Bill Marjenhoff's Blog

A Post-election Story About President-elect Obama

Bill Marjenhoff — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 15:49:41 EST

The Norwegian newspaper VG has reported a truly amazing story about a newly-wed trying to get to Norway to be with her husband, and the stranger who helped pay an unexpected luggage surcharge. The blog 'Leisha's Random Thoughts' has translated the story.

It was 1988, and Mary Andersen was at the Miami airport checking in for a long flight to Norway to be with her husband when the airline representative informed her that she wouldn't be able to check her luggage without paying a 100 surcharge:

When it was finally Mary's turn, she got the message that would crush her bubbling feeling of happiness.

“You'll have to pay a 103 dollar surcharge if you want to bring both those suitcases to Norway,” the man behind the counter said.

Mary had no money. Her new husband had traveled ahead of her to Norway, and she had no one else to call.

“I was completely desperate and tried to think which of my things I could manage without. But I had already made such a careful selection of my most prized possessions,” says Mary.

As tears streamed down her face, she heard a “gentle and friendly voice” behind her saying, 'That's okay, I'll pay for her.”

Mary turned around to see a tall man whom she had never seen before.

“He had a gentle and kind voice that was still firm and decisive. The first thing I thought was ‘who is this man?’”

Although this happened 20 years ago, Mary still remembers the authority that radiated from the man.

“He was nicely dressed, fashionably dressed with brown leather shoes, a cotton shirt open at the throat and khaki pants,” says Mary.

She was thrilled to be able to bring both her suitcases to Norway and assured the stranger that he would get his money back. The man wrote his name and address on a piece of paper that he gave to Mary. She thanked him repeatedly. When she finally walked off towards the security checkpoint, he waved goodbye to her.

Who was the man?

Barack Obama.

Twenty years later, she is thrilled that the friendly stranger at the airport may be the next President and has voted for him already and donated 100 dollars to his campaign:

“He was my knight in shining armor,” says Mary, smiling.

She paid the 103 dollars back to Obama the day after she arrived in Norway. At that time he had just finished his job as a poorly paid community worker in Chicago, and had started his law studies at prestigious Harvard University.

Mary even convinced her parents to vote for him.

In the spring of 2006 Mary's parents had heard that Obama was considering a run for president, but that he had still not decided. They chose to write a letter in which they told him that he would receive their votes. At the same time, they thanked Obama for helping their daughter 18 years earlier.

And Obama replied:

In a letter to Mary's parents dated May 4th, 2006 and stamped 'United States Senate, Washington DC, ' Barack Obama wrote:

“I want to thank you for the lovely things you wrote about me and for reminding me of what happened at Miami airport. I'm happy I could help back then, and I'm delighted to hear that your daughter is happy in Norway . Please send her my best wishes. Sincerely, Barack Obama , United States Senator.”

The parents sent the letter on to Mary.

Mary says that when her friends and associates talk about the election, especially when race relations is the heated subject, she relates the story of the kind man who helped out a stranger-in-need over twenty years ago, years before he had even thought about running for high office.

Let Me Get This Straight

Bill Marjenhoff — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 10:23:02 EDT

I'm a little confused. Let me see if I have this straight:

   * If you grow up in Hawaii , raised by your grandparents, you're 'exotic, different.'
    * Grow up in Alaska eating moose burgers, a quintessential American story.

    * If your name is Barack you're a radical, unpatriotic Muslim.
     * Name your kids Willow , Trig and Track, you're a maverick.

     * Graduate from Harvard law School and you are unstable.
     * Attend 5 different small colleges before graduating, you're well grounded.

     * If you spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer, become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drive that registers
150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor, spend 8 years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, become chairman of the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, spend 2 years in the United States Senate representing 13 million people while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you don't have any real leadership experience.
     * If your total resume is: local weather girl, 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people, 20 months as the governor of a state with only 650,000 people, then you're qualified to become the country's second highest ranking executive.

     * If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising 2 beautiful daughters, all within Protestant churches, you're not a real Christian.
     * If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and left your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you're a Christian.

     * If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, including the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society.
     * If , while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with no other option in sex education in your state's school system while your unwed teen daughter ends up pregnant, you're very responsible.

     * If your wife is a Harvard graduate lawyer who gave up a position in a prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family's values don't represent America's.
     * If you're husband is nicknamed 'First Dude', with at least one DWI conviction and no college education, who didn't register to vote until age 25 and once was a member of a group that advocated the secession of Alaska from the USA , your family is extremely admirable.

     OK, much clearer now.

This Palin Backgrounder is a Must-Read

Bill Marjenhoff — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 09:21:17 EDT

You might be interested in some Palin background in case anyone tries to tell you she is a reformer.

This from one who knows her:

A note to all by Anne Kilkenny

Dear friends,

So many people have asked me about what I know about Sarah Palin in the last 2 days that I decided to write something up . . .

Basically, Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton have only 2 things in common: their gender and their good looks. :)

You have my permission to forward this to your friends/email contacts with my name and email address attached, but please do not post it on any websites, as there are too many kooks out there . . .

[This was already posted on Washington Independent comments area, with a controllable hotmail account, and was obviously meant by the author to be read.]

Thanks,
Anne


ABOUT SARAH PALIN

I am a resident of Wasilla, Alaska. I have known Sarah since 1992. Everyone here knows Sarah, so it is nothing special to say we are on a first-name basis. Our children have attended the same schools. Her father was my child's favorite substitute teacher. I also am on a first name basis with her parents and mother-in-law. I attended more City Council meetings during her administration than about 99% of the residents of the city.

She is enormously popular; in every way she’s like the most popular girl in middle school. Even men who think she is a poor choice and won't vote for her can't quit smiling when talking about her because she is a "babe".

It is astonishing and almost scary how well she can keep a secret. She kept her most recent pregnancy a secret from her children and parents for seven months.

She is "pro-life". She recently gave birth to a Down's syndrome baby. There is no cover-up involved, here; Trig is her baby.

She is energetic and hardworking. She regularly worked out at the gym.

She is savvy. She doesn't take positions; she just "puts things out there" and if they prove to be popular, then she takes credit.

Her husband works a union job on the North Slope for BP and is a champion snowmobile racer. Todd Palin’s kind of job is highly sought-after because of the schedule and high pay. He arranges his work schedule so he can fish for salmon in Bristol Bay for a month or so in summer, but by no stretch of the imagination is fishing their major source of income. Nor has her life-style ever been anything like that of native Alaskans.

Sarah and her whole family are avid hunters.

She's smart.

Her experience is as mayor of a city with a population of about 5,000 (at the time), and less than 2 years as governor of a state with about 670,000 residents.

During her mayoral administration most of the actual work of running this small city was turned over to an administrator. She had been pushed to hire this administrator by party power-brokers after she had gotten herself into some trouble over precipitous firings which had given rise to a recall campaign.

Sarah campaigned in Wasilla as a “fiscal conservative.” During her 6 years as Mayor, she increased general government expenditures by over 33%. During those same 6 years the amount of taxes collected by the City increased by 38%. This was during a period of low inflation (1996-2002). She reduced progressive property taxes and increased a regressive sales tax which taxed even food. The tax cuts that she promoted benefited large corporate property owners way more than they benefited residents.

The huge increases in tax revenues during her mayoral administration weren’t enough to fund everything on her wish list, though; borrowed money was needed, too. She inherited a city with zero debt, but left it with indebtedness of over $22 million. What did Mayor Palin encourage the voters to borrow money for? Was it the infrastructure that she said she supported? The sewage treatment plant that the city lacked? Or a new library? No. $1m for a park. $15m-plus for construction of a multi-use sports complex which she rushed through to build on a piece of property that the City didn’t even have clear title to, that was still in litigation 7 yrs later--to the delight of the lawyers involved! The sports complex itself is a nice addition to the community but a huge money pit, not the profit-generator she claimed it would be. She also supported bonds for $5.5m for road projects that could have been done in 5-7 yrs without any borrowing.

While Mayor, City Hall was extensively remodeled and her office redecorated more than once.

These are small numbers, but Wasilla is a very small city.

As an oil producer, the high price of oil has created a budget surplus in Alaska. Rather than invest this surplus in technology that will make us energy independent and increase efficiency, as Governor she proposed distribution of this surplus to every individual in the state.

In this time of record state revenues and budget surpluses, she recommended that the state borrow/bond for road projects, even while she proposed distribution of surplus state revenues: spend today's surplus, borrow for needs.

She’s not very tolerant of divergent opinions or open to outside ideas or compromise. As Mayor, she fought ideas that weren’t generated by her or her staff. Ideas weren’t evaluated on their merits, but on the basis of who proposed them.

While Sarah was Mayor of Wasilla she tried to fire our highly respected City Librarian because the Librarian refused to consider removing from the library some books that Sarah wanted removed. City residents rallied to the defense of the City Librarian and against Palin's attempt at out-and-out censorship, so Palin backed down and withdrew her termination letter. People who fought her attempt to oust the Librarian are on her enemies list to this day.

Sarah complained about the “old boy’s club” when she first ran for Mayor, so what did she bring Wasilla? A new set of "old boys". Palin fired most of the experienced staff she inherited. At the City and as Governor she hired or elevated new, inexperienced, obscure people, creating a staff totally dependent on her for their jobs and eternally grateful and fiercely loyal--loyal to the point of abusing their power to further her personal agenda, as she has acknowledged happened in the case of pressuring the State’s top cop (see below).

As Mayor, Sarah fired Wasilla’s Police Chief because he “intimidated” her, she told the press. As Governor, her recent firing of Alaska's top cop has the ring of familiarity about it. He served at her pleasure and she had every legal right to fire him, but it's pretty clear that an important factor in her decision to fire him was because he wouldn't fire her sister's ex-husband, a State Trooper. Under investigation for abuse of power, she has had to admit that more than 2 dozen contacts were made between her staff and family to the person that she later fired, pressuring him to fire her ex-brother-in-law. She tried to replace the man she fired with a man who she knew had been reprimanded for sexual harassment; when this caused a public furor, she withdrew her support.

She has bitten the hand of every person who extended theirs to her in help. The City Council person who personally escorted her around town introducing her to voters when she first ran for Wasilla City Council became one of her first targets when she was later elected Mayor. She abruptly fired her loyal City Administrator; even people who didn’t like the guy were stunned by this ruthlessness.

Fear of retribution has kept all of these people from saying anything publicly about her. When then-Governor Murkowski was handing out political plums, Sarah got the best, Chair of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission: one of the few jobs not in Juneau and one of the best paid. She had no background in oil & gas issues. Within months of scoring this great job which paid $122,400/yr, she was complaining in the press about the high salary. I was told that she hated that job: the commute, the structured hours, the work. Sarah became aware that a member of this Commission (who was also the State Chair of the Republican Party) engaged in unethical behavior on the job. In a gutsy move which some undoubtedly cautioned her could be political suicide, Sarah solved all her problems in one fell swoop: got out of the job she hated and garnered gobs of media attention as the patron saint of ethics and as a gutsy fighter against the “old boys’ club” when she dramatically quit, exposing this man’s ethics violations (for which he was fined).

As Mayor, she had her hand stuck out as far as anyone for pork from Senator Ted Stevens. Lately, she has castigated his pork-barrel politics and publicly humiliated him. She only opposed the “bridge to nowhere” after it became clear that it would be unwise not to.

As Governor, she gave the Legislature no direction and budget guidelines, then made a big grandstand display of line-item vetoing projects, calling them pork. Public outcry and further legislative action restored most of these projects--which had been vetoed simply because she was not aware of their importance--but with the unobservant she had gained a reputation as “anti-pork.”

She is solidly Republican: no political maverick. The State party leaders hate her because she has bit them in the back and humiliated them. Other members of the party object to her self-description as a fiscal conservative.

Around Wasilla there are people who went to high school with Sarah. They call her “Sarah Barracuda” because of her unbridled ambition and predatory ruthlessness. Before she became so powerful, very ugly stories circulated around town about shenanigans she pulled to be made point guard on the high school basketball team. When Sarah's mother-in-law, a highly respected member of the community and experienced manager, ran for Mayor, Sarah refused to endorse her.

As Governor, she stepped outside of the box and put together of package of legislation known as “AGIA” that forced the oil companies to march to the beat of her drum.

Like most Alaskans, she favors drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. She has questioned if the loss of sea ice is linked to global warming. She campaigned “as a private citizen” against a state initiative that would have either a) protected salmon streams from pollution from mines, or b) tied up in the courts all mining in the state (depending on who you listen to). She has pushed the State’s lawsuit against the Dept. of the Interior’s decision to list polar bears as threatened species.

McCain is the oldest person to ever run for President; Sarah will be a heartbeat away from being President.

There has to be literally millions of Americans who are more knowledgeable and experienced than she.

However, there’s a lot of people who have underestimated her and are regretting it.

CLAIM VS FACT

“Hockey mom”: true for a few years
“PTA mom”: true years ago when her first-born was in elementary school, not since
“NRA supporter”: absolutely true
"social conservative": mixed. Opposes gay marriage, BUT vetoed a bill that would have denied benefits to employees in same-sex relationships (said she did this because it was unconstitutional).
"pro-creationism: mixed. Supports it, BUT did nothing as Governor to promote it.
“Pro-life”: mixed. Knowingly gave birth to a Down’s syndrome baby BUT declined to call a special legislative session on some pro-life legislation
“Experienced”: Some high schools have more students than Wasilla has residents. Many cities have more residents than the state of Alaska. No legislative experience other than City Council. Little hands-on supervisory or managerial experience; needed help of a city administrator to run town of about 5,000.
"political maverick": not at all
"gutsy": absolutely!
"open & transparent": ??? Good at keeping secrets. Not good at explaining actions.
"has a developed philosophy of public policy": no
”a Greenie”: no. Turned Wasilla into a wasteland of big box stores and disconnected parking lots. Is pro-drilling off-shore and in ANWR.
"fiscal conservative": not by my definition!
"pro-infrastructure": No. Promoted a sports complex and park in a city without a sewage treatment plant or storm drainage system. Built streets to early 20th century standards.
"pro-tax relief": Lowered taxes for businesses, increased tax burden on residents
"pro-small government": No. Oversaw greatest expansion of city government in Wasilla’s history.
"pro-labor/pro-union": No. Just because her husband works union doesn’t make her pro-labor. I have seen nothing to support any claim that she is pro-labor/pro-union.

WHY AM I WRITING THIS?

First, I have long believed in the importance of being an informed voter. I am a voter registrar. For 10 years I put on student voting programs in the schools. If you Google my name (Anne Kilkenny + Alaska), you will find references to my participation in local government, education, and PTA/parent organizations.

Secondly, I've always operated in the belief that "Bad things happen when good people stay silent". Few people know as much as I do because few have gone to as many City Council meetings.

Third, I am just a housewife. I don't have a job she can bump me out of. I don't belong to any organization that she can hurt. But, I am no fool; she is immensely popular here, and it is likely that this will cost me somehow in the future: that’s life.

Fourth, she has hated me since back in 1996, when I was one of the 100 or so people who rallied to support the City Librarian against Sarah's attempt at censorship.

Fifth, I looked around and realized that everybody else was afraid to say anything because they were somehow vulnerable.

CAVEATS

I am not a statistician. I developed the numbers for the increase in spending & taxation 2 years ago (when Palin was running for Governor) from information supplied to me by the Finance Director of the City of Wasilla, and I can't recall exactly what I adjusted for: did I adjust for inflation? For population increases? Right now, it is impossible for a private person to get any info out of City Hall--they are swamped. So I can't verify my numbers.

You may have noticed that there are various numbers circulating for the population of Wasilla, ranging from my "about 5,000", up to 9,000. The day Palin’s selection was announced a city official told me that the current population is about 7,000. The official 2000 census count was 5,460. I have used about 5,000 because Palin was Mayor from 1996 to 2002, and the city was growing rapidly in the mid-90’s.

Anne Kilkenny
annekilkenny@hotmail.com
August 31, 2008

Palin's Speech About Palin

Bill Marjenhoff — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 16:03:09 EDT

Gov. Palin’s first speech to the nation as a candidate for national office was essentially about three people: herself, John McCain and her “opponent.” A breakdown of the words the “country first” vice-presidential candidate used may reveal who she is most concerned with:

I, me, my = 53
McCain = 16
Opponent / Biden / Obama = 10
Housing = 0
White House = 2 (the only time she referred to house or housing)
Economy = 1
Environment = 0
Deficit = 0
Jobs = 2
Energy = 5
Iraq = 3 (one when referencing her son’s deployment)

This was a speech essentially about her – her kids, her state, her man, her running mate, her small town, her love of country and, yes, her anger at the media. Her speech was virtually devoid of anything that anyone outside of politics cares about.

It worked for the base. The shrinking base.

From a post by Jesse on 09/04/08 at 1:40 AM at

http://www.motherjones.com/mojoblog/archives/2008/09/9574_palin_speech_republican_convention_mccain.html#comments

Palin's Speech to Nowhere

Bill Marjenhoff — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 14:58:39 EDT

When Gov. Palin said that "I told the Congress 'Thanks but no thanks' on that Bridge to Nowhere," that was a lie, and the worst kind of lie in American politics, a blatant falsehood that showed utter contempt for the American people that Palin pledged to serve, assuming we are too stupid to look up or know that truth, that she pushed for those funds in Congress and while she got great political mileage out of announcing that she was killing the project, she still has not returned the funds to American people. Palin also boasted about fighting against wasteful earmarks in Congress, even though she pushed for and accepted $27 million of such grants when she was mayor of Wasilla. Will Bunch, of The Philadelphia Daily News, says much more about “Palin’s Speech to Nowhere.” Read his comments here:

http://www.truthout.org/article/palins-speech-nowhere

Palin Promoted Hunting Wolves from Airplanes - It's an Alaska Thing

Bill Marjenhoff — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 14:30:50 EDT

In August, Alaska's voters defeated an initiative that would have banned hunting wolves from airplanes for sport. Gov. Palin organized a campaign against Measure 2 and funded it with $400,000 of state money. For most of us, the idea of zooming around in a private airplane over snowbound wilderness just for the chance to spot a terrified wild dog and blow it apart with a high-powered rifle is insane. But there's a whole culture out there in love with the idea. Palin did her part by playing the tired old Alaskan pioneer card, saying that lower-48 naysayers who dared to object to the idea of dive-bombing wildlife didn't "understand rural Alaska."

