Observations from a Regular Person

FauxNews and the tea-thing.

Sanford — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 13:56:04 EDT

Finally, CNN calls FauxNews out.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/04/15/tea.parties/index.html#cnnSTCVideo

My question is, cant the FCC fine or shut down FauxNews for impersonating an unbiased news agency? They really don't seem to mind being one step lower than TMZ, do they?

What if the GOP held a protest, and nobody showed up?

Sanford — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 13:32:42 EDT

I was just watching footage of the tea-thing on cnn.com. Footage of the um, protest, in Washington DC, and in Austin, TX.

Maybe it's just me, but it appears that there were more people at the inauguration.

Actually, it appears that there were more people at the Easter Egg Roll at the White House yesterday.

That's the best they could do, huh?

Kudos to NASA

Sanford — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 09:11:05 EDT

NASA names cosmic treadmill after Colbert

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Comedian Stephen Colbert will have space treadmill named after him
TV show host won poll seeking new name for space station node
NASA decides to name new space station node "Tranquility"

(CNN) -- What do you do when you're NASA and comedian Stephen Colbert wins your contest to name the new wing for the International Space Station? You name an orbital exercise machine after him.

NASA will name an orbital exercise machine after comedian Stephen Colbert.

The Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill, or COLBERT, is expected to keep astronauts in shape.

With the help of a legion of fans, Colbert got the most votes in the space agency's online poll soliciting names for Node 3, which will be called Tranquility after the Sea of Tranquility, where Apollo 11 landed on the moon.

Astronaut Sunita "Suni" Williams revealed NASA's decision on "The Colbert Report," which aired on Comedy Central on Tuesday.

"Your name will be in space, in a very important place," Williams said as Colbert reacted in mock disgust to her announcement of the node's new name.

"I think a treadmill is better than a node ... because the node is just a box for the treadmill," Colbert deadpanned. "Nobody says, 'Hey, my mom bought me a Nike box.' They want the shoes that are inside."

Colbert's campaign generated welcome attention for the oft-forgotten International Space Station, but it also presented a dilemma for NASA.

The contest rules spelled out that NASA reserves the right to "ultimately select a name in accordance with the best interests of the agency. ... Such name may not necessarily be one which is on the list of voted-on candidate names."

The runner-up name to Colbert was Serenity, which was more in line with the names of the other nodes. Harmony, the name given Node 2, was chosen by a poll of kindergartners in 2007.

The publicity caused by Colbert's interest in Node 3 turned out well for the space agency.

"This spread overall awareness of the International Space Station," said Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate administrator for Space Operations, who has appeared on Colbert's show.

NASA changed its plan to announce the new name at the end of April at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida when Colbert's producers invited them to do it on their show, the space agency said.

Pennsylvania Congressman Chaka Fattah, who stepped in the naming fray in March, when he said Colbert had won the naming contest fair and square, called the decision a good compromise.

It's "one small step for NASA and a giant step for the Colbert nation," the congressman said, playing off Neil Armstrong's line when he first set foot on the moon in 1969.

Colbert's loyal fans have, in the past, bombarded polls to have things named after him.

In 2006, Colbert out-polled every other name in a bridge-naming contest in Hungary. The country's government later said it cannot name the bridge after the comedian because he does not speak Hungarian and is not dead.

Colbert also tried to get himself on Democratic and Republican primary ballots in his home state of South Carolina in 2007. The Democratic Party's executive council voted against his inclusion, and he did not qualify for the Republican primary because he missed the deadline.

However, ice cream maker Ben and Jerry named a new flavor in honor of him, calling it Colbert's AmeriCone Dream. Virgin America also named one of its planes Air Colbert.

I Need Somewhere to Write

Sanford — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 17:06:36 EDT

My thinking was that my blog would end the day after election day, and so I stopped blogging.

I went through withdrawal for a while, but eventually got used to keeping my observations to myself.

But things are just so odd lately, so I've returned to MyBO.com to once again give my observations.

Some odds and ends...

1- It's a dog, people! Wolf Blitzer had the "Dog Whisperer" on TV, CNN had a special graphic, can't the Obama's have their dog without the entire press corps following them? Or will we have to wait for "Bo's first dump"?

2- To all the GOP idiots who are organizing tomorrow's tea-thing-or-whatever-it-is: I've got a great idea! Anyone who feels that they need to protest the direction of taxpayer dollars, just refuse to pay your taxes! It'll make both sides happy: You'll get your protest, and we'll get to remove you from society when you're arrested on tax evasion charges. Then, the rest of us can go forward with transforming the country without you.

3- Way to go John McCain to tell it like it is by snubbing Palin on late night. Palin is an embarassment to the GOP, and to the country. Actually, the longer Palin is in the forefront, the worse off the GOP is, so keep it coming.

4- Hey Minnesota, don't drag the rest of the country down with you! Give us our 59th Democratic Senator already!

5- FauxNews is still on this trip about if we should have antagonized the pirates in Somalia, by killing three of them. Some times I want to ask them what color the sky is over there. Hey FauxNews, substitute the word 'pirate' with 'terrorist', then tell us what your problem is.

Ok, that's a good start. I feel better now.

Yes We Did!

Sanford — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 23:03:20 EST

And now, the work really starts to make Change. With President-Elect Barack Obama at the helm, we can't go wrong!

I Voted.

Sanford — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 16:17:56 EST

11/4/08, 6:15am...

Senator Obama's Grandmother Passes

Sanford — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 16:41:05 EST

CNN is reporting that Senator Obama's grandmother has passed away.

My deepest sympathies to Senator Obama, Michelle, and the girls.

One More Winning Ad Needed

Sanford — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 21:09:36 EST

After seeing my 2nd attack ad on TV tonight that brings back Rev. Wright, I think that the Obama camp needs to create one more ad, using clips from the A More Perfect Union speech, and saturate the airwaves with it tomorrow.

Two Days

Sanford — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 16:47:29 EST

Fired up!

Ready to go!

Here Come the Final GOP Smears

Sanford — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 16:25:09 EST

The McCain camp- negative ads to the end:

Pennsylvania Republicans highlight Wright in last-minute ad Posted: 04:10 PM ET
From CNN Ticker Producer Alexander Mooney
Pennsylvania Republicans highlight Obama's connection to Rev. Wright in a new ad Sunday.

(CNN) – With Pennsylvania's developing status as a must-win battleground for John McCain, the state GOP launched a last-minute television ad here highlighting Barack Obama's relationship with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

"If you think you could ever vote for Barack Obama, consider this: Obama chose as his spiritual leader this man," the ad's narrator says, before clips of Wright's controversial statements are shown.

"Does that sound like someone who should be president?" the ad continues.

The party did not release the extent of the ad buy, but defended the decision to air it.

"We feel that it is necessary that the American people remember that Obama sat in a church and listened to this man preach hate for many, many years," said a statement posted on the state party's Web site. "What does that say about his judgment? Do we want the next President of the United States to have spent years listening to hateful rhetoric without having the good judgment to walk out?"

McCain has said he does not believe Obama's relationship with Wright should be an issue in the campaign — to the ire of some Republicans, who feel it raises questions about the Illinois senator's judgment.

In an interview last month, Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin seemed to suggest Wright was a fair issue to raise, but that the final decision was McCain's.

"[Obama] sat in the pews for 20 years, and heard Reverend Wright say some things that most people would find a bit concerning. But again that is John McCain's call," said Palin.

-------

RNC enlists Clinton to attack Obama Posted: 03:41 PM ET
From CNN Political Editor Mark Preston
The RNC is using Hillary Clinton in a new robocall.

NEW YORK (CNN) – The Republican National Committee is using Hillary Clinton’s past criticism of Barack Obama to plant seeds of doubt in the minds of undecided voters in the final hours of the presidential campaign.

The RNC will begin an automated telephone campaign Sunday targeting millions of voters in key states that supported Clinton in the Democratic presidential primary or have a large concentration of blue collar voters, a Republican official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, tells CNN. The official was not able to specify which states, but added: keep an eye on Ohio, Pennsylvania and Indiana.

Full script:

“I am calling for John McCain and the RNC. Listen to what Hillary Clinton had to say about John McCain and Barack Obama:

‘In the White House there is no time for speeches and on-the-job training. Senator McCain will bring a lifetime of experience to the campaign and Senator Obama will bring a speech that he gave in 2002. I think that is a significant difference.’

This call was paid for by the Republican National Committee at 866-558-5591 and authorized by McCain-Palin 2008.”

