Archive for the ‘Politics’ Category
Let me start by saying that this is my opinion. It is not something that has been specifically said by the McCain campaign.
McCain announced today that he was suspending his campaign in light of the financial crises that he helped create. Last week McCain didn't seem to see any cause for concern. I'm glad to see that he finally acknowledges that there are problems on Wall Street.
Why, though, did he do this? Well, let's look at what they are and aren't saying.
First off, McCain is saying that he wants Friday's debate to be postponed. What he isn't saying is that McCain is afraid that questions about the economy will arise. Specific questions about his push to deregulate everything and his participation in the Keating 5. He's saying that the fat cats on Wall Street caused the crash with their greed. What he's not saying is that his former public face on economic policy, Carly Fiorina was fired from her CEO position at HP but left with a executive compensation package worth roughly $45 million.
What he also isn't saying is that McCain has taken no time off from campaigning to prepare for Friday's debate. What better way to not show that he isn't prepared then to postpone the debate?
The McCain campaign is also saying that Palin is ready to be president. What they aren't doing, however, is allow anyone to ask her any real questions. At least not if she hasn't had the chance to prepare for them ahead of time. His campaign even blocked reporters from asking questions when Palin went to the UN to meet with some foreign heads of state. They could take her picture, though.
Personally, when I first heard that McCain was suspending his campaign and asking for a postponment I figured he was just scared of looking bad next to Obama. Then I thought about it some more and I decided that this would be a good time to postpone or even cancel Palin's debate against Biden that is set for next week. Little did I know that just before I started to write this CNN would report that sure enough, they wanted to delay Palin's debate as well.
Was this a presidental move by McCain? Hardly, it was the move of a desperate campaign that knows they are sinking fast. The nation is heading into a financial crises that McCain the deregulator helped create. They have a VP pick that can't answer a question without sounding like a high school student trying to overwhelm with words on an essay so that no one notices she has no clue what she is saying.
McCain, if you want to prove you're ready to be president, you need to prove you can lead without resorting to fear tactics and that you can do more than one thing at a time. Your running mate should do the same thing.
Let's jump into the wayback machine for a few minutes and head all the way back to March 11, 2008. This was the day that Rick Davis, McCain's campaign manager, sent a memo to reporters that stated
…It is critical, as we prepare to face off with whomever the Democrats select as their nominee, that we all follow John's lead and run a respectful campaign focused on the issues and values that are important to the American people.
Throughout the primary election we saw John McCain reject the type of politics that degrade our civics, and this will not change as he prepares to run head-to-head against the Democratic nominee….
…Throughout his life John McCain has held himself to the highest standards and he will continue to run a respectful campaign based on the issues. We expect that all supporters, surrogates and staff will hold themselves to similarly high standards when they are representing the campaign….
That oh so honorable campaign lasted until July 2008. Now McCain's campaign is wallowing in the gutter.
The McCain campaign's latest hairball of an ad borders on the obscene. By now you have probably seen or heard McCain's Education ad. If not you can see it on YouTube.com. I refuse to provide free play time for the ad by putting it up on my blog.
The ad claims that Obama is responsible for "legislation to teach comprehensive sex education to kindergarteners."
Here's what FactCheck.org has to say about this ad:
It's true that the phrase "comprehensive sex education" appeared in the bill, but little else in McCain's claim is accurate. The ad refers to a bill Obama supported in the Illinois state Senate to update the sex education curriculum and make it "medically accurate." It would have lowered the age at which students would begin what the bill termed "comprehensive sex education" to include kindergarten. But it mandated the instruction be "age-appropriate" for kindergarteners when addressing topics such as sexually transmitted diseases. The bill also would have granted parents the opportunity to remove their children from the class without question:
SB 99: However, no pupil shall be required to take or participate in any family life class or course on HIV AIDS or family life instruction if his parent or guardian submits written objection thereto, and refusal to take or participate in such course or program shall not be reason for suspension or expulsion of such pupil.
The bill also called for all sex education course materials to include information that would help students recognize, among other activities, inappropriate touching, sexual assault and rape:
SB99: Course material and instruction shall discuss and provide
for the development of positive communication skills to maintain healthy relationships and avoid unwanted sexual activity. … Course material and instruction shall teach pupils … how to say no to unwanted sexual advances … and shall include information about verbal, physical, and visual sexual harassment, including without limitation nonconsensual sexual advances, nonconsensual physical sexual contact, and rape by an acquaintance. The course material and instruction shall contain methods of preventing sexual assault by an acquaintance, including exercising good judgment and avoiding behavior that impairs one's judgment.The bill passed in the Health and Human Services Committee with Democrats, including Obama, voting along party lines in support of it. But the measure promptly stalled and died in the full Senate, and no action has been taken on it since late 2005.
All emphasis is mine.
The McCain campaign's attempt to put some sort of perverse reasoning on Obama's support of the failed bill is disgusting.
It can also backfire on McCain.
McCain is criticising Obama for supporting a bill that would teach children to recognize inappropriate behavior and pedophiles. David Sirota expains that logically the argument can be made that McCain is declaring "his support for child molestor rights."
Do I honestly feel that McCain supports the rights of child molestors? Of course not. However, if he and his campgain is going to make ungrounded and disgusting claims against Obama, then he better not claim that he's running a clean, honorable campaign.
By the way, if you're interested in the actual article from Education Week about Obama you can read it here. If you read it, you'll notice that it is not nearly as daming as the McCain ad wants you to believe.
