2008 US. Presidential Election

[SamuraiJack]

Anyone keeping tabs on this?

Watching the RNC right now, it's hilarious and sad at the same time.

[nskripchun]

If you're watching to hear about Republican policy, it's pretty much attack lines / soundbites against Obama. It's funny hearing a lot of them from Palin, too.

Not that it's unexpected or anything... people already know the plan of attack is "Obama is..."

-too educated
-too inexperienced
-too city-focused
-too popular
-too good at speaking
-too good at writing books
-too black

yada yada yada

[nskripchun]

A good article which breaks down some of the "facts" from the speeches at the GOP convention...

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2008158379_webfactsgop04.html

Attacks, praise stretch truth at GOP convention
By JIM KUHNHENN
The Associated Press

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and her Republican supporters held back little Wednesday as they issued dismissive attacks on Barack Obama and flattering praise on her credentials to be vice president. In some cases, the reproach and the praise stretched the truth.

Some examples:

PALIN: "I have protected the taxpayers by vetoing wasteful spending ... and championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress. I told the Congress 'thanks but no thanks' for that Bridge to Nowhere."

THE FACTS: As mayor of Wasilla, Palin hired a lobbyist and traveled to Washington annually to support earmarks for the town totaling $27 million. In her two years as governor, Alaska has requested nearly $750 million in special federal spending, by far the largest per-capita request in the nation. While Palin notes she rejected plans to build a $398 million bridge from Ketchikan to an island with 50 residents and an airport, that opposition came only after the plan was ridiculed nationally as a "bridge to nowhere."

PALIN: "There is much to like and admire about our opponent. But listening to him speak, it's easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform — not even in the state senate."

THE FACTS: Compared to McCain and his two decades in the Senate, Obama does have a more meager record. But he has worked with Republicans to pass legislation that expanded efforts to intercept illegal shipments of weapons of mass destruction and to help destroy conventional weapons stockpiles. The legislation became law last year. To demean that accomplishment would be to also demean the work of Republican Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, a respected foreign policy voice in the Senate. In Illinois, he was the leader on two big, contentious measures in Illinois: studying racial profiling by police and requiring recordings of interrogations in potential death penalty cases. He also successfully co-sponsored major ethics reform legislation.

PALIN: "The Democratic nominee for president supports plans to raise income taxes, raise payroll taxes, raise investment income taxes, raise the death tax, raise business taxes, and increase the tax burden on the American people by hundreds of billions of dollars."

THE FACTS: The Tax Policy Center, a think tank run jointly by the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute, concluded that Obama's plan would increase after-tax income for middle-income taxpayers by about 5 percent by 2012, or nearly $2,200 annually. McCain's plan, which cuts taxes across all income levels, would raise after tax-income for middle-income taxpayers by 3 percent, the center concluded.

Obama would provide $80 billion in tax breaks, mainly for poor workers and the elderly, including tripling the Earned Income Tax Credit for minimum-wage workers and higher credits for larger families.

He also would raise income taxes, capital gains and dividend taxes on the wealthiest. He would raise payroll taxes on taxpayers with incomes above $250,000, and he would raise corporate taxes. Small businesses that make more than $250,000 a year would see taxes rise.

MCCAIN: "She's been governor of our largest state, in charge of 20 percent of America's energy supply ... She's responsible for 20 percent of the nation's energy supply. I'm entertained by the comparison and I hope we can keep making that comparison that running a political campaign is somehow comparable to being the executive of the largest state in America," he said in an interview with ABC News' Charles Gibson.

THE FACTS: McCain's phrasing exaggerates both claims. Palin is governor of a state that ranks second nationally in crude oil production, but she's no more "responsible" for that resource than President Bush was when he was governor of Texas, another oil-producing state. In fact, her primary power is the ability to tax oil, which she did in concert with the Alaska Legislature. And where Alaska is the largest state in America, McCain could as easily have called it the 47th largest state — by population.

MCCAIN: "She's the commander of the Alaska National Guard. ... She has been in charge, and she has had national security as one of her primary responsibilities," he said on ABC.

THE FACTS: While governors are in charge of their state guard units, that authority ends whenever those units are called to actual military service. When guard units are deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, for example, they assume those duties under "federal status," which means they report to the Defense Department, not their governors. Alaska's national guard units have a total of about 4,200 personnel, among the smallest of state guard organizations.