Alaska isn't really very hard to understand. It consists of a minority that loves the wilderness and an overwhelmingly Republican majority that wants to squeeze all the cash it can get out of the state before the oil dries up, the fish die out and the wildlife disappears. Nowhere else does the Republican formula of manipulating the suckers by playing on their silly hatreds and even sillier vanities play out more clearly than in Alaska.

More here:

http://www.alternet.org/election08/97207/sarah_palin%27s_big%2C_sleazy_safari/

McCain and the Beauty Queens

Bill Marjenhoff — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 13:44:52 EDT

His ex-wife was a beauty queen. His present wife was a beauty queen. Sarah Palin, whom he calls his "partner and soulmate," was a beauty queen. Does anyone else see a pattern here?

GOP Now Purely a Religious Party?

Bill Marjenhoff — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 13:50:16 EDT

The Palin pick redefines the GOP for ever as a purely religious party, swamps all genuine questions about governance, celebrates this woman as the epitome of modern conservatism and rides the tidal wave of fundamentalist fervor to the White House. This whole thing feels like a South Park episode to Andrew Sullivan.

More here:

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/09/profiles-in-poi.html#more

Palin No Friend of Working Seniors

Bill Marjenhoff — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 13:32:59 EDT

From the Denver Rocky Mountain News of 8/10/97:

WASILLA, Alaska -- Opal Toomey, Esther West and Ann Meyers don't seem like politically active types. There are no bumper stickers on their cars, no pins on their lapels.

But the three gray-haired matrons of Wasilla's city museum decided to take a stand. Faced with a $32,000 budget cut and the prospect of choosing who would lose her job, the three 15-year-plus employees decided instead to quit en masse at the end of July, leaving the museum without a staff.

``We hate to leave,'' said Meyers, who at 65 is the youngest of the three. ``We've been together a long time. But this is enough.''

If the city were broke, it would be different, she said. Instead, the city is flush with $4 million in reserves. There is no reason the museum's budget should be cut, Meyers said.

But the mayor and City Council members who supported the cut say the surplus is beside the point. They were elected to minimize government and concentrate on infrastructure - paving roads and extending sewer lines.

The museum, which had an annual budget of more than $200,000, was costing roughly $25 per visitor, said Mayor Sarah Palin. Museum supporters say losing the women will be a blow to this city north of Anchorage. The three have run the two-story building since the early 1980s.

Palin the Queen of Earmarks?

Bill Marjenhoff — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 10:52:51 EDT

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin employed a lobbying firm to secure almost $27 million in federal earmarks for a town of 6,700 residents while she was its mayor. There was $500,000 for a youth shelter, $1.9 million for a transportation hub, $900,000 for sewer repairs, and $15 million for a rail project -- all intended to benefit Palin's town, Wasilla, located about 45 miles north of Anchorage. In introducing Palin as his running mate on Friday, Sen. John McCain cast her as a compatriot in his battle against wasteful federal spending. McCain, the Republican presidential candidate, hailed Palin as a politician "with an outstanding reputation for standing up to special interests and entrenched bureaucracies -- someone who has fought against corruption and the failed policies of the past, someone who's stopped government from wasting taxpayers' money." Oh, the hypocrisy!

More here:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/01/AR2008090103148.html?referrer=emailarticle

and now this from the NYT:

Account of a Bridge’s Death Slightly Exaggerated

By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK and LARRY ROHTER

ST. PAUL — Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska owes her selection as Senator John McCain’s running mate in part to an irresistible slogan: the Bridge to Nowhere.

Mr. McCain and other critics of the Congressional pet projects known as earmarks adopted the label to deride a $220 million allocation for a bridge to the tiny Alaskan island of Gravina (population, a few dozen). And Ms. Palin became famous as the governor who, in 2007, finally killed the project.

“I told Congress ‘thanks but no thanks’ on that Bridge to Nowhere,” she said in a speech on Friday after being introduced by Mr. McCain as his vice presidential pick.

But Ms. Palin’s history with the infamous bridge — and earmarks, which many critics call pork — is more complicated.

As the new mayor of tiny Wasilla, Alaska, in 2000, Ms. Palin initiated a tradition of making annual trips to Washington to ask for more earmarks from the state’s Congressional delegation, mainly Representative Don Young and Senator Ted Stevens, both Republicans.

“It was about being face-to-face with those who were actually writing the budget,” she told The Anchorage Daily News in 2006, boasting that she brought home more money for priorities like upgrades to the local sewer system.

She directed Wasilla to employ Washington lobbyists to press for federal money for the town, helping obtain more than $8 million in earmarks for projects ranging from waterworks to a shelter.

And she expressed support for the Bridge to Nowhere earmark as well. “I do support the infrastructure projects that are on tap here in the State of Alaska that our Congressional delegations worked hard for,” Ms. Palin said when asked about that bridge and another in an October 2006 television debate while campaigning for governor.

Later that month, when asked if she would continue state financing for the Gravina bridge and another proposed bridge project, she said yes. “I would like to see Alaska’s infrastructure projects built sooner rather than later,” she responded in a questionnaire from The Anchorage Daily News. “The window is now — while our Congressional delegation is in a strong position to assist.”

Earmarks are close to sacrosanct in Alaska, which routinely reaps more money per resident for such projects than any other state because of the seniority and aggressiveness of Mr. Stevens and Mr. Young (both now mired in unrelated corruption inquiries.)

Ms. Palin’s admirers , however, note that in her Republican primary challenge to then Gov. Frank H. Murkowski — a former United States senator and longtime ally of Mr. Stevens and Mr. Young — she criticized wasteful state spending. For the bridge, the state had agreed to contribute almost as much money as the federal government.

“We should treat our state budget the same way we treat our home budget,” she argued, calling for “a budget that is sustainable through the good times and the not-so-good.”

Once elected governor in November 2006, Ms. Palin warned Alaskans that nationwide ridicule of the Gravina bridge would make it difficult to secure more federal money to meet rising cost projections. Last September, when Ms. Palin announced she was abandoning the project, she cited a growing financing shortfall. “It’s clear that Congress has little interest in spending any more money on a bridge between Ketchikan and Gravina Island,” she said. (Alaska was able to keep the federal money and direct it to other projects.)

Since then, Ms. Palin has continued to battle the state’s Republican establishment, which derives much of its political power from its ability to direct the flow of federal earmarks, and this summer encouraged a protégé, Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell, to challenge Mr. Young in the state’s Republican primary last month. The vote was so close that the results are not yet known.

“She certainly represents a different pole in Alaska Republican politics,” said Steve Ellis, a spokesman for Taxpayers for Common Sense, a Washington group that tracks earmarks.

When Mr. McCain accepts the Republican presidential nomination with her this week in St. Paul, he may well credit her again as the killer of the infamous of Bridge to Nowhere. When a bridge over the Mississippi killed 13 people in Minneapolis last year, Mr. McCain blamed projects like the Gravina Bridge for siphoning off money that should have been spent on inspections and upkeep.

“Maybe if we had done it right, maybe some of that money would have gone to inspect those bridges and other bridges around the country,” Mr. McCain told a campaign crowd in Ankeny, Iowa.

A spokeswoman for the McCain campaign said that “after taking office and examining the project, she consistently opposed funding the Bridge to Nowhere.”

David D. Kirkpatrick reported from St. Paul, and Larry Rohter from New York.

In Defense of Arugula

Bill Marjenhoff — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 14:23:01 EDT

McCain spokesman Brian Rogers called Sen. Obama "an arugula-eating, pointy headed professor-type." Such a vicious attack must not go unanswered. How dare he insult arugula like that? Slate’s Christopher Beam offers an assessment of the leafy green here:

http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/trailhead/archive/2008/08/22/it-s-not-easy-being-a-leafy-green.aspx

Right Not Bothered by McCain Living off Wife's Wealth

Bill Marjenhoff — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 14:11:43 EDT

A presidential candidate living off the inherited wealth of his wife outraged right-wing pundits in 2004. But in 2008? Not so much. Glenn Greenwald has an interesting post on this at Salon.

Here’s the link: http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/08/22/gigolo/

McCain's "League of Democracies" Subterfuge

Bill Marjenhoff — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 11:29:53 EDT

John McCain wants to create a "League of Democracies" that would not (wink, wink) supplant the UN. It would be an alliance of countries the US labels democratic that can be used to legitimize US military actions. Charles Krauthammer, the conservative journalist who invented the plan, says: "What I like about it is it's got a hidden agenda. It looks as if it's about listening and joining with allies... except the idea here, which McCain can't say but I can, is to essentially kill the UN. Nobody's going to walk out of the UN. There's a lot of emotional attachment to it in the US. How do you kill it? You create a parallel institution." Gradually – over decades – McCain hopes it would make the UN wither away.

More here:

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann-hari-john-mccain-and-his-secretive-plot-to-kill-the-un-903998.html

and here:

http://www.johnmccain.com/informing/news/Speeches/43e821a2-ad70-495a-83b2-098638e67aeb.htm

John McCain's Real Estate Holdings

Bill Marjenhoff — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 13:08:09 EDT

John and Cindy McCain own at least nine houses in Arizona, California, and Virginia worth an estimated $13,123,269. They own two beachfront condos in Coronado, California, a condo in La Jolla, California, a two-unit condominium complex in Phoenix, Arizona, three ranch houses located outside of Sedona, Arizona, a high-rise condo in Arlington, Virginia, and a loft they bought for their daughter, Meghan. The value of their houses is an estimated $13,123,269. [San Diego County Property Records; Maricopa County Property Records; Yavapai County Property Records; Arlington County Property Records; GQ, 3/18/08]

The McCain’s Primary Residence

1. 1n 2006, McCains Purchased Two Condominiums in Phoenix For $4,666,814. According to property records from Maricopa County, Arizona, the McCains spent $4,666,814 Condominium in Phoenix, AZ in 2006. Officially, the sale was made to The Cindy Hensley McCain Family Trust on October 18, 2006. (2211 E Camelback Rd., Units 1105& 1106, 85016) [Maricopa County Property Records]

The McCains Converted the Two Condominiums Into A “Single Dwelling.” According to The Arizona Republic, “Property records show that Cindy [McCain’s] trust recently bought a condo at the Residences at 2211 Camelback for $4.66 million.” The paper added, “The deal was actually for two condos that could be combined to one space of 6,000 to 7,000 square feet. That is plenty of elbow room, even for a high-end condo, in a region where the typical single-family home runs about 1,600 square feet.” [Arizona Republic, 10/26/06, emphasis added] The McCains Own A $4.7 Million Condo, Vastly Exceeding The Neighborhood’s Average Home Value of $375,011. In a profile of presidential candidates’ homes, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported that the McCain’s condominium in Phoenix is worth an estimated $4.7 million. The average home value in their neighborhood is reported to be $375,011. They added, “Cindy McCain, heiress to the John Hensley liquor empire, paid $3 million for two units, which the couple combined for 6,000 square feet.” [Richmond Times-Dispatch, 2/10/08] The McCains’ Primary Residence Is Outfitted With The Following Amenities: • Valet parking for residents and guests • Travel and driver services. • Roof top pool terrace with zero edge pool, sun deck, spa, fire pit, gas barbeque, and panoramic mountain and downtown views • Exclusive resident party room featuring separate guest entrance from porte-cochere, fireplace, 50” plasma • Fitness Center with state-of-the-art equipment, men’s and ladies’ locker rooms, steam rooms, and massage room. • Roof top entertainment terrace with lounge seating and breathtaking views of Piestewa Peak [Photo & amenities found at www.2211camelback.com, accessed on 4/2/08]

Beachfront Condos in Coronado, California

2. The McCains Own A $2,705,040 Beachfront Condominium on a Small Island Outside of San Diego. According to property records from San Diego County, California the McCains own a $2,705,040 condominium in Coronado, California. Coronado boasts the second best beach in the country, according to the Travel Channel. The condominium is officially the property of Dream Catcher Family. (1710 Avenida Del Mundo, Unit #802, 92118) [San Diego County Property Records; City of Coronado website, accessed 3/31/08, emphasis added]

3. In February 2008, The McCains Bought Another $2.1 Million Condominium In Coronado. According to property records from San Diego County, California the McCains bought another $2.1 million condominium in Coronado, California. Records show that the sale was completed on February 27, 2008. The condominium is officially the property of Dream Catcher Family. (1710 Avenida Del Mundo, Unit #204, 92118) [San Diego County Property Records] [Google Maps]

Hidden Valley Ranch

The McCains Own Three “Hidden Valley Ranches” Worth $1,103,615 in 2007. According to property records from Yavapai County, Arizona, the McCains own three ranch houses worth a combined $1,103,615:

4. $405,757 - 11455 E Hidden Valley Ranch Rd

5. $369,929 - 11445 E Hidden Valley Ranch Rd

6. $327,929 –11415 E Hidden Valley Ranch Rd

The first two ranch properties are held by the Cindy Hensley McCain Family Trust, while the third is held by Sedona Hidden Valley Limited Partnership. According to the Arizona Republic, the three houses include, “A main house, guest house and caretakers’ quarters [and] total more than 4,800 square feet.” [Yavapai County Property Records; 2007 Executive Branch Personnel Public Financial Disclosure; Arizona Republic, 8/12/00]

McCain Said There Are Six Houses On His Lot. According to CNN, “McCain said the valley was settled by Mormons and that the Hidden Valley Ranch got its name from the horseshoe shape of the creek that runs through the property. He said he built the first house on his property 24 years ago and now there are six houses on his lot.” [CNN, 3/3/08, emphasis added]

McCain’s Ranch Was Described As “One of the Most Spectacular Creekfront Properties in the State.” According to the Arizona Republic, McCain’s neighbor, Daniel Sims, said “It’s called Hidden Valley, and everyone who sees it says they would never expect to find such a beautiful place in such an arid climate.” He added that McCain’s ranch is “one of the most spectacular creekfront properties in the state. Lush lawns go from their house gently down to the water’s edge. The creek makes a natural pool there. It’s very romantic.” [Arizona Republic, 8/12/00] AP: McCain’s 15-Acre Ranch “Includes Four Single-Family Homes And Is Worth Nearly $1.8 Million.” According to the Associated Press, “John McCain held a barbecue recently for reporters at a two-story cabin near Sedona, Ariz., that sits on 15 acres owned by his wife's family trust and a real estate partnership in her name. The property includes four single-family homes and is worth nearly $1.8 million.” [Associated Press, 4/3/08] [McCainBlogette, accessed 4/2/08]

Beachfront Condo in La Jolla, California

7. McCains Own A $1 Million Beachfront Condominium in La Jolla, California. According to John McCain’s Executive Branch Personnel Public Financial Disclosure, the McCains own a condominium in La Jolla, California valued at over $1 million. The La Jolla property is held in the Hensley Survivors Trust. (8263 Camino Del Oro #379, 92037) [2007 Executive Branch Personnel Public Financial Disclosure ; San Diego County Property Records] [Photo found at www.beachagent.com, accessed on 4/2/08]

High-Rise Condo in Arlington, Virginia

8. The McCains Own A $847,800 High-Rise Condominium in Arlington, Virginia. According to property records from Arlington County, Virginia, the McCains own a $847,800 High-Rise Condominium in Arlington, Virginia. The condominium is officially the property of the Cindy Hensley McCain Family Trust. (1300 Crystal Drive #1702S, 22202) [Arlington County Property Records]

Meghan McCain’s Loft

9. McCains Bought Their Daughter A $700,000 Loft When She Graduated From College. According to property records from Maricopa County Arizona, the McCains purchased a $700,000 Phoenix Loft in May of 2007. Wild River LLC bought the loft on May 24, 2007. (4326 N 25th St., Unit 2, Phoenix, AZ 85016) [Maricopa County Property Records]

John And Cindy McCain Paid For Meghan’s Loft With $700,000 Cash. According to the Property Transfer Record from Maricopa County, Arizona, the McCains paid cash for Meghan McCain’s $700,000 Biltmore Loft. [Maricopa County Property Transfer Records] § Meghan McCain’s Parents Bought Her A Loft That “Looks Like A Spaceship Furnished By West Elm.” According to a Meghan McCain profile piece written in GQ, “Meghan’s parents, Senator John and Cindy McCain, bought her this loft around the time she graduated from Columbia University last spring, and the interior looks like a spaceship furnished by West Elm. There’s a giant silver chimney that extends out of her fireplace into the ceiling about twenty feet above. Across the living room is a very stylish and very uncomfortable-looking pod chair.” [GQ, 3/18/08]

The McCain Motel: Rental Property

10. The McCains Own A Rental Loft In Phoenix, Arizona. According to property records from Maricopa County Arizona, the McCains purchased a high-class $700,000 Phoenix Loft in June of 2007. The loft is owned by Wild River LLC, and is listed as rental property on McCain’s 2008 Senate Financial Disclosure Report. (4326 N 25th St, Unit 102, Phoenix, AZ, 85016) [Maricopa County Property Records, McCain 2008 Senate Financial Disclosure Report]

The McCains’ Rental Loft Is Now For Sale, Listed at $730,000. According to Realty Times, “4326 N 25th St #102, Phoenix, AZ 85016” is for sale. The loft is listed as a “Bright, open and spacious luxury Contemporary loft” for sale for $730,000. Amenities include: Granite countertops, Italian Cherry cabinetry, Stainless steel appliances, Remote control window covering, Smart home system, Vessel sinks with upgraded faucets, Security system, Balcony plus roof top spa area, Private rear yard with private pool entrance, Master shower with dual heads, Pool side end unit, Mountain and downtown views from roof [Realty Times, accessed 6/13/08] *virtual tour*

More here: http://www.mccainvminnesota.com/cribs.html

McCain Plans to Consult John Lewis. That's News to Lewis.

Bill Marjenhoff — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 13:37:33 EDT

John McCain says he plans to consult with Democratic Rep. John Lewis when he's president. That's news to Lewis.

During Saturday's presidential forum at Rick Warren's California megachurch, John McCain was asked to name the "three wisest people" he would "rely heavily on" if elected president. He didn't cite close confidantes Phil Gramm and Randy Scheunemann, possibly because they have gotten McCain into trouble politically. Instead McCain chose Gen. David Petraeus; former eBay CEO Meg Whitman, one of his economic advisers; and Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), a leading figure in the civil rights movement.

This is not the first time McCain has invoked Lewis' name on the campaign trail. Earlier this year, in Selma, Alabama, he told the story of civil rights marchers trying to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge in a 1965 march from Selma to the state capital of Montgomery. Waiting at the crest of the bridge were a brigade of police and state troopers who meted out an attacks so violent that the day is known today as Bloody Sunday.

