Norm Coleman’s ’solution’ to
the economic crisis The Hoover agenda.

post from Think Progress on 17 October 2008 09:30:00 PM. © Think Progress

A new campaign ad from Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) titled “Solutions” says that Coleman’s “plan” to tackle the economic crisis includes a proposal to “balance the budget in 5 years.” Watch it:

video details and more

With his balanced budget pledge, which would require the most severe spending cuts, Coleman has adopted the neo-Hooverism agenda. As Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman explained today, “What we need right now is more government spending,” including investment in unemployment benefits, mortgage restructuring, emergency aid to states, and infrastructure.

In the ad, Coleman says he supports “freezing congressional pay,” But last month, he “said public servants, including members of Congress, deserve a reasonable pay raise but not special treatment.”

Read The Full Article:
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/10/17/norm-colemans-solution-to-the-economic-crisis
-the-hoover-agenda/

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Erratic McCain is still talking about Joe the
Plumber, even though we now know that Joe will benefit from Obama's tax plan

post from AMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth on 17 October 2008 09:30:00 PM. © AMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth

McCain has truly walked through the Looking Glass. Up is down, left is right. It doesn't matter any more to him. More to the point, it's not clear McCain's knows the truth about anything any more. Even after Joe the Plumber has been discredited - McCain is using Joe as an example of someone who will be hurt under Obama's tax plan, uh huh, except that we now know that Joe will benefit under Obama's plan. Yet McCain still tells his story, well, his fictional story. Just like with the Bridge to Nowhere, the lies keeps coming long after they've been debunked. The thing is, no one other than McCain's base believes the lies, so why tell them? It just furthers the rest of the country's mistrust of McCain, and suspicion that he's no longer the man he was. It's all very sad. And a little bit creepy.

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Americablog/~3/424337394/erratic-mccain-is-still-t
alking-about.html

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Young People for Change They’re Hitler
Youth

post from All Spin Zone on 17 October 2008 09:27:00 PM. © All Spin Zone

Well, that appears to be what the sign here below says, that young people wanting change can be motivated to anything, but according to Republicans, that automatically means they will support despots who invade other countries on false pretenses, support holding prisoners without charges, institute a regime of torture, will become Hitler Youth. . . umm, let me start over. This is sounding a bit too much like an Oliver Stone movie or something.

The sign was on a wall in the Broward Country John McCain offices. I bet you knew that was coming. A young Republican came in and saw it and then complained. While the sign slams young people, it was a young person to call them on their ugliness. There’s something lovely and ironically poetic there. You see, the sign certainly meant as a slam on Obama, not that it makes any sense. And I suppose Republicans are a little upset that Obama has most young people in the nation excited by his candidacy. So those oldsters sat around, added up two and two, go 117, and figured they’d have a good and clever sign. But, but, what the sign does is insult all young people by explicitly saying they are pawns who don’t think. Now you get an insight into why they are running away from the GOP.

Here’s a bit of the article from the South Florida Sun-Sentinel:

Among the images that greeted visitors to the John McCain campaign office in Pompano Beach this week was a sign headlined “Barrack Hussein Obama? that compared the Democratic presidential candidate to Karl Marx, Adolf Hitler and Fidel Castro.
Shown a picture of the sign Thursday night, Broward Republican Chairman Chip LaMarca said he was “disgusted” by it and would immediately go to the office and remove it.
“I’m speechless at the ignorance,” LaMarca said. “It’s not something we can condone.
“We’re trying to promote positive messages for our candidates. I understand people want their candidate to win. It’s ridiculous. I’ll find out who put it up there, and maybe they’ll volunteer somewhere else.”

I suppose it is good to see that someone at the office recognized that this sign was offensive to not just Obama, and not just to young people, but to our political system. Frankly, though, I’ve lost count of the numbers of these incidents throughout the country. If Republicans are paying attention they are, too. And if they have anything like a sense of honor, as does the young Republican who complained about this sign, they will quit their party soon.

OK, I don’t believe Republicans are born pigs. Certainly they have trained a whole bunch of pigs over the last 25 years with their Limbaughs, Coulters, Roves, etc. But they’re not born pigs. Still, the frequency of these incidents, where some staffers are clearly unaware of what might be over the top and off limits to campaigning, is alarming. Seriously, whoever printed that up thought about it a lot. Or maybe that’s the problem — Republicans are hiring morons to work for them? I don’t know. the last few days have simply disgusted me.

Read The Full Article:
http://allspinzone.com/wp/2008/10/17/young-people-for-change-theyre-hitler-youth/

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MN-06: Bachmann Rants Against 'Anti-American'
Forces In Congress

post from Daily Kos on 17 October 2008 09:15:06 PM. © Daily Kos

GOP Rep. Michele Bachmann just had a total meltdown on Hardball, saying she was "absolutely" concerned that Barack Obama "may have anti-American views" and calling for an inquiry into whether there are "anti-American" members of Congress. Among Bachmann's gems:

On whether there are anti-American members of Congress:
"The news media should do a penetrating expose and take a look. I wish they would, I wish the American media would take a great look at the views of the people in Congress and find out are they are pro-America or anti-America."

