How do we unleash our power to defeat Senator Chambliss of Georgia. We must never forget what he did to former Senator Max Cleland, an American hero. I want to help his challenger.
Gov. Sarah Palin billed the state of Alaska for 312 nights spent in her own home during her first 19 months as governor according to a story in the Washington Post. This allowance is intended to cover the governor's expenses when she is away from her office on state business. She also billed to take her children on official state trips and her husband also billed when he went along on these trips (presumably from Juneau, the state capital, to Wasilla, where the Palins live). The legality of this billing aside, a candidate who is strongly against government waste may have some explaining to do. If Palin went alone and spent the night in, say, Fairbanks to confer with the mayor, no questions would have been raised, but billing the taxpayers to stay in your own home probably qualifies as waste, even if it is legal (which is far from clear). Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA) also spends a lot of time in his Los Angeles home, but he doesn't bill the state for it. Palin's position on "the bridge to nowhere" (initially for it but later against it) is also in the news. As the press begins digging deeper into Palin's past, more of this stuff may come out. This is the downside of putting a former unknown governor in the national spotlight. In contrast, Joe Biden has been around so long that all the dirt on him is already well known and not newsworthy.
Silver State Bank has failed and been closed by federal and state regulators. It is the 11th bank failure this year. What is particularly noteworthy about this failure is that John McCain's son, Andrew McCain, was on the board of directors until about a month ago. While Barack Obama has said that candidate's children are off limits, it is not clear if that also holds for adult children involved in bank failures. This incident is surely going to drum up interested in the failure of another Arizona bank, the one run by Charles Keating, who ultimately went to federal prison despite his trying to get John McCain to help him. The Wall Street Journal has more.
We live in an utopia that does not exist. McCain has gotten a free ride thus far and our keynote speaker was a disaster. I am waiting for the person who is going to cut John McCain a new one. This convention has been so boring. I am tired of this. Who is going to attack the opposition?
Finally, The truth is being talked about and coming out. We, Democrats, need to grow some spine. Read on:
Liberals have been itching to get the issue in circulation for weeks, even more so after the John Edwards confession, and now a prominent Obama supporter has obliquely raised John McCain's admitted infidelity to his first wife.Per ABC, Kirbyjon Caldwell, who is a close friend of the Bush family and officiated at Jenna Bush's wedding earlier this year, used a conference call organized by a new left-leaning Christian group to go there:
"His marital history has been duly recorded," said Caldwell, referring to McCain, "and as recently as yesterday I think it is, our pastor from Saddleback, Rick Warren indicated that he would not feel comfortable voting for an adulterer and I don't know exactly to whom he was referring but I think the data speaks for itself, and again, at the end of the day, and I really appreciate you raising this because, at the end of the day again I think the American public deserves full revelation of the candidate's character and competency. Character and competency. So, whatever questions that should be asked that would give the voting public an indication as to who they are and what they've done should be fair game." Asked by ABC's Tapper if he would have compunctions about voting for someone who had cheated on his wife, Warren said Thursday, "Absolutely I would. Absolutely I would. Because if you can’t keep your faith to your most sacred vow — 'til death do us part' — how in the world can I trust you to lead my family? My government? My nation? ... Absolutely I would. I think people first need to ask forgiveness and then earn trust back over time. Can trust be re-earned? Absolutely, but it takes time." A McCain spokesman had no comment when asked about Caldwell's criticism.
Caldwell also criticized McCain for jokingly saying he would have liked to enter his wife in a beauty contest at the Sturgis motorcycle rally. The affair can become risque, with tops and bottoms being removed, but there is no evidence that McCain knew that when he cracked the joke.McCain's comment, Caldwell said, is "not, N-O-T, not the type of expression that a presidential candidate, or anyone for that matter who is a follower of the Christian faith, ought to make."UPDATE: ABC has a McCain aide saying the candidate did know about the nature of the contest but was merely joking. They also have a "GOP strategist" warning Obama away from character attacks, suggesting the party may play the Wright card if the Dems go down this road.
This was a bad idea to begin with. You have allowed McCain to have the whole placa to himself. Frankly, you should hava cut vacation short and respond in a presidential manner to the Russian Invasion of Georgia. One proposal should be to prevent Russia access to the WTO and recalling our ambassador for talks immediately. That will show spine on your part.
You have allowed McCain to look presidential this week. Not good. Please shape up.