FORMER ARKANSAS GOV. MIKE HUCKABEE: Palin "got more votes running for mayor of Wasilla, Alaska than Joe Biden got running for president of the United States."

THE FACTS: A whopper. Palin got 616 votes in the 1996 mayor's election, and got 909 in her 1999 re-election race, for a total of 1,525. Biden dropped out of the race after the Iowa caucuses, but he still got 76,165 votes in 23 states and the District of Columbia where he was on the ballot during the 2008 presidential primaries.

FORMER MASSACHUSETTS GOV. MITT ROMNEY: "We need change, all right — change from a liberal Washington to a conservative Washington! We have a prescription for every American who wants change in Washington — throw out the big-government liberals, and elect John McCain and Sarah Palin."

THE FACTS: A Back-to-the-Future moment. George W. Bush, a conservative Republican, has been president for nearly eight years. And until last year, Republicans controlled Congress. Only since January 2007 have Democrats have been in charge of the House and Senate.

[nightshade]

I thought this was kind of hilarious:

http://www.tmz.com/2008/09/05/republicans-lack-heart/

Republicans Lack Heart!

Posted Sep 5th 2008 8:00AM by TMZ Staff

Ann and Nancy Wilson are pissed at the Republican Party and have fired off a cease and desist letter to the McCain/Palin campaign.

Specifically, the Heart women are upset that the GOP has used their classic "Barracuda" as a theme song for Sarah Palin. TMZ obtained a statement from Heart's rep, who says "The Republican campaign did not ask for permission to use the song, nor would they have been granted that permission."

The statement goes on: "We have asked the Republican campaign publicly not to use our music. We hope our wishes will be honored."

We're told Ann was watching TV today and heard the song at the convention when Palin was touted.

UPDATE: Twenty minutes after we posted this story, the GOP ended the evening after McCain's speech with the song, "Barracuda."

Stay tuned.

[minbo]

Political issues aside, based just upon the people:

McCain will forever hate Gooks
Biden makes jokes that you can't go to the local 7-11 or Dunkin Donuts without having a slight Indian accent

Palin used to be a member of AIP in 1991. AIP is a political party that believes that the Statehood of Alaska was illegal under international law and UN carter rules. Their minimum goal is to have a referendum in Alaska on the matter and to re-claim all Federal lands in Alaska, some would like to succeed outright. Not sure that I want a President or Vice President of the USA to have once wanted to succeed from the USA...

Based upon party planks out of the conventions, my choice is trivial otherwise.

Edit to add - Uhh, not trying to imply that I want to vote for McCain/Palin or Obama/Biden. I was just trying to say very ineffectively that I am not enthusiastic with any of the individuals running for the positions. I don't have anything up about Obama specificly, but that does not mean that he is heads above any of the others IMHO. I do know which parties ideologies I agree with more, so I don't need to vote for a lesser of two evils even if I don't care for the actual candidates.

[SamuraiJack]

I noticed the "Obama/Biden" ticket looks very similar to "Osama Bin Laden".

But it seems the most popular attack on his name seems to be his middle name, "Hussein".

[nskripchun]

I noticed the "Obama/Biden" ticket looks very similar to "Osama Bin Laden".

But it seems the most popular attack on his name seems to be his middle name, "Hussein".

FOX News already made a comment about that...

http://buzzfeed.com/nickdouglas/fox-obama-biden-osama-bin-laden-coincidence-t

Smacks of desperation.

[nskripchun]

Somebody's video response to Palin's speech slamming community organizers as not having "real responsibilities"...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpniuotfpR8

[wuwei]

I was offered a temp job to work for Obama's campaign at Berkeley, but I wasnt sure if I should do it, since I'm not that enthusiastic about it him or elections in general.

[kimtae]

secede not succeed. Much as I wish for anyone but the Reps to win, I think Obama will lose. He is too much like Kerry in the sense that he will not take the low road and that is a political liability. Dirty tactics work with Americans. In the last two elections the Dems have been unprecedentedly good at snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. The fact that they couldn't get their best campaigner Bill on board means they will lose again despite Obama's slim and getting slimmer lead. President Palin by 2011.