Central in McCain's telling was John Lewis, a man of just 25 who was at the front of the march and absorbed the first blow. Millions of Americans, McCain noted, "watched brave John Lewis fall."

But even though McCain has now repeatedly cited Lewis as a role model and potential adviser, McCain has not established a relationship with the Georgia Democrat in the 22 years they have served in Congress together. At the time of McCain's Selma speech, a Lewis associate told my colleague David Corn that McCain has never been close to Lewis. Lewis was not told about McCain's speech in Selma in advance, nor was he invited to attend.

In response to McCain's latest invocation of his name, Rep. Lewis said in a statement requested by Mother Jones, "I cannot stop one human being, even a presidential candidate, from admiring the courage and sacrifice of peaceful protesters on the Edmund Pettus Bridge or making comments about it." But, he added, "Sen. McCain and I are colleagues in the US Congress, not confidantes. He does not consult me. And I do not consult him."

It took McCain years to fully embrace the goals that Lewis was fighting for on Bloody Sunday. In 1983, McCain voted against making Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday a national holiday, in opposition to most members of Congress, including many of his Republican colleagues. In 1987, the governor of Arizona repealed the state's recognition of King; McCain supported the move. It was only in 1990, 25 years after Lewis marched in Alabama, when Arizona reversed its decision that McCain changed his own stance on the issue.

And there are, of course, the fundamental differences between John McCain's political philosophy and the goals of Lewis and his fellow marchers. Lewis hoped that the federal government would use its influence to protect the rights of disenfranchised individuals; he sought an expanded role for government because of what he believed was government's power to do good. It explains, in part, why Lewis is a Democrat today and supports Barack Obama for president. McCain, on the other hand, is a fanatical enemy of government spending and has said, "I've found over time that less government involvement is better." It's a philosophy that would have left Lewis and his cohorts out in the cold.

So why does John McCain promise to consult a man who he is not close to and has never consulted before? I put the question to the McCain campaign. If and when they respond, I'll update the post.

Jonathan Stein

http://www.motherjones.com/mojoblog/archives/2008/08/9293_john_mccain_john_lewis_wise_man.html

More here:

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/davidcorn/2008/04/mccains-exploitation-of-john-l.html

Three Questions for John McCain

Bill Marjenhoff — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 11:53:06 EDT

Posted by Dave Johnson at http://seeingtheforest.com/

Here are three questions for John McCain. They will not be asked.

1) IF your military commanders tell you that The Surge needs to be continued, and that more troops are needed in Afghanistan, will you implement the draft to keep the country protected?

2) IF your statement that lowering taxes brings more revenue to the government turn out not to work, and the deficit continues to grow, what will you do?

3) AT the Saddleback Forum you were asked, "At what point does a baby receive human rights?" You answered "At conception."So I have two questions for you.

One: There is a fire at a fertility clinic. In one room there is a 3-month-old baby. In another is a thermos with 3,000 fertilized eggs. You have time to save the baby or the thermos. Which do you save?

Two: If a woman has intercourse and an egg is fertilized, but the woman stands up before three days pass, the egg might not implant properly. Is it murder if a woman stands up within three days of intercourse?

McCain Not "Tortured" According to Bush Administration

Bill Marjenhoff — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 09:03:10 EDT

Following is a blog comment whose authorship is unknown, but it's worth reading. "In all the discussion of John McCain's recently recovered memory of a religious epiphany in Vietnam, one thing has been missing. The torture that was deployed against McCain emerges in all the various accounts. It involved sleep deprivation, the withholding of medical treatment, stress positions, long-time standing, and beating. Sound familiar? According to the Bush administration's definition of torture, McCain was therefore not tortured. Cheney denies that McCain was tortured; as does Bush. So do John Yoo and David Addington and George Tenet. In the one indisputably authentic version of the story of a Vietnamese guard showing compassion, McCain talks of the agony of long-time standing. A quarter century later, Don Rumsfeld was putting his signature to memos lengthening the agony of "long-time standing" that victims of Bush's torture regime would have to endure. These torture techniques are, according to the president of the United States, merely "enhanced interrogation." No war crimes were committed against McCain. And the techniques used are, according to the president, tools to extract accurate information. And so the false confessions that McCain was forced to make were, according to the logic of the Bush administration, as accurate as the "intelligence" we have procured from "interrogating" terror suspects. Feel safer? The cross-in-the-dirt story - although deeply fishy to any fair observer - is in the realm of the unprovable. But the actual techniques used on McCain, and the lies they were designed to legitimize, are a matter of historical record. And the government of the United States now practices the very same techniques that the Communist government of North Vietnam once proudly used against American soldiers. When they are used against future John McCains, the victims will know, in a way McCain didn't, that their own government has no moral standing to complain. Now the kicker: in the Military Commissions Act, McCain acquiesced to the use of these techniques against terror suspects by the CIA. And so the tortured became the enabler of torture. Someone somewhere cried out in pain for the same reasons McCain once did. And McCain let it continue. These are the prices people pay for power."

McCain's Cross in the Dirt Story

Bill Marjenhoff — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 15:06:42 EDT

John McCain’s cross in the dirt story first appeared in 1999 when the anecdote appeared in Mark Salter's book, co-written with McCain, Faith Of My Fathers. There is one reference to a kind Vietnamese guard in McCain's own 1973 account of his years in captivity, but nothing about a guard relaxing the ropes pushing McCain into a "stress-position" and later revealing himself to McCain as a Christian by the silent symbol in the dirt on Christmas Eve. It's baffling that an overwhelming moment of Christian witness would be absent from his first telling of the story - and never surface for another twenty-five years. More here:

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/08/the-dirt-in-the.html

When Does an Embryo Become a Person?

Bill Marjenhoff — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 10:43:56 EDT

When does an embryo become a person? Even the Vatican doesn't claim to know the precise answer. More here: http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/08/when-an-embryo.html

McCain's Fellow POW Phillip Butler Won't Vote for Him

Bill Marjenhoff — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 10:05:08 EDT

Phillip Butler’s acquaintance with John McCain goes back to their time together at the U.S. Naval Academy and as prisoners of war in Vietnam. Butler writes that McCain “is a man I respect and admire in some ways. But there are a number of reasons why I will not vote for him for President of the United States.” More here: http://www.military.com/opinion/0,15202,164859_1,00.html

McCain's Instincts Almost Always Martial & Combative

Bill Marjenhoff — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 10:56:40 EDT

“McCain's instincts have always been almost entirely martial and combative, and his focus is nearly always on playing global games of chicken — deliberately looking for ways of increasing tensions instead of easing them. After all, he's been shooting from the hip about the glories of a punitive Russia policy for years (a fact of which he keeps reminding us), and while French president Nicolas Sarkozy was busy trying to ratchet things down in Georgia, McCain was busy trying to ratchet things up — and pretty clearly reveling in it. That's a dangerous temperament for a president to have.” This is an excerpt from Kevin Drum’s comments in “Always 1938” from his blog, Political Animal, at The Washington Monthly website. Link: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/

Most Frequent Word on McCain's Blog: "Obama"

Bill Marjenhoff — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 10:41:16 EDT

According to a Boston Globe analysis of campaign websites. More here:

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2008/08/03/portrait_of_the_candidate_as_a_pile_of_words/

Is McCain Bold or Intemperate?

Bill Marjenhoff — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 10:18:09 EDT

On the Georgia/Russia conflict, let’s be clear. McCain was quick to speak, not act. There is a world of difference between the two, even if some can’t tell the difference. How else would McCain go unchallenged when he says he knows how to win wars. I may know how to build a gazebo, but that doesn’t mean I have actually built one (or would want to).

As for whether what McCain says is bold or merely intemperate is not so clear. For someone who may well have to proceed as a diplomat, rather than as a gadfly, it is open to question just what sort of rhetoric will serve him well when negotiating with one’s enemies is often made unnecessarily more difficult by incautiously made snide remarks about someone whom you later have to sit across the table from.

The media coverage of the Georgia story and its implications for the campaign simply reaffirms what many have been saying all along. McCain gets a pass on his growing list of foreign policy statement gaffes. The speculation from many quarters is that Obama would have been roasted if he had confused Sunnis with Shias in Iraq or referred to Czechoslovakia long after it had ceased to exist.

The question is why that differential treatment occurs. The explanation, I think, is simple. McCain gets extra credit for what he does get right and loses no credit even when he gets it wrong. He benefits from a presumption that he knows what he is talking about, so much so that he goes unchallenged even when it is obvious that he does not.

More here: http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docid=news-000002937438

Georgia, the October Surprise in August?

Bill Marjenhoff — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 10:01:58 EDT

Is it possible that this time the October surprise was tried in August, and that the garbage issue of brave little Georgia struggling for its survival from the grasp of the Russian bear was stoked to influence the U.S. presidential election?

Before you dismiss that possibility, consider the role of one Randy Scheunemann, for four years a paid lobbyist for the Georgian government who ended his official lobbying connection only in March, months after he became Republican presidential candidate John McCain’s senior foreign policy adviser.

Previously, Scheunemann was best known as one of the neoconservatives who engineered the war in Iraq when he was a director of the Project for a New American Century. It was Scheunemann who, after working on the McCain 2000 presidential campaign, headed the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq, which championed the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

There are telltale signs that he played a similar role in the recent Georgia flare-up. How else to explain the folly of his close friend and former employer, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, in ordering an invasion of the breakaway region of South Ossetia, an invasion that clearly was expected to produce a Russian counterreaction? It is inconceivable that Saakashvili would have triggered this dangerous escalation without some assurance from influential Americans he trusted, like Scheunemann, that the United States would have his back. Scheunemann long guided McCain in these matters, even before he was officially running foreign policy for McCain’s presidential campaign.

In 2005, while registered as a paid lobbyist for Georgia, Scheunemann worked with McCain to draft a congressional resolution pushing for Georgia’s membership in NATO. A year later, while still on the Georgian payroll, Scheunemann accompanied McCain on a trip to that country, where they met with Saakashvili and supported his bellicose views toward Russia’s Vladimir Putin.

Scheunemann is at the center of the neoconservative cabal that has come to dominate the Republican candidate’s foreign policy stance in a replay of the run-up to the war against Iraq. These folks are always looking for a foreign enemy on which to base a new Cold War, and with the collapse of Saddam Hussein’s regime it was Putin’s Russia that came increasingly to fit the bill.

More here: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20080812_georgia_war_a_neocon_election_ploy/

The MSM's Double Standard on Infidelity

Bill Marjenhoff — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 09:35:09 EDT

If John Edwards' infidelity is news, and he's not a candidate for anything, why isn't John McCain's? More here: http://www.alternet.org/sex/94851/catching_the_wrong_john%3A_when_are_the_media_going_to_talk_about_john_mccain%27s_infidelity/?page=1

Paris Hilton's Family Big Donors to McCain Campaign

Bill Marjenhoff — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 10:02:44 EDT

The McCain campaign may want to rethink its strategy of attacking Barack Obama by comparing him to Paris Hilton. Her family has kicked a lot of money to his campaign.Paris's parents have donated a combined $6,900 to the McCain campaign. Father Rick gave McCain $4,600 in March, and mother Kathleen spent her own $2,300 in April.The family patriarch William Barron Hilton, the co-chairman of the Hilton hotel chain and celebrity's grandfather, has made five separate donations to McCain, totaling $15,100. The elder Hilton is a highly active GOP donor for several campaigns and committees, having donated to Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani as well as the National Republican Senatorial Committee to the tune of $15,000.

More here:

http://briefingroom.thehill.com/2008/07/31/paris-hiltons-parents-are-mccain-donors/

Why Britney and Paris?

Bill Marjenhoff — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 10:11:47 EDT

The McCain campaign, defending its new ad comparing Barack Obama to Paris Hilton and Britney Spears, said they thought the ad was legitimate because Obama is a big celebrity, and Britney and Paris were big celebrities, too. The problem: Anyone with even a vague sense of pop culture knows that Britney and Paris are yesterday's news. Here's a link to Forbes' Celebrity 100. Paris and Britney don't even make the list any more. Instead, the top 10, in order: Oprah Winfrey, Tiger Woods, Angelina Jolie, Beyonce Knowles, David Beckham, Johnny Depp, Jay-Z, The Police, JK Rowling, Brad Pitt. So, they didn't pick other big celebrities, who were either men, or black, or married. Who they picked were two sexually available white women.

McCain Supporter Investigated Rumors of POW Record

Bill Marjenhoff — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 09:21:49 EDT

“Far from being a principled patriot, McCain is a pandering politician who will say anything to win an election.” So writes Hugh E. Scott, investigative journalist, newspaper feature writer, novelist, Vietnam veteran, ex-USAF pilot, author of the 2004 nonfiction book, George Dub-ya Bush: The Phony Fighter Pilot, and editor of UnfitMcCain.com. Scott says on his website, “This is one of the hardest articles I’ve ever written because John McCain had been my hero. Being a lifelong registered Republican and Ronald Reagan fan who disliked the Bush family intensely, I wrote in the feisty Arizona senator on my 2000 California GOP primary ballot. I praised him in my 2004 book, George Dub-ya Bush, The Phony Fighter Pilot, created a pro-McCain Web site to help boost his 2008 candidacy and attended a fundraising dinner for the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, not far from my home, because John was the keynote speaker. My admiration for McCain ended in May 2008, when I began investigating rumors about his so-called heroic POW record.” More here: http://www.unfitmccain.com/Donations.html

Is Ferragamo More Expensive than Arugula?

Bill Marjenhoff — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 09:01:45 EDT

A recent McCain campaign memo said that only celebrities like Barack Obama go to the gym three times a day, demand MET-RX chocolate roasted-peanut protein bars and bottles of a hard-to-find organic brew -- Black Forest Berry Honest Tea and worry about the price of arugula. Now we learn that John McCain has worn a pair of $520 black leather Ferragamo shoes on every recent campaign stop - from a news conference with the Dalai Lama to a supermarket visit in Bethlehem, PA. The Calfskin loafers, with silver-tone "Gancini" buckles, are imported from Italy. Um, is Ferragamo more expensive than arugula? Just asking. More here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/isabel-wilkinson/a-week-in-john-mccains-sh_b_115692.html

Neocon Kagan Brothers Advise McCain on Foreign Policy

Bill Marjenhoff — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 15:40:52 EDT

The “surge” ends this month, as U.S. troop levels begin to drop back to about 130,000, where they were before the “surge” began in the first several months of 2007. As of June, there were 153,000 U.S. soldiers in Iraq.

When the surge was announced it was seen as an escalation of the Iraq war at a time when the public had soured on U.S. presence in the region and supported a complete withdrawal from Iraq.

The same neoconservatives who provided the Bush administration with its prewar military strategy and had been proponents of using force to remove Saddam Hussein from power drafted the military plan McCain supported.

Neoconservative Frederick Kagan, a senior fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, is the author of the white paper "Choosing Victory: A Plan for Success in Iraq," which President George W. Bush used as the basis for his “New Way Forward” plan that called for increasing U.S. troop presence in Iraq.

McCain has said he depends upon Kagan for advice on Middle East issues, underscoring just how closely aligned he is with the policies of the Bush administration. Kagan’s brother, Robert, is now an “unofficial” and unpaid foreign policy adviser to McCain’s campaign. Frederick Kagan has written numerous columns over the past several months praising McCain for backing last year’s troop surge. Complete story here:

http://www.pubrecord.org/component/content/225.html?task=view

Think Tank Finds Major Networks Tougher on Obama

Bill Marjenhoff — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 12:46:52 EDT

ABC, NBC and CBS were tougher on Obama than on Republican John McCain during the first six weeks of the general-election campaign, according to The Center for Media and Public Affairs at George Mason University, where researchers have tracked network news content for two decades. More here: http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-onthemedia27-2008jul27,0,712999.story

Samantha Power on The Democrats & National Security

Bill Marjenhoff — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 10:27:21 EDT

Samantha Power has a must-read article in the Aug. 14 issue of The NY Review of Books, titled The Democrats and National Security. Here’s an excerpt:

“How can Obama and his Democratic colleagues expose once and for all the fallacies in the conservative approach to national security, while putting forward a convincing alternative? They must start by not shying from the security debate or relying, with quiet relief, on polls showing that (unlike in 2004) only 4 percent of Americans today view terrorism as their top concern. Democrats must instead seize the advantage the polls show they could have on security issues. This means talking early and often about national security and going on the offensive by strongly presenting the foreign policy plans already devised, whether by members of Congress or by the Obama campaign. It also means explaining how each plan —whether for retrieving loose nuclear material in the former Soviet Union or for assisting Iraqi refugees in Syria— advances the central goal of keeping Americans safe. Democrats can break with their reputation for squeamishness about national security issues by showing their ease and confidence in dealing with these topics. Instead of changing the subject when national security issues arise, they should look forward to taking part in detailed foreign policy discussions that allow them to show their new strength.

They must also answer McCain's apocalyptic claims about the effects of a US withdrawal from Iraq. Too often on Capitol Hill or in the primary battle, Democrats have confidently suggested that since the US-led invasion brought savage sectarian killing to Iraq, a US departure will rid the country of much of its violence. Critics of President Bush have seemed to imply that no serious harm will flow from a US withdrawal. But American voters realize that the effects of a US drawdown are in fact unknowable. The failure to acknowledge any possible humanitarian or strategic risks of leaving makes Democrats sound less sophisticated than they are, and deprives them of the chance to describe their plans to draw down troops in a careful and strategically sound way. McCain's alarmist forecast thus goes unchallenged.

Prominent Democrats must drive home the continuing costs of remaining in Iraq—costs to Iraq, the region, Afghanistan, US military readiness, and national security as a whole— while describing the specific ways an Obama administration would limit the harmful consequences of withdrawal. (In fact, Obama outlined such plans in a speech last year but it got little attention and needs reinforcement from the Democratic echo chamber.)

Obama has long stated his intention to retain a Quick-Reaction Force in the region to carry out counterterrorism operations against al-Qaeda and other such networks. He has made clear his concern for Iraqi civilians in mixed neighborhoods who might be more vulnerable following a withdrawal of US combat brigades. He would offer these civilians fair notice of US plans and would be open to relocating those who would feel more secure if they moved. He has promised $2 billion to assist the two million Iraqi refugees in neighboring countries. He would establish a war crimes commission to gather the testimony of survivors and put militia leaders on notice that they may eventually be prosecuted. Obama's plan to meet with the region's heads of state is the first of many steps that will be required to prevent regional conflict.”

