McCain, Led By Lobbyist

And golden parachute millionaires.

Yet he denounces both. This is a amazing amount of hypocrisy, even by the standards of the modern political landscape.

John McCain has been forced to preach on the economy, and he is been trying to wrap himself up as the reform candidate. He will shake up DC and force reform on the lobbyist. Yet his campaign manager, his number one hire, the closest paid aid he has on his staff, a man destined to have 24/7/365 access to the Oval Office should McCain be elected president made millions running Fanny May and Freddy Mac's lobbying efforts to prevent regulation of their efforts.

Senator John McCain’s campaign manager was paid more than $30,000 a month for five years as president of an advocacy group set up by the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to defend them against stricter regulations, current and former officials say.

Mr. McCain, the Republican candidate for president, has recently begun campaigning as a critic of the two companies and the lobbying army that helped them evade greater regulation as they began buying riskier mortgages with implicit federal backing. He and his Democratic rival, Senator Barack Obama, have donors and advisers who are tied to the companies.

Incensed by the advertisements, several current and former executives of the companies came forward to discuss the role that Rick Davis, Mr. McCain’s campaign manager and longtime adviser, played in helping Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac beat back regulatory challenges when he served as president of their advocacy group, the Homeownership Alliance, formed in the summer of 2000. Some who came forward were Democrats, but Republicans, speaking on the condition of anonymity, confirmed their descriptions

In addition John has railed against executive compensation, stock options, bonuses and the golden parachutes that so many of them get when they fail. The only real problem is, another one of his top advisers got a very nice parting gift from her firm as they let her (and 20,000 other workers) go. Now McCain is left having to denounce the action while at the same time defending the greed of his advisers (an adviser who has also been silenced by the campaign for stating the obvious about his VP choice).

The McCain clown car of a campaigh is amazing; They can't open their mouths without lying, they ignore obvious facts and they are unable to admit that they are ever wrong.

No wonder John has voted with George Bush so often, they think alike.



Tags
Bush, Election 2008, McCain

With Change Like McCain's Offering

Why not just keep Bush, Cheney and company in place for 8 more years.

Just look at the style of reform Palin offers.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has billed taxpayers for 312 nights spent in her own home during her first 19 months in office, charging a "per diem" allowance intended to cover meals and incidental expenses while traveling on state business.

The governor also has charged the state for travel expenses to take her children on official out-of-town missions. And her husband, Todd, has billed the state for expenses and a daily allowance for trips he makes on official business for his wife.

.....

The governor's daughters and husband charged the state $43,490 to travel and many of the trips were to and from their house in Wasilla and Juneau, the capital city 600 miles away, the documents show.

.....

She wrote some form of "Lodging -- own residence" or "Lodging -- Wasilla residence" more than 30 times at the same time she took a per diem, according to the reports. In two dozen undated amendments to the reports, the governor deleted the reference to staying in her home but still charged the per diem.

Palin charged the state a per diem for working on Nov. 22, 2007 -- Thanksgiving Day. The reason given, according to the expense report, was the Great Alaska Shootout, an annual NCAA college basketball tournament held in Anchorage.

Now, this appears to be legal in Alaska and not unusual according to reports, well at least some of it does.

But just because something is traditional and legal doesn't make it right nor do these actions live up the the reformer image that she is busy trying to wrap herself up in.

McCain Palin, so much like Bush Cheney in so many special special way.


Tags
Bush, Cheney, Election 2008, McCain, Palin

The Republicans Just Keep Lying

One of the newer little diddies running around is the lie that Obama has voted 94 times for higher taxes. Well, as one would expect, when you dig a little deeper you find out it is just not true.

The McCain campaign and the Republican National Committee both claim that Obama has voted 94 times "for higher taxes." We find that their count is padded.

......

If this type of claim sounds familiar, it's because George W. Bush's campaign used a similar refrain against John Kerry in 2004, charging that Kerry voted for "higher taxes" a whopping 350 times. We found that claim to be incorrect as well. This time around, Republicans are using some of the same tricky accounting to beef up the number of votes.

Another example of how John McCain is simply a continuation of the Bush administration, with an even nastier disposition.




Tags
Bush, Election 2008, McCain, Republicans

Is McCain Just Bush Part 3?

Just consider this headline McCain camp puts Rove man in charge

Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign has gone through its second shake-up in a year. Responding to Republican concern that his candidacy was faltering, McCain put a veteran of President Bush's 2004 campaign in charge of day-to-day operations.

...........

The elevation of Steve Schmidt -- who worked closely with Karl Rove -- at McCain's headquarters represented a sharp diminishment of the responsibilities of Rick Davis, who has been McCain's campaign manager since the last shake-up nearly a year ago. The move is the latest sign of increasing influence of veterans of Rove's shop in the McCain operation.

