Troopergate report: McCain campaign responds

Shorter McCainiacs: "Hey, unless there's a law against sleazy, slimy, unethical douchebaggery, Sarah Palin hasn't done anything wrong... and besides, the whole thing is a vast left-wing conspiracy." :

""Today's report shows that the Governor acted within her proper and lawful authority in the reassignment of Walt Monegan," said Palin spokeswoman Meg Stapelton. "The report also illustrates what we've known all along: this was a partisan led inquiry run by Obama supporters.""

Sure. Nothing to see here. That's why the McCain campaign has had lawyers up in Alaska for weeks, working feverishly around the clock to stall the report's publication.

Women go back to Obama

I don't like to get too excited about polls because they change like the weather, but there's definitely a trend building and it's good news all over for Barack Obama. Time has him at 50% overall, and even Rasmussen (which tends to favour the GOP) has him at 51%. He's taken the lead in several swing states, including the pivotal Florida.

Two things are bringing voters to Obama: worries about the economy and, most interestingly (to me, anyway), women voters are returning to the Dems faster than Sarah Palin initially brought them to the GOP. Time:

"Propelled by concerns over the financial crisis and a return of support from female voters, Barack Obama has opened a formidable 7-point lead over John McCain, reaching the 50% threshold among likely voters for the first time in the general campaign for President, according to a new TIME poll." [...]

"Among the poll's most dramatic findings: McCain is losing female voters faster than Sarah Palin attracted them after the Republican National Convention. Obama leads McCain by 17 points with women, 55%-38%. Before the conventions, women preferred Obama by a margin of 10 points, 49%-39%. After McCain picked Palin as his running mate, the gap narrowed to a virtual tie, with Obama holding a 1-point margin, 48%-47%."

See? Heather Mallick was right. Our vaginas do not call out to each other and demand some kind of weird solidarity, regardless of a candidate's credentials (or lack thereof).

So, hahaha, remind me again what it was that Palin brings to the GOP ticket?

Things that make me want to

slam back a couple of dozen tequila-and-green-chartreuse shooters, fall down, pass out, and not wake up til November 5th:

"John McCain made the morning show rounds today. On Fox they were virtually begging him to "suspend" his campaign again in the wake of the bailout failure yesterday on the Hill. You know, since it worked out so well the first time. McCain's answer: He just might suspend again." (emphasis mine)

Please... do it. Suspend again. Only this time, don't un-suspend for at least a month.

The fundamentals of our economy are -- aww, FUCK!

Isn't this kind of unprecedented?

"Republican presidential candidate John McCain on Wednesday suspended his campaign to help Congress craft legislation to deal with the financial crisis on Wall Street."

After 8 years of Bush/Cheney thuggery, I'm not totally surprised to see something like this, although I thought it would take a terrorist attack to make it happen. Now we'll see if the election itself gets suspended.

Developing...

UPDATE: Okay, here we go. McCain wants the debate postponed to... are you ready?... October 2nd! Gee, isn't that the day the Vice-Presidential debate was supposed to happen?

Foreign Policy - Coles Notes Version

What's this, the GOP version of "Take Your Kid To Work Day"??:

"Governor Palin may attend next week's U.N. General Assembly, where she would be able to meet with many of the foreign heads of state gathering in New York on Tuesday, according to a source close to the McCain presidential campaign. The Wall Street Journal's Web site quoted a campaign strategist as saying that next week's gathering would give Mrs. Palin "some exposure and experience with foreign leaders," adding: "It's a great idea.""

As one of the commenters said,

"Then after she goes to the UN for an hour to “meet foreign leaders” and establish her security/foreign policy credentials, McCain will take her to a hospital, so she can establish her “health care” credentials; then they will go out in the street and meet a whole bunch of African-Americans, Hispanics, and Asians to check off the “diversity” credentials; then they can ride the subway for one stop to clarify her “infrastructure” credentials; and then, finally, she can use her ATM card at a bank branch down on Wall Street so she can demonstrate her expertise on the financial markets.

God, I swear you can’t make this up."