More here:

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/21670

McCain's War on Women

Bill Marjenhoff — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 15:34:15 EDT

A poll of women voters in 16 battleground states found that 50 percent of women voters don't know McCain's position on abortion. The poll also found that 49 percent of women who backed McCain were pro-choice. Forty-six percent of women supporting McCain said they'd like to see Roe v. Wade upheld -- though McCain says he supports overturning the decision. When they learned of his position on Roe, 36 percent of women who identified as both pro-choice and likely McCain voters said they would be less likely to vote for him.

Planned Parenthood and NARAL have given him a zero for his record on women's health issues. The record dates back to his days in the House of Representatives, between 1983 and 1986, and carries through to his career in the U.S. Senate, which began in 1987. Of the 130 congressional votes related to reproductive freedom that McCain has cast, 125 have been anti-choice, according to NARAL.

It's a record McCain says he's proud of -- when he's not trying to appeal to women outside his Republican base.

More here: http://www.alternet.org/reproductivejustice/92546/mcsexist%3A_mccain%27s_war_on_women/

McCain Speaks in German Restaurant

Bill Marjenhoff — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 14:53:42 EDT

At Schmidt's Sausage Haus in Columbus, Ohio, John McCain told reporters and a crowd of nearly three dozen people that he'd loved to give a speech in Germany. "But I'd much prefer to do it as president of the United States rather than as a candidate for president," he said.

Good luck with that, Senator. If you don’t give a speech in Germany as a candidate — to a crowd, no doubt, about the size of your last town hall meeting — you’ll never give one.

Why Obama Is Popular in Europe

Bill Marjenhoff — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 12:51:29 EDT

In eastern Germany—where neo-Nazi activity is a fact of life— 77 percent said they would vote for Obama. Why, in a country with a notorious racial history, persistent xenophobia and unsuccessful attempts at integrating its immigrants, is Obama's race seemingly not a factor in his popularity there?

Another poll conducted by the British Daily Telegraph in May showed that Obama was a strong favorite in other European countries as well: Italy (70 percent), France (65 percent), Britain (49 percent compared to 14 percent for McCain) and even in Russia, which generally favors Republican presidents, 31 percent said they would vote for Obama compared to 24 percent for McCain.

More here: http://www.theroot.com/id/47387

Latino Support for Obama Increases to 66 Percent

Bill Marjenhoff — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 11:35:25 EDT

A Pew Hispanic Center poll released today shows overwhelming support from Latinos for Obama over McCain. Obama's approval rating with registered Latino voters, the nationwide poll found, is at 66 percent versus 23 percent favoring McCain.Obama's "strong showing in this survey represents a sharp reversal in his fortunes from the primaries, when Obama lost the Latino vote to Hillary Clinton by a margin of nearly 2-to-1," according to Pew Hispanic Center associate director Mark Hugo Lopez.Obama's favorability among Latinos is slightly up from a Gallup Poll summary of surveys taken in May, which showed Obama with 62 percent of Latino voters nationwide, compared with 29 percent for McCain. "He now appears to be even more popular than Hillary Clinton among Latinos," Lopez said.

More here:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/07/24/pew.latino.poll/index.html

Clinton Aides Buy HRC2012.com Website Domain

Bill Marjenhoff — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 13:00:37 EDT

A company associated with Hillary Clinton's top presidential campaign advance staff has purchased a website domain that hints of a 2012 presidential bid for the vanquished senator from New York. HRC2012.com was bought by the Markham Group on June 8. Greg Hale of the Markham Group served as a key advance aide to Sen. Clinton, organizing political events for the campaign. The Markham website calls him the "lead consultant for advance and visual messaging." Partners Paul Neaville and Robert McClarty (the son of former White House chief of staff Thomas "Mack" McClarty) also worked on Clinton's advance team. According to whois.com, the site was registered by Todd Wilder, a longtime Democratic operative from Florida.

More here:

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/hrc_campaign_aides_buy_2012_we_1.php

McCain Changes Stance on National Auto Emissions Standards

Bill Marjenhoff — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 12:09:53 EDT

John McCain backtracked today on a pledge to set national auto emissions standards that would supersede those California and other states want to set. "I guess at the end of the day, I support the states being able to do that," he said at a town hall meeting at the GM Technical Center. The statement appears to contradict a statement McCain made to The Detroit News last month, when he said he hoped to set a national standard that would make state standards unnecessary.

More here:

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080718/METRO/807180414/1148/AUTO01

McCain Education Advisor Under Fire

Bill Marjenhoff — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 10:06:16 EDT

Lisa Graham Keegan, one of McCain's top education advisers, was CEO of the Education Leaders Council, a conservative non-profit, school-reform group that she led from 2001 to 2004. With Keegan at the helm, the group began to prosper with money from Bush's No Child Left Behind law. The ELC raked in about $23.4 million in federal money, part of which it was later accused of mismanaging. An audit report from the Department of Education's Inspector General ultimately recommended that the group give back about $500,000 in taxpayer dollars.

More here:

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/mccains_education_adviser_was.php

On Keegan’s less than stellar education legacy in Arizona, see:

http://roguecolumnist.typepad.com/rogue_columnist/2008/05/lisa-graham-kee.html

McCain in 2003: "We Can Just Muddle Through in Afghanistan"

Bill Marjenhoff — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 09:49:37 EDT

In 2003, John McCain said we could just “muddle through in Afghanistan.” McCain, Bush and company believed that Afghanistan wasn’t a concern and we didn’t need to take it seriously. In fact, just a year earlier, on CBS’ Face the Nation, McCain said capturing Osama bin Laden wasn’t “that important.”

Five years later, we now see where that poor judgment and lack of insight has gotten us. The Taliban has regained large swaths of Afghanistan, al Qaeda has reconstituted itself, Osama bin Laden still is free, and Afghanistan is in crisis. All of that lends itself to our nation being that much less secure, and in much greater danger of another terrorist attack from extremists from the Pakistan/Afghanistan region.

John McCain knows how to win wars?

More, including video, here:

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/91929/?ses=b6f5e7ae62bfbd41c00b02f313ac8842#more

Obama Campaign Has 300+ Foreign Policy Advisors

Bill Marjenhoff — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 08:39:12 EDT

A tight-knit group of aides supported by a 300-person foreign policy campaign bureaucracy, organized like a mini State Department, advises Sen. Obama on foreign policy issues.

More here: http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/07/18/america/18advisers.php

NYT Poll Analysis Highly Misleading

Bill Marjenhoff — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 12:12:45 EDT

Today’s New York Times analysis of their poll on the racial dimensions to this election is highly misleading. Times Analysts Adam Nagourney and Megan Thee conclude that “The results of the poll, conducted against the backdrop of a campaign in which race has been a constant if not always overt issue, suggested that Mr. Obama’s candidacy, while generating high levels of enthusiasm among black voters, is not seen by them as evidence of significant improvement in race relations.” Or as Wonkette’s Sara K. Smith asks, tongue-in-cheek, “How can Barack Obama be elected president when he can’t even solve a simple issue like America’s 400-year-old race problem?”

The story ignores multiple and significant pieces of poll data that actually indicate a trend much different from that which the story suggests. Here are some straightforward points from the data that are omitted from the story:

1) More white voters say Obama cares about people like them, than say the same thing about McCain by 31 to 23.

2) On the essential issue in this campaign bringing about change in Washington Among white voters, Obama is seen as the change agent by 52% to 30%.

3) Obama’s 31% favorable rating among white voters is virtually identical to McCain’s, which is at 34%.

4) By a 2 to 1 margin over McCain, white voters are more likely to say that Obama would improve America’s image in the world.

5) 'Racial dissension' around Mrs. Obama’s 24% favorable rating among whites is an extremely odd description given that Mrs. McCain’s favorable rating among white voters is 20%.

6) Enthusiasm for Obama’s candidacy is roughly 2.5 times higher among white voters than is enthusiasm for McCain’s.

7) Obama is winning by 6 points against McCain and the gap among white voters is only -9 – a margin smaller than independent expert on voting patterns, Ruy Texiera, said would give Obama a 'solid win.'

8) Though there is a six-point margin of error among black voters the NYT describes the 7-point change in black voters’ views that whites had a better chance of getting ahead as slightly higher than 8 years ago. Given that the Times reports horserace questions as statistically even when the margin falls within the margin, it seems that this shift from seven years ago among black voters is well within the margin of error.

Invading Iraq Was John McCain's Idea

Bill Marjenhoff — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 09:41:36 EDT

John McCain was not just a supporter of the war on Iraq, but was perhaps the most vocal advocate in Congress of invading Iraq. He was a sponsor of the 1998 Iraq liberation act, he called repeatedly for invading Iraq in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 and, as a remarkable Economist piece noted, invading Iraq and the concept of the axis of evil were ideas inspired from John McCain's rogue state rollback foreign policy in 2000. For John McCain there was no decision to invade Iraq because it was his idea in the first place. More here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/max-bergmann/beyond-judgment_b_112906.html

Another McCain Finance Co-Chair Resigns

Bill Marjenhoff — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 10:53:24 EDT

McCain finance co-chair and former New Jersey congressman Jim Courter, chief executive of telecom corporation IDT, is resigning from the campaign after the FCC slapped IDT with a $1.3 million fine last week for failing to disclose information about its contracts in Haiti. IDT is being investigated by several federal agencies after a former employee filed a lawsuit alleging that the company engaged in corrupt practices in order to obtain favorable contracts in the country. Courter has been the chief executive of IDT since 2001. His resignation follows that of McCain finance co-chair Tom Loeffler in May over lobbying ties, and that of Rick Renzi, another McCain finance co-chair, who was indicted in February for money laundering and other charges. More here:

http://www.vanityfair.com/online/politics/2008/07/another-mccain-cochair-bites-the-dust.html

McCain's Plan for the Next Cold War

Bill Marjenhoff — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 12:07:22 EDT

John McCain continues to rely on neoconservative foreign policy advisers; he still thinks U.S. foreign policy should focus on transforming rogue states and autocracies into democracies that live under the shadow of American power; and he no longer tells credulous reporters that he consults Brent Scowcroft.

More here: http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=220a2dab-3d4b-45e4-9355-b03d44b6b844

McCain's Votes Against U.S. Combat Troops

Bill Marjenhoff — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 12:04:37 EDT

5/2008: McCain voted AGAINST the Webb GI Bill.

9/2007: McCain voted AGAINST bill to minimize periods of time between deployment of units sent to Iraq.
http://senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=110&session=1&vote=00341

5/2006: McCain voted AGAINST $20 Million to VA for health care facilities.
http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=109&session=2&vote=00111

4/2006: McCain voted AGAINST $430,000,000 to VA for Medical Services.
http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=109&session=2&vote=00098

3/2006: McCain voted AGAINST increasing Vet-medical services $1.5 billion in FY2007.
http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=109&session=2&vote=00041

3/2004: McCain voted AGAINST increasing Vet-medical care by $1.8 billion.
http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=108&session=2&vote=00040

10/2003: McCain voted to TABLE an amendment for $322,000,000 for safety equipment for US Forces. "Table"= vote never hits floor.
http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=108&session=1&vote=00376

10/2003: McCain voted to TABLE a vote for $1 Billion for National Guard and Reserve Equipment in Iraq due to shortages of helmets, tents, bullet-proof inserts, & tactical vests.
http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=108&session=1&vote=00116

John McCain, the Family Values Candidate

Bill Marjenhoff — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 13:14:33 EDT

John McCain has made several statements about how he divorced his first wife, Carol, and married Cindy Hensley that conflict with the public record.

In his 2002 memoir, "Worth the Fighting For," McCain wrote that he had separated from Carol before he began dating Cindy.

"I spent as much time with Cindy in Washington and Arizona as our jobs would allow," McCain wrote. "I was separated from Carol, but our divorce would not become final until February of 1980."

An examination of court documents tells a different story. McCain did not sue his wife for divorce until Feb. 19, 1980, and he wrote in his court petition that he and his wife had "cohabited" until Jan. 7 of that year – or for the first nine months of his relationship with Hensley.

Although McCain suggested in his autobiography that months passed between his divorce and remarriage, the divorce was granted April 2, 1980, and he wed Hensley in a private ceremony five weeks later. McCain obtained an Arizona marriage license on March 6, 1980, while still legally married to his first wife. More here: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-divorce11-2008jul11,0,5924926,full.story

Getting the Pet Owners' Vote

Bill Marjenhoff — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 10:41:47 EDT

An AP-Yahoo News poll found that pet owners favor John McCain over Barack Obama 42 percent to 37 percent, with dog owners particularly in McCain's corner. I can’t help but wonder if those numbers would hold if McCain chose Mitt Romney as his VP running mate. Serial gaffer Romney (see http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/romney_gaffes/article/0,28804,1621231_1621230,00.html) once strapped a dog carrier — with the family dog Seamus, an Irish Setter, in it — to the roof of the family station wagon for a twelve hour drive from Boston to Ontario. More here: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1638065,00.html.

Imagine

Bill Marjenhoff — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 10:02:34 EDT

Imagine, for one moment, that it had been Barack Obama instead of John McCain who had cheated on his wife by having multiple affairs. Suppose it was Barack Obama who had married his mistress, a younger heiress of a billion dollar beer empire only a month after the ink was dry on the divorce papers. Pretend it was Michelle Obama instead of Cindy McCain who had been so addicted to painkillers that she stole money from her own charity and had been investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration. More here: http://www.memphisflyer.com/memphis/Content?oid=oid%3A45446

McCain Rode the Bush-Rumsfeld Express for Years

Bill Marjenhoff — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 10:14:25 EDT

Sen. John McCain rode the Bush-Rumsfeld Express for years. If he had been commander-in-chief, John McCain would have made the same mistakes Bush and Rumsfeld did, concludes CQ’s David Corn. Two weeks before the invasion of Iraq, McCain said, "I have no qualms about our strategic plans." For several years after the invasion, McCain stood by the administration and Rumsfeld. In March 2004, he said, "We're on the right course." In May 2004, he backed Rumsfeld, saying it was "premature" to talk of booting Rumsfeld from his job. "He's done a fine job," McCain remarked. In December 2005, he said, "I do think that progress is being made in a lot of Iraq" and called for staying the course. And into 2005, McCain insisted that there were the right number of troops in Iraq – that is, that no surge was needed. More here: http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/davidcorn/2008/07/a-question-for-mccain-why-is-i.html

Say It Ain't So

Bill Marjenhoff — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 07:55:14 EDT

AP’s Jennifer Loven reports: “Reaching out to evangelical voters, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is announcing plans that would expand President Bush's program steering federal social service dollars to religious groups and — in a move sure to cause controversy — support their ability to hire and fire based on faith.”

Charlie Black, Loveable Top Advisor to McCain

Bill Marjenhoff — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 12:24:00 EDT

A Jesse Helms Man: In 1972, at age 25, Black served as political director for the first senatorial campaign of Jesse Helms, the North Carolina crypto-racist and uber-homophobe. In 1996, he told the New York Times, at the beginning of the race "everybody knew he was too conservative, he'd never run for office, and couldn't win. But it was a good conservative cause, so I went down and worked on his campaign for the last six months. And lo and behold, we did win."

Smear Group Founder: In 1975, with Terry Dolan and Roger Stone, Charlie Black was a founder of the National National Conservative Political Action Committee (NCPAC), which used deceptively written direct mail solicitations to bankroll television ads smearing Democrats in congressional campaigns in the Reagan era.
Roger Stone has to be one of the sleaziest Republican operatives of all time. Earlier this year, he warned Florida Gov. Charlie Crist that in order to be considered as John McCain's vice president, Crist, a 49-year-old longtime bachelor, would have to get married -- incorrectly stating that "bachelors don't get elected vice president. In fact, Franklin Pierce's vice president, William Rufus de Vane King, was a confiirmed bachelor. Known as "Aunt Fancy," King was one of the first two senators from Alabama, who shared digs in Washington for 25 years with fellow bachelor James Buchanan, Pierce's successor in the presidency.

Earlier this year, Stone launched an anti-Hillary Clinton organization he called Citizens United Not Timid, which he promoted online by using its acronym. In 1996, he had to resign from a volunteer position on the Dole presidential campaign after an ad in a swingers' magazine surfaced that featured a photo of Stone and his wife.

Black and Stone moved on from NCPAC soon after it was established, parting ways with Terry Dolan. In 1979 and 1980, NCPAC spent over the then-unheard of figure of $7 million on spurious TV ads against Democrats. Dolan once called NCPAC a "gut-cutting organization." The macho rhetoric is notable because Dolan, along with the McCarthyite Roy Cohn and Sen. "Tailgunner" Joe McCarthy himself, was a classic self-hating gay Republican homophobe. While he worked tirelessly to slime liberals and their causes by day, at night Dolan was rumored to frequent leather bars where he picked up rough trade. He died from HIV disease in 1986 at the age of 36. (Additional source: New York Times, May 31, 1981)

Fired By Reagan: In 1980, Charlie Black worked as field director for Ronald Reagan's second presidential campaign. After advising Reagan to ignore the Iowa caucuses -- advice that almost cost Reagan the nomination -- he was among the senior staff Reagan fired after he lost the New Hampshire primary.

Formed Mega-Lobbying Group: Soon after being fired by Reagan, Black and Stone, with Paul Manafort, formed Black, Manafort and Stone, a political consulting firm. The firm's lobbying clients have included Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. Ltd. and the investment firm of Salomon Brothers, as well as foreign politicians, including Mohamed Siad Barre of Somalia, Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines, Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire, and Jonas Savimbi of Angola.
More recently, Black was an early supporter of Ahmed Chalabi, the Iraqi conman who helped Dick Cheney and his cabal of neocons float false intelligence that laid the groundwork for Bush-Cheney's disastrous invasion of Iraq in 2003. Black's firm helped open doors for Chalabi's front group, the Iraqi National Congress (INC), with U.S. corporations, including AT&T, Cummins Engine and Fluor. In 2003, Black said, "Due to our past representation of the INC, we know and have worked with a lot of people who will be in the provisional government. We have a number of clients who are interested in doing business in Iraq." Black adds that his firm is "strongly considering" opening an office in Baghdad. It is unclear whether Black's firm ever opened a branch office in Iraq.
Lee Atwater: In 1985, Lee Atwater, the man who taught Karl Rove and George Bush Jr. everything they know about political hatchet work and the dark art of manipulating the masses, joined Black's lobbying firm within months after serving as deputy campaign manager in the 1984 Reagan-Bush campaign. Black and Atwater went way back. In 1973, Atwater managed the campaign of Karl Rove to become president of the College Republicans, defeating his opponent, Terry Dolan, whose campaign had been managed by Charlie Black, Roger Stone and Paul Manafort.

