October, 2008 archive
The Sheriff of Nottingham Is Their Hero 0
So, in the wingnut world, it’s okay to take from the poor and give to the rich, but not vicey versey?
I Think I Mentioned This Before . . . 0
. . . in the posts that got lost when my database went screwy, so I’m mentioning it again.
I didn’t used to be a card-carrying, money-contributing, rabid Democrat.
The Republicans turned me into one.
This country and its ideals are too important to be abandoned to the likes of them.
At Least One Republican Can’t Stand It 0
About the lyingRepublican (okay, I admit that “lying” and “Republican” are redundancies) robocalls:
“These kind of tactics have no place in Maine politics,” said Collins spokesman Kevin Kelley. “Sen. Collins urges the McCain campaign to stop these calls immediately.”
Via TPM.
John Cole on Domestic Terrorists 0
He covered it here. I can’t top him and won’t try.
By Their Followers Shall Ye Know Them 0
The nasty underbelly of Republicanism comes to the fore. The Booman asks the question (follow the link to see the video to which he is referring, as well as the rest of the post–it’s a long one).
This is the heritage of the Southern Strategy, the odious choice by the Republican Party’s decision to become the Party of Racism.
As someone once said about the Hoover presidency, the Republican Party has gone from being the party that freed the slaves to being the party that frayed the sleeves.
A Democrat Said, “All We Have To Fear Is Fear Itself” 0
Comes now the Republican Party saying, “All we have to offer is fear itself.”
Housekeeping 0
From time to time over the next few days, I’m going to be working on my firewall. While I’m messing with it, you’ll probably get a 404.
Bushonomics 0
After working nine straight days, I just had to bag it today and get out of the house for a while.
Now, note, that’s not eight hours a day. In my world, you don’t get paid for lunch or for hanging around surfing the net or for thinking about starting to work; you can bill only for when you are actually working (including, of course, reasonable breaks).
So on the way back from mailing a package, I stopped at Blueberry Hill Resale. When I got divorced, Blueberry Hill was where I re-furnished the house for all but one or two items. I was a frequent visitor for a couple of years, because, frankly, it’s a really neat shop.
How’s business? I asked.
Lousy, she says. Traffic is way off. She started babbling, the same way I babble when I’ve been working at home without talking to an adult for a couple of days. I babbled right back.
She said she’s lucky to get three visitors a day and is afraid she might lose her business. She had to give up the garage across the street that she had rented for years to store large pieces of furniture. She couldn’t afford it anymore.
And, ya’ know what?
Nobody’s going to bail her out.
Just like nobody’s going to bail me out. We’re not rich.
We each have only one house and one car. Not seven or eight of each.
Not important enough for Bernanke to care.
She also said that, if McHack wins the election, she’s just going to pack it in and move back to Finland. “I can’t take four more years of this,” she said.
None of us can take four more years of this.
Stray Thought 0
Never hire a law firm that advertises an 800-number on the telly-vision.
Your Vote Matters 0
Or, as John Cole titled his post, from which I shamelessly stole this, “Elections Have Consequences.”
While I was waiting for someone–anyone–to show up at the Bellefonte Cafe this evening, I got into a tangle with someone who was surprised that I support Obama (frankly, if the Democrats had nominated a dachshund, I would vote for it against any Republican).
(Based on stuff I overheard later, I think she might be favoring some Libertarian nutcase.)
I pointed out to her that “elections are not about who’s not running” and later offered her an Obama sticker.
Remember that my son has been in the line of fire for two tours because of Bush’s lies. He has served honorably a dishonorable regime.
So has this man.
Dammit, elections matter.
And vote right, which means vote Left.
Unless you like having blood on your hands.
PM 0
Stands for post mortem.
Here’s Dick Polman’s pm of last night’s debate.
I’m not going to try to excerpt it or summarize it. It’s too tightly written and too well expressed.
Just please go read it.
The Politics of Hate 2
The Booman waves the caution flag:
You think they will just peacefully go away? You think their anger and bile will not seek an outlet? You think that they will take the “react with violence” option off the table? You think there aren’t more Timothy McVeighs and Eric Rudolphs and abortion provider murderers out there ready, willing and able to wreak havoc? You think angry, racist white people don’t riot? Or kill racial minorities for the hell of it? Hell, a professor at a Christian college is practically predicting a white backlash if Obama wins.