[SamuraiJack]

Apparently, the Republican campaign is accusing Obama of sexism for using the phrase "you can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig". They think that Obama is calling Palin a pig because she made a joke last week about the difference between a pitbull and a hockey mom being "lipstick".

Since when did Republicans become interested in being politically correct? Nevermind that McCain used the same phrase when talking about Hillary Clinton's policies, and that Dick Cheney before, to the applause of conservatives.

[SamuraiJack]

FOX News already made a comment about that...

http://buzzfeed.com/nickdouglas/fox-obama-biden-osama-bin-laden-coincidence-t

Smacks of desperation.

It's been proven that it's been photo-shopped. However, Fox News is so bad that people would not be surprised if they really did do that.

[nskripchun]

Apparently, the Republican campaign is accusing Obama of sexism for using the phrase "you can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig". They think that Obama is calling Palin a pig because she made a joke last week about the difference between a pitbull and a hockey mom being "lipstick".

Since when did Republicans become interested in being politically correct? Nevermind that McCain used the same phrase when talking about Hillary Clinton's policies, and that Dick Cheney before, to the applause of conservatives.

Yep. NPR had a great story with all the audio clips of Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain, Vice President Dick Cheney and Rep. Charles Rangel:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94481288

Sad, but then again... it's old school politics. Obama is getting straight up Swift-Boat'd with the charge of sexism.

[aelward]

It blows my mind that there was a 20% shift in support among White women, just because of Palin. She really is having her cake and eating it too. She projects the image of being tough, but if you say anything negative about her, then it is sexism. Awww, poor little Sarah, can't take a comment about lipsticked pigs (even if it wasn't directed at you, anyway).

The Obama campaign needs to start attacking her on issues. She is one literal heartbeat from the pregnancy and has virtually no experience. She says she is against earmarks yet is one of the biggest solicitors of them. She says time and time again that she was against the Bridge to Nowhere when she supported it. She is against more taxes, yet taxes the heck out of the oil companies in Alaska so that the citizens can get a kickback (basically, driving up the price of oil for the rest of us). Let them cry sexism when she is attacked on issues and hopefully, it will make them look like even worse crybabies.

[awong]

watching the interview...she seems dumb...lol

[kimtae]

What did I say? President Palin by 2011.

[nskripchun]

NPR had an interesting story today - it got together a group of diverse folks (though sadly lacking an Asian American voice) from York, PA, to talk about the current election and role that race might be playing.

Hit the jump for the audio... some of the text:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94499874

This is the first in a series of conversations NPR is having with voters in York, Pa., about race and its role in the 2008 presidential election. Steve Inskeep and Michele Norris plan to meet with a group of 13 voters — a mix of whites, blacks and Latinos — from this swing state several times this fall to dig a little bit deeper than election polls.

Morning Edition, September 11, 2008 · Speaking frankly about race makes York, Pa., voter Sarah Yacoviello, who is white, uncomfortable.

"I think that sounds strange, but I want to be made uncomfortable because I don't pretend to understand the plight of African-American or Hispanic, or any other nationality that's not my own," she says.

Cal Weary, an African-American, says he's almost always aware of his race.

"I'm not a blind black man. I do see what happens when I walk into certain stores," he says. "I still feel the same anxiety I had when I was 5 or 6 years old and seeing the difference between my white friends, when they walked into the store and how they were treated, and how I was."

Yacoviello and Weary sit in a hotel suite with 11 other voters — a mix of whites, blacks and Latinos. The group loosely reflects the demographic of York, which has a rich, uneven history of race relations. Over the years, racial tensions have waxed and waned but never disappeared.

Morning Edition and All Things Considered traveled to York recently to tackle some tough questions about race:

What are the occasions, if any, when you become aware of your race?

Is discrimination underestimated by white Americans?

Do black people make too much of discrimination?

Do you think America is ready to elect a black president?

Nancy Snyder, who is white, adopted two children of races different from hers. When her adopted African-American son was 18 months old, she says, she took one look at his feet and knew he was going to grow to over 6 feet tall. She told her husband she figured she had "about a decade to build a good rapport with him."

Her husband challenged her on it. "My husband said, 'Would you ever say that if he were white?' And I wouldn't," she says.

Snyder wasn't the only one in the room who had to confront fear of African-American men.