Yet they right keeps trying to claim that McCain represents change.

Not only do they lie all the time, they lie badly.




Tags
Bush, Election 2008, McCain, Rove

Stray Thoughts

A couple of issues, and how their supports see them, have me puzzled.

Jonn McCains foes see his election as President as a fouler mouthed continuation of the George Bush years. McCain supporters deny this and claim he is very different from George Bush and his long string of mistakes, missteps, misstatements and failures.

What puzzles me is; if the McCain supporters truly believe this and are not just spinning, how do the reconcile this position with the fact that their man has voted with George Bush about 97% of the time over the last couple of years.

It appears to me that if McCain was any closer to Bush, he would be in violation of the North Carolina sodomy laws.

And, the second stray thought.

If you let people get away with ignoring the rules, how do you ever expect to make rules apply?

The DNC has voted to seat the delegations from Florida and Michigan, at half votes, for the convention. The two states that clearly violated the intent of the primary schedule have avoided full punishment for their actions. The likely result is an even earlier primary schedule in 2012 (or dare we say 2011). What puzzles me is why did cry babies from Florida and Michigan ever expect to break the rules and get away with it? What is even more puzzling; how do the powers that be in the national party ever expect to regain control of the calendar, if they keep allowing the cry babies get away with breaking the rules?


Tags
Bush, DNC, Florida, McCain, Michigan

McCain; Needs The Cash, Not The Taint

John McCain has been trying to distance himself from George Bush. He seldom appears in the same place as the President, and tries to play up the minor differences he hold with the president's policy and actions. But, John's presidential champign is, as far as presidential canidates are concerned, dirt poor. He is so poor that he has to turn to the least popular modern president to help with his rather pathetic cash situation. As a result he will be holding fundraising events with George, including one in his home town, away from the public eye. Initially this event was to be a bit more public and have a higher profile than a traditional McCain fundraising event, but so few people were willing to pay to attend that they had to move the event to a smaller venue, and this is in McCain's home state.

George Bush is toxic. Even some republicans have grown to despise him. Yet McCain can not afford to stay away from the poison that our President has become. One of the major factors in the coming election will be the efforts of McCain to claim that his election will not mean four more years of George Bush, and the efforts of the Democrats to make it clear the McCain is just George Bush, with a nasty temper.

Seeing how this plays out will be interesting.



Tags
Bush, Election 2008, McCain

Sacrifice

Since this nation started on its Middle Eastern miss adventure some of the people of our nation have been making great sacrifices. Those behind this war wanted to make it as painless as possible for as many of the people of the country as they could. We have not faced shortages, or even had to pay for this war (We are simply putting it on the credit card). Mostly it has been the military and their families who have paid a price. They have been separated from fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, husbands and wives. They have faced financial difficulty, infidelity, failed marriage and countless other personal struggles.

There have been highly motivated people who have decided to give to our nation and serve. The have left well paying high profile jobs to fight for their country, extended their service to make sure the needed skill would be in place for their units, or come straight out of school to join up. As a result they have missed birthdays, anniversaries, funerals and countless other special events. Some have sacrificed arms and or legs, parts of their brain, their eyesight or hearing or have had to face some other life altering injury.

And some 4500 have died.

And the man responsible for this; The man who broke international law by engaging in a war of aggression (a crime that, in the past, the US has executed people for), violated both the Geneva conventions and the UN human right conventions by endorsing and encouraging the use of torture on captives, the man who has illegally spied on US citizens and has run up a two to three trillion dollar debt in the process;

Well, he to has sacrificed, he has given up golf as a sign of solidarity with the people of the US who are fighting this war.

Some have given their Last Full Measure, and he has given up a once or twice a month 3 hour ride in an toy electric car.


What an a$$h*le.


Tags
Bush, Iraq, Republicans

Some Links For Your Fridays Enjoyment

From Crooks and Liars, a review of some of McCain's out of touch moments



A very well timed reminder about the Republican party and George Bush is presented at Agitprop (Excellent point, but some strong language, you are warned)



At Pam's House Blend, a look at how yet another Republican protects the sanctity of marriage





Tags
Bush, Corruption, Family Values, McCain

A Perfect Summery Of Our Current Administration

The Office of Special Counsel has a very important job to do. They are responsible for protecting the rights of federal workers when they report violations of law by the government. One of the major areas that this body would normally be responsible for helping with the investigation when a federal employees reports violation of the hatch act.

This law prohibits governmental agencies from using their power or personnel to aid a political candidate or party. One of the groups the Office of Special Counsel is involved in investigating is the justice department.

Well, it appears that we have crossing investigations. The Justice Department is now looking at this office and it's Bush appointed leaders for violations of the Hatch act, among other crimes.