CNN's Rick Sanchez= My New Favorite Person (other than Obama)

Sanford — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 15:41:59 EDT

First, there was this smackdown of the McCain idiot-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCaOCWYpPk4

But today, it got even better.

Some other McCain idiot tried to bring up Rev. Wright on CNN, as another anti-semite. Rick Sanchez was all over this guy. Every time the idiot tried to twist a quote, Sanchez had the quote, in its correct context, right at his desk. Then, he read a statement by the Anti-Defimation League that states that Wright wasn't anti-semetic.

The McCain idiot didn't know what hit him.

Senator Obama should find a spot for this guy in his administration (along with Jack Cafferty).

Wait. What???

Sanford — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 22:51:54 EDT

So, Joe the Unlicenced Plumber (who makes a living taking work away from licenced, union workers) , straight from showing us his expertise as an economic wizard (I'd love for a reporter to ask him to name one Socialist country)...

...is now, a foreign-policy expert????

See, here's the GOP's problem. McCain shouldn't be their candidate, Joe the Plumber apparently knows much more about the government and the world than McCain and Palin put together.

Need More Be Said?

Sanford — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 22:30:48 EDT

Over 100,000 in Denver on Oct. 26th

Surprised This Wasn't Discussed More

Sanford — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 19:09:35 EDT

So, now the McCain and Palin stump speeches include more than Joe the Unlicensed Plumber, they mention Tont the Cop, Jill the Nurse, and others.

So the other day, Palin mentioned Tito the Builder.

I'm sorry, did she REALLY say Tito the Builder???

Wow.

She couldn't say Tito the Doctor, or Tito the Teacher, huh? Tito just HAS to be a Builder.

Wow. Just wow.

Maybe Palin Should Stop Doing These For a While

Sanford — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 11:43:35 EDT

First, the booing at the Philadelphia vs Rangers game, now this...

Legace injured after tripping over the carpet for VP candidate Palin

The blue carpet which was rolled out for Sarah Palin's ceremonial puck drop, may have injured Blues netminder Manny Legace.Mark Buckner/NHLI via Getty Images

ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Blues goalie Manny Legace left after one period Friday night with a hip injury that occurred when he slipped on the carpet placed on the ice for Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

The Alaska governor dropped the ceremonial first puck before the Blues hosted the Los Angeles Kings. A narrow carpet walkway was placed from the gate at the Blues bench to center ice for Palin, her husband and two of her daughters.

Just before the ceremony, Legace was the first player onto the ice for St. Louis. A team official pointed to the carpet. But Legace said the official moved his own foot from the carpet just as Legace stepped down, causing the carpet to slide.

Legace fell, then gingerly made his way to the crease.

After Legace's mishap, the official rolled up enough of the carpet so other players wouldn't have to step on it.

Legace described the injury as a strained left hip flexor. He doesn't believe it is serious but said it is painful. He said he won't play Saturday when the Blues host Florida, but wasn't sure if he'd miss any additional games.

"I felt a pull right away," Legace said. "I was hoping it would just go away."

But after making his first save, the injury felt worse, Legace said. He played one period, giving up two goals on 12 shots. After the intermission, the team said he suffered a "lower body" injury but did not immediately elaborate. He was replaced by Ben Bishop, making his NHL debut.

Legace is 4-2 with a 2.94 goals-against average in six games this season. He is 313-291 in his nine-year career. He was selected to the Western Conference All-Star team last season.

It was Palin's second appearance at an NHL game this month. She also dropped the ceremonial puck at Philadelphia on Oct. 11.

Legace didn't blame Palin for the injury.

"She's been pretty good for our game," Legace said. "I'm starting to like her more and more. No grudge."

The Shocking Part is How Much FOXNoise is Covering This

Sanford — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 16:11:59 EDT

McCain Campaign Volunteer Admits Alleged Attack Was a Hoax A woman who lied about being attacked because of the McCain bumper sticker on her car will face charges of filing a false report.

FOXNews.com

Friday, October 24, 2008

Ashley Todd, who says she is a McCain campaign volunteer, told police she was mugged, then pinned by her assailant, who cut a "B" into her face. (College Republicans)

PITTSBURGH -- A 20-year-old volunteer for John McCain's campaign has admitted that she lied when she said she was attacked by a robber who carved a "B" into her cheek when he saw a McCain bumper sticker on her car, Pittsburgh police said Friday.

Ashley Todd, 20, of College Station, Texas, will be charged with filing a false report, a misdemeanor, police said.

"She told lie after lie, and the situation compounded to where we are right now," Lt. Kevin Kraus, head of major crimes for the Pittsburgh police, said Friday.

Todd had told police that on Wednesday night at 9 o'clock ET, a 6-foot-4 black male in dark jeans and a black tank top held her up at an ATM machine in Bloomfield, Pa. Todd said the robber put a knife to her neck and demanded money. She said she gave him $60, according to the police report.

Todd, who is white, said the robber then noticed the McCain bumper sticker on her car, punched her in the back of her head, knocked her down, and continued to punch and kick her while threatening to teach her a lesson.

"You are going to be a Barack supporter," she said the robber told her before he sat on her chest, pinned her hands down with his knees and scratched the letter "B" on the right side of her face, using what she believed to be a very dull knife. The robber then fled, Todd said in the police report.

On Friday, officials said they had found several "inconsistencies" in Todd's statements. She was brought back to police headquarters, where she finally confessed that she had made the entire story up.

"After a while, she just simply stated that she wanted to tell the truth," said Maurita Bryant, assistant chief for investigations.

Todd confessed to police that she was driving alone, looked in the mirror, saw her black eye and the B on her face, and didn't know how they got there. She assumed she could have done it herself, she said, and then she made up the story about the attacker.

When she saw the B, the first thing she thought of was "Barack," she told police.

Police suspect Todd's wounds were self-inflicted. She remained at police headquarters on Friday afternoon, and police were trying to determine whether she needed psychiatric evaluation.

"She hasn't really shown any obvious remorse," Kraus said. "She's certainly surprised that it snowballed to where it is today."

"It's been a huge waste of time and man hours," said Bryant, adding that police had been working on the story since it broke Thursday.

Police said Todd did not have a lawyer, and that her none of her family were in Pittsburgh.

Earlier in the day, Pittsburgh police spokeswoman Diane Richard would not say whether police doubted Todd's story, but bank surveillance footage did not show Todd at the Citizens Bank ATM where she claimed the assault took place.

Richard told FOX News that Todd had been staying with a male friend who lives down the street from the ATM.

A woman named Liz who answered the door at the residence where Todd arrived after her purported attack told FOXNews.com that her roommate is friends with Todd, and he told Liz not to discuss any details about the incident. A Ford Taurus with a Texas license plate and a McCain-Palin sticker was parked outside.

Richard said Todd later added to her tale, saying she was groped by the robber and lost consciousness during the assault. Neither of those details was in the original report.

Richard said that after a second interview, Todd was not as definitive about the assault or the motives behind it, nor could she say for certain whether the robber took $60 from her, as she initially reported and still maintained was missing.

Todd took a polygraph test late Thursday or early Friday after police heard the inconsistencies, Richard said.

'There were major changes in her story" before and after the polygraph test, Richard said. As for the wound on her cheek, "it's very shallow, it's more of a scratch."

Before Todd's admission, Richard had said the police department was taking the report "very seriously" and considered Todd a "victim" while the investigation was ongoing.

The area at Liberty Avenue and Pearl Street where Todd had said the attack took place is heavily traveled in the daytime, full of traffic, pedestrians, restaurants and stores. On Friday, Pittsburgh detectives canvassed the area looking for witnesses.

Doug Graham, a neighbor of the residence where Todd's friend lives, told FOXNews.com it's unlikely an assault at the bank would go unnoticed.

"There ain't no way nobody saw that," said Graham, whose home -- where he has lived for a decade -- sports a Barack Obama sign. "It's always hopping up there. Something fishy, I knew the first second I saw [her story]. Something fishy."

Ethan Eilon, executive director of the College Republicans National Committee, told FOX News that Todd was volunteering as a field representative through his organization and that she had taken a year off from her studies at Blinn College to work on the campaign.

Todd received a call from the Republican presidential nominee on Thursday night. Barack Obama's local campaign team also issued well-wishes and said it hoped her assailant would be caught and brought to justice.

Wanna Talk Associations?

Sanford — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 10:09:19 EDT

How does John McCain's own brother handle sitting in traffic?

He calls 911 of course.

Then he gets angry when he's told that 911 is for emergencies only.

