Michelle Obama's chief of staff: Where was McCain
when someone called Hillary a bitch

post from AMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth on 10 September 2008 12:19:00 PM. © AMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth

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Big Blog Roundup - Federal

post from Cotton Mouth on 10 September 2008 12:18:00 PM. © Cotton Mouth

While we try and keep the focus on Mississippi here at Cotton Mouth, the next couple of months offer too much good stuff at the federal level to let it all pass. I am going to include links to several good stories from the blogosphere, and limit this to one post.

Huffington Post: Gutter Politics: McCain Campaign Called Out For Half-Truths

ABC: McCain's 'Truth Squad... Full Of Half-Truths'...
Time Mag: McCain "Responsible For One Of The Sleaziest Ads I've Ever Seen"...
Washington Post: "Untrue Accusations, Rumors Have Started To Swirl ... They Become Regarded As Fact"....
MSNBC: Evidence Palin, McCain Not Telling Truth About Bridge To Nowhere...
AP: Fact Check... McCain Ad About Palin Is Misleading...

Daily Kos: The Truth about those sacry earmarks

In other words, when McCain talks about earmarks, he is talking about 3% of our annual budget deficit, .6% of our annual budget, and a number too small to even report when discussing our national debt. Or, put another way, he is talking about two months in Iraq, something he wants to keep going indefinitely.

FiveThirtyEight: Lipstick

My first reaction upon hearing Barack Obama's "lipstick on a pig" remark was that it was deliberate. Not a deliberate attempt to smear Sarah Palin per se, but a deliberate attempt to provoke exactly the sort of fanatical reaction that they have gotten from the Republicans. The McCain campaign has spent a week campaigning on big themes and big personalities, and gotten a fair amount of mileage out of it. This takes everyone back down a notch, back down to the tedium and banality of partisan politics. It would be wishful thinking to call it a momentum-changer, but it may by default be a momentum-stopper. The convention/Palinmania phase of the news cycle -- a phase the Republicans clearly thought they were winning -- is now over.

Think Progress: Just Like Bush White House, Palin Uses Personal E-mail Accounts And Claims Executive Privilege»

The Washington Post reports that Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) is ?being asked by a local Republican activist to release more than 1,100 e-mails she withheld from a public records request, including 40 that were copied to her husband, Todd.? Invoking a favored practice of the Bush administration, Palin has claimed executive privilege to keep the e-mails secret ? despite the fact many of them were sent to Todd, who is not an elected official.

Crooks and Liars: Contempt For Those Who Serve

But that?s not where McCain and his party end on their false ?support. As a diary at Booman Tribune detailed back in February, Mr Straight Talk is full of doubletalk.

McCain voted against the Webb amendment calling for adequate troop rest between deployments.

McCain voted against an amendment that would provide $20 million to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for health care facilities.

McCain voted against increasing Veterans medical services funding by $1.5 billion in FY 2007 to be paid for by closing corporate tax loopholes.

McCain voted to table an amendment by Senator Dodd that called for an additional $322,000,000 for safety equipment for United States forces in Iraq.

McCain urged other Senate members to table a vote (which never passed) to provide more than $1 billion for National Guard and Reserve equipment in Iraq related to a shortage of helmets, tents, bullet-proof inserts, and tactical vests.

McCain voted against increasing the amount available for medical care for veterans by $650,000,000.

When it comes to their claim to support the troops, John McCain and his party are flat-out liars. The message is simple - if you really support the troops, stop voting Republican.

Picture of the day: From TPM

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Hannity baselessly claimed Obama's "lipstick"
comment was about Palin -- Huckabee, Wolfson disagree

post from Media Matters for America on 10 September 2008 12:16:40 PM. © Media Matters for America

During the September 9 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes, Fox Newscontributors Mike Huckabee and Howard Wolfson both disagreed with co-host SeanHannity's baseless claim that Sen. Barack Obama was "talking about[Gov.] Sarah Palin" when he said,"[Y]ou know, you can put lipstick on a pig; it'sstill a pig." Earlier during the program, Huckabee said of Obama'scomment: "It's an old expression, and I'm going tohave to cut Obama some slack on that one. I do not think he was referring toSarah[...]

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CNN's John Roberts Forgets Own Lede in Just Two
Minutes

post from Daily Kos on 10 September 2008 12:15:57 PM. © Daily Kos

So there they are, Paul Begala and Alex Castellanos, on CNN with John Roberts, discussing Sarah Palin's supported-it-before-I-opposed-it lies about the Bridge to Nowhere.

And then they actually roll tape of her endorsing the project in a 2006 televised debate.

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End of story, right?

Yeah, right.

ROBERTS: That would appear, Paul, to end any argument over whether or not she supported the bridge initially. But why can't Barack Obama make that point stick?

BEGALA: Because the press won't do its job, John. I criticized Barack Obama when he hasn't been tough enough. Barack's job is to run against John McCain, right. Don't shoot the monkey when you can shoot for the organ grinder. His job is not to focus on number two but number one. But it is the media's job when a politician flat out lies like she's doing on this bridge to nowhere so call her on it. Or this matter of earmarks where she's attacking Barack Obama for having earmarks, when she was the mayor of little Wasilla, Alaska, 6,000 people, she hired a lobbyist who was connected to Jack Abramoff, who is a criminal and they brought home $27 million in earmarks. She carried so much pork home she got trichinosis. But we in the media are letting her tell lies about her record.

ROBERTS: Hey, OK. We got to let Alex respond to that. Flat out lies, Alex?

ALEX CASTELLANOS, CNN POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR: Let's be a little gentle. Look, every elected official in this country works under the system we have, which is you try to get a little bit of your tax money back. You just don't want to leave it all in Washington. The amazing thing about Sarah Palin is when she became governor she actually stood up and said no. And she made it -

BEGALA: That's not true.