Nothing sums up the corruption of this group than these two highly ironic investigations.



UPDATE

For those asking about the Hatch Act

In addition to concerns about obstruction of justice, investigators are also looking into whether Bloch violated the Hatch Act, a congressional mandate that prohibits employees from using their offices for partisan political purposes.

Tags
Bush, Culture of Corruption, Republicans

How Can Anyone Know?

Our dear leader is again making claims that are beyond any verification. Today, on the 5th anniversary of our attacking Iraq, he has decided that 'it' was worth it.

Since we have no clue how this war will end, since the invasions cost is almost incalculable at this point but well into the hundreds of trillions of dollars and since making any type of real analysis of the success of any venture means having a firm grasp of what the cost and the benefit are, how can he, in good conscience, make this claim?

We are not anywhere close to knowing the end result of his foolishness and to pretend otherwise is grossly dishonest.

There is an old saying that I have tried to use to guide my actions; "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt." I guess our president has never heard it.





Tags
Bush, Stupidity

Just More Evidence - Bush Lies

I know, this is no surprise to any thinking individual. It has been clear since the Brooks Brothers Riot that far to many republicans are eager to lie, cheat and steal to get the power they want.

For those few who still think that the President is a man of such virtue that he is incapable of telling a lie, lets consider the Iran NIE and the last few months.

For over a year the Bush administration has been pounding on the war drums. Iran could have a nuclear weapon any day, they are working overtime, at this very moment, to build a nuclear weapon to destroy our nation. These cries were echoed at what appeared at hourly intervals by members of the Bush administration and elected Republican enablers in the House and Senate.

Now it has become clear the President has known for months that Iran has discontinued any weapons development programs it had. What is interesting is that this new has not stopped him, or other members of the administration, from repeating their claims (for months) about Iran, this despite knowing they were lies.

And when the truth comes out, what does our President do?

Of course, he lies.

On Tuesday, President Bush said he was never forewarned by the intelligence community that Iran had suspended its nuclear weapons program in 2003:

In August, I think it was John — Mike McConnell came in and said, We have some new information. He didn’t tell me what the information was.

Now the White House is revealing that wasn’t true. In fact, Bush did know what the information was. CNN reports:

President Bush was told in August that Iran’s nuclear weapons program ‘may be suspended,’ the White House said Wednesday, which seemingly contradicts the account of the meeting given by Bush Tuesday.”

Bush Has A Plan To Easy Holiday Air Traffic

If his plan for the airlines is as effective as the rest of his plans have been, I recommend limiting any travel you have to do to walking.

Why All The Rush To Embrace Inhumanity

The last couple of weeks has been quite fascinating. We have politicians of all types who appear eager to embrace inhumanity and what are quite likely highly illegal actions.

We have a flock Republican Presidential candidates who all want to be seen as the next Jack Bauer. One, Rudy Giuliani, going as far as to try to tie police questioning that he oversaw, with the torture our government is now employing. We have a confirmation mating dance in DC, where all parties are afraid to talk plainly about the subject, and instead chose to focus of what 'is' is. The President still foolishly parrots his false claim that the US doesn't torture. He apparently thinks that if he redefines torture to remove from the list all the acts of torture we want to use, we are not torturing.

Everyone is acting like the issue of the propriety and legality of waterboarding (and other unnamed forms of torture) is in question. Well, it is not. The US has viewed this act as illegal for over 100 years. In the past, the US has denounce other governments for using this, and other forms of torture. We have prosecuted war criminals who have used waterboarding to question captives.

And now we seem to be trying to claim that this act is no longer torture.

Another way to look at this is to consider the company you keep. Who else is known to have embraced the use of water boarding? Well, Japan during WWII, North Vietnam and the Vietcong , The Stalin's KGB, Pol Pot of Killing Fields fame, and now George Bush.

In the next day or two, more names can be added to the list of those who think torture is an acceptable way of doing business. Including a number of Democratic Senators and of couse both Senators from South Carolina. DeMint, who is a reliable vote for Bush, and Graham, who knows better, but lacks the courage to do the right thing. When Mukasey is approved as AG, those who vote to install him are also voting to approve the use of torture. In his confirmation it was made very clear the he is also willing to twist the law to allow us to try to redefine torture, and allow its continued use.

And, no matter what our politicians do, no matter how they justify it, how they redefine it, no matter how much makeup they apply, it is still torture. Keith Oberman again nails the truth, and the disgustingly viable reasons for Mukasey nomination, and acceptance.


Dispatches From The Culture Wars also touches upon this theme.

Impeachment

One unintended consequence of the commuting of Scooter Libby's jail sentence seems to be a massive uptick in the willingness of mainstream media outlets to talk about impeachment.

It has been a topic on the left for at least three years now, but studiously avoided by the overwhelming majority of conventional news outlets.