And then he calls 911 again, to complain about that!

Out of touch. Watch the story here.

I've Had it With the Trolls

Sanford — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 22:32:30 EDT

That's it. I've had it with you all.

You just motivated me to donate another $50.00 to the Obama campaign.

In just 12 more days, we won't have to deal with you anymore.

Robo-callers Quit Jobs

Sanford — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 21:49:30 EDT

Two Quit Call Center Jobs Over Anti-Obama Robocalls

The Huffington Post | Rachel Weiner | October 22, 2008 09:31 AM

At least two people have quit their jobs at call centers over scripts that accuse Barack Obama of working closely with Bill Ayers. The Charleston Gazette reports on a woman in West Virginia:

Chaylee Cole, a student at Fairmont State University, lost her part-time job in Weston last Friday after refusing to make telephone calls attacking Barack Obama.

McCain-Palin 2008 and the Republican National Committee were paying for the calls, according to a "work paper" handed to Cole and her co-workers at the Weston offices of 1.2.1 Direct Response, a company based in Philadelphia.

"I was working at the call center," Cole said. "We got a campaign ad talking about how Obama had been part of terrorist attacks on the Capitol, the Pentagon and a judge's home and had ties with Bill Ayers.

"Last Thursday, I told them I did not want to read it," Cole said. "They said, 'Either you read it or you go home.'

"I told them I wasn't going to read it. They made me go home without pay for the rest of the day."

...

"I talked to one of our 'coaches,' which is what our supervisors were called. I said I was unhappy with the situation and I quit," she said Tuesday.

And WKOW finds a man in Wisconsin:

Voters in more than 13 states, including Wisconsin are getting calls from people accusing Barack Obama of having ties to terrorists. Some of those calls are made from right here in Madison.

A local man made dozens of calls bashing Barack Obama, but when the campaign got ugly, he quit his job.

...

Zoromski said, "This was different than I was told I was going to be saying, and [Sitel] said the script changes on a daily basis."

So Zoromski quit, fed up with what he perceived as scare tactics.

It's a Good Thing that Alaska is Rich

Sanford — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 06:29:08 EDT

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- Gov. Sarah Palin charged the state for her children to travel with her, including to events where they were not invited, and later amended expense reports to specify that they were on official business.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has charged the state $21,012 for her three daughters' plane flights.

The charges included costs for hotel and commercial flights for three daughters to join Palin to watch their father in a snowmobile race, and a trip to New York, where the governor attended a five-hour conference and stayed with 17-year-old Bristol for five days and four nights in a luxury hotel.

In all, Palin has charged the state $21,012 for her three daughters' 64 one-way and 12 round-trip commercial flights since she took office in December 2006. She also has charged the state for hotel rooms for the girls.

Alaska law does not specifically address expenses for a governor's children. The law allows for payment of expenses for anyone conducting official state business.

As governor, Palin justified having the state pay for the travel of her daughters -- Bristol, 17; Willow, 14; and Piper, 7 -- by noting on travel forms that the girls had been invited to attend or participate in events on the governor's schedule.

But some organizers of these events said they were surprised when the Palin children showed up uninvited, or said they agreed to a request by the governor to allow the children to attend.

Several other organizers said the children merely accompanied their mother and did not participate. The trips enabled Palin, whose main state office is in the capital of Juneau, to spend more time with her children.

"She said any event she can take her kids to is an event she tries to attend," said Jennifer McCarthy, who helped organize the June 2007 Family Day Celebration picnic in Ketchikan that Piper attended with her parents.

State Finance Director Kim Garnero told The Associated Press she has not reviewed the Palins' travel expense forms, so she could not say whether the daughters' travel with their mother would meet the definition of official business.

On August 6, three weeks before Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain chose Palin as his running mate, and after Alaska reporters asked for the records, Palin ordered changes to previously filed expense reports for her daughters' travel.

In the amended reports, Palin added phrases such as "First Family attending" and "First Family invited" to explain the girls' attendance.

"The governor said, 'I want the purpose and the reason for this travel to be clear,' " said Linda Perez, state director of administrative services.

When Palin released her family's tax records as part of her vice presidential campaign, some tax experts questioned why she did not report the children's state travel reimbursements as income. Watch Palin's interview with CNN's Drew Griffin »

The Palins released a review by a Washington attorney who said state law allows the children's travel expenses to be reimbursed and not taxed when they conduct official state business.

Taylor Griffin, a McCain-Palin campaign spokesman, said Palin followed state policy allowing governors to charge for their children's travel. He said the governor's office has invitations requesting the family to attend some events, but he said he did not have them to provide.

In October 2007, Palin brought daughter Bristol along on a trip to New York for a women's leadership conference. Plane tickets from Anchorage to La Guardia Airport for $1,385.11 were billed to the state, records show, and mother and daughter shared a room for four nights at the $707.29-per-night Essex House hotel, which overlooks Central Park.

The event's organizers said Palin asked if she could bring her daughter.

Alexis Gelber, who organized Newsweek's Third Annual Women & Leadership Conference, said she does not know how Bristol ended up attending. Gelber said invitees usually attend alone, but some ask if they can bring a relative or friend.

Griffin, the campaign spokesman, said he believes someone with the event personally sent an e-mail to Bristol inviting her, but he did not have it to provide. Records show Palin also met with Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Goldman Sachs representatives and visited the New York Stock Exchange.

In January, the governor, Willow and Piper attended the Alaska Symphony of Seafood Buffet, an Anchorage gala to announce winners of an earlier seafood competition.

"She was just there," said James Browning, executive director of Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation, which runs the event. Griffin said the governor's office received an invitation that was not specifically addressed to anyone.

When Palin amended her children's expense reports, she listed a role for the two girls at the function -- "to draw two separate raffle tickets."

In the original travel form, Palin listed a number of events that her children attended and said they were there "in official capacity helping." She did not identify any specific roles for the girls.

In July, the governor charged the state $2,741.26 to take Bristol and Piper to Philadelphia for a meeting of the National Governors Association. The girls had their own room for five nights at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel for $215.46 a night, expense records show.

Expense forms describe the girls' official purpose as "NGA Governor's Youth Programs and family activities." But those programs were activities designed to keep children busy, a service provided by the NGA to accommodate governors and their families, NGA spokeswoman Jodi Omear said.

In addition to the commercial flights, the children have traveled dozens of times with Palin on a state plane. For these flights, the total cost of operating the plane, at $971 an hour, was about $55,000, according to state flight logs. The cost of operating the state plane does not increase when the children join their mother.

The organizer of an American Heart Association luncheon on February 15 in Fairbanks said Palin asked to bring daughter Piper to the event, and the organizer said she was surprised when Palin showed up with daughters Willow and Bristol as well.

The three Palin daughters shared a room separate from their mother at the Princess Lodge in Fairbanks for two nights, at a cost to the state of $129 per night.

The luncheon took place before Palin's husband, Todd, finished fourth in the 2,000-mile Iron Dog snowmobile race, also in Fairbanks. The family greeted him at the finish line.

When Palin showed up at the luncheon with not just Piper but also Willow and Bristol, organizers had to scramble to make room at the main table, said Janet Bartels, who set up the event.

"When it's the governor, you just make it happen," she said.

The state is already reviewing nearly $17,000 in per diem payments to Palin for more than 300 nights she slept at her own home, 40 miles from her satellite office in Anchorage.

Tony Knowles, a Democratic former governor of Alaska who lost to Palin in a 2006 bid to reclaim the job, said he never charged the state for his three children's commercial flights and did not claim their travel as official state business.

Knowles, who was governor from 1994 to 2002, is the only other recent Alaska governor who had school-age children while in office.

"There was no valid reason for the children to be along on state business," said Knowles, a supporter of Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama. "I cannot recall any instance during my eight years as governor where it would have been appropriate to claim they performed state business."

Knowles said he brought his children to one NGA event while in office but didn't charge the state for their trip.

In February 2007, the three girls flew from Juneau to Anchorage on Alaska Airlines. Palin charged the state for the $519.30 round-trip ticket for each girl, and noted on the expense form that the daughters accompanied her to "open the start of the Iron Dog race."

The children and their mother then watched as Todd Palin and other racers started the competition, which Todd won that year. Palin later had the relevant expense forms changed to describe the girls' business as "First Family official starter for the start of the Iron Dog race."

The Palins began charging the state for commercial flights after the governor kept a 2006 campaign promise to sell a jet bought by her predecessor.

Palin put the jet up for sale on eBay, a move she later trumpeted in her speech at the Republican National Convention, and it was ultimately sold by the state at a loss.