Weary says he's felt that way, too.

He says he developed a fear of black males while attending an almost all-white prep school.

"I was mimicking the fears that these people that I went to school with had," Weary says, adding that he doesn't feel that way now. "I am the large black man that you would have feared coming to your door."

Weary's remark prompted a response from Michael Smith, a large black man sitting across the room.

"A large black man has to be very friendly. They like a large, black, friendly man," Weary says.

So what do these York voters think pollsters are getting at when they ask whether America is ready to elect a black president?

African-American voters jumped at that question first.

"I think the question is, they just don't think a black person is smart enough," says Margie Orr.

Don Gettys, who is white, disagrees.

"I don't think there'd be a problem with him being black," Gettys says, referring to Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama. "It's just personally, I don't think he's the right one."

[nskripchun]

And the real meaty audio interview...

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94523754


"I look at Obama, and I have a question in my mind," she says. "Years ago, was he taken into the Muslim faith? And my concern is the only way you are no longer a Muslim is if you are dead, killed. So in my mind, he's still alive."

Although Barack Obama has said repeatedly he is not a Muslim and has never been a Muslim, Moreland is still unconvinced.

"There is something about him I don't trust," she says. "I don't care how good a speaker he is, I just can't trust him."


Crazy.

[nekohead]

I got this from one of my sites.
Take a look and see it for yourself.."

http://womenagainstsarahpalin.blogspot.com/

[aelward]

20/20 is doing a special on her. They are doing the add that the Obama campaign SHOULD have done: taking her words and matching it with her actual deeds. From my decidedly subjective partisan point of view, it's pretty damning; but I'm guessing that the other side will just brush it off...

[aelward]

Palin: "Alaska is a microcosm of the entire US."

[aelward]

I have been worried about the big bounce that Palin brought to the McCain ticket-- but at the same time, because of our electoral college system, what was the effect state-by-state. This link gives you a good idea:

http://www.electoral-vote.com/

Something reassuring is that the Republican ticket's biggest bounce was in the South-- which they were probably going to win anyway.

As of today, McCain has more electoral votes-- but his lead is less than 3% in the "barely Republican" states, while Obama's is at least 4% in the "barely Democrat" states. Of course, I'm not statistician, so maybe I should still be really worried....

[xian]

The Obama campaign needs to start attacking her on issues. She is one literal heartbeat from the pregnancy and has virtually no experience.

Awesome typo :D

[nskripchun]

Palin: "Alaska is a microcosm of the entire US."

Pshhhhhhhhhhhht.

I ain't received any checks from the US government for making my residence here.

[aelward]

Awesome typo :D

Typo, or Freudian slip?

[ninajoy]

http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2008/09/10/palin_feminism/index.html

here's a good article on palin and feminism that a friend sent me.
i honestly don't get why any woman with self-respect and values her rights would vote for palin... she's anti-female!



the article also makes a great point about republican campaign tactics:

"Republicans have -- in a P.T. Barnum, sucker-born-every-minute kind of way -- successfully framed themselves as the custodians of Christian ethics and conservative family values. This stance successfully masks their wholesale class war against the majority of their supporters, who continue to vote blatantly against their own economic interests in thrall to this deliberate emotional manipulation. It was the media critic Douglas Rushkoff who pointed out, several years ago, that Republican politicians were employing marketing techniques perfected by Clotaire Rapaille. Rapaille, broadly paraphrased, introduced a theory that approximately 80 percent of all decision making is done at the level of the limbic system -- our lowest, most colorless, reptilian emotional level. Republican strategies are consistent with a belief that the voting process, for most people, is full of feelings -- but devoid of reason."


"Sarah Palin is the White House bunny..." to me, she's the devil.

[pastelGIRL]

McCain is by far the best man for the job, he also has run a far cleaner race choosing not to be involved in most of the ignorant actions of the other 2. I understand that it is time consuming to look up each persons history but how can any american make a intelligent vote with only the persons word, if you come to my store and I tell you how honest I am only to sell you something that did not hold up and then refused to refund your money, would you ever do business with me again? Likewise the same with politicians, which is why I made the Hitler statement, talk is cheap it means nothing it is your track record that counts, Obama has told so many lies he forgets what he says, this guy tried to play the race card and it backfired in his face. He is pathetic a poor excuse for an American citizen let alone someone who WANTS TO RUN THIS COUNTRY.