On Obama's advisers:
"I think the people that Barack Obama has been associating with are anti-American, by and large."

On whether Barack Obama himself is anti-American:
"Absolutely, I'm very concerned that he may have anti-American views."

It'll be interesting -- and somewhat ironic -- if John McCain condemns Bachmann's remarks. After all, her comments are pretty much the same as his campaign talking points.

Here's a video highlighting Bachmann's most unhinged moments:

video details and more

There is a discussion of Bachmann's comments going on in diaries by Stiffa and thereisnospoon.

Bachmann's general election opponent is El Tinklenberg.

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/2XMhNQlUqIc/633907

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Denver Post Endorses Barack Obama

post from TalkLeft on 17 October 2008 09:12:00 PM. © TalkLeft

The Denver Post editorial board has endorsed Sen. Barack Obama for President. Mostly, it's the economy:

Obama's plan, while not perfect, is far superior to McCain's catastrophic ideas.

On McCain's health care tax:

We can't imagine a Democrat- controlled Congress would pass McCain's reckless health care tax. But even proposing such a scheme shows his woeful lack of understanding of America's economic underpinnings.

The best quote is the paper's praise for Obama's community organizing work: [More...]

Republicans love to mock Obama's history as a community organizer. But here was a man with no money to offer, no patronage to dispense, no way to punish his opponents. All he could do was to work with people from all walks of life, liberals and conservatives, business people and the unemployed, and bring them together in common cause for a better community. Could there really be better preparation to reunite a worried and divided America to again pursue our "more perfect union"?

The Post seems a little obsessed with Mitt Romney. True, he won the Republican caucuses here 66% to McCain's 33%. But, is this necessary?

Why not ask Romney to chair [Obama's] health-care reform task force, or even serve as his economic recovery "czar"?

The Post examines Obama's record on bipartisanship and finds it...in his community organizing. In answering its own suggestion that Romney should be recruited by Obama, it says.

What's the chance that Obama will reach out in such a bipartisan fashion? Actually, he has a long record of doing exactly that. We don't mean his brief tenure in the Senate so much as his successful run as a community organizer in Chicago.

In closing, the Post cites Christopher Buckley:

As novelist Christopher Buckley said in endorsing Obama, the Illinois senator "has a first-rate intellect and a first-rate temperament."

The Post also includes an interesting take on how Obama and McCain became the nominees over Hillary and Mitt Romney:

When the first, absurdly early straw polls were taken in Iowa in 2007, America was torn by a war in Iraq that seemed unwinnable. But the economy seemed reasonably sound.

That preoccupation with the war may help explain why Republicans passed over Mitt Romney's successful record of job creation in favor of war hero and foreign-policy specialist John McCain. On the Democratic side, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, who wasn't even in Congress when the war began, bested Sen. Hillary Clinton in part because she voted to authorize the war.

Not a word about the vice-presidential choices. A bizarre endorsement, if you ask me. Down to the last line,

With the help and prayers of the American people, we believe those talents can also make Barack Obama a great president.

The Post won't say he will make a great President, only that he has the potential to be a great President.

The Post endorsed George Bush in 2004 and Romney and Hillary in the 2008 Democratic primaries.

Shorter Post version: It's Obama, by a Wing and a Prayer. Romney would be the best choice but he wasn't nominated, McCain is the worst choice, therefore we'll go with Obama and keep our fingers crossed.

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TalkleftThePoliticsOfCrime/~3/424179176/62

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We Are All Americans Now Except You.

post from Firedoglake on 17 October 2008 09:01:55 PM. © Firedoglake

Remember right after September 11th, when the world community declared, "We are all Americans"? Republicans don't even think that most Americans are Americans.[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://firedoglake.com/2008/10/17/we-are-all-americans-except-you/

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Conference Call With Obama campaign on
McCain/Palin pushing Voter Fraud

post from Crooks and Liars on 17 October 2008 09:01:29 PM. © Crooks and Liars

I was on the conference call with the Obama campaign that addressed this issue:

The General Counsel of the Obama campaign is currently holding a media conference call to "Announce Major Action Taken Today To Address Illegal Conduct and Improprieties in the Sham "Anti-Fraud" Campaign Orchestrated By McCain-Palin and the RNC."

I have the letter they sent out. I'll post it soon. They are taking it very seriously. Digby has been asking to hear from David Iglesias about the phony election fraud charges that the McCain campaign has been pushing. They are trying to demand an FBI investigation of Voter Fraud against ACORN. This is actually all about registration and not actual voting. Digby says:

The US Attorney scandals and this ACORN nonsense are pieces of the same story.