That left only one high-performance aircraft deemed safe enough for her to use -- a 1980 twin-engine King Air assigned to the public safety agency but, according to flight logs, out of service for maintenance and repairs about a third of the time Palin has been governor.

McCain Tells Western PA, "I Don't Like You"

Sanford — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 22:08:59 EDT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lh9_QvJicy4

TRANSCRIPT:
JOHN MCCAIN: I think you may have noticed that Sen. Obama's supporters have been saying some pretty nasty things about Western Pennsylvania lately. [crowd boos] And you know, I couldn't agree with them more....

I couldn't disagree with you...

I couldn't agree with you more than the fact that western Pennsylvania is the most patriotic, most God-loving, most patriotic part of America. This is a great party of the country. My friends, I could not agre...

I could not disagree with those critics more; this is a great part of America. This is the heartland of America. This is where people love their country and they serve it.

Stop the Insanity!

Sanford — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 12:53:26 EDT

Palin on CNN, FOXNoise, and MSNBC???

Good, cause I haven't seen her or McCain campaigning on TV in at least 25 minutes.

Barack Obama- Thinking Different

Sanford — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 11:37:19 EDT

Here's to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square hole, the ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules, and they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, 'bout the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things, they push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.

All This Time, and I Still Can't Stomach Him

Sanford — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 10:43:54 EDT

You'd think that, at the end of a long, hard presidential battle, I'd be able to just tune McCain's lies out by now.

But as I listen to him campaigning on CNN and FOXNoise this morning, I still have the uncontrollable desire to reach through the TV and punch McCain right in the nose for every lie he tells his followers.

It is such a shame that there are people who are following him blindly, listening to his lies and accepting them as truth.

If I have to listen to him talk about Joe the Plumber, who now apparently was bagging groceries last week, but this week wants to buy Microsoft, I think I'm gonna be sick.

I wanna jump thru the TV, jump onto the stage, and say, "People, wake up! Joe makes $40,000 a year, he owes back takes, he doesn't have a plumbing license (so he's taking work away from licenced plumbers), and assuming he can get a loan to buy a business that he certainly can't afford, he has already stated that the business makes LESS than $250,000 after all! Joe the plumber is just the type of person that Senator Obama's plan will be HELPING!"

November 4th can't come fast enough. I can't wait untill I don't have to listen to McCain or Palin anymore.

Remember, No Obama Clothing When Voting!

Sanford — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 10:26:13 EDT

Just a gentle reminder- as much as we'd all like to, don't wear any clothing, buttons, etc, that publicizes who you are voting for, when you go to the polls on November 4th (or earlier for those of you voting early).

Electioneering rules don't allow you to go to the polls wearing any supporting materials (no policy-related material either, like "end the war" or anything like that). Doing so will cause you huge delays, and you'll probably have to leave and then come back later.

Senator Obama's Grandmother Ill

Sanford — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 20:50:16 EDT

CNN is reporting that the Senator will cancel Thursday's and Friday's appearances to fly to Hawaii to be with her.

After Endorsement, Powell Comes to Obama's Defense

Sanford — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 11:40:25 EDT

From a story on CNN.com:

Powell came to Obama's defense after endorsing the senator from Illinois.
Powell said he had grown tired of McCain's negative campaigning and that the American people would prefer to focus on issues like education, infrastructure and the economy. He specifically slammed Palin's allegation that Obama's tax plan is socialist, calling it misleading.
"Taxes are always a redistribution of money. Most of the taxes that are redistributed go back to those who pay them -- in roads and airports and hospitals and schools," President Bush's former secretary of state said. "And taxes are necessary for the common good, and there's nothing wrong with examining what our tax structure is or who should be paying more, who should be paying less.
"For us to say that makes you a socialist, I think, is an unfortunate characterization that isn't accurate."

Picts from Pre-Debate Rally on Long Island

Sanford — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 13:29:32 EDT

Here are picts from the LI for Obama Rally at Eisenhower Park (about a half mile from Hofstra), hours before the last debate:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sardomus/sets/72157608151543551/show/

Joe Needs Senator Obama's Tax Plan

Sanford — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 19:45:30 EDT

Here we have a guy, we'll call him "Joe".

He is a plumber in Ohio who says he wants to open his own plumbing business.

Except...

- This twice-divorced guy who has custody of his 13-year-old son, made $40,000 in gross annual income in 2006.

- He owes the state of Ohio $1183 in back taxes.

- And, oh yeah, he's not a licensed plumber, but he's hoping to take his licensing exam soon.

Thomas Joseph, business manager for Local 50 of the United Association of Plumbers, Steamfitters, and Service Mechanics in Rossford, said Mr. Wurzelbacher didn't undergo apprenticeship training and isn't licensed to work in Toledo, Sylvania, Maumee, or Perrysburg, with or without a licensed plumber alongside.

"Anytime you touch anything listed in the plumbing code, you must be licensed," Mr. Joseph said.

"This exposes the McCain campaign for not doing their due diligence before they put him on national TV," Mr. Joseph said. "John McCain's put this guy in a very bad position."

Sounds to me like just the type of person who would benefit from the Obama tax plan.

Republicans launch wave of calls attacking Obama

Sanford — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 20:22:19 EDT

October 16, 2008Republicans launch wave of calls attacking Obama Posted: 07:02 PM ET

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Republicans launched an enormous wave of phone calls Thursday blasting Barack Obama for "having worked closely with domestic terrorist Bill Ayers," party sources said.

The calls are part of a $70 million last Republican push to get out the vote for John McCain on November 4, using calls, mailings and door-knocking in battleground states.

"Hundreds of thousands" of calls are being made in at least half a dozen hard-fought states including Virginia, North Carolina and Ohio, the sources said.

Some are recorded "robocalls," while others are live to comply with relevant state laws. The calls are being paid for jointly by the Republican party and the McCain campaign, according to a script provided by the Republican party.

The "robocalls" criticize Obama national security, his opposition to an Illinois measure that called for doctors to provide medical care to babies who survive botched abortions, his connection with former '60s radical William Ayers and his response to the financial crisis.

An Obama spokesman said the "dishonorable, dishonest" calls were a desperate move.

"John McCain's campaign has admitted that the economy is a losing issue for them, so he's chosen to launch dishonorable and dishonest attacks like this," Obama national spokesman Bill Burton said.

The calls come a day after McCain and Obama accused each other of running negative campaigns.

Republicans have been hammering Obama for weeks for his association with Ayers, a key figure in the Weather Underground of the Vietnam War era. The radical group took credit for a number of bombings, including of the Pentagon. A case against Ayers was thrown out of court because of misconduct by investigators. He is now an education professor in Chicago and has served on a board with Obama.

McCain said he did not care about "an old washed-up terrorist" like Ayers Wednesday night at his debate with Obama.

Obama condemned Ayers' actions of 40 years ago, and said the former radical was not involved in his campaign and would not advise him as president.

Here is the text of the call referring to Ayers:

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

The only deaths positively attributed to Weathermen bombs were three members of the group itself who were killed when a bomb they were working on exploded prematurely. The Weathermen, along with the Black Panther organization, were investigated for another bombing that killed a San Francisco police officer, but that bombing remains unsolved.

The son of a New York State supreme court justice says that the Weathermen were also responsible for a bomb at his father's home in February 1970, basing his claim on a letter from Weather Underground member Bernadine Dohrn (Ayers' wife) sent to the Associated Press in November promising more bombings. Investigators, however, believe that letter was referring to the bombing of a New York courthouse in October.

The Weathermen claimed responsibility for the courthouse bombing, as they did other bombings attributed to them. No one claimed responsibility for the bombing of the judge's home, and the the case was never solved.

–CNN Senior Political Correspondent Candy Crowley contributed to this report.

My Final Debate Day Plans

Sanford — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 06:22:58 EDT

1) Teach until 2:15.

2) Change into my Obama shirt and hat

3) Jump into the car and go to my 1st ever rally for Senator Obama (at Eisenhower Park, about a half mile from Hofstra University). David Crosby and Graham Nash to perform (among many others)! Go to yeswecanlongisland.com for more info!

4) Shout "Yes We Can" from 3-6pm (gotta leave early).

5) Run back to my school for a rehearsal from 7-9:30pm.

6) Run home to my DVR of the debate.

7) Go to sleep after, because I'm having surgery the next morning.

YES WE CAN!

Are Your Parents Thinking Of Voting For McCain?