In March 1990, Lee Atwater was serving as chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC) when he was diagnosed with a brain tumor (which many people believed developed because of his constant use of a then new-tech cordless telephone). Atwater named Charlie Black as his "mouthpiece" at the RNC while he dealt with his illness. As the disease progressed, Atwater came to see the error of his ways and made rounds of phone calls seeking forgiveness from Democrats and others whose reputations and careers he had destroyed. There has never been any evidence that Black, Rove, Bush Jr. and the others learned anything from Atwater's end-of-life come-to-Jesus.

Ailes on Black: About Black, Roger Ailes, then (as now) a Republican media consultant (only now he masks his party operative role behind the legit-sounding title of president of Fox News), said "Charlie's the kind of guy who if he came home and found somebody making out with his wife on a rainy day, he'd break the guy's umbrella and ask him to leave, then have him killed a year later. [Lee Atwater] would blow the house up." (New York Times, July 21, 1990)

Homophobic Remarks: In March 1993, when the gays in the military issue was in the headlines, Charlie Black and Iran-Contra scandal figure Oliver North made headlines when they chimed in with homophobic remarks at a banquet in Northern Virginia for retired Republican Rep. Rep. Stan Parris. According to the New York Times (March 19, 1993), before Black and North spoke, Virginia state Senator Warren E. Barry began his keynote comments by referring to "'the Clinton fags-in-the-foxhole' policy and then joked about how Mr. Parris, when he was in Congress, seemed to be constantly at odds with the officials of the District of Columbia, who are mostly black. He recalled that Mr. Parris had once called a bridge leading from Washington to Virginia 'the longest bridge in the world because it connects Virginia to Africa.' He went on, with a laugh, to say Mr. Parris sought to rename the bridge 'Soul Brothers Causeway.'"

When it was Black's turn, he joked that Clinton was going to change the words of the Marine Corps hymn to "Don we now our gay apparel." (ROTFL.) When it was time for Ollie North's comedic turn, the Times reported that he "included a line about how he had repeatedly tried to place a telephone call to Mr. Clinton but could not get through until he lisped to the operator, 'Excuse me!'"

Friends Like These: In a New York Times profile of Black in February 1996, one anonymous "friend" said of Charlie, "He's very folksy, but he's tough. Charlie will pat you on the back one moment, stab you in the back the next."

John Buckley, an admirer, said, "Charlie would never stab you in the back. You would be gutted from the front. You just wouldn't know it until you're dead."

McCain Still Exploits His POW Experience as Qualification for the Presidency

Bill Marjenhoff — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 15:48:35 EDT

John McCain maintains that he doesn't exploit his captivity in Vietnam for his campaign, but in reality he can barely talk about anything else. The fact that John McCain was a POW doesn't necessarily make him knowledgeable or wise or principled. The burden ought to be on him to demonstrate that he has those qualities today, no matter what he went through forty years ago. More here: http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=the_pow_dodge

Must Read: "The Real McCain," by Paul Harris

Bill Marjenhoff — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 14:03:23 EDT

This is a Must Read: “The Real McCain,” by Paul Harris, in The Observer/Guardian UK, Sunday June 22, 2008

Here’s the hyperlink: http://www.truthout.org/article/the-real-mccain

McCain's Iowa Photo-Op

Bill Marjenhoff — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 13:26:56 EDT

Sen. John McCain opposed legislation last year that included money for flood control in Des Moines. McCain railed against the bill, claiming it was filled with pork. The bill passed despite McCain’s and Bush’s opposition. Every member of the Iowa congressional delegation voted to override Bush's veto, the first override of his presidency. "This legislation is fundamentally flawed, authorizing nearly 1,000 new projects without any method for prioritizing the needs of our national water infrastructure," McCain told the Senate. He added that the bill was "full of pork projects and unchecked government spending." As he did with the folks in New Orleans, McCain voted against any federal spending on improving the infrastructure there. Then, once disaster struck, he decided to visit Iowa against the request of the state because it could be a distraction and divert critical resources. Hypocrisy, McCain is thy name.

A Plea to Sen. Obama: Work to Defeat the Telecom Immunity Bill

Bill Marjenhoff — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 09:46:05 EDT

I’m trying to understand the push for telecom immunity. In a nutshell, I think the House bill says that the Chief Executive has the power to order private actors to break the law, and when he issues such an order, the private actors will be protected from liability of any kind on the ground that the Chief Executive told them to do it. Wasn’t this the very theory that the Nuremberg Trials rejected? Sen. Obama, as our future Chief Executive please reject this notion and work to defeat the telecom immunity bill in the Senate.

Repost: John McCain, His Big Oil Lobbyists, and His Big Oil Policies

Bill Marjenhoff — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 09:13:12 EDT

John McCain, His Big Oil Lobbyists, and His Big Oil PoliciesProgressive Media USA Research
PUBLISHED: June 16, 2008 http://mccainsource.com/corruption?id=0014"I will oppose any tax breaks or good deals for the gas and oil industry also."--John McCain at a town hall meeting in Rindge, NH, 11/18/07McCain Donations from Big OilOil and Gas Campaign Contributions: McCain has Taken At Least $1,069,854 from the Oil & Gas Industry. According to a Campaign Money Watch analysis of campaign finance data provided by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics Center, John McCain has accepted at least $1,069,854 from the oil and gas industry since 1989. [Center for Responsive Politics via Campaign Money Watch]At Least 22 Top McCain Advisers & Fundraisers Have Lobbied For Big OilJohn McCain has at least 22 people working for his campaign, either as top fundraisers or as senior campaign staff, that have lobbied for Big Oil.McCain's Big Oil Lobbyists NumberName of LobbyistCampaign RoleFirm or CompanyOil Clients1Rebecca AndersonWomen for McCain Steering CommitteeWilliams & JensenSunoco2Wayne BermanNational Finance Co-ChairmanOgilvy Government RelationsAmerada Hess Chevron Texaco American Petroleum Institute3Charlie BlackSenior Political AdviserBKSHOccidental Petroleum Corp. Yukos Oil Chinese National Off-Shore Oil Corp.4Carlos Bonilla*Economic AdviserWashington GroupChesapeake Energy5Eric Burgeson**FundraiserBarbour Griffith & RogersBP6Kerry CammackFundraiserCammack and StrongExxon Mobil7Frank DonatelliMcCain Pick as Deputy RNC ChairMcGuire WoodsExxon Mobil Dominion Resources8Melissa EdwardsFundraiserWashington GroupChesapeake Energy9John GreenCongressional LiaisonOgilvy Government RelationsAmerada-Hess Chevon Texaco El Paso Energy American Petroleum Institute10Robert HardingFundraiserGreenberg TraurigChevron Murphy Oil Phillips Petroleum Company***11Richard HohltFundraiserHohlt and AssociatesChevron12James "Jim" HylandFundraiserPennsylvania Avenue GroupBP America Independent Fuel Terminal Operators Assoc. Occidental Petroleum Corp. Independent Fuel Terminal Operators Assoc.13Peter MadiganFundraiserJohnson, Madigan, Peck, Boland & StewartShell Oil14Susan MolinariWomen for McCain Steering CommitteeWashington GroupChesapeake Energy15Jack OliverFundraiserBryan Cave StrategiesShell Oil16Nancy PfotenhauerAdviserKoch IndustriesKoch Industries17Steve PhillipsFundraiserDLA PiperBP America Occidental Petroleum18Elise PickeringWomen for McCain Steering CommitteeMehlman Vogel CastagnettiKoch Industries19Sloan RappoportFundraiserDowney McGrath GroupKoch Industries20Matt SalmonFundraiserGreenberg TraurigEl Paso Energy21Randy ScheunemannDefense and Foreign Policy CoordinatorScheunemann and AssociatesBP Amoco22Jeffrey WeissFundraiserBKSHYukos Oil Company[Senate Lobbying Disclosure Database] * Carlos Bonilla was forced to leave the campaign as an adviser because of his lobbying activity ** Eric Burgeson was forced to leave the campaign as an adviser because of his lobbying on energy issues, but McCain has not given any indication he intends to return the money raised by Burgeson *** The Phillips Petroleum Company has since merged with Conoco to form ConocoPhillipsMcCain's Policies and Votes on Behalf of Big OilMcCain's Tax Plan Gives Top Five Oil Companies $3.8 Billion A Year In Tax Breaks. According to a study conducted by the Center for American Progress, "The McCain plan would deliver approximately $170 billion a year in tax cuts to corporations, including some corporations that are very large and profitable. Just one of the proposals-cutting the corporate rate from 35 percent to 25 percent-would cut taxes for five largest U.S. oil companies by $3.8 billion a year." [Center for American Progress, 3/27/08] McCain Voted Against Reducing Dependence On Foreign Oil. In 2005, McCain voted against legislation calling on the President to submit a plan to reduce foreign petroleum imports by 40 percent. [Senate Roll Call Vote #140, 6/16/05] In 2005, McCain Voted Against a Windfall Profit Tax on Oil Companies At Least Twice. McCain voted against a measure that would have provided an income tax rebate to Americans by taxing enormous oil company profits temporarily on an sale of crude above $40 a barrel. [S 2020, Vote #331, 11/17/05; S 2020, Vote # 341, 11/17/05; Houston Chronicle, 11/17/05; Las Vegas Review-Journal, 11/18/05; Environment and Energy Daily¸ 11/18/05] McCain Voted Against Taxing Oil Companies To Provide $100 Rebate To Consumers. In 2005, McCain voted against an amendment to impose a temporary tax on oil company profits from the sale of crude oil. The funds would be used to provide every taxpayer with a $100 non-refundable tax credit for 2005 for each person in their household. The amendment failed 33-65. [S 2020, Vote #341, 11/17/05] McCain Voted Against Temporarily Taxing Oil Companies to Finance Tax Rebate For Consumers. In 2005, McCain voted against an amendment to would impose a temporary 50 percent tax on oil company profits from the sale of crude oil. Funds collected from the tax would be used to provide a consumer tax credit for petroleum products. The amendment failed 35-64. [S 2020, Vote #331, 11/17/05]Offshore DrillingMcCain Now: McCain Called For Lifting The Off Shore Drilling Moratorium. During a press availability in Arlington Virginia, John McCain called for a lifting of the federal moratorium on offshore drilling. McCain said, "I think that's a subject of negotiation and discussion. But right now, as you know there's a moratorium. And those moratorium, in my view, moratoria, have to be lifted. And they have to be lifted so that states can make those decisions. I'm not dictating to the states that they drill or they engage in oil exploration. I am saying that the moratoria should be lifted so they have the opportunity to do so. And by the way, I would also like to see perhaps additional incentives if the states, in the form of tangible financial rewards if the states decide to lift those moratoria." [McCain Press Avail 6/16/07]

Houston Chronicle: McCain Announced Drilling Stance To "Make Amends With Texas Energy Producers." The Houston Chronicle Reported, "Republican presidential candidate John McCain, seeking to make amends with Texas energy producers who did not support him during the 2008 GOP primary season, said Monday he wants to end a federal moratorium on offshore drilling and create "additional incentives" for states to approve new exploration ventures." [Houston Chronicle, 6/17/08]

McCain Said Coasts "Should Be Open To Exploration and Exploitation." John McCain said, "So I do believe that there are places in the world, as I said, that we should not drill. But I certainly think there are areas off our coasts that should be open to exploration and exploitation. And I hope that we can take the first step, by lifting the moratoria in order to do so." [McCain Press Avail 6/16/07] McCain Then: He Opposed Off-Shore Drilling At Least Three Times, and Twice Supported Florida Efforts To Prevent Drilling Off Their Coasts.

McCain Voted Against Off-Shore Drilling. In 2005, McCain voted for an amendment that would strike language instructing the Interior Department to conduct a comprehensive inventory of Outer Continental Shelf oil and natural gas resources. The amendment failed 44-52. [H.R. 6, Vote #143, 6/21/2005]

McCain Voted Against Off-Shore Drilling. In 2003, McCain voted against a provision requiring a survey and inventory of possible off-shore oil and natural gas deposits by the Secretary of the Interior. He voted for an amendment striking the provision. The amendment failed 45-53. [S. 14, Vote #221, 6/12/2003]

McCain Voted for One-Year Moratorium on Oil and Gas Exploration in North Aleutian Basin. In 1989, McCain voted for a bill making appropriations for the Department of the Interior and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 1990, and for other purposes. The bill contained a total of $956.4 million for the Bureau of Land Management of which $442.1 million is for management of lands and resources; $535.5 million for the Fish and Wildlife Service. The bill also imposed a one-year moratorium on oil and gas exploration and development in the North Aleutian Basin and ensured that the Department of the Interior will continue its assessment of damage from the Exxon Valdex oil spill through September 30, 1990. The bill also contained $1.5 billion for the Department of Energy, which includes $422.1 million for the fossil energy research program; $192.1 million for the Naval Petroleum and Oil Shale Reserves; $413.3 million for energy conservation. The bill passed 91-6. [H.R. 2788, Vote #241, 10/7/1989]

McSame As Bush: Bush Administration Called For End To Off Shore Drilling Ban. The New York Times reported, "The Bush administration proposed on Monday leasing out millions of acres along the coasts of Alaska and Virginia to oil and gas drillers, a move that would end a longstanding ban on drilling in those environmentally sensitive areas. ... ‘The outer continental shelf is a vital source of domestic oil and natural gas for America, especially in light of sharply rising energy prices,' said Dirk Kempthorne, secretary of the interior." [New York Times, 5/1/07] Renewable EnergyMcCain Flip Flopped On Ethanol FLIP: McCain Said Ethanol "Has Absolutely, Under No Circumstances, Any Value Whatsoever." According to Roll Call, "John McCain, R-Ariz., called ethanol "a product that we have created a market for which has absolutely, under no circumstances, any value whatsoever except to corn producers and Archer Daniels Midland and other large agribusinesses." [Roll Call, 5/2/04]

FLOP: McCain Said Ethanol "Ought To Be Something That Ought To Be Carefully Examined." According to the Des Moines Register, McCain "indicate[d] a slight softening of his earlier opposition to the corn-based alternative fuel, which he said in the past was too costly to produce." McCain "who once described ethanol as ‘good for neither the environment nor the consumer,' said that rising oil costs make the alternative fuel worthy of another look.'" "McCain emphasized ... that his opposition to subsidies hasn't changed, and said that economics, not politics, explains his revised position. ‘I think it ought to be something that ought to be carefully examined' and researched, he added." [Des Moines Register, 4/13/06, 4/14/06]

Shouldn't Sen. McCain Release His Complete Military Record?

Bill Marjenhoff — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 09:35:07 EDT

Sen. McCain cites his military record as evidence of his qualifications to be President. In the 2004 campaign, Sen. Kerry signed a form releasing the complete record of his military service. Shouldn’t Sen. McCain sign a similar release so that voters can evaluate that experience in depth?

So McCain's Support for the Troops is Unquestionable?

Bill Marjenhoff — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 10:41:05 EDT

Time and again, John McCain says his support for our troops is unwavering and unquestionable. Not true. When John McCain first ran for political office in 1982, he said “One of the things I've never tried to do is exploit my Vietnam service to my country because it would be totally inappropriate to do.” Then he proceeded to do just that, responding to charges of being a carpetbagger with, ""Listen, pal. My father was in the Navy and we moved around a lot. So now that I think about it, the place I've lived the longest is Hanoi." In the ensuing 26 years, McCain has continued exploit that experience, culminating with his first ad for the general election. McCain may have honorably served and suffered for his country (there’s still some question as to whether he was a war hero or North Vietnam’s go-to collaborator – see http://www.counterpunch.org/valentine06132008.html). In any case, McCain’s story is McCain’s story, and it’s his story to tell as he sees fit. But when he uses that service as a talisman against criticism, it is a problem. Here are the facts concerning McCain’s “support” of our men and women in uniform:

McCain has repeatedly voted against amendments in the Senate that would have...covered such important services as improving care at veterans’ hospitals, providing mental health services to soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder and substance abuse problems. [2006 Senate Vote #7, 2/2/2006]
In 2006, McCain voted against the Kerry amendment that would eliminate increased fees and co-payments for veterans in the TRICARE health care program by raising the discretionary spending limit by approximately $10 billion. The provisions would have been fully offset by eliminating creating corporate tax breaks. [2006 Senate Vote #67, 3/16/2006]
McCain was one of only 13 Republicans to vote against an amendment that added over $400 million for inpatient and outpatient care for veterans. [2006 Senate Vote #98, 4/26/2006]
McCain voted against increasing funding for veterans health care by $2.8 billion in 2006. [2005 Senate Vote #55, 3/16/2005]
McCain joined his Republican Senate cohorts in opposing exempting all military personnel and veterans from means testing in bankruptcy cases. [2005 Senate Vote #13, 3/1/2005]
McCain opposed an amendment that would reduce from 60 to 55 the age at which certain members of the National Guard and Army reserves could receive retirement benefits. [2004 Senate Vote #136, 6/23/2004]
Senator McCain opposed $322 million in funding for "battlefield clearance and safety equipment for U.S. troops in Iraq." A reduction in Iraqi reconstruction funds would have funded the additional protection for troops in the battlefield. [2003 Senate Vote #376, 10/2/2003]
McCain voted against an amendment that would increase spending on the veterans health care program TRICARE by $20.3 billion over 10 years to members of the National Guard and Reserves. The increase would be offset by a reduction in tax cuts. [2003 Senate Vote #81, 3/25/2003]
McCain opposed an amendment that would have increased veterans spending by $13 billion from 1997-2002 to be offset by closing corporate tax preferences and reinstating expired taxes. [1996 Senate Vote #115, 5/16/1996]