More of this, please

Smokin' Joe Biden on the Wall Street meltdown and the McCain campaign's lies, just now on the Today Show:

"Disappointing" -- that's the word.

That'll leave a mark

You know your campaign has sunk to a new nadir of putrescence when even the Sultan of Sleaze and Lord of the Lies Karl Rove says you're lying too much:

"ROVE SAYS MCCAIN HAS GONE 'ONE STEP TOO FAR'.... Karl Rove was reluctant to say it, and he tried really hard not to say it, but he conceded on Fox News this morning that John McCain's ads aren't exactly accurate." [...]

"But host Chris Wallace asked, "All right, for fair game, what does McCain do that goes one step too far?"

Rove responded, "McCain has similarly gone one step too far, attributing to Obama things that are, you know, beyond the 100% truth test."

Ouch!

You have to wonder what Rove's game is (because there absolutely has to be one) -- maybe putting a little lipstick on the swinish legacy of the Bush Administration?

"Disrespectful"

Who's running for President, McCain or Palin? Check out the Rethugs' latest:



After all their jabbering about sexism it was only a matter of time before they took it a step further and played the victim card, even though it's a little sexist to cast Palin in that role. Would this work as an ad for John McCain? "They dismissed him as old-looking, said he was just doing was he was told (by the religious right), then they called him a liar. How disrespectful." But never mind that -- speaking of lies, talk about making the point! The ad is chock-full of them:

"The new McCain-Palin ad "Disrespectful" begins like an earlier ad we criticized, with its reference to Barack Obama's celebrity, but then goes down new paths of deception. It takes quotes from news organizations and uses them out of context in an effort to portray Obama and his running mate, Joe Biden, as unfairly attacking Sarah Palin and making sexist remarks. We've long been a critic of candidates (Obama included) usurping the credibility of independent news organizations and peddling false quotes, and this ad is particularly egregious."

How disrespectful... of the truth.

Palin's ABC interview: the horror

Ho. Lee. Fuck. Watch:



She has no clue what the Bush Doctrine is. The Bush Doctrine, of course, is the doctrine of pre-emptive war, probably the most defining characteristic not just of the Bush Administration's foreign policy, but of the administration itself. And Sarah Palin, Vice Presidential candidate, doesn't know what the fuck it is. I know what it is, for fuck sake, and I'm a grocery store cashier.

This has gone beyond ridiculous and crossed over into terrifying.

McCain throws the fundies a bone

Surprised? Me neither! From Lifeshite:

"Sen. John McCain reached out to Catholic voters yesterday in Philadelphia at a gathering of Catholic lay leaders and clergy. The meeting, held at the venerable Union League on South Broad St., is one in an ongoing series being held nationwide by McCain and his Catholic surrogates - Sen. Sam Brownback, Gov. Frank Keating, and former Vatican ambassador Jim Nicholson." [...]

"The first issue addressed by McCain was abortion. He said that the "noblest words ever written" were "the inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." McCain believes that those words "apply to the unborn." He reminded the Philadelphia Catholics of his pro-life voting record, adding that he would "maintain that commitment" if elected president."

However, it might be prudent to note that's what Georgie said, too, and he was far more "owned" by the Christian Right than McCain. We shall see. That is, if McCain even makes it to the White House, which is anything but a slam-dunk.

Same as the old boss

Pre-emptive war? Well, why not? I mean, it's always worked so well in the past:

"Republican Sen. John McCain refused Wednesday to rule out a pre-emptive war against another country, although he said one would be very unlikely.

The likely Republican presidential nominee was asked Wednesday at a town-hall style meeting if he would reject "the Bush doctrine of pre-emptive war," a reference to Bush's decision to invade Iraq without it having attacked the United States." [...]

"McCain said he would consult more closely and more carefully "not with every member of Congress, but certainly the leaders of Congress.""

So that means what? He'd email 3 or 4 people about it and then it's "Yee-haw, bombs away!!!"? Well, that's reassurring! Thank god Bush's pre-emptive war doctrine so totally decimated the Republican Party that they won't be in power for another umpteen-million years.. err...