Sanford — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 11:30:01 EDT

Then go here, and find out how to have "the talk" with them.

http://www.mccainfreewhitehouse.org

Why Isn't This All Over CNN and MSNBC???

Sanford — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 20:57:23 EDT

Rev. Arnold Conrad leads a prayer at a McCain rally this past Saturday, where he asks Jesus to support McCain, because he's for Jesus, and Obama's supported by people who don't pray to Jesus.

This should be all over the media.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5g0d3_KE5js

Palin Booed in Philly

Sanford — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 21:29:28 EDT

Palin booed at NHL game in Philadelphia Posted: 09:28 PM ET
From CNN Political Producer Peter Hamby
The view from the press box as Sarah Palin posed with members of the Philadelphia Flyers and New York Rangers.

PHILADELPHIA (CNN) – Although many Philadelphia Flyers fans cheered and clapped as Sarah Palin took to the ice at the Wachovia Center on Saturday night to drop the ceremonial puck kicking off this town's NHL season, their warm reception was no match for the 90 seconds of sustained booing that rumbled through the arena, drowning out most of the cheers in support of the Republican vice presidential nominee.

As Palin stepped onto the ice before a capacity crowd to drop the puck, joined by her daughters Willow and Piper, the arena's jumbotron flashed a futile message to the thousands of notoriously harsh Philadelphia sports fans in attendance.

"Flyers fans, show Philadelphia's class and welcome America's #1 hockey mom, Sarah Palin," the massive electronic message board pleaded, to little effect. Booing quickly erupted when the smiling candidate emerged from a tunnel leading onto the ice, muffling the applause of any Palin supporters in the crowd.

Some in the audience simply gave her a thumbs down gesture. Others called her names.

Palin spent about a minute and a half on center ice, posing for pictures with Flyers captain Mike Richards and New York Rangers assistant captain Scotty Gomez, an Alaska native. The crowd commotion was sustained for her entire time in the rink.

Palin's showing did not appear to help the Flyers, who looked hapless in the first period, giving up four goals to their rivals from New York. The governor stayed to watch the first two periods with family and staff in the box of Flyers owner Ed Snider, and by the time she departed the Wachovia Center for her hotel, the Flyers had narrowed the lead to 4-2.

Obama Supporters Not Allowed to Park Here???

Sanford — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 13:16:50 EDT

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/politics/2008/10/10/bagg.parking.politics.wfmy

Senator Obama on Prime Time

Sanford — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 18:53:25 EDT

Obama purchasing 30 minutes of network airtime Posted: 06:00 PM ET
From CNN Senior Producer Sasha Johnson, CNN's Alexander Mooney
The Obama campaign has previously run a two-minute commercial; today it announced has purchased 30-minute blocks of time on the broadcast networks.

(CNN) – Barack Obama is buying 30 minutes of airtime on the major television networks just days before the presidential election, the Obama campaign confirms.

Sources with the Obama campaign say half hour blocks have been purchased on Wednesday, October 29 on CBS and NBC. The campaign is also in negotiations with Fox, though that day will conflict with the World Series if there is a game 6.

The buy was first reported by the Hollywood reporter earlier Thursday.

Evan Tracey of Campaign Media Analysis Group, CNN's consultant on ad spending, said it was unclear how much the blocs of air would cost, but noted 30 seconds alone in primetime usually runs between $80,000 and $125,000.

"This is a big platform, this is a big megaphone, the interest level is clearly there and people will watch," Tracey said.

McCain Has POW Flashback During Speech

Sanford — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 11:07:09 EDT

While campaigning in Pennsylvania today, John McCain said:

Across this country, this is the agenda I have set before my fellow prisoners...

Here's the video.

(Note the look on Palin's and McCain's daughter's faces.)

Many May Be Blocked From Voting

Sanford — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 10:39:53 EDT

States' purges of voter rolls appear illegal

Actions apparently the result of mistakes in complying with 2002 law

NY Times:

Tens of thousands of eligible voters in at least six swing states have been removed from the rolls or have been blocked from registering in ways that appear to violate federal law, according to a review of state records and Social Security data by The New York Times.

The actions do not seem to be coordinated by one party or the other, nor do they appear to be the result of election officials intentionally breaking rules, but are apparently the result of mistakes in the handling of the registrations and voter files as the states tried to comply with a 2002 federal law, intended to overhaul the way elections are run.

Still, because Democrats have been more aggressive at registering new voters this year, according to state election officials, any heightened screening of new applications may affect their party’s supporters disproportionately. The screening and trimming of voter registration lists in the six states — Colorado, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Nevada and North Carolina — could also result in problems at the polls on Election Day: people who have been removed from the rolls are likely to show up only to be challenged by political party officials or election workers, resulting in confusion, long lines and heated tempers.

2 Down, 1 to Go

Sanford — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 23:20:44 EDT

I watched at the Babylon Democratic HQ tonight.

Obama won handily.

McCain looked old. He stumbled around the stage all night, he got flustered and became an angry old man as the night went on. At one point, he actually looked sick, wandering around, looking for his private nurse to take him back to his stool. Near the end of the debate, he even forgot that he was holding a microphone (luckilly, both candidates had backup lapel microphones on).

McCain called Obama "that one", and refused to shake his hand at the end of the debate, when he left the hall immediately following.

One more debate to go... 8 miles away from my house, and I can't get a ticket. :(

Palin Supporters Becoming an Unruly Mob

Sanford — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 15:37:22 EDT

Unleashed, Palin Makes a Pit Bull Look Tame
By Dana Milbank Washington Post, Tuesday, October 7, 2008; Page A03

FORT MYERS, Fla., Oct. 6 John McCain is collapsing in the polls in Florida and other swing states, but Sarah Palin, God bless her, has a solution.

"For me, the heels are on, the gloves are off," she announced at high noon Monday to a group of Republican donors at the Naples Beach Club.

You betcha.

As the donors sipped their bloody marys and mimosas, she added, in a conspiratorial stage whisper, "I'm sending the message back to John McCain also: Tomorrow night in his debate, might as well take the gloves off."

Darn right.

Of course, it's not only gloves and heels; headgear has a role, too. "Okay, so, Florida, you know that you're going to have to hang on to your hats," she said at a morning rally in Clearwater, "because from now until Election Day, it may get kind of rough."

Say it ain't so, Sarah!

Sen. Lindsey Graham, a McCain confidant, told The Post's David Broder that the campaign would "go down in history as stupid if they don't unleash" Palin. Well, the self-identified pit bull has been unleashed -- if not unhinged.

Barack Obama, she told 8,000 fans at a rally here Monday afternoon, "launched his political career in the living room of a domestic terrorist!" This followed her earlier accusation that the Democrat pals around with terrorists. "This is not a man who sees America the way you and I see America," she told the Clearwater crowd. "I'm afraid this is someone who sees America as imperfect enough to work with a former domestic terrorist who had targeted his own country." The crowd replied with boos.

McCain had said that racially explosive attacks related to Obama's former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, are off limits. But Palin told New York Times columnist Bill Kristol in an interview published Monday: "I don't know why that association isn't discussed more."

Worse, Palin's routine attacks on the media have begun to spill into ugliness. In Clearwater, arriving reporters were greeted with shouts and taunts by the crowd of about 3,000. Palin then went on to blame Katie Couric's questions for her "less-than-successful interview with kinda mainstream media." At that, Palin supporters turned on reporters in the press area, waving thunder sticks and shouting abuse. Others hurled obscenities at a camera crew. One Palin supporter shouted a racial epithet at an African American sound man for a network and told him, "Sit down, boy."

McCain's swoon is largely out of his control, the result of an economic collapse that ignited new fears Monday when the Dow Jones industrial average closed below 10,000 for the first time in four years. That's why his lead in Florida polls, which once reached as high as 15 points, has turned into a three-point deficit.

But the campaign has reacted with recriminations (the St. Petersburg Times reported that the Florida Republican Party chairman, after questioning Palin's aptitude, was told that he couldn't fly on her plane) and now Palin's rage.

The angry GOP vice presidential nominee even found a way to blame the market decline on the yet-to-be-enacted tax policies of the yet-to-be-elected Obama.

"If you turn on the news tonight when you get home, you're gonna see that, yah, this is another woeful day in the market, and the other side just doesn't understand -- no!" she said at an afternoon fundraiser at the home of mutual fund giant Jack Donahue. "Especially in a time like this, you don't propose to increase taxes. The phoniest claim in a campaign that's full of them is that Barack Obama is going to cut your taxes."