The reality and the rhetoric of John McCain are at complete odds, yet the fact that McCain is a champion of the military is the unchallenged, conventional wisdom in the traditional media. Which brings us to McCain’s more recent opposition to Senator Jim Webb’s G.I. Bill of Rights, a bill that provides real educational benefits for veterans and that enjoys overwhelming bipartisan support. McCain’s objection? That providing the men and women who have risked their lives in Afghanistan and Iraq with the means to attend college when their service is complete might hurt retention rates in the military. All of this cuts right to the heart the problem with the media’s unwillingness to meaningfully challenge McCain on his issue...Iraq and his alleged support for the troops. Despite a six-year history of being wrong on Iraq, wrong about current troop levels, wrong about the difference between Sunnis and Shiites, and his continual claims that things are going well, McCain is accepted as the foreign policy candidate. And when McCain, ignoring the reality of our overextended military, blithely said that staying in Iraq for 100 years was "fine" with him, and more recently, when he said it was "not too important" to bring the troops home, he defended the remarks by saying he meant only if the troops weren't being attacked or killed. And the media reacted. They dutifully reported the remarks, the Democratic denouncements, and of course McCain's clarifications of what he really meant, but they never asked the all-important question:Exactly how many years is John McCain willing to let U.S. troops be attacked and killed in Iraq?More here: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/6/15/12281/2169/640/536330

Pew Report: Vast Majority of Countries Trust Obama

Bill Marjenhoff — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 13:03:06 EDT

Here’s a little ammo to help dispel the notion that John McCain can be trusted on foreign policy issues more than Sen. Obama: People around the world who have been paying attention to the American election express more confidence in Barack Obama than in John McCain to do the right thing regarding world affairs. McCain is rated lower than Obama in every country surveyed by the Pew Research Center, except for the United States where his rating matches Obama's, and Jordan and Pakistan where few people have confidence in either candidate.Obama's advantage over McCain is overwhelming in the Western European countries surveyed: Fully 84% of the French who have been following the election say they have confidence in Obama to do the right thing regarding world affairs, compared with 33% who say that about McCain. The differences in ratings for Obama and McCain are about as large in Spain and Germany, and are only somewhat narrower in Great Britain.Full survey here: http://pewglobal.org/reports/pdf/260.pdf

McCain a Foot Soldier for the Wolfowitz Doctrine

Bill Marjenhoff — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 12:36:50 EDT

It is incredible that polls indicate Americans trust John McCain on foreign policy issues more than Barack Obama. The Obama campaign (and you, dear readers) need to expose some of McCain’s connections to George H.W. Bush administration Defense Department staffers Paul Wolfowitz, Scooter Libby, Zalmay Khalilzad, and Dick Cheney. They drafted the Defense Planning Guidance (DPG), a document also known as the “Wolfowitz Doctrine.” It was an unofficial, internal document that advocated massive increases in defense spending for purposes of strategic proliferation and buildup of the military in order to establish the pre-eminence of the United States as the world’s sole superpower. Advocating pre-emptive attacks with nuclear, chemical or biological weapons, it proclaimed that “the U.S. must show the leadership necessary to establish and protect a new order that holds the promise of convincing potential competitors that they need not aspire to a greater role or pursue a more aggressive posture to protect their legitimate interests.” The document was also quite clear about what should be the United States’ main objective in the Middle East, especially with regard to Iraq and Iran, which was to “remain the predominant outside power in the region and preserve U.S. and Western access to the region’s oil.” The Wolfowitz Doctrine was leaked to The New York Times and The Washington Post, which published excerpts from it. Amid a public outcry, President George H.W. Bush retracted the document, and it was substantially revised. The original mission of the Wolfowitz Doctrine was not lost, however. In 1997, William Kristol and Robert Kagan founded The Project for the New American Century (PNAC), a nongovernment political action organization that sought to develop and advocate for the militant, geopolitical tenets contained in the Wolfowitz Doctrine. PNAC’s original members included Wolfowitz, Cheney, Khalilzad, Libby, John Bolton, Elliott Abrams, Donald Rumsfeld, William J. Bennett, and other soon-to-be high officers in the Bush administration. John McCain’s connection to PNAC can be traced back to before its formation in 1997. In fact, he was president of the New Citizenship Project, founded by Kristol in 1994. This organization was parent to PNAC, and served as its chief fundraising organ. McCain also worked cooperatively with PNAC and Wolfowitz in attempting to overthrow the Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq. In 1998, he co-sponsored the Iraq Liberation Act—drafted by PNAC—which decreed “regime change” in Iraq to be U.S. policy, and which appropriated $97 million in U.S. military aid to the Iraqi National Congress (INC). The INC was a group of anti-Hussein Iraqi militants whose purpose was to instigate a national uprising against Hussein. It was led by Ahmed Chalabi, the Iraqi informant whose subsequent faulty intelligence—claims that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction and ties to al-Qaida—was used to sell the Iraq war to the American public. In 2004, in response to accusations that he deliberately misled U.S. intelligence agencies, Chalabi glibly stated, “We are heroes in error.” McCain also was co-chair (with Sen. Joseph Lieberman) of The Committee for the Liberation of Iraq (CLI). Established by PNAC in late 2002, this committee continued to finance Chalabi’s INC with millions of taxpayer dollars, until shortly after the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, when it was discontinued. In 2004, McCain became a signatory of PNAC, ironically signing on to a PNAC letter condemning Russian President Vladimir Putin’s foreign policy for its return to the “rhetoric of militarism and empire.” McCain has accordingly been a foot soldier for PNAC from its inception, and, although this organization is no longer in existence, its ideology and its signatories (many of whom now serve as advisers to the McCain presidential campaign) are still very much active.More of the story here: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20080612_john_mccains_chilling_project_for_america/

14 Republican members of Congress Refuse to Endorse McCain

Bill Marjenhoff — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 08:23:11 EDT

At least 14 Republican members of Congress have refused to endorse or publicly support Sen. John McCain for president, and more than a dozen others declined to answer whether they back the Arizona senator.Many of the recalcitrant GOP members declined to detail their reasons for withholding support, but Rep. John Peterson (R-Pa.) expressed major concerns about McCain’s energy policies and Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.) cited the Iraq war.Complete article here: http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/new-gang-of-14-wont-back-mccain-2008-06-11.html

Bob Dylan, Obama Supporter

Bill Marjenhoff — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 11:44:57 EDT

Pulitzer Prize winner Bob Dylan is an Obama supporter! He recently told a Times (London) reporter, “Well, you know right now America is in a state of upheaval. Poverty is demoralizing. You can't expect people to have the virtue of purity when they are poor. But we've got this guy out there now who is redefining the nature of politics from the ground up – Barack Obama. He's redefining what a politician is, so we'll have to see how things play out. Am I hopeful? Yes, I'm hopeful that things might change. Some things are going to have to.” He added: “You should always take the best from the past, leave the worst back there and go forward into the future."From Dylan’s 1964 hit, “The Times They Are A-Changin’”:"Come senators, congressmen, please heed the call. Don't stand in the doorway, don't block up the hall," and: "Come mothers and fathers throughout the land, and don't criticize what you can't understand. Your sons and your daughters are beyond your command. Your old road is rapidly agin'."

Repost: Hillary's Female Supporters and Feminism

Bill Marjenhoff — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 11:24:25 EDT

Carol Lundergan at TPM Café writes, “We have been told time and time again over the past few months that we need to give Hillary supporters ‘time’ to deal with their disappointment and their sorrow, and that Hillary herself needs ‘time’ to drop out of the race. We are told that her supporters deserve ‘respect’ and that their voices must not be silenced. It seems that these are very condescending, paternalistic, patronizing statements and directives. The message is that her supporters are emotional, temperamental and thus have to be handled with kid gloves. Aren't these the very same attitudes, misconceptions and generalizations that feminists have been fighting against all these years? Why do only Hillary supporters need to be molly-coddled and "brought along"? Were Edwards, Richardson, Biden or Kucinich supporters given the same considerations? Complete post here: http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/2008/06/hillarys-female-supporters-and.php

Service Agreements Masquerade as Iraqi Oil Revenue Sharing

Bill Marjenhoff — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 12:21:42 EDT

Thirty year service agreements are masquerading as an Iraqi Oil Revenue Sharing bill. There is nothing in any Iraqi Oil sharing legislation about sharing oil revenue. There is only a clause that says that later, a law will be passed to figure out how to share that revenue. The law actually sets up oil field service agreements with the “sovereign” Iraqi government. Most countries only have two or three year agreements. But these are for thirty years. They allow the oil companies to award themselves these agreements and to take seventy percent of the profits from these oil service agreements, tax-free, out of Iraq. These thirty year agreements would gut the Iraqi oil ministry and turn it into nothing more than a shell of itself, with multi-national oil companies allowed to sit on boards that determine and award themselves the most lucrative oil fields. The agreements would allow the foreign oil companies to take their seventy percent profit up front from existing oil fields for two years without sinking a dime into a single well.

The thirty year service agreements proposal was written by a firm in Texas and leaked to alternative media before it was even handed over to the Iraqi government to be rubber stamped. The Bush administration wants permanent bases in Iraq so our troops can protect the oil companies’ investment. One is tempted to conclude that U.S. and U.K. soldiers are dying in Iraq to fill the corporate coffers of Big Oil.

McCain Campaign Caught in Another Lobbyist Conflict

Bill Marjenhoff — Wed, 28 May 2008 09:28:57 EDT

McCain campaign co-chair Phil Gramm was being paid by a Swiss bank to lobby Congress about the U.S. mortgage crisis at the same time he was advising McCain about his economic policy. News of Gramm’s involvement as a paid advocate for the banking industry, simultaneous with his unpaid work on McCain’s economic policies, comes as McCain’s campaign continues to reel from the purge of four other lobbyists. Two weeks ago, McCain banned lobbyists from advising him on the same subjects covered by their lobbying work. Gramm lobbied the Senate in the second half of 2007 regarding the Helping Families Save Their Homes in Bankruptcy Act. The bill would have let bankruptcy judges rewrite mortgage terms for Americans facing foreclosure so they could repay their loans and keep their homes. The banking industry opposed this measure. The bill failed. More here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24844889

McCain Caught in Cozy Relationship with Lobbyists Again

Bill Marjenhoff — Fri, 09 May 2008 08:59:33 EDT

John McCain’s monetary relationship with lobbyists has once again reared its ugly head. The Senator championed legislation that will let an Arizona rancher trade remote grassland and ponderosa pine forest here for acres of valuable federally owned property that is ready for development, a land swap that now stands to directly benefit one of his top presidential campaign fundraisers. McCain initially withheld support for the legislation, which failed in 2002. Rancher Fred Ruskin saw McCain's restraint as an obstacle. He said Senate staff members warned him that the senator was wary of a swap because "he spent some political capital and got some bricks thrown at him" over another federal land deal he had championed. Ruskin said he realized he needed to hire lobbyists "to open communications with McCain's office." He turned to some of McCain's closest former advisers. In 2002, he sought out Mark Buse, McCain's former staff director at the Senate commerce committee, which the senator chaired. That year, lobbying records show, Ruskin also paid $60,000 to Michael Jimenez, another former McCain aide. Wes Gullett, who had worked in McCain's Senate office, managed his 1992 reelection bid, and served as deputy campaign manager for his 2000 presidential run, also lobbied on the bill, documents show. The watchdog group Public Citizen lists Gullett and his wife, Deborah, as bundlers who have raised more than $100,000 for McCain's White House bid. Ruskin also hired Gullett's partner, Kurt R. Davis, another McCain bundler and member of the senator's Arizona leadership team, to work with local officials and "to help with McCain if we needed help." McCain does not recall being lobbied by his former staff members on the land swap . . . . More on this story here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24533311/

Prepare for More Attacks on Obama's Patriotism

Bill Marjenhoff — Wed, 07 May 2008 14:15:30 EDT

If Sen. McCain thinks that continued attacks on Sen. Obama’s patriotism is what will get him elected, he'll do it in a heartbeat. The most despicable lies (Obama was educated in a fundamentalist madrasah! He refuses to say the Pledge of Allegiance!) are circulated in anonymous emails and on right-wing websites. I’ve just had to dispel the “no hand over his (Obama's) heart” concern of a co-worker by directing her to the Washington Post Fact-Checker, http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2007/11/obama_nabbed_by_the_patriotic.html. These lies are then blasted, in only slightly less insane form, from every instrument in the right-wing noise machine's marching band, including talk radio and Fox News. McCain himself will not come right out and say the things his supporters are saying, but will continue to find ways to cue discussions of Sen. Obama’s patriotism by dropping in subtle and not-so-subtle hints on the topic. McCain has already aired ads calling himself "the American president Americans have been waiting for," thereby suggesting that other candidates are either not Americans themselves, or might be the American president foreigners have been waiting for. He has also said, referring to Sen. Obama, "I think it's very clear who Hamas wants to be the next president of the United States." Republicans don't raise these attacks every four years because they truly believe that there exists some real relationship between a president's degree of patriotic fervor and the good he'll do for America. Instead, it's one more way of arguing that the Democratic candidate isn't “one of us,” that he stands outside the circle of our tribe. He doesn't share our values; he doesn't speak our language; he doesn't love what we love and hate whom we hate. And there's one more reason the Republicans will be making these attacks, just as they did in the last election, and the one before that, and the ones before that: because it works. More on this issue here: http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=how_deep__is__your_love

McCain Raps Obama for Voting Against Chief Justice Roberts

Bill Marjenhoff — Wed, 07 May 2008 13:34:15 EDT

In a speech aimed at shoring up the support of the Christian right, Sen. McCain criticized Sen. Obama for voting against John Roberts as U.S. chief justice (a badge of honor IMHO). McCain promised to appoint judges in the mold of Justices Roberts and Alito, saying they would interpret the law strictly to curb the scope of their rulings. While McCain didn't mention abortion, the far right understands that such nominees would be likely to limit or perhaps overturn Roe v. Wade. Sen. Obama voted against Roberts and Alito. So did Sen. Clinton, but McCain focused on Sen. Obama. Despite his rocky relations with the right, McCain's record on their top priorities — cultural issues like abortion — is very conservative. While he did say once in 1999 that Roe v. Wade should not be overturned, that amounted to a blip in an otherwise unbroken record of opposing abortion rights for women. McCain has repeatedly voted against federal funding for abortion and has opposed federal Medicaid funds for abortion even in cases of rape or incest. Full story here: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iXm7Wd2_tzpw2bFE9Jnx433fnrhgD90G9LKG0

Author Cliff Schecter Discusses The Real McCain

Bill Marjenhoff — Wed, 07 May 2008 13:18:29 EDT

More than detailing Sen. McCain’s temper tantrums and vulgar tactlessness, The Real McCain (PoliPoint Press, 2008) gives the inside scoop on Mr. Flip-Flop incarnate.Cliff Schecter: . . . you’re asking the perfect questions for people that need to know what they need to know here. Because the temper is a huge issue. The fact that McCain isn’t really a reformer, and pretends to be. And has 66 lobbyists bundling for him, and his campaign manager is a lobbyist. BuzzFlash: He’s one of the biggest lobbyists.Cliff Schecter: Yeah, Rick Davis, his campaign manager, is a huge lobbyist. And Charlie Black, his media advisor, and then the guy who runs the Senate office, Mark Buse, is a lobbyist. And, you know, he’s done all manner of favors for people with businesses on the Commerce Committee. And he goes on and on about how much of a reformer he is. He is not. Those are two things people need to understand. The third one I think that’s very important for them to understand is he literally is the reprise of George W. Bush when it comes to knowledge of foreign policy and economic policy. I like to call him George W. Bush that can finish reading My Pet Goat. McCain's main attitude is 'Don’t bother me with the details.' McCain’s said he’s part of the war caucus now. His stance toward foreign policy is: 'I don’t really care. They’re all bad guys, and all look the same and sound the same, and that’s all that matters.' Same thing with economic policy. He’s admitted he doesn’t really know the American economic policy, and that’s just fine. Bring Phil Graham on board – one of the guys who’s most responsible for the housing crisis right now, according to Paul Krugman and others, for some of the deregulation he helped push through when he was a Senator from Texas, and known as a senator in the pocket of the banking industry. Of course, Graham had to go work at UBS right after he deregulated them. So expect McCain to just turn it over. Expect him to turn over the economic policy to Phil Graham the way George W. Bush has turned it over to all manner of people on the right. And expect him to turn over his foreign policy to the Bill Kristols, and the Charles Krauthammers, and the other ignoramuses of the world who have no idea about foreign cultures, and don’t care to know anything about foreign cultures. Whether something will work or not, whether diplomacy is the best option – well, they want to grab their guns first. Of course, all the ones advising McCain have also never – unlike McCain - have never stepped before a battlefield. It’s all playing games of Risk on their computers. And that’s who you’re looking at – a guy that just has a complete lack of knowledge, you know. On the issue of healthcare, he simply says how horrible government healthcare is. And funny that – he’s been on government healthcare his entire life. He was born to an admiral. Here’s a guy who has had government healthcare taking care of him, and well, he’s reached his seventies now. So it seems it’s done pretty well for him.BuzzFlash: He denied that, when someone asked him about that, if I recall. Cliff Schecter: Well, Stephanopoulos asked him, and it was an absolutely lame joke, saying, well, the government’s taken care of me for a couple of years. So he wasn’t denying it. He was playing off of what he always plays off of, which is I was in the Hanoi Hilton, so anything else I do politically therefore is acceptable and good, because I was a prisoner of war. So he didn’t really deny it. He just changed the subject. But he knows as well as anybody else knows that the very healthcare he attacks is socialist. And the "horrible" government healthcare is the healthcare he’s been happy to accept his entire life. And he probably doesn’t really know the details because he’s never needed to. When you have government healthcare given to you by your dad, and when your wife – you get to leave your first wife and marry somebody else who’s worth $100 million, you don’t need to know much about the economy. You know, he’s perfectly fine not knowing about these issues.Full interview here: http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/interviews/107

200 Economists Reject Gas-Tax Holiday Proposals

Bill Marjenhoff — Mon, 05 May 2008 15:32:10 EDT

More than 200 economists, including four Nobel prize winners, reject gas-tax holiday proposals by Sen. Clinton and Sen. McCain. Columbia University economist Joseph Stiglitz, former Congressional Budget Office Director Alice Rivlin and 2007 Nobel winner Roger Myerson are among those who signed the letter calling proposals to temporarily lift the tax a bad idea. Another is Richard Schmalensee of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who was member of President George H.W. Bush's Council of Economic Advisers.

The moratorium would mostly benefit oil companies while increasing the federal budget deficit and reducing funding for the government highway maintenance trust fund, the economists said. Full story here: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aTzCmqCNyLho&refer=home

Four Points a "Clear Lead" or a "Slight Edge?"