And Mithras analyses Obama Bucks issued by the Chaffey County (Calif.) Republican Women (emphasis added):
The group’s president, Diane Fedele, says she had absolutely no idea that fried chicken and watermelon had some kind of racist overtone.
Fedele said she got the illustration in a number of chain e-mails and decided to reprint it for her members in the Trumpeter newsletter because she was offended that Obama would draw attention to his own race. She declined to say who sent her the e-mails with the illustration.
Yeah. No idea.
And pigs have wings.
I know that not all supporters of John McCain or the Republican Party are full of hate.
Indeed, I know personally Republicans who are not full of hate.
And I have a message for them:
If you choose to run with hyenas, do not be surprised if someone decides you are a hyena.
You–I, all of us–are known by the company we keep.
“Joe the Plumber” Reprise (Updated) 0
Another Joe weighs in:
Addendum, Later That Same Evening:
I was working and listening to podcasts all day, so I missed hearing the plumbing dope hitting the fan till Chris the Plumber called me on the telly phone.
Seems Joe the Biden was right about Joe the Plumber.
He’s not a licensed plumber and owes back-taxes.
He’s a relative of Charles Keating (Oh, yeah. Can anyone say, “Keating Five“? The gift that keeps on giving). (H/T Karen for this link.)
He may own three businesses already and be in a good position to contribute His Fair Share to support Law Enforcement’s efforts to collect his back taxes.
He’s not registered to vote under his real name (okay, okay, it’s a misspelling, but I’m on a roll here. The Republican Party has tried to purge voters from the voting rolls for less, which leads to a related question: Why is the Republican Party so afraid of the electorate?).
Hmmmmm.
Big blowhard.
Tells stories.
Doesn’t want to obey the law and pay His Fair Share.
Yep.
Seems like the appropriate kind of guy to represent the Republican Party.
Fact Checking the Debate 0
(Yeah, I know it’s a tad too big. I tried scaling it down proportionally, and it became three tads too small. I’m not expert in Flash, just in copying and pasting, so I gave up.)
And from the website:
Spin and hype were apparent, once again, at the third and final debate between McCain and Obama:
- McCain claimed the liberal group ACORN “is now on the verge of maybe perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history … maybe destroying the fabric of democracy.” In fact, a Republican prosecutor said of the first and biggest ACORN fraud case: “[T]his scheme was not intended to permit illegal voting.” He said $8-an-hour workers turned in made-up voter registration forms rather than doing what ACORN paid them to do.
- McCain said “Joe the plumber” faced “much higher taxes” under Obama’s tax plan and would pay a fine under Obama’s health care plan if he failed to provide coverage for his workers. But Ohio plumber Joe Wurzelbacher would pay higher taxes only if the business he says he wants to buy puts his income over $200,000 a year, and his small business would be exempt from Obama’s requirement to provide coverage for workers.
- Obama repeated a dubious claim that his health care plan will cut the average family’s premiums by $2,500 a year. Experts have found that figure to be overly optimistic.
- McCain claimed that Obama’s real “object” is a government-run, single-payer health insurance system like those in Canada or England. The McCain campaign points to a quote from five years ago, when Obama told a labor gathering that he was “a proponent of a single-payer health care program.” But Obama has since qualified his enthusiasm for Canadian-style health care, and his current proposal is nothing like that.
- Obama incorrectly claimed all of McCain’s ads had been “negative.” That was true for one recent week, but not over the entire campaign. And at times Obama has run a higher percentage of attack ads than McCain.
- McCain described Colombia as the “largest agricultural importer of our products.” Actually, Canada imports the most U.S. farm products, and Colombia is far down the list.
- Obama strained to portray himself as willing to break ranks with fellow Democrats. His prime example was his vote for a bill that was supported by 18 Democrats and opposed by 26. Congressional Quarterly rates him as voting with his party 97 percent of the time since becoming a U.S. senator.
For details on these and other misleading claims, please read on to the Analysis section.