Of course, Obama never promised to cut taxes for people at $10,000-a-plate lunches in air-conditioned tents on waterfront compounds. And the crowd -- among them New York Jets owner Woody Johnson -- reacted without applause to Palin's Joe Six-Pack lines. After they didn't strike up the usual "Drill, baby, drill" or "USA" chants, Palin, rattled, read hurriedly through the rest of her speech.

The reception had been better in Clearwater, where Palin, speaking to a sea of "Palin Power" and "Sarahcuda" T-shirts, tried to link Obama to the 1960s Weather Underground. "One of his earliest supporters is a man named Bill Ayers," she said. ("Boooo!" said the crowd.) "And, according to the New York Times, he was a domestic terrorist and part of a group that, quote, 'launched a campaign of bombings that would target the Pentagon and our U.S. Capitol,' " she continued. ("Boooo!" the crowd repeated.)

"Kill him!" proposed one man in the audience.

Palin also told those gathered that Obama doesn't like American soldiers. "He said that our troops in Afghanistan are just, quote, 'air-raiding villages and killing civilians,' " she said, drawing boos from a crowd that had not been told Obama was actually appealing for more troops in Afghanistan.

"See, John McCain is a different kind of man: He believes in our troops," she said.

At times, Palin hinted at the GOP campaign's troubles. "It's going to be a hard-fought contest, especially in these swing states, some maybe we would not have expected," she admitted to donors. She allowed that "John McCain and I need to do a better job" of talking about the economy.

At other times, she had troubles of her own, as when she spoke over the weekend of "our neighboring country of Afghanistan" or when she got choked up at the Clearwater rally, saying, "Some of your signs just make me wanna cry," without explaining which ones or why.

But then the gloves came off, the heels came out, and Palin was once again talking about her opponent hanging out in a terrorist's living room.

This is the Tough Part

Sanford — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 15:46:22 EDT

I'm watching a McCain rally on CNN, lying to his supporters about Senator Obama's record.

This is the new McCain plan, smears and attacks. Half-truths all over the place.

My favorite part is where he says, "I guess Senator Obama believes that if he tells a lie enough, it'll come true." Um... pot-kettle=black. I've been saying that same thing about McCain for months.

This is the part where the Obama Camp has to stay the course. The McCain camp wins using anger and slander; the Obama camp wins by rising above the McCain attacks. It's going to get bad, but everything that I've seen, from debate polling to man-on-the-street interviews, tells me that attacks will turn off more voters than they get.

Stay the course. Don't get emotional. Rise above the attacks. Win on the issues. Win in November.

Original Mavericks Say McCain Isn't One

Sanford — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 22:03:05 EDT

Who You Callin’ a Maverick?

NY Times; By JOHN SCHWARTZ Published: October 4, 2008

There’s that word again: maverick. In Thursday’s vice-presidential debate, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, the Republican candidate, used it to describe herself and her running mate, Senator John McCain, no fewer than six times, at one point calling him “the consummate maverick.”

BRAND Samuel Augustus Maverick

But to those who know the history of the word, applying it to Mr. McCain is a bit of a stretch — and to one Texas family in particular it is even a bit offensive.

“I’m just enraged that McCain calls himself a maverick,” said Terrellita Maverick, 82, a San Antonio native who proudly carries the name of a family that has been known for its progressive politics since the 1600s, when an early ancestor in Boston got into trouble with the law over his agitation for the rights of indentured servants.

In the 1800s, Samuel Augustus Maverick went to Texas and became known for not branding his cattle. He was more interested in keeping track of the land he owned than the livestock on it, Ms. Maverick said; unbranded cattle, then, were called “Maverick’s.” The name came to mean anyone who didn’t bear another’s brand.

Sam Maverick’s grandson, Fontaine Maury Maverick, was a two-term congressman and a mayor of San Antonio who lost his mayoral re-election bid when conservatives labeled him a Communist. He served in the Roosevelt administration on the Smaller War Plants Corporation and is best known for another coinage. He came up with the term “gobbledygook” in frustration at the convoluted language of bureaucrats.

This Maverick’s son, Maury Jr., was a firebrand civil libertarian and lawyer who defended draft resisters, atheists and others scorned by society. He served in the Texas Legislature during the McCarthy era and wrote fiery columns for The San Antonio Express-News. His final column, published on Feb. 2, 2003, just after he died at 82, was an attack on the coming war in Iraq.

Terrellita Maverick, sister of Maury Jr., is a member emeritus of the board of the San Antonio chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas.

Considering the family’s long history of association with liberalism and progressive ideals, it should come as no surprise that Ms. Maverick insists that John McCain, who has voted so often with his party, “is in no way a maverick, in uppercase or lowercase.”

“It’s just incredible — the nerve! — to suggest that he’s not part of that Republican herd. Every time we hear it, all my children and I and all my family shrink a little and say, ‘Oh, my God, he said it again.’ ”

“He’s a Republican,” she said. “He’s branded.”

Prayers for the Biden Family

Sanford — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 16:38:32 EDT

Biden cancels events as mother-in-law battles illness Posted: 03:50 PM ET Sen. Biden looked on as his wife, Jill, introduced him recently in Wisconsin.

(CNN) — Democratic Vice Presidential nominee Joe Biden is cancelling his campaign events for Saturday and Sunday as his mother-in-law battles a serious illness.

The Senator from Delaware's campaign spokesman, David Wade, put out a statement saying "the campaign has cancelled Sen. Biden's schedule today and tomorrow because of a serious illness in Jill Biden's family. Hospice has advised the Bidens to remain close by, and we appreciate everyone's respect for the family's privacy."

Wade is referring to Biden's wife's mother who is in a hospice in Pennsylvania.

Biden was scheduled to speak in Washington D.C. and then attend a fund-raiser in the nation's capitol Saturday night. Sunday he was expected to campaign in Virginia.

FOX-Noise Doesn't Understand My 'A'

Sanford — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 10:30:58 EDT

After the VP debate, just for fun, I switched over to Fox-Noise to hear the GOP media spin on how Palin "hit it out of the park".

They were doing one of those instant text-polls on who won. Knowing I was going to be in the minority over there in GOP-spin-land, I texted 'A' for Biden ('B' was for Palin) to the number they gave.

The next morning, I received this text back:

FOX NEWS- You texted "A", which we didn't understand. Please try your text again, or text HELP for the help menu.

What exactly did they mean by that?

Was it that there was a technical glitch and they didn't understand the text?

Or were they saying, "We don't understand why, if you're watching Fox News, the GOP-spin channel, you would possibly text 'A' and not 'B'to us?

It gave me a chuckle.

Wheels Fall off the Straight Talk Express

Sanford — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 09:47:43 EDT

Here's the latest email from the Obama Camp; there's one line here that I loved reading (I've put it in Bold):

Sanford --

John McCain was at it again today, releasing yet another ad full of lies about Barack Obama and taxes.

The McCain campaign is using a manipulative, dishonest method to calculate how many times Barack has voted to raise taxes, and they came up with the number 94 -- completely unsupported by any independent analysis of the record.

So we turned it around and used the McCain campaign's bogus counting method on his record. And guess what?

Using his own standards, John McCain has voted 477 times to raise taxes!

Our team put together a fun video to help you and your friends see just how desperate John McCain looks when he runs the same tired attacks Republicans have used for years.

Check out the video and share it with your friends:

http://my.barackobama.com/447taxincreases

A report out today shows that McCain has almost completely stopped running positive ads and is focusing virtually his entire advertising budget on attacking Barack.

More of these attacks will come, but with your help we can make sure they don't gain traction.

Keep fighting the good fight,

Obama Action Wire

Reports also say that McCain is also planning on a MAJOR attack on Senator Obama at the next debate.

Wasn't the McCain Camp watching the debates on CNN? Didn't they watch the sample voter lines drop, every time there was a negative attack? Haven't they learned yet?

Oh, wait, I forgot who I was talking about.

This is gonna blow up in their faces.

There Was No VP Debate Last Night

Sanford — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 06:25:58 EDT

In a debate, a moderator asks the candidates a series of questions, the candidate answers them, and the opponent gets an opportunity to respond to the answer.

Only one candidate answered the questions asked of them last night- Senator Biden.

Sarah Palin spoke, not about the questions, but about whatever scripted answer was in her head at the time. She diverted the topics, and never answered the question that was asked. It was all about smoke and mirrors.

In other words, it was politics as usual for Palin.

Senator Biden was at a debate. Sarah Palin was giving speeches.