If you remember the Attorney firing scandal revolved around the fact that people like David Iglesias would not go after phony voter fraud cases pushed by Republicans.

He spoke out on it.

David Iglesias says he's shocked by the news, leaked today to the Associated Press, that the FBI is pursuing a voter-fraud investigation into ACORN just weeks before the election.
"I'm astounded that this issue is being trotted out again," Iglesias told TPMmuckraker. "Based on what I saw in 2004 and 2006, it's a scare tactic." In 2006, Iglesias was fired as U.S. attorney thanks partly to his reluctance to pursue voter-fraud cases as aggressively as DOJ wanted -- one of several U.S. attorneys fired for inappropriate political reasons, according to a recently released report by DOJ's Office of the Inspector General.
Iglesias, who has been the most outspoken of the fired U.S. attorneys, went on to say that the FBI's investigation seemed designed to inappropriately create a "boogeyman" out of voter fraud.
And he added that it "stands to reason" that the investigation was launched in response to GOP complaints. In recent weeks, national Republican figures -- including John McCain at last night's debate -- have sought to make an issue out of ACORN's voter-registration activities.

Whenever Republicans bring up anything about Voter fraud it's always targeted to disenfranchise voters and not protect our voting rights.

Just look at Indiana's Voter disenfranchisement Act just passed. The point of that law was to purge the voting rolls and also to scare people from voting. There are many other states looking to pass similar laws like Indiana. Voting is a right. It's not a privilege. It's something "the people" have had to fight for the entire time America was born.

National women?s suffrage, however, did not exist until 1920. During the beginning of the twentieth century, as women's suffrage gained in popularity, suffragists were subject to arrests and many were jailed. Finally, President Woodrow Wilson urged Congress to pass what became, when it was ratified in 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment.

And it took until the 1965 Voting Rights Act before African Americans were given that right also.

The National Voting Rights Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. § 1973?1973aa-6)[1] outlawed discriminatory voting practices that had been responsible for the widespread disenfranchisement of African Americans in the United States. Echoing the language of the 15th Amendment, the Act prohibited states from imposing any "voting qualification or prerequisite to voting, or standard, practice, or procedure ... to deny or abridge the right of any citizen of the United States to vote on account of race or color."[2] Specifically, Congress intended the Act to outlaw the practice of requiring otherwise qualified voters to pass literacy tests in order to register to vote, a principal means by which southern states had prevented African-Americans from exercising the franchise.[3]

Read The Full Article:
http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/conference-call-obama-campaign-mccainpa

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Hell to Pay Voting Open Now

Which Orange to Blue candidate will be the recipient of tomorrow night's Hell to Pay fundraiser?

Now's the time to vote!

Nominees this week are:

Judy Baker, MO-09: Dick Cheney is coming to town this coming Monday to fundraise for her opponent, Blake Luetkemeyer, Enough said.

Jim Martin, GA-Sen: Saxby Chambliss is resorting to recycling some of the elements of his godawful smear ads used against Max Cleland in 2002.

Dennis Shulman, NJ-05: Opponent Scott Garret manages a two-fer: smearing ACORN and tying Shulman's campaign as fraudulent.

Joe Garcia, FL-25: A flyer circulates linking Garcia to Chavez, Sheehan, Farrakhan, Castro and bin Laden--because they've all been covered by the same news outlet. Go figure.

Equality for All (No on Prop. 8): California's being inundated with out-of-state religious activists who want to see the ban on gay marriage pass--and who are willing to resort to lies about what will be taught in the public schools.

Eric Massa, NY-25: Wes Clark writes: "Randy Kuhl and his cronies are attacking Eric's service, contending he didn't obtain a high enough rank. That would be a ridiculous argument even if they didn't deliberately leave out the fact that Eric nearly died of cancer while in uniform, cutting his brilliant career short. How do I know? I was there." (Nominated by lauramp.)

Rick Noriega, TX-Sen: KTinTX summarizes the reason for Noriega's inclusion:

A week after being called "Manual" Noriega by a Cornyn Campaign surrogate at a voter registration rally in Austin, John Cornyn says Rick Noriega was a "Cut and Run" Democrat. But not just for opposing the war, no, for being one of 100 Texas House members who crossed state lines to Ardmore, OK in 2003 to stop Tom DeLay's redistricting plan that decimated Texas' Democratic seniority in the Congress.

Ready? Set?

VOTE!

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/dr8DvlwHQqs/633888

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Thousands gather for Massive Sadr Protest

As Friday's sun set, followers of Moqtada al-Sadr from much of Iraq arrived in Baghdad in the tens of thousands.

Read The Full Article:
http://www.iraqslogger.com/index.php/post/6495

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On Night Before Sadr Protest, Thousands Gather

As Friday's sun set, followers of Moqtada al-Sadr from much of Iraq arrived in Baghdad in the tens of thousands.

Read The Full Article:
http://www.iraqslogger.com/index.php/post/6495

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