -- What's Fair Criticism?

The Smirking Chimp, Puffing up John McCain, POW, has some rough stuff about McCain.

I think this part is not only fair criticism, but gets at the heart of one of the main reasons I can't trust the guy and get steamed every time I hear about his 'Straight Talk':

McCain's tragic flaw: He knows the right thing. He often sets out to do the right thing. But he doesn't follow through. We saw McCain's weak character in 2000, when the Bush campaign defeated him in the crucial South Carolina primary by smearing his family. Placing his presidential ambitions first, he swallowed his pride, set aside his honor, and campaigned for Bush against Al Gore. It came up again in 2005, when McCain used his POW experience as a POW to convince Congress to pass, and Bush to sign, a law outlawing torture of detainees at Guantanamo and other camps. But when Bush issued one of his infamous “signing statements” giving himself the right to continue torturing-in effect, negating McCain's law-he remained silent, sucking up to Bush again.

Ditto McCain's off-again on-again kowtows to the theocratic right wing. Or yesterday's cowardly eleventh-hour failure to vote on the stimulus package even though McCain was in DC.

But the main thrust of the Smirking Chimp article is that McCain is to be blamed for cracking after days of very vigorous torture that he suffered as a POW and/or for not correcting people who say he didn't. I don't buy that.

Posted by Michael at 12:00 AM | Link | Comments (1)

April 19, 2007

McCain's Madness

stick a fork in himIs it possible to look at this little clip recorded earlier today and imagine John McCain as President?

“Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran”???


And his poll numbers were already bad.

Posted by Michael at 04:37 PM | Link | Comments (3)

January 29, 2007

McCain Gets the YouTube Treatment

I've predicted before that John McCain will be undone by YouTube. And now it begins:

Can we call it the Double Talk Express now?

Posted by Michael at 10:57 AM | Link | Comments (2)

November 20, 2006

McCain Flip-Flop Watch

The Carpetbagger Report notes McCain's flourishing flip-flop list. This weekend, McCain added Roe v. Wade to the list of issues on which he's done an about-turn.

It really is a little sad to watch someone of at least occasional integrity totally disintegrate into a pandering puddle due to his desparation for the Presidency. I presume the strategy is to run right for the primaries and then try to loop back. But I think the brand will be pretty tarnished by then. Indeed, it is already, although mass media are still clining to the St. McCain narrative.

Actually, that's good for the Democrats: better if the scales fall from the media's eyes when more people are paying attention.

Meanwhile, it's interesting to see just how out of touch with modern realities the increasingly aging McCain seems to be. Pre-YouTube it might have been possible to campaign out of both sides of one's mouth, but that approach is in the dustbin of history now.

Posted by Michael at 09:09 AM | Link | Comments (5)
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