Comparing the VP Candidates' Answer

Sanford — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 22:23:32 EDT

Palin has difficulty naming court case she disagrees with Posted: 09:48 PM ET
From CNN Ticker Producer Alexander Mooney
Couric interviewed Palin last week.

(CNN) — Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin had difficulty naming a specific Supreme Court case she disagreed with besides Roe v. Wade in a long-awaited clip CBS News aired Wednesday night.

The comments, first reported by Politico, came in an interview with CBS News anchor Katie Couric taped last week.

"Well, let's see. There's –of course –in the great history of American rulings there have been rulings, that's never going to be absolute consensus by every American," Palin said. "And there are–those issues, again, like Roe v Wade, where I believe are best held on a state level and addressed there. So you know–going through the history of America, there would be others but–"

"Can you think of any?" Couric interjected.

"Well, I could think of–of any again, that could be best dealt with on a more local level, maybe I would take issue with," Palin responded. "But you know, as mayor, and then as governor and even as a vice president, if I'm so privileged to serve, wouldn't be in a position of changing those things but in supporting the law of the land as it reads today."

Palin's comments came in the same interview during which she gave a widely-panned answer on the economic bailout bill and had trouble describing John McCain's record on regulation of the financial industry.

The interview later became the subject of Saturday Night Live's opening sketch last weekend.

When Couric posed the same question to Joe Biden, the Democratic VP candidate and longtime member of the Senate Judiciary Committee said he disagreed with a ruling that invalidated a portion of the Violence Against Women Act.

"You know, I’m the guy who wrote the Violence Against Women act. And I said that every woman in America if they are beaten and abused by a man should be able to take that person to court. Meaning you should be able to go to federal court and sue in federal court the man who abused you if you can prove that abuse," Biden said. "But they said no that a woman, there’s no federal jurisdiction and I held, they acknowledged, I held about 1,000 hours of hearings proving that there’s an effect in interstate commerce."

"Women who are abused and beaten and beaten are women who are not able to be in the work force. And the Supreme Court said there is an impact on commerce but this is federalizing a private crime and we’re not going to allow it. I think the Supreme Court was wrong about that decision," he continued.

These New Ads

Sanford — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 11:58:57 EDT

Personally, I really like these new ads where Senator Obama sits and speaks to the camera, explaining his plan in detail. It's like listening to a fireside chat. It also is putting the campaign back on track; it says "it's about the issues, stupid".

2 thumbs way up!

And so it begins...

Sanford — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 13:03:39 EDT

McCain retracts Palin's Pakistan comments Posted: 11:15 AM ET
From CNN's Emily Sherman

Watch: Gov. Sarah Palin answers questions at Tony Lukes in South Philadelphia.

WASHINGTON (CNN)— Sen. John McCain retracted Sarah Palin's stance on Pakistan Sunday morning, after the Alaska governor appeared to back Sen. Barack Obama's support for unilateral strikes inside Pakistan against terrorists

"She would not…she understands and has stated repeatedly that we're not going to do anything except in America's national security interest," McCain told ABC's George Stephanopoulos of Palin. "In all due respect, people going around and… sticking a microphone while conversations are being held, and then all of a sudden that's—that's a person's position… This is a free country, but I don't think most Americans think that that's a definitve policy statement made by Governor Palin."

Saturday night, while on a stop for cheesesteaks in South Philadelphia, Palin was questioned by a Temple graduate student about whether the U.S. should cross the border from Afghanistan into Pakistan.

"If that's what we have to do stop the terrorists from coming any further in, absolutely, we should," Palin said.

During Friday night's presidential debate in Mississippi, Obama took a similar stance and condemned the Bush administration for failing to act on the possibility terrorists are in Pakistan.

"Nobody talked about attacking Pakistan," Obama said after McCain accused the Illinois senator of wanting to announce an invasion. "If the United States has al Qaeda, bin Laden, top-level lieutenants in our sights, and Pakistan is unable or unwilling to act, then we should take them out."

McCain emphasized Sunday, Palin "shares" his view on the matter.

Obama to McCain: Stop Stealing My Lines!

Sanford — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 21:32:00 EDT

Obama and Biden together again following debate Posted: 05:00 PM ET
From CNN Political Producer Alexander Marquardt, CNN Political Producer Chris Welch

Sens. Barack Obama and Joe Biden campaigned together in North Carolina on Saturday.(AP Photo)

GREENSBORO, North Carolina (CNN) – A rare occurrence compared to the McCain-Palin ticket: Barack Obama and Joe Biden flew to North Carolina Saturday morning for their first joint rally since August 31. Both took the opportunity to hit John McCain for his Friday night debate performance, hammering the Arizona senator for failing to address middle class issues.

“The truth is,” Obama said, “through ninety minutes of debating, John McCain had a lot to say about me, but he had nothing to say about you. He didn't even say the words "middle class." Didn’t say the words “working people.”"

Obama discussed the bailout package that lawmakers hope to pass this weekend before markets open on Monday, laying out his proposals and reiterating the need for strict oversight.

“This administration started off by asking for a blank check to solve this problem,” said Obama. “It is unacceptable to expect the American people to hand this administration or any Administration a $700 billion without any conditions attached, without any oversight when a lack of oversight in Washington and on Wall Street is exactly what got us into this mess in the first place.”

The Illinois senator mocked McCain for stealing the Democrats’ lines, laughing, “You gotta come up with your own stuff!”

“He's been grabbing our signs, using our slogans,” said Obama. “The other day he said, I think, we need to ‘turn the page.’ It's like, come on, John! I've been saying that for - how long have I been saying that? Pretty soon I'm going to have to start saying I'm a maverick!”

Well, That Was Fun

Sanford — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 23:50:00 EDT

Senator Obama clearly won this round. Watching the CNN live audience sample poll, he surprised many undecided voters with his knowledge of foreign policy.

I disagree with the posts that say that Senator Obama didn't hit hard. Looking at the polls, and the interactive thingy, democrats, republicans, and independents alike all dialed negative when McCain was on the attack.

I think Senator Obama was calm, cool, and very presidential.

McCain Flip-Flops on Debate

Sanford — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 12:51:35 EDT

So, first McCain says, "If there's no deal, then I'm taking my ball and going home."

Now he says, "Even though there's no deal, I'm going to the debate."

FLIP FLOPPER!

7 Houses, and now 13 cars? Oh yeah, he's really one of us.

Sanford — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 20:45:07 EDT

Dems seize on McCain's 13 cars Posted: 05:50 PM ET
From CNN Ticker Producer Alexander Mooney
Democrats are seizing on a report the McCains own at least 13 cars.

(CNN) — Democrats eager to portray John McCain as out of touch with average Americans and as a flip-flopper seized on a report Sunday the Arizona senator and his wife, Cindy, own more than a dozen cars — including several foreign-made automobiles.

A Newsweek article published on the magazine's Web Site Sunday said registration records show the McCains currently own 13 cars — two of which are foreign-made: a Honda and a Volkswagen. That appears to contradict the Republican presidential nominee's past statements he only buys cars made in America. (Cindy McCain also drives a Lexus and daughter Meghan owns a Toyota Prius, but neither are registered to the McCains.)

Newsweek also reported Barack Obama owns one car: a Ford Escape Hybrid.

In a quickly-arranged conference call organized by the Democratic National Committee, United Auto Worker Union President Ron Gettelfinger — an Obama supporter — said the registration records show McCain is not being truthful with Americans and undermining autoworkers.

"The last thing we need is a presidential candidate who undermines autoworkers, and these days it seems that John McCain is doing just exactly that," he said. "When he's in the Midwest, he tells voters he supports the industry, when he is in other states he brags about buying a foreign car, as he did with the Prius." (It is not clear if McCain or his daughter bought the Prius)

Gettelfinger also pointed to comments McCain made in an interview with Detroit TV station WXYZ, saying, "I've bought American literally all my life and I'm proud."

"That's really a nice campaign line," Gettelfinger said of the comments. "But it turns out that John McCain wasn't being straight with the people of Detroit, or the state of Michigan, or our country as a matter of effect," adding later, "The American auto industry and the American voters deserve a president who will be straight with them.”

For the record, Honda has four major automobile and engine plants in the United States employing more than 25,000 Americans, according to its Web site. Volkswagen is scheduled to open a plant in Tennessee in 2011 that is expected to employ 2,000 people, the AP reported in July.

Newsweek's report comes a month after McCain now-infamously could not name how many houses he owned in an interview with Politico. The publication later reported he owns at least eight properties.

Wait, I don't understand?