He has convinced himself that is something special because he was raised by a white woman many black children are raised by white families, had he or his stupid staff bothered to do some homework they would have found that more white people adopt black children from tired world countries than any other group.

But I do not see him as some savior for the masses in any way that office is not about color or women ’s rights it is about making this country a force in the world like it used to be.

The dollar is at the bottom in so many countries, people are so stupid they don't realize that if you do not FIGHT FOR FREEDOM it will be TAKEN AWAY, there will ALWAYS be some power crazed maniac somewhere who thinks they have the right to control you.

Any person who comes to this country and was born in this country and reaps the reward for doing so better be ready to fight for the freedom that OUR FOREFATHERS Fought and died for, and moron who does not believe had better get a clue before it is too late, I hate war everyone hates war BUT it is a terrible fact of life and has always been so since the beginning of man.
i just saw their TV ads in pollclash and its getting warmer this time. well you can see the TV ads in http://pollclash.com

[aelward]

McCain is by far the best man for the job, he also has run a far cleaner race choosing not to be involved in most of the ignorant actions of the other 2.


hahahahahahahahhahahahah. A campaign of misrepresentations and blatant lies. Since this is your first post, which Hitler comment are you referring to? Or are you a random McCain supporter who posts on bulletin boards whenever you see his name brought up...

[nightshade]

Hahaha, pastelGIRL enjoy having a president who thinks you're a gook.

[nskripchun]

pastelgirl = spambot.

Oh, and BTW... John McCain wasn't BORN IN OUR COUNTRY! Oh snap. Look it up... he was born in Panama. Obama was born in Hawaii. I guess if "being born in this country" denotes who'll be better a president for you, you're voting Obama, right?

Sarah Palin Interviewed by Katie Couric
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4476649n

So awkward to watch. "I'll try to find ya some and I'll bring it to you?" She got owned by Katie Couric, and let's face it... Katie Couric was going soft on her.

So this is evidence of McCain's "good judgement"? You want this lady to be vice-president, the next in line for the PRESIDENCY?

Pshhhhht.

[SamuraiJack]

CNN was saying that Palin's horrible interview with CBS was a result of being "secluded" by the McCain campaign.

[nskripchun]

Keating Economics: John McCain and the Making of a Financial Crisis
http://my.barackobama.com/page/invite/keatingvideo

[aelward]

Role asian americans can play in the current election:

http://www.naasurvey.com/assets/NAAS-DC-pr.pdf

[nightshade]

LOL, justice.

From the New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/08/world/africa/08kenya.html):

Kenya Detains U.S. Author Critical of Obama

By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN
Published: October 7, 2008

NAIROBI, Kenya — The American author of a best-selling book highly critical of Senator Barack Obama was detained by Kenyan immigration agents on Tuesday as he prepared to give a press conference in Nairobi.

Jerome R. Corsi, the conservative gadfly who wrote “The Obama Nation,” in which he attacks the Democratic presidential candidate, was being held Tuesday because he was trying to work in Kenya without a valid work permit, according to local media reports. The reports said that Mr. Corsi would likely be deported.

Elias Njeru, a spokesman for Kenya’s immigration department, said, “His immigration forms were not in order.”

When asked if Mr. Corsi would be deported, Mr. Njeru said he did not know and that Mr. Corsi was still being investigated.

“I don’t know whether he came here to work, but his papers indicated he was a visitor. If he was going to work, he would need different papers,” he said. “When he arrived, he said he was a visitor on holiday. If he started to work, that would be the problem.”

Eric Kiraithe, Kenya’s police spokesman, said he had heard the reports of Mr. Corsi’s arrest and was pushing the immigration department to release more information.

“I’ve just sent an officer to the immigration department and I should get more on this soon,” he said.

Many Kenyans would be very sensitive about Mr. Obama, the Democratic contender in the American presidential election next month. His father was Kenyan and many people here are intensely cheering him on. His photos have been plastered across the back of mini-buses and stories about the election are front page news almost every day.

However, affection for Mr. Obama is not universal, especially within the divided Kenyan government. Several government officials, including some aligned with President Mwai Kibaki, have distanced themselves from Mr. Obama, saying he is American, not Kenyan, and asking what is the big deal about his candidacy.