CASTELLANOS: She took a strong stand. That is rare and that never happened.

ROBERTS: All right.

BEGALA: That's just not true. You know, John, the facts matter. There's lots of things that are debatable who is more qualified or less experienced or more this or more passionate, whatever. It is a fact that she campaigned and supported that bridge to nowhere. It is a fact that she hired lobbyists to get earmarks. It is a fact that as governor she lobbies for earmarks. Her state is essentially a welfare state taking money from the federal government.

ROBERTS: We still have 56 days to talk about this back and forth.

BEGALA: This is the problem. We have this false debate when we ought to have at least agreed upon facts.

Yeah! Right?

So call him on it, Roberts! Be a journamalist!

ROBERTS: Paul Begala, Alex Castellanos. Thanks so much this morning, guys. Appreciate it.

Ugh! For God's sake, Roberts! You introduced this segment saying the video of Palin ended the debate! How could you possibly turn it back into a he said/she said story in under two minutes?

Why the hell did you even bother pulling the tape, dude?

Disgusting.

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McCain/Palin Ape Bush/Rove Political Tactics

post from TalkLeft on 10 September 2008 12:11:00 PM. © TalkLeft

Proving yet again that John McCain is merely an extension of the George W. Bush Republican Party, McCain releases this noxious ad:

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The Obama response:

"It is shameful and downright perverse for the McCain campaign to use a bill that was written to protect young children from sexual predators as a recycled and discredited political attack against a father of two young girls - a position that his friend Mitt Romney also holds. Last week, John McCain told Time magazine he couldn't define what honor was. Now we know why."

Indeed. On all levels, McCain/Palin is Bush's Third Term.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

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Donate

post from Everyday Citizen on 10 September 2008 12:08:24 PM. © Everyday Citizen

I just did it. I finally donated to Barack Obama's campaign. Progressives like to talk about a[...]

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Why Our Discourse Is Stupid

post from The Liberal Doomsayer on 10 September 2008 12:07:00 PM. © The Liberal Doomsayer

Note: I?ll still post here from time to time while I get my new ?house? ready.

(Atrios usually weighs in with this stuff but I?m going to take a shot; I?m groveling in homage as I type this ? snark.)

The conservative mediocracy generates narratives in concert with Republican talking points to emphasize fictions such as John W. McBush?s ?maverickyness? and foreign policy expertise, the opposition of ?Governor Hottie? to the ?Bridge To Nowhere? in Alaska here, the supposed controversy about Barack Obama?s patriotism, etc. (on these points, Drudge, Flush Limbore, Savage et al are frequently indistinguishable from CNN, the Washington Post, the AP, etc.).

Individuals such as your humble narrator work tirelessly to disprove this nonsense (though I don?t put myself in the same league as Greenwald, I should emphasize), with barely an acknowledgment from the so-called ?respectable? media sources; if anything, these sources deride our efforts, dismissing us as ?the left,? the generic ?liberals,? the ?nutroots,? or whatever category is acceptable this week (as noted, CNN, WaPo, AP, etc.).

On the incredibly rare occasion when either the lies are identified within the mediocracy or even the appearance of a point of view that runs contrary to those lies makes itself known or is identified, those responsible are swiftly punished (criticized as being too opinionated, when in fact the narratives they are supposed to reinforce are nothing but opinion, albeit a contrary one) so that the approved lie or point of view is allowed to propagate (of course, the other side can lie and/or obfuscate into infinity).

The fictions continue because the media outlets I noted above have a much more sophisticated and powerful means of communication that I ever will, so what they foist on us enters the stream of media consciousness more quickly or more thoroughly than the truth that refutes it, again, from people such as your humble narrator.

As this cycle repeats itself, individuals such as yours truly become frustrated with the fact that the media ?consumers? in this country are, over time, more educated concerning the fictions than the truth. Some of us express frustration over that, and then the mediocracy is quick to pounce, claiming we are ?effete liberals? who think we?re ?better? than other people because we claim to know more than they do (and sometimes, we really do know more than they do - in this case, the person fed up with the whole racket is Jacob Weisberg of Slate.com). For this reason, the many times that Christine Flowers, for example, gets proven wrong is forgotten while the one time she happens to stumble upon an instance where we express our frustration is trumpeted in an effort to prove that those questioning the mediocracy are just a bunch of crazy liberals, or something.

The game itself is a cheat; I didn?t make up the rules, and neither did you.

And by the way, everybody loses.

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McCain's Former Aide Torie Clarke Wrote Book
'Lipstick on a Pig'

So this morning I'm doing some research on Cindy McCain's theft of prescription drugs from a[...]

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Drudge smears Obama and misquotes him over
Lipstick and Pigs

Download | Play Download | Play (h/t Bill W.)The conservatives have been waiting for a chance to scream sexism at Obama over Palin and Drudge finds a way to do it. He takes Obama out of context. In the full clip, Obama clearly is talking about John McCain as Wolfson points out, but Drudge and as usual—FOX/Hannity—lie and say [...]

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What Hillary Must Be Thinking -- Editorial
Cartoon by Andrew Wahl

post from BuzzFlash.org - Progressive News and Commentary with an Attitude | Fight Ignorance: Read BuzzFlash on 10 September 2008 12:00:10 PM. © BuzzFlash.org - Progressive News and Commentary with an Attitude | Fight Ignorance: Read BuzzFlash

Bookmark/Search this post with: buzzflash | delicious | digg digg | technorati Technorati Tags: Andrew Wahl Sarah Palin Hillary Clinton first woman president

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