Bill Marjenhoff — Mon, 05 May 2008 13:01:40 EDT

When is a 4-point lead a “clear lead” and when is it a “slight edge?” Answer: For CNN, it depends on which candidate is being discussed. Here's an example from today's Political Ticker: “Hillary Clinton appears to have taken a clear lead [48 to 44 percent] in the crucial primary state of Indiana while Barack Obama. . . . remained the frontrunner in North Carolina — albeit by single digits. . . . On the national front, Obama holds a slight edge over Clinton. A CNN poll of polls shows Obama with a 4-point lead over Clinton nationwide — that margin is slightly higher than it was in a poll of polls last week that showed Obama with a 2-point lead.” Full story here: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/05/05/polls-clinton-gets-lead-in-indiana-obama-keeps-lead-in-north-carolina/#comments

Pastor Hagee's Theocratic Lunacy

Bill Marjenhoff — Mon, 05 May 2008 12:27:40 EDT

The press is finally taking a closer look at Pastor John Hagee, whose endorsement Sen. McCain sought and got. See Frank Rich’s op-ed piece here: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/04/opinion/04rich.html?em&ex=1210132800&en=e5d5126f1b93ece3&ei=5087%0AHagee is Christian Zionist nutcake whose lunacy needs to be exposed. At a July 2006 inaugural event for Christians United For Israel (CUFI); following a recorded greeting from President George W. Bush; and with four US Senators and the Israeli ambassador to the US in attendance, Pastor John Hagee stated:

"the United States must join Israel in a pre-emptive military strike against Iran to fulfill God's plan for both Israel and the West... a biblically prophesied end-time confrontation with Iran, which will lead to the Rapture, Tribulation, and Second Coming of Christ."

CUFI is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) group devoted to supporting an intransigent U.S. foreign stance against any Israeli-Palestinian peace deal which would cede any Israeli land.

More on Hagee here: http://www.talk2action.org/story/2008/5/2/92739/11686/Front_Page/McCain_Endorser_Pastor_Hagee_s_Thrilling_Scenario_Includes_Nuclear_Strike_on_US_Coasts and here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cenk-uygur/an-overlooked-hate-sermon_b_99840.html

Dan is Now a Believer -- Here's Why

Bill Marjenhoff — Thu, 01 May 2008 14:39:19 EDT

This is a repost of a letter (unedited) from someone named Dan to his deceased best friend Greg. I am reposting this from http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/05/01/joe_andrew_jumps_from_clinton.html. Pass this on to someone you know who needs to read it.

I am now a believer... here's why... read my entire letter to my best friend before you pass judgement.

Dear Greg,You have been and always will be my true closest friend that I could ever have hoped for. I am finally writing to you now, two years after you left us on April 11, 2006 (what I refer to as 4-11), because I miss our times... watching a game, home improvements, poker nights, BBQ's, drinking, or just killing quiet time on the porch with a cigar.At 44 years old, you had a few years on me, but were certainly too young to leave this world. I sometimes wish you never got on your bike that day, but you loved to ride. I know you are patrolling the streets of Heaven, while still looking down on us from time to time.I never told you how the stories of your 24 years in the Marine Corps, from serving in Korea to the first Gulf War, made me feel. It was these stories and your dedication to service there, and back home when you retired (at 42 you lucky dog) that gave me true understanding of patriotism and renewed my sense of respect and love for my country. You were a true American hero, as are your younger brothers and nephew who are serving right now, whom you have also inspired. You have inspired so many by your service and kind deeds in the community, collecting toys for needy children and raising money for the poor. You met the greatest callings all your life, charity and service.A few months after 4-11, towards the end of 2006, I heard your voice. My soul was lifted for a brief moment... then reality brought me back. Then I heard your voice again, coming from the television. I turned and saw your welcoming smile, your truthful and sincere eyes met mine, and I had another brief moment before coming back.It wasn't you, it was a man named Barack Obama. Greg, this guy could be your twin, a little on the skinny side. I am not just talking about looks, although he is a mutt like you, half black and half white, with a dozen or so nationalities mixed in. He's even the same age. I am referring to the comforting tone of his voice and the selfless look in his eyes, and a whole entourage of qualities he exuberates that remind me of the best parts of your character. It was truly amazing.Now the bad news... I found out he's a liberal democrat! I hope I didn't offend you, Greg. But the resemblance was so remarkable. I remember you and I would watch O'Reilly and listen to Rush all the time... such good memories. As long-standing, conservative republicans, we would take no ills from the likes of the left. So, I turned of the television. Sorry, Greg. Bye-bye Barack.A whole year went by, and then I heard the voice again, right before the 2008 New Year. Your evil twin was on television again, this time running for president. I guess he had been running for a while; but you know how I am, Greg. I never liked politics too much. Whoever the republican candidate is gets our vote.Well, this time I listened. And I listened to the whole thing. You're going to tell me I wasted my time, but I Googled him and checked out his website... I even listened to this convention speech he made during the last election. Remember last election? You and I were going crazy for Bush. It's always fun here in Pam Beach County. Man we had a great time! Remember our celebration party when he beat Gore? Great times!So, this Obama guy had my interest a little. Don't shoot me, Greg, but I was actually cheering for him when he beat out Hillary Clinton at the Iowa vote. It was because we hated the Clintons... remember? I was rooting for Huckabee, too... and he won. You would like Huckabee.But Greg, I have to be honest. Not because of the voice, or the smile, and not because he reminds me of you... but I began to really listen and like this new guy. Trust me, MOST of his positions are out of touch with what I believe... his ideals are far too liberal. But, I can disagree without being disagreeable (he said that).What is true are the goals we share, the prosperity we desire, the dreams we strive to achieve, the success we wish for our children, the health we bestow on our planet, the peace we crave with our world neighborhood, the health and well being every human deserves, the freedom to express and be heard, and the hope that ignites our souls.These truths are paramount. I hope, in your now improved vision, that you can see what now I see and feel what this man can do. Just like you made me appreciate America and its values, he enriches these feelings and unites a hard-core republican like me with a greater universal need. United we stand and united we heal.This is a world now where the United States doesn't exist outside of our borders... to the world we are America, which is sour on the tongues of many. We need to become the United States again, and Obama is the one to do it. He has your wisdom, Greg, and your integrity. He has your character and your sincerity. He is devoted to his family, and devoted to this country. What is liberal about that?Greg, my wife and kids all miss you too. Your wife comes over for drinks sometimes, and your daughter is doing well at Florida State... love them 'Noles. We talk about this often, and I think I have almost convinced your wife. Please tell her in her dreams, that we need this guy. I know it hurts to cross that aisle; but think about what I said and what I feel. You have always listened before.I know you can see me, Greg. And I know you can hear me. You are probably shaking your head at the "Republicans for Obama" sticker on my truck, or the flag flying from the window. But what I truly hope you are doing is smiling and saying to me, "Yes we can."Love you and miss you bro, Semper Fi
Dan

Read Sen. Obama's Announcement Speech

Bill Marjenhoff — Thu, 01 May 2008 11:30:55 EDT

I’ve just read for the first time (yes, I’m embarrassed) Sen. Obama’s speech announcing his candidacy for the presidential nomination. If you’ve never read it, or haven’t read it lately, it’s truly inspiring. Here’s the close:“As Lincoln organized the forces arrayed against slavery, he was heard to say: "Of strange, discordant, and even hostile elements, we gathered from the four winds, and formed and fought to battle through."That is our purpose here today.That's why I'm in this race.Not just to hold an office, but to gather with you to transform a nation.I want to win that next battle -- for justice and opportunity.I want to win that next battle -- for better schools, and better jobs, and health care for all.I want us to take up the unfinished business of perfecting our union, and building a better America.And if you will join me in this improbable quest, if you feel destiny calling, and see as I see, a future of endless possibility stretching before us; if you sense, as I sense, that the time is now to shake off our slumber, and slough off our fear, and make good on the debt we owe past and future generations, then I'm ready to take up the cause, and march with you, and work with you. Together, starting today, let us finish the work that needs to be done, and usher in a new birth of freedom on this Earth.”Read the complete text of Sen. Obama’s announcement speech here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/10/AR2007021000879.html

Supreme Court Decision Helps GOP

Bill Marjenhoff — Thu, 01 May 2008 11:11:48 EDT

The Supreme Court has just dealt a serious blow to voters' rights that could help put John McCain in the White House.

By 6-3 the Court has upheld an Indiana law that requires citizens to present a photo identification card in order to vote. The decision eliminates tens of thousands of voters who generally vote Democratic. Florida, Michigan, Louisiana, Georgia, Hawaii and South Dakota have similar laws. Though it's unlikely, as many as two dozen other states could add them by election day. Other states, like Ohio, have less stringent ID requirements than Indiana's, but still have certain restrictions that are strongly opposed by voter rights advocates. Photo ID has long been a lynchpin of a concerted GOP strategy to eliminate Democratic voters. Nor has the GOP let up in its other campaigns to restrict access to the polls. Extremely harsh limitations on voter registration campaigns in Florida have severely restricted attempts by the League of Women Voters and others to sign up new voters. GOP election officials also have made it clear they will severely restrict the franchise of those who have minor irregularities in the registration forms, such as an errant middle initial or changed address.

It is also unclear how many electronic voting machines will still be in place come November. Despite a wide range of high-level studies showing them easy to hack, the elimination of touch screen voting machines has proceeded at a glacial pace. No significant federal legislation has been passed to eliminate electronic voting machines or even to make them more secure. With a few exceptions, most notably Florida, progress at the state level has been minimal.

Thus the GOP hope that millions of Americans will be voting on hackable computers this November, and that millions more may be eliminated from the rolls altogether, seems very close to fruition. Whether this will swing the election to John McCain remains to be seen. But this Supreme Court decision allowing the demand for photo ID makes it much more likely. More on this story here: http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/19/2008/3090 The best plan for overcoming the voter ID, vote suppression, and Diebold obstacles to a fair and transparent election in November is to work for an Obama landslide victory. Yes we can.

Won't it be nice to actually have a family living in the White House again?

Bill Marjenhoff — Thu, 01 May 2008 10:31:36 EDT

Yes We Can!

Rep. Lois Capps (CA) Endorses Sen. Obama

Bill Marjenhoff — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 13:04:33 EDT

Rep. Lois Capps (CA), who has long ties to the Clintons, endorsed Sen. Obama today (April 30). She was the third member of Congress to announce an endorsement of Sen. Obama today. “Barack Obama is the better choice because of something larger and perhaps more important,” Rep. Capps said. “Simply put, he has made a call to the better angels of our nature. He is challenging us to lift ourselves out of the ugliness that increasingly consumes Washington, where the heat of your argument counts for more than the light it should bring,” Capps said. “He is asking us to stand together as Americans and transcend the traditional lines that have so often divided us by party affiliation, economic status, gender, or race. . . . I came to Washington 10 years ago after winning the seat my husband Walter held. In office for a mere 10 months before he died, he had lost none of the idealism and faith in American democracy that propelled his life. Quite frankly, I don’t believe he ever would have and I know that I have tried to keep that fire burning. But I’ll admit it’s hard, when so much of what’s going on around you is less about meeting our country’s challenges and more about demonizing your political opponents,” she said. “Walter once said that ‘we are strongest as people when we are directed by that which unites us, rather than giving into the fears, suspicions, innuendos and paranoia that divide.’ For years I have been waiting for a President that speaks to that vision. I believe Barack Obama may very well be that rare leader.”

McCain Looking to Start a New Cold War?

Bill Marjenhoff — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 10:30:06 EDT

Fareed Zakaria, editor of Newsweek International and former managing editor of Foreign Affairs, notes that in his March 26 foreign policy speech, Sen. John McCain proposed the most radical idea put forward by a major candidate for the presidency in 25 years. Yet almost no one noticed. In his speech McCain proposed that the United States expel Russia from the G8, the group of advanced industrial countries. Moscow was included in this body in the 1990s to recognize and reward it for peacefully ending the cold war on Western terms, dismantling the Soviet empire and withdrawing from large chunks of the old Russian Empire as well. McCain also proposed that the United States should expand the G8 by taking in India and Brazil—but pointedly excluded China from the councils of power. We have spent months debating Barack Obama's suggestion that he might, under some circumstances, meet with Iranians and Venezuelans. It is a sign of what is wrong with the foreign-policy debate that this idea is treated as a revolution in U.S. policy while McCain's proposal has barely registered. What McCain has announced is momentous—that the United States should adopt a policy of active exclusion and hostility toward two major global powers. It would reverse a decades-old bipartisan American policy of integrating these two countries into the global order, a policy that began under Richard Nixon (with Beijing) and continued under Ronald Reagan (with Moscow). It is a policy that would alienate many countries in Europe and Asia who would see it as an attempt by Washington to begin a new cold war. More on this story here: http://www.newsweek.com/id/134317

McCain's Prescription: Free Market, Diet and Exercise

Bill Marjenhoff — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 09:06:45 EDT

John McCain’s healthcare plan is so absurd that I hardly know where to start in condemning it. His prescription is to let the free market determine premium rates, and for us to eat healthier diets and get more exercise. At a campaign healthcare event, Sen. McCain toured Miami Children’s Hospital and met with some of the young patients. McCain heard the story of Jake, a 9 year-old child with a cleft palate whose family has been struggling to get their insurance company to cover the post-operation therapy Jake needs. While Jake’s father related his story, McCain “nodded intently” –- but failed to tell him that Jake would not get coverage under his healthcare plan. McCain’s plan would not guarantee coverage to people with pre-existing conditions – a category that includes Jake, as well as anyone with cancer, diabetes, or even hay fever. More here: http://thinkprogress.org/wonkroom/2008/04/28/mccain-jake/

McCain’s health plan is designed to weaken state regulations like the one in Florida that, like 14 other states, mandates that insurance companies cover treatment for cleft palates. McCain says that mandates like this one drive up the cost of insurance, and he would allow people to buy coverage across state lines. Many experts predict that under this system, insurance companies would simply gravitate to the states with the fewest rules. Full WSJ story here: http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2008/04/28/mccain-hears-plea-on-health-insurance/?mod=modValue

Allowing insurance companies free reign under market conditions will not result in better or cheaper health care, it will result in exorbitant policies with exclusions, precondition limits and extensive bureaucratic systems established by the insurance industry to reduce payouts under as many circumstances as is possible. The health care system will mimic the property insurance industry where profits are at an all time high yet insurance companies refuse to pay claims, stop serving entire regions of the country and increase both their deductibles and rates to mitigate risk. Insurance companies have a fiduciary responsibility to their shareholders, not to sick people, and will do the absolute minimum to service and retain customers and maximize shareholder benefit. For this reason the theory that you will create a self-regulating industry delivering high quality at low cost is a fallacy. To expect it to happen when peoples lives or quality of life are on the line is totally unrealistic and a bit cruel. This isn’t shopping for a car or a cheap deal on airfare. Maybe Sen. McCain would like to give up his deluxe government-sponsored health insurance and try shopping the open market the day he or a family member is given another diagnosis of cancer that requires expedient treatment.

Guilt-by-Association for Obama, But Not for McCain?

Bill Marjenhoff — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 10:36:30 EDT

Sen. McCain recently launched a full-throttle guilt-by-association attack on Sen. Obama for his thin association with 60s radical William Ayers and says he can do nothing about surrogate attacks on Sen. Obama for his association with Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Whoa. Wait a minute. One of Sen. McCain’s current and long-time "senior political consultants" is Richard Quinn, long-time head of the racist Southern Partisan Quarterly Review. McCain's employment of Quinn was first raised in his 2000 presidential campaign. Quinn was editor-in-chief of Southern Partisan at that point, though he tried to downplay his role. Quinn repeatedly used his column to attack heroes of the struggle for equality including Martin Luther King, Jr. and Nelson Mandela. Quinn has discounted the evils of slavery by suggesting that it was not as bad as it has been portrayed and that slaves were better off in slavery than out of it. Like Sen. McCain, Quinn opposed establishing the Martin Luther King holiday. During former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke's bid for public office, Quinn wrote "What better way to reject politics as usual than to elect a maverick like David Duke? What better way to tweak the nose of the establishment?" The Southern Partisan's merchandising operation, the "Southern Partisan General Store" includes a T-shirt bearing Lincoln's likeness and the legend Sic Semper Tyrannis, the phrase shouted by John Wilkes Booth after he shot Lincoln. The First Amendment means that each person has a right to his own views, no matter how offensive or extreme. But it does our country a great disservice to lend credibility to such views by placing their proponent in a campaign position of such high authority. A President must be President to all the people. To tie his campaign for the highest office in the land to such views, Sen. McCain gives them a legitimacy that is very troubling. For more on this, see http://www.liberaloasis.com/2008/04/mccain_guiltbyassociation_for.php.

John McCain's Katrina Problem

Bill Marjenhoff — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 09:20:57 EDT

“We need to go back to have a conversation about what to do [about Ward 9 in New Orleans]: rebuild it, tear it down, you know, whatever it is.” That was John McCain’s statement when he toured hurricane-damaged New Orleans recently. Three days later, the Senator said he didn’t remember saying that. Sen. McCain’s high-profile endorser, Rev. John Hagee, contends that Katrina was the "result of God’s permissible will” because New Orleans was planning "a massive homosexual rally." Perhaps Sen. McCain is waiting to have a conversation with Rev. Hagee to figure out whether he would be doing the Lord's work to just tear down what remains of Ward 9. I wonder if Sen. McCain has also forgotten his voting record on Hurricane Katrina, a record that suggests that he was part of the problem, not part of the solution. I trust Gulf Coast voters won’t forget. During his recent tour, Sen. McCain criticized both the Bush Administration and Congress for its handling of the disaster. Lamenting the pace of recovery, Sen. McCain said, "I want to assure you it will never happen again in this country. You have my commitment and my promise." But Sen. McCain voted against establishing a Congressional commission to examine the Federal, State, and local responses to Katrina in September 2005. He repeated that vote in 2006. He voted against allowing up to 52 weeks of unemployment benefits to people affected by the hurricane, and in 2006 voted against appropriating $109 billion in supplemental emergency funding, including $28 billion for hurricane relief. More of the story here: http://www.motherjones.com/mojoblog/archives/2008/04/8059_john_mccains_mi.html#comments

It's Unfair to Expect More Service from John McCain

Bill Marjenhoff — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 13:43:28 EDT

I acknowledge John McCain's past service with great respect. From what I've seen, he doesn’t seem to have much more to give to his country, intellectually or physically. Indeed, I think it’s unfair and unreasonable of us Americans to expect any more service from him. Better to leave him in the Senate, a la Strom Thurmond, don’t you think?