One explanation is Mr. Obama’s criticism of some of Kenya’s leaders as corrupt. Another is the ethnic tensions that divide Kenya and plunged the country into chaos earlier this year.

Mr. Obama’s father, who died more than 20 years ago, was a member of the Luo ethnic group, the same group as Kenya’s prime minister, Raila Odinga. Mr. Kibaki is a member of another large ethnic group, the Kikuyu. Mr. Odinga nearly defeated Mr. Kibaki in an election last December that was tainted by widespread allegations of vote-rigging by Mr. Kibaki’s party.

Violence erupted and fighting between Kikuyus and Luos, among others, killed more than 1,000 people, shaking Kenya in the worst strife since independence in 1963.

Mr. Corsi’s attacks on Mr. Obama are similar to those in “Unfit for Command” a book he co-authored in 2004 that helped derail Senator John Kerry’s presidential bid by questioning his record as an officer during the Vietnam War.

Among his allegations in “The Obama Nation” is that Mr. Obama is a radical liberal who has tried to cover up “extensive connections to Islam” — Mr. Obama is Christian — and that Mr. Obama has maintained secret ties with certain Kenyan politicians. Mr. Obama’s campaign and others have disputed many of the allegations in the book.

Mr. Corsi was preparing Tuesday morning to give a press conference about his Obama book at a big hotel in downtown Nairobi. Dozens of purple chairs and a microphone had been set up. The room was soon deserted.

[Senkeh]

^Heheheheheheheheh.

Yes, they're going to deport him. No, it's not going to be right away.

[nskripchun]

Anyone else catch John McCain referring to Barack Obama as "that one"?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/07/that-one-mccain-calls-oba_n_132802.html

Might as well have called him "boy".


***


More info about Sarah "Country First" Palin's involvement with the Alaskan Independence Party:

http://vodpod.com/watch/1064760-palin-palling-around-with-secessionists

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/09/10/alaska_secession/index.html

[nightshade]

Things are definitely heating up:

From Radar (http://radaronline.com/exclusives/2008/10/secret-service-looking-into-potential-threat-on-obama.php):

The Secret Service is following up on media reports today that someone in the crowd at a McCain/Palin event suggested killing Barack Obama, according to Secret Service spokesman Malcolm Wiley. The shout of "kill him" followed a Sarah Palin rant on Obama's relationship with radical Chicagoan Bill Ayers.

Wiley says the Secret Service did not begin looking into the matter until press reports, namely Dana Milbank's article in the Washington Post, surfaced today, because no agents at the event heard anything. "The Secret Service did not hear any threatening statements directed at targets under its protection and no threatening statements were reported to us by law enforcement or citizens at the event," Wiley told Radar. Also unclear: whether the remark was directed at Obama or Ayers if the words were actually "kill" and "him."

Wiley said that the Secret Service had tried to get in touch with Milbank to get his account of the event but was unsuccessful. Were the they able to confirm the remark they'd "be looking to talk to that person," Wiley said. "We investigate everything because we take all threats seriously."

[SamuraiJack]

Crazy people:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjxzmaXAg9E

[aelward]

I wonder how much this tie to Ayers is influencing uncommitted voters. Afterall, Ayers isn't muslim :P

[nskripchun]

Video of supporters at a McCain rally:

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/12/74747/282/342/628166

Yeah, your eyes aren't deceiving you. There's a man with a toy monkey and a Obama sticker.

How classy.

(/sarcasm)

[nskripchun]

I wonder if the McCain employs paid comment spammers who plaster blog posts with mindless ranting and angry banter.

http://2besureofwhatwehope4.blogspot.com/2008/10/when-politics-gets-ugly-really-ugly.html
(read the comments thread)

Don't ya just love it when the crazies visit yer blog?

[aelward]

Since he doesn't know how to use the internet, I would say no :P

[jaehwan]

Just saw this on reappropriate:

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/10/16/republicans-launch-wave-of-calls-attacking-obama/

"Hello. I'm calling for John McCain and the RNC (Republican National Committee) because you need to know that Barack Obama has worked closely with domestic terrorist Bill Ayres, whose organization bombed the U.S. Capitol, the Pentagon, a judge's home and killed Americans. And Democrats will enact an extreme leftist agenda if they take control of Washington. Barack Obama and his Democratic allies lack the judgment to lead our country. This call was paid for by McCain-Palin 2008 and the Republican National Committee at 202-863-8500."