The Chicago Trib had a good Q & A between a reporter and a long-time community organizer. I'm going to put it up in it's entirety.
Organizing a response to the GOP
By Rex W. Huppke
September 7, 2008During the Republican Party Convention, vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani made light of community organizers. The comments were not-so-veiled swipes at Sen. Barack Obama's early experience on the South Side of Chicago, where he helped residents with work and housing problems.
For a response, we spoke with Tio Hardiman, a longtime community organizer with a master's degree in inner-city studies, who has finally grown up and gotten a real job as director of mediation services for CeaseFire, a Chicago anti-violence group:
Q: Sarah Palin, who used to be the mayor of a small city in Alaska, let Americans know that community organizers have no actual responsibilities. What was it like back when you were a community organizer and had no responsibilities?
A: We had plenty of responsibilities. When I was working for the Chicago Alliance for Community Safety, I once had to get 50 residents from the most violent communities to attend a training session to deal with conflict resolution. I had six weeks to round up 50 people and persuade them to do this. You get into the community, you become the voice of the people that don't have a voice. You have to be a strong thinker, you have to be able to strategize.
Q: Rudolph Giuliani expressed confusion as to what a community organizer actually is. Could you explain?
A: The role of a community organizer is to organize residents around issues that impact their everyday lives. Issues such as housing, violence, elder abuse, the list goes on and on. Issues of substance abuse, issues of a failing economy.
Q: Did you know Giuliani was the mayor of New York when the terrorists attacked on 9/11?
A: Yeah.
Q: OK, good. Because it's not something he talks about too much.
A: When 9/11 hit, Giuliani had to hit the ground running. He had to work with community organizers to get people in New York City to keep the faith, to believe they were going to get through the whole thing.
Q: Why do you think community organizers are looked down on so much by former mayors?
A: I think many community organizers are looked down on because in the past some have organized against particular candidates.
Q: What's the most important thing you think you've done as a community organizer?
A: I've brought attention to the issue of violence being an epidemic across these United States. I've brought this issue up on a national platform. Now we're bringing more attention to it and therefore more resources are trickling down to address the issue.
Q: That's sounds great. But have you ever shot a moose?
A: No, no, no.
Q: 'Cause they're really quite big and intimidating. You know?
A: What the hell do I know? I'm just a community organizer.
Rex W. Huppke is a Tribune reporter.
It seems that even Giuliani has been a community organizer in the past.
Sad, but true.
Tomorrow I'll vote for Alan Grayson for the Democratic nominee agaisnt Ric Keller. I think he's the best candidate out there. He's definitely better than Charlie Stuart.
When I was a kid I babysat his kids from time to time. He and his family lived two streets away from us. I know him. I know his family. For Charlie Stuart, that should be enough of a reason to vote for him. Literally.
The only mailing I've seen from him says "Those of us who have helped grow the Central Florida community have always chosen our elected officials because we knew them." In other words, I have more name recognition so you should vote for me.
Stuart also claims that he's the only one who can beat Keller. Why? Because he lost to Keller.
Personally, I think that Stuart's narrow defeat to Keller doesn't prove only he can win this race. It proves that any Democrat can win against Keller. If they mount a campaign against the man. Stuart had no money to run a campaign against Keller during the 2006 elections. The fact that he came so close proves that people are tired of Keller and will vote for a Democratic candidate.
If any Democrat can win against Keller, why not vote for the best candidate to run against Keller?
Grayson is the best qualified candidate. He worked his way through Harvard, cleaning toilets and working as a night watchman. He started a Fortune 1000 company, on the second floor of a funeral home. He founded one of the nation's largest law firms prosecuting war profiteers. He was Taxpayers Against Fraud's Lawyer of the Year, and the Florida Civil Rights Association's Humanitarian of the Year. After eight years of incompetent leadership in Washington, we need someone who knows how to get things done.
Grayson has been fighting to protect the taxpayers and the troops for years. He's testified before Congress four times regarding war profiteering. He's also won the only case against Iraq war profiteers. . . so far. With Grayson in Congress, you can bet he'll do more about war profiteering.
Here's Grayson's latest ad:
If you are a registered Democrat and you live in Florida's 8th Congressional district I urge you to vote for Grayson tomorrow.
Alan Grayson is running for the Democratic candidate for the 8th district of Congress. The position he is running for is currently held by Ric Keller. Keller is best know for the "Cheeseburger Bill" and well, not much else. At least, not much when it comes to his work in Congress.
But Ric Keller is for another post.
Alan Grayson has been fighting against contractor fraud for more than 16 years. Since the beginning of the Iraq War, he's been battling against the no-bid contractors and the Department of Justice. One case involves a refrigerator truck that KBR was using to hold bodies of Iraqis. The bodies had been in the truck for two weeks in the Iraqi heat without refrigeration. Needless to say, it wasn't pretty. Now, refrigerator trucks can be used to hold bodies, but then they can never be used to carry food or ice. KBR, however, continued to use this particular truck to carry ice.
Yeah, gross. And any ice or food carried on that truck becomes a bio-hazard. You can read more about this case and other cases in a Vanity Fair article.
I found a new tv ad that Grayson has put out over on Daily Kos. It looks great.
In case you haven't figured it out, I plan on voting for Grayson. If you want to help Grayson out, please visit Act Blue or Grayson's campaign website.