For some, impeachment has been the goal since they got their first whiff of some of the questionable behavior of the Bush administration. I was not in that camp. Now the call is gathering up steam, but I still can not yet call for impeachment.

For me, Impeachment should be the result of the process, not the goal of it. Our members of congress owe us good oversight of the administration. One of their most important jobs is to assure that the government is working within the laws of the land and is being honest with the people they have been elected to represent. As part of this process there should be hearings and investigations.

Only when these events present us clear indications of wrong doing, is it time to call for corrective and punitive measures.

In my opinion we are not there. But, I hold little doubt that in time we will be faced with enough evidence that Impeachment is an option that must be considered. For the time being I just wish that we could keep the horse in front of the cart, and do the job of looking into the actions of the Bush Administration, not with the goal of Impeachment, but with the goal of finding the truth.

And just see where that road leads us.

Heck, based on the way the White House is responding to the investigations, their efforts at obstruction of justice alone may warrant Impeachment.

28%

I thought only serial rapist and televangelist could have approvial ratings this low.

George W. Bush now has the worst approval rating of an American president in a generation

Bush Block Funding For The Troops

That would be a valid statement if I was trying to spin the war funding debate the way the Bush White House has been trying to spin it. Since I am not, so I guess I will retract it.

But back to the main point, Bush has vetoed the democratic version of the supplemental spending bill that would fully fund Bush's war in Iraq.

What is interesting about this whole Iraq funding mess is: The democrats fully funded Bush's request, no quibbling at all. The only progress markers the Democrats included in the bill are the ones Bush himself outlined, no additional demands at all. The only thing that is purely democratic in orgin is the timeline, and that is at the demand of the American people who voted them into power.

Bush's biggest complaint seems to be that the Democrats took him seriously when he outlined the steps that the Iraqi government needed to take to move forward.

So we are back to the starting point, and at this time I can see only 3 real options presented.

1. Follow the Bush - McCain plan, and play Wack-A-Mole in Iraq for the next couple of generations.

2. Do the job right. Find 600,000 to 750,000 trained and armed troops, find a spare 500,000,000.00 a year to fund it, then move into Iraq a force that can impose some form of peace

3. Get the heck out of dodge.

And remember, if you pick option 1, at some point in time you will still have to pick either 2 or 3.

This is a fact, that is obvious to so many, is something that the Bush administration refuses to address.

Abstinence Only Fails

Not that this should surprise anyone who has any ability to think. Just say no has been an abject failure in every venue it has been rolled out into. What may be surprising is that this first study indicates that the hundreds of millions that have been spend on telling kids to just say no to sex has had, what amounts to, absolutely no impact on teen sexual activity.

Students who participated in sexual abstinence programs were just as likely to have sex a few years later as those who did not

...

those who attended one of the four abstinence classes reviewed reported having similar numbers of sexual partners as those who did not attend the classes, and they first had sex at about the same age as their control group counterparts — 14 years and nine months

just as likely to have sex, similar numbers of sexual partners, first had sex at about the same age... all for the low, low price of $175,000,000 a year. I wonder if we can get a full refund from all the right wing sexual snake oil sales people who have been able to use the Bush administration to rob the American public.

Remember The Iraqi Death Survey

Published in the Lancet?

The Bush administration was quick to denounce it, but the higher-ups in the UK were clearly impressed by the work.

But a memo by the MoD's Chief Scientific Adviser, Sir Roy Anderson, on 13 October, states: "The study design is robust and employs methods that are regarded as close to "best practice" in this area, given the difficulties of data collection and verification in the present circumstances in Iraq."

...

In the same e-mail the official later writes: "However, the survey methodology used here cannot be rubbished, it is a tried and tested way of measuring mortality in conflict zones."

When it comes to anything scientific, the Bush administration denounces anything they don't like, even when the science is valid.

Another Bushie Cops A Plea

This time it is a result of the Abramoff coruption investigations. He, like scooter, is taking the fall for obstruction of justice.

The former No. 2 official at the Interior Department has agreed to a felony plea admitting that he lied five times to the Senate Indian Affairs Committee and its investigators about his relationship with Abramoff

The plea somehow seems appropiate for an administation who wants to be able to lie with impuniy.

But, If We Are Under Oath, Can We Lie?

With the Democratic party in charge, the US Senate has decided to get back into the over site business. In this effort they wish to chat with a few members of the Bush administration.

They have advised Bush that they would like them to come on over, get sworn in, and answer a few questions about the job they have been doing for the American public for the last 6+ years. George isn't happy with the request, and has offered to have the talk.... but only if they are not under oath.

It appears that after having one member of his administration found guilty of lying under oath, he now wants to make sure the rest of his people can lie to the American Public without being concern about facing a judge in a few months.