Talk about dirty...

[DONKEY]

nutjobs were also calling clinton "far left." this seems to translate to slightly left-of-center in american english. the scary thing about this is there are a lot more on the right wing who will consider assassination as a legitimate way to resolve an election that doesn't go their way. nobody ever took shots at bush AFAIK even though he became very unpopular. one guy did take shots at the whitehouse with an assault rifle when clinton was president.
this was being circulated in dallas the day before JFK was killed:
http://www.signs-of-the-times.org/signs/images/Wanted_for_treason.jpg
obama is similar to kennedy in some ways. popular on the coasts, unpopular in fly-over country, young, popular among youth, different background (kennedy was first and only catholic president), charismatic. people were spreading rumors that the pope would be dictating the white house if kennedy were elected, like how theyre saying islam will spread if obama is elected. some things haven't changed much since 1960.

[jinseng]

I wonder if the McCain employs paid comment spammers who plaster blog posts with mindless ranting and angry banter.

http://2besureofwhatwehope4.blogspot.com/2008/10/when-politics-gets-ugly-really-ugly.html
(read the comments thread)

Don't ya just love it when the crazies visit yer blog?

That was actually at my school, Lehigh University. Sadly about half of all the students in my classes skipped to go to the rally. You can't see it in this video but there were Obama supporters outside the building as well.

[nskripchun]

^interesting...

In less serious news:

Terry Tate versus Sarah Palin.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07kO9TtHYzQ

"How's that for Drill Baby Drill! You just subscribed to Terry's Journal of Pain!! And the first issue is free, baby! Whoo!!


... Hey Katie!"

[nskripchun]

Obama as we knew him: man and boy.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/oct/26/barackobama-uselections2008

Some cool interviews with various folks that knew Obama when he was younger.

[DONKEY]

http://allaboutvoting.files.wordpress.com/2007/08/rig_evt_vs_slot.gif

[nskripchun]

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3168/2983760358_1624cf2325.jpg

[nightshade]

The 30 minute Obama commercial is out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtREqAmLsoA

I've watched a bit of it and damn, the production values are astounding.

[howstrange]

I may have to watch it again to be certain, but for those into integral theory, President Clinton just endorsed Obama using an all quadrant framework.
edit to add:

yeah I just watched it again. Clinton endorsed Obama by analyzing the competency of Obama as and executive using the Quadrivium model: Clinton straight out listed the quadrants as an important tool for judging a future president: http://www.thefighting44s.com/forum/showthread.php?p=47222#post47222

[bucktoof]

Got this in an email.
What if things were switched around? Would the country's collective point of view be different? Could racism be the culprit?

Ponder the following:

What if the Obamas had paraded five children across the stage, including a three month old infant and an unwed, pregnant teenage daughter?

What if John McCain was a former president of the Harvard Law Review?

What if Barack Obama finished fifth from the bottom of his graduating class?

What if McCain had only married once, and Obama was a divorcee?

What if Obama was the candidate who left his first wife after a severe disfiguring car accident, when she no longer measured up to his standards?

What if Obama had met his second wife in a bar and had a long affair while he was still married?

What if Michelle Obama was the wife who not only became addicted to pain killers but also acquired them illegally through her charitable organization?

What if Cindy McCain graduated from Harvard?

What if Obama had been a member of the Keating Five? (The Keating Five were five United States Senators accused of corruption i n 1989, igniting a major political scandal as part of the larger Savings and Loan crisis of the late 1980s and early 1990s.)

What if McCain was a charismatic, eloquent speaker?

What if Obama couldn't read from a teleprompter?

What if Obama was the one who had military experience that included discipline problems and a record of crashing seven planes?

What if Obama was the one who was known to display publicly, on many occasions, a serious anger management problem?

What if Michelle Obama's family had made their money from beer distribution?

What if the Obamas had adopted a white child?

You could easily add to this list. If these questions reflected reality, do you really believe the election numbers would be as close as they are?

This is what racism does. It covers up, rationalizes and minimizes positive qualities in one candidate and emphasizes negative qualities in another when there is a color difference.