Sanford — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 17:43:58 EDT

Didn't McCain tell us that the surge has succeeded? I guess it depends on your definition of the word "has".

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- At least six people were killed and 50 wounded when a suicide car bomber apparently staged a traffic accident to draw more victims to the explosion.

Saleh Bayati, 17 , is treated for injuries from Saturday's suicide bombing in Tal Afar.

The suicide attack happened around midday Saturday at an outdoor market in Tal Afar in northern Iraq, an Iraqi Interior Ministry official said.
The bomber got into a traffic accident and began arguing with the driver of another car, the official said. He detonated his car bomb as a crowd gathered around the shouting men, he said.
Police said the attack happened in the same market where a car bombing killed more than 24 people last month.
It comes as Muslims observe the holy month of Ramadan, a time when markets are busier than usual with people shopping for food and other items in preparation for the breaking of the daily fast at dusk.
Tal Afar, a largely Turkmen city near the Syrian border, is part of Nineveh province. Iraqi troops, backed by U.S. forces, launched an operation to crack down on al Qaeda and other Sunni insurgents in the province in May.
Also Saturday, the head of security for Iraq's minister of justice was wounded in an explosion in Baghdad. Lt. Safiih al-Zaboun was driving to his home when an explosive device attached to his car detonated, the Interior Ministry official said.
Other developments
• In Baghdad on Sunday, four roadside bombs wounded eight police officers and five civilians.
• North of Baghdad, in Diyala's provincial capital of Baquba, a roadside bomb targeting an Iraqi police patrol killed one policeman Saturday morning.
• South of Baquba, two men and a woman were killed when a roadside bomb struck the car they were traveling in on Saturday.

Politics On Hold on September 11th

Sanford — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 19:14:18 EDT

Joint Statement from John McCain and Barack Obama

ARLINGTON, VA -- Today, John McCain and Barack Obama issued the following statement on coming together to mark the seventh anniversary of the 9/11 attacks:

"On September 11, 2008, we will join together to mark the seventh anniversary of the 9/11 attacks at Ground Zero.

"All of us came together on 9/11 -- not as Democrats or Republicans -- but as Americans. In smoke-filled corridors and on the steps of the Capitol; at blood banks and at vigils -- we were united as one American family. On Thursday, we will put aside politics and come together to renew that unity, to honor the memory of each and every American who died, and to grieve with the families and friends who lost loved ones. We will also give thanks for the firefighters, police, and emergency responders who set a heroic example of selfless service, and for the men and women who serve today in defense of the freedom and security that came under attack in New York City, at the Pentagon, and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania."

###

Bill O'Reilly All But Endorses Senator Obama

Sanford — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 11:18:30 EDT

Senator Obama walked into the lions' den last week... Fox News O'Reilly Factor.

The first part of the interview was shown on Thursday, just before McCain's speech. The rest of the interview will be shown on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.

Obviously, O'Reilly's goal was to attack Senator Obama; it is, of course, F-word News.

What I saw from the 1st part, which can be seen HERE, Senator Obama handled himself quite well. Now, I'm sure that there were some scary moments that we'll see next week. But check out what O'Reilly wrote on his website about the interview. Coming from Ultra-Right Wing Bill O'Reilly, this is just short of an endorsement-

CHATTING WITH OBAMA
By Bill O'Reilly for BillOReilly.com
Friday, September 5, 2008

Like him or not, you have to give Barack Obama credit for waging a smart, focused campaign. Destroying the Clinton machine was a major achievement and so was putting together a successful convention in Denver. Obama is now firmly a part of U.S. history, no matter what happens in the presidential election.

The problem some Americans continue to have with the Senator is that he is long on charisma but short on detail. This frightens some voters. Who the heck is this guy, anyway? So when Obama finally agreed to speak to me this week, specifics were on my mind.

First, the man. The Barack Obama I witnessed is self-confident, determined and driven. He was acutely aware of his surroundings from the moment he entered the room. He looks you in the eye and touches your shoulder. He understands how to connect one-on-one.

As far as philosophy goes, Senator Obama is convinced that the federal government should be in control of income distribution and, to some extent, should regulate the free marketplace. That is a classic liberal position, and Obama promotes it well.

The Senator also believes that poor Americans have a basic right to free health care and monetary supplements from the government with no strings attached. The American substance abuser, for example, would derive the same benefit as a hard working, laid off worker would. Again, classic liberalism. No judgments made regarding entitlements.

So, if Barack Obama does become president, there will definitely be change. His left-wing base will demand it, and he will come through. You can decide if that's change we should believe in, but keep in mind that the unintended consequences of government interference in the marketplace are impossible to predict. Free markets have a way of chafing under government imposition.

On the foreign policy front, Obama has convinced me that he is tough but cautious. He rose up quickly because he vehemently opposed the Iraq war. But now I see a man who understands the victory that has taken place in Iraq. I don't believe he wants to screw that up. I could be wrong.

After going mano-a-mano with Obama on television, I am also persuaded that he is a sincere guy—that he wants the best for all Americans. He's an ideologue, but not a blind one. He understands that his story is incredible, and, I have come to believe, he is grateful to the American system for allowing it happen.

It is true that we don't know whether Senator Obama has the ability to solve complex problems, but you can say that about all presidential contenders.

Like most politicians, Obama has used guile and good luck to accumulate his power. He can be ruthless, kind, unfair, and generous. In short, he's a real person trying to achieve an unreal position—that of the most powerful person in the world.

God help him.

Jack Cafferty's Wife Passes Away

Sanford — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 16:18:55 EDT

Anyone who watches CNN knows that Jack Cafferty is Senator Obama's biggest advocate. He doesn't try to hide it. I once blogged that he should be on Obama's VP Short List.

Well, CNN just reported that Jack's wife, Carol, passed away suddenly and unexpectedly this morning. Cafferty credits Carol for turning his life around when it was spiraling out of control.

During this year's political season, my fiance and I have looked forward to The Cafferty File each day. Over the last months, we have felt like Jack has been 'our voice', sometimes making a point on CNN minutes after one of us made the same point at the dinner table (we think CNN may be bugging our house).

Our deepest sympathies and prayers go to Jack and his family.

McCain Can't Get Anyone to Let Him Use Their Music

Sanford — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 07:39:56 EDT

First Jackson Browne, now Heart-

Heart condemns McCain-Palin use of 'Barracuda' Posted: 12:01 AM ET Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart.
ST. PAUL, Minnesota (CNN) — Blasting through the Republican convention hall is the 1977 hit "Barracuda" by rock band Heart.

It's a shout-out to Sarah Palin. When she played basketball in high school, the soon-to-be Republican vice presidential nominee earned the nickname "Sarah barracuda" for her fierce competitiveness.

Some of her opponents revived the "Sarah barracuda" nickname after she became mayor of her hometown, Wasilla, in 1996, defeating a three-term incumbent.

UPDATE: Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart said Thursday night that Universal Music Publishing and Sony BMG have sent a cease and desist notice to the McCain-Palin campaign over their use of 'Barracuda.'

"We have asked the Republican campaign publicly not to use our music. We
hope our wishes will be honored," the group said in a statement that said they "condemn" the use of the song at the Republican convention.

Senator Clinton's Statement

Sanford — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 23:20:04 EDT

Posted: 11:02 PM ET

Statement of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton
Thursday, Sep 4, 2008

The two party conventions showcased vastly different directions for our country. Senator Obama and Senator Biden offered the new ideas and positive change America needs and deserves after eight years of failed Republican leadership. Senator McCain and Governor Palin do not.

After listening to all the speeches this week, I heard nothing that suggests the Republicans are ready to fix the economy for middle class families, provide quality affordable health care for all Americans, guarantee equal pay for equal work for women, restore our nation's leadership in a complex world or tackle the myriad of challenges our country faces. So, to slightly amend my comments from Denver: NO WAY, NO HOW, NO McCAIN-PALIN.

Thank You Sarah Palin

Sanford — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 23:12:43 EDT

After Palin speech, Obama has record $10 million day Posted: 08:50 PM ET Sen. Obama spoke about change in Pennsylvania Thursday.

(CNN) – Barack Obama's campaign for president has raised $10 million since Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin spoke Wednesday night, the campaign announced, calling it a "one-day record."

Palin, the governor of Alaska, launched harsh attacks on Obama, accusing him of being two-faced and a political lightweight with no significant legislative accomplishments.

"Coverage of the Palin attacks on the news this evening just pushed us over $10 million," Obama spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in an e-mail to reporters Wednesday night.