Clinton Foundation Donors

Bill Marjenhoff — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 11:11:48 EDT

Americans deserve to know who has been donating to the Clinton Foundation. Although I rarely find myself in agreement with Wall Street Journal editorials, I’m with the WSJ on this one. Donations soared as Sen. Clinton neared a presidential run – to $135 million in 2006, 70% more than the year before. Somebody seems to think there is value in being generous to the Clintons. Chicago bankruptcy lawyer William Brandt Jr. pledged $1 million for the Clinton library in May 1999, at the same time the Justice Department was investigating whether he'd lied about a Clinton fundraising event. The Clinton DOJ cleared him a few months later. Loral Space and Communications then-CEO, Bernard Schwartz, committed to $1 million in 2000, at the same time the firm was being investigated for improperly sending technology to China. Loral agreed to a $14 million fine during the Bush Administration. A major investor in cellular firm NextWave – Bay Harbour Management – pledged $1 million in 1999, when NextWave was waiting to see if the Clinton FCC would allow it to keep its cellular licenses. NextWave didn't immediately get its licenses, and Bay Harbour never made good on its pledge. And let's not forget the $450,000 contribution from Denise Rich, which was followed by Mr. Clinton's pardon of her fugitive husband, Marc Rich. Full story here: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120908058761543293.html

John McCain's Domestic Terrorism Problem

Bill Marjenhoff — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 10:12:31 EDT

Half of women voters do not know whether Sen. John McCain is pro-choice or anti-choice. Even more striking, 46% of women who support Sen. McCain are pro-choice, and 36% of those pro-choice, pro-McCain women said they were less likely to vote for Sen. McCain once learning about his staunch anti-choice record. See the March 2008 survey conducted for Planned Parenthood here: http://www.ppvw.org/pressReleases/McCain_Poll_Release.pdf At particular issue is a 1994 law protecting abortion clinics from anti-choice terrorism. In May, 1994 the Senate passed the legislation by a 69-30 margin, and John McCain was among the cabal of anti-choice Senators who voted against the bill. Full story here: http://www.jedreport.com/2008/04/john-mccains-do.html

Bush/McCain Foreign Policy a Dream Come True for Hamas

Bill Marjenhoff — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 15:23:06 EDT

Asked about positive comments a Hamas advisor made about Sen. Obama, John McCain said in part, “I think that people should understand that I will be Hamas' worst nightmare.” In fact, American foreign policy under President Bush, which McCain has largely embraced, has been anything but a nightmare for Hamas. It's been a dream come true, actually.As David Rose reported in a recent article for Vanity Fair (http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/04/gaza200804), “According to [Muhammad Dahlan, Mahmoud Abbas' former national security advisor], it was Bush who had pushed legislative elections in the Palestinian territories in January 2006, despite warnings that Fatah was not ready. After Hamas -- whose 1988 charter committed it to the goal of driving Israel into the sea -- won control of the parliament, Bush made another, deadlier miscalculation. Vanity Fair obtained confidential documents, corroborated by sources in the U.S. and Palestine, which lay bare a covert initiative, approved by Bush and implemented by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Deputy National Security Adviser Elliott Abrams, to provoke a Palestinian civil war. The plan was for forces led by Dahlan, and armed with new weapons supplied at America's behest, to give Fatah the muscle it needed to remove the democratically elected Hamas-led government from power. (The State Department declined to comment.)But the secret plan backfired, resulting in a further setback for American foreign policy under Bush. Instead of driving its enemies out of power, the U.S.-backed Fatah fighters inadvertently provoked Hamas to seize total control of Gaza.”

McCain's Religious Problem No Problem to the MSM

Bill Marjenhoff — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 13:14:23 EDT

It's amazing, really. John McCain seeks out and embraces the support of men who, in the name of God, accuse Catholics of aiding in the Holocaust and think that the victims of Hurricane Katrina got what they deserved (John Hagee), who advocate wiping out more than a billion Muslims (Rod Parsley), and it is all ignored.Such is the life of a media darling.Full story with sources here: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/17/104149/165/570/477430

Life After Pennsylvania

Bill Marjenhoff — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 11:20:33 EDT

The Indiana primary on May 6 will be close. Sen. Clinton will undoubtedly carry southern Indiana, with Sen. Obama winning Indianapolis, Bloomington, and the western counties in the Chicago TV market. Sen. Obama is likely to win North Carolina, South Dakota, Montana and Oregon. Sen. Clinton will most likely win West Virginia, Kentucky and Puerto Rico. At the end of the day Sen. Obama will end up 150-160 pledged delegates ahead of her, and have about a 500,000 edge in the popular vote. He will have won about 32 states against Sen. Clinton’s 20. Sen. Obama is still going to win the nomination, folks. Just keep on working hard and keep on donating what you can to the campaign. It's crunch time!

Charlie Wilson's Unfinished War & His Vote for Obama

Bill Marjenhoff — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 15:33:12 EDT

If you [Charlie Wilson] had been in Congress in 2002 and 2003, how would you have voted on the Iraq war? “I would have voted against it. I wouldn't have been convinced.” Even based on what you knew at that point? You thought the WMD argument was pretty thin? “Very thin, and totally unproven. Somebody would have had to show me some evidence, and there was no evidence on the weapons of mass destruction, other than Saddam Hussein's defiance. And you don't invade other countries because they're defiant. Otherwise we'd have troops on the way to Zimbabwe right now.”In the film we see you arguing that the United States had a moral responsibility to rebuild Afghanistan after the Soviets left. Do we still have that unfulfilled responsibility? “Absolutely. We still owe it and we have to fulfill it. I think we probably will, but we'll mess around with it, not do it as directly as we should and not do it in as timely a way as we should. I think we should be in there right now. We were trying before the Iraq war started, but then Iraq pulled away both military resources and civilian reconstruction resources.”Our readers need to know who you're supporting in the Democratic campaign for president. “I voted for Obama in the Texas primary.”Really? Could he win in your old district? “Well, if the campaign's right, and if John McCain -- who is a friend of mine -- just marches in lockstep with the Bush policies, then I think he might. But we can't depend on Texas to deliver this election for the Democrats.”Complete interview here: http://www.salon.com/ent/movies/btm/?last_story=/ent/movies/btm/feature/2008/04/22/wilson/

Sen. McCain’s Deplorable Environmental Record

Bill Marjenhoff — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 13:13:51 EDT

Recent polls show that voters believe that energy is the third most important issue after the economy and the Iraq war. Tuesday, April 22, is the 38th Earth Day. Energy, global warming, and environmental protection will be major issues during the 2008 election campaign. The League of Conservation Voters rates senators and representatives on the most critical environmental votes, with scores ranging from 100 – voting with the environment every time – to 0 for voting against the environment on every vote. Absences count as a vote against the environment since the legislator did not cast a vote for the environment. In 2007, Sen. McCain missed all 15 critical environmental votes in the Senate, so he received a “0.” Sen. McCain has a lifetime LCV score of 24%. Even if one excludes his 2007 missed votes, his lifetime score only rises to 26%. Help get this story out! For the full story (with sources) on Sen. McCain’s support for big oil (and big oil’s support for Sen. McCain), his votes against clean renewable energy and energy efficiency, and his weak record on fighting global warming, see http://www.americanprogressaction.org/pressroom/2008/04/earthdaycall_reminder.html

Which is the More Compelling Argument?

Bill Marjenhoff — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 13:09:43 EDT

Sen. Obama has told the American people that they need to become involved if they want real change. Sen. Clinton has said that we need her. Obama has said he needs us. Which is the more compelling argument?

For the Clintons, Charity Begins at Home

Bill Marjenhoff — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 11:54:11 EDT

Clinton tax returns show $10,256,741 being donated to the Clinton Family Foundation. The Clintons have gotten lavish praise from mainstream media for giving 10 percent of their $109 million income since 2000 to charity. On the 2005 forms and those from previous years, Bill Clinton was listed as CFF president, Hillary Clinton had the title of secretary/treasurer and daughter Chelsea was a director. The 2006 tax forms also shows CFF CEO Gloria Clinton being paid $252,500 for her work that year. Of the $10 million-plus the Clintons donated to CFF, the foundation only parceled out $2.5 million to other charities. A retired chief of the IRS branch that oversees tax-exempt nonprofits said family-run foundations are commonly created by wealthy Americans, allowing them to earn tax breaks by donating to a charity whose future good works they can control. Such charities need only to give 5 percent of proceeds each year to maintain a tax exemption. Although the CFF has been in operation since 2001, Sen. Clinton failed to list it on annual Senate financial disclosure reports on five occasions. The Ethics in Government Act requires members of Congress to disclose positions they hold with any outside entity, including nonprofit foundations. Hillary Clinton has served her family foundation as treasurer and secretary since it was established in December 2001, but none of her ethics reports since then have disclosed that fact. Clinton's spokesman said her failure to report the existence of the family foundation and the senator's position as an officer was an oversight. Her office immediately amended her Senate ethics reports to add that information after receiving inquiries from The Washington Post. Full stories at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/26/AR2007022601542.html and in a comment by Hugh Scott here: http://www.alternet.org/election08/82947/#comments

McCain: "I disagree with the [economic] experts"

Bill Marjenhoff — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 13:50:49 EDT

This week on MSNBC, McCain was asked if he is understating the costs of his tax cuts. “Independent experts say your tax cuts would cost at least $100 billion more than you say and that the savings would not materialize,” Andrea Mitchell said. McCain retorted:“I disagree. I disagree with the experts. I disagree. I disagree. I disagree with the experts. I have experts of my own. I have many experts of my own who say that this will stimulate the economy, will create jobs, and increase revenues over time.”Among his tax-slicing advisers are former New York Rep. Jack Kemp, a champion of supply-side tax cuts, and billionaire publisher Steve Forbes, who like Gramm has championed a flat tax to replace the income tax. McCain also has a long-standing friendship with Arthur Laffer, one of the original theorists of supply-side economics. Yet Holtz-Eakin, his chief adviser, is no supply-sider. While he was the director of the Congressional Budget Office in 2005, Holtz-Eakin conducted a study of whether a 10 percent reduction in personal taxes could pay for itself by spurring so much economic activity that more revenue would flow into the Treasury even at the lower tax rate. The study concluded that 22 percent of lost revenue could be replaced in the first five years and 32 percent over the second five-year period, but lower tax rates wouldn't come close to paying for themselves.Another top McCain adviser is Martin Feldstein, a Harvard University professor and the head of the National Bureau of Economic Research, the official arbiter of declaring when the nation is in recession. Feldstein headed President Reagan's Council of Economic Advisers. He quit the post in opposition to Reagan's high budget deficits, caused when the president failed to reduce spending to match his tax cuts.Full Story here: http://thinkprogress.org/2008/04/16/mccain-economy-experts/ and here: http://www.newsobserver.com/business/story/1030330.html

10 Things You Should Know About John McCain

Bill Marjenhoff — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 12:56:26 EDT

10 things you should know about John McCain (but probably don't):
1. John McCain voted against establishing a national holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Now he says his position has "evolved," yet he's continued to oppose key civil rights laws. 2. According to Bloomberg News, McCain is more hawkish than Bush on Iraq, Russia and China. Conservative columnist Pat Buchanan says McCain "will make Cheney look like Gandhi." 3. His reputation is built on his opposition to torture, but McCain voted against a bill to ban waterboarding, and then applauded President Bush for vetoing that ban. 4. McCain opposes a woman's right to choose. He said, "I do not support Roe versus Wade. It should be overturned." 5. The Children's Defense Fund rated McCain as the worst senator in Congress for children. He voted against the children's health care bill last year, then defended Bush's veto of the bill. 6. He's one of the richest people in a Senate filled with millionaires. The Associated Press reports he and his wife own at least eight homes! Yet McCain says the solution to the housing crisis is for people facing foreclosure to get a "second job" and skip their vacations. 7. Many of McCain's fellow Republican senators say he's too reckless to be commander in chief. One Republican senator said: "The thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine. He's erratic. He's hotheaded. He loses his temper and he worries me." 8. McCain talks a lot about taking on special interests, but his campaign manager and top advisers are actually lobbyists. The government watchdog group Public Citizen says McCain has 59 lobbyists raising money for his campaign, more than any of the other presidential candidates. 9. McCain has sought closer ties to the extreme religious right in recent years. The pastor McCain calls his "spiritual guide," Rod Parsley, believes America's founding mission is to destroy Islam, which he calls a "false religion." McCain sought the political support of right-wing preacher John Hagee, who believes Hurricane Katrina was God's punishment for gay rights and called the Catholic Church "the Antichrist" and a "false cult." 10. He positions himself as pro-environment, but he scored a 0—yes, zero—from the League of Conservation Voters last year. For sources, see http://pol.moveon.org/mccain10/email.html?rc=homepage

Nat'l Defense U. Report Says Iraq War a "Major Debacle"

Bill Marjenhoff — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 11:15:07 EDT

A report released this week by the National Defense University raises fresh doubts about President Bush's projections of a U.S. victory in Iraq just a week after Bush announced that he was suspending U.S. troop reductions. The war in Iraq has become "a major debacle" and the outcome "is in doubt" despite improvements in security from the buildup in U.S. forces, according to a highly critical study published Thursday by the Pentagon's premier military educational institute.The report said that the United States has suffered serious political costs, with its standing in the world seriously diminished. Moreover, operations in Iraq have diverted "manpower, materiel and the attention of decision-makers" from "all other efforts in the war on terror" and severely strained the U.S. armed forces."Compounding all of these problems, our efforts there (in Iraq) were designed to enhance U.S. national security, but they have become, at least temporarily, an incubator for terrorism and have emboldened Iran to expand its influence throughout the Middle East," the report continued.The addition of 30,000 U.S. troops to Iraq last year to halt the country's descent into all-out civil war has improved security, but not enough to ensure that the country emerges as a stable democracy at peace with its neighbors, the report said.The complete report here: http://www.ndu.edu/inss/Occasional_Papers/OP5.pdf

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Endorses Obama

Bill Marjenhoff — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 12:00:44 EDT

. . . forget all the primary skirmishing. Sen. Obama is every bit as prepared to answer the ring of the 3 a.m. phone as Sen. Clinton. Forget this idea that Sen. Obama is all inspiration and no substance. He has detailed positions on the major issues. When the occasion demands it, he can marshal eloquence in the service of making challenging arguments, which he did to great effect in his now-famous speech putting his pastor's remarks in the greater context of race relations in America.

Nor is he any sort of elitist. As he said yesterday in effectively refuting this ridiculous charge in a meeting with Post-Gazette editors, "my life's work has been to get everybody a fair shake."

Sen. Obama has captured much of the nation's imagination for a reason. He offers real change, a vision of an America that can move past not only racial tensions but also the political partisanship that has so bedeviled it.To be sure, Sen. Clinton carries the aspirations of women in particular, but even in this she is something of a throwback, a woman whose identity and public position are indelibly linked to her husband, her own considerable talents notwithstanding. It does not help that the Clinton brand is seen by many in the country as suspect and shifty, bearing the grimy stamp of political calculation counting as much as principle.Pennsylvania -- this encrusted, change-averse commonwealth where a state liquor monopoly holds on against all reason and where municipal fiefdoms shrink from sensible consolidation -- needs to take a strong look at the new face and the new hope in this race. Because political business-as-usual is more likely to bring the usual disappointment for the Democrats this fall, the Post-Gazette endorses the nomination of Barack Obama, who has brought an excitement and an electricity to American politics not seen since the days of John F. Kennedy.Full story here: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08107/873625-192.stm

Scranton, PA, Newspaper Endorses Obama

Bill Marjenhoff — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 10:56:48 EDT

Hillary Clinton’s hometown newspaper, The Times-Tribune of Scranton, PA, has endorsed Sen. Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination. The endorsement said, in part “There is little doubt that a second Clinton presidency would further the deep divisiveness that characterizes American politics — a divisiveness that dug itself deep during the Clinton presidency, and even deeper during the Bush-Cheney years. The first task for the next president is to get past that. And it might not be possible if the presidential cycle goes Bush-Clinton-Bush-Clinton.” Full story here: http://www.thetimes-tribune.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19480144&BRD=2185&PAG=461&dept_id=418218&rfi=6

John McCain's Chutzpah

Bill Marjenhoff — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 09:50:50 EDT

John McCain doesn't lack "chutzpah." Yesterday his campaign actually accused Barack Obama of being an "elitist" for saying that it's not surprising that people in small Midwestern towns are bitter after seeing their standard of living systematically destroyed over the last three decades. The McCain campaign is managed by a cadre of Washington-insider special interest lobbyists. He and his current wife are estimated to be worth about $100 million. He reportedly owns eight houses. His let-them-eat-cake economic policies are based on George Bush's failed radical conservative "you're on your own buddy" philosophy. One after another he supported trade agreements that protect the rights of corporations, but ignore the rights of labor, and have devastated one Pennsylvania community after another. He gets most of his campaign cash from the wealthiest corporate interests around. And he has the gall to call Barack Obama an "elitist"? Full story here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-creamer/it-takes-real-chutzpah-fo_b_96376.html

Sen. Obama is Right. Rural America is Bitter

Bill Marjenhoff — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 12:45:40 EDT

“Barack Obama is right,” says Dave Lindorff. “I've seen it in person. The people in rural America are bitter and frustrated, and after years of being played by politicians, they fall victim to the charlatans who tell them it's all because of ‘the Blacks,’ or the immigrants, or who tell them that their guns are in danger. Or they turn to religions that preach division or apocalypse -- a concept that offers the chance of a final, delicious revenge against the rich and the powerful oppressors on Wall Street and in Washington.” Lindorff is co-author of The Case for Impeachment (St. Martin's Griffin, 2007). Full story here: http://www.counterpunch.org/lindorff04142008.html

McCain the War Hero, Obama the Peace Hero

Bill Marjenhoff — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 11:04:52 EDT

John McCain is campaigning as a war hero. America needs to recognize that those who oppose dishonorable wars, like Sen. Barack Obama, are also heroes. Surely, their courage should also qualify as a character virtue for the highest office in the land. The peace hero – even more than the war hero – should be the ultimate moral force in the world we now inhabit. That’s the conclusion of Charles Derber and Yale Magrass, coauthors of Morality Wars: How Empires, the Born Again, and the Politically Correct Do Evil in the Name of Good (Paradigm Publishers, 2008). Full story here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20080414/cm_csm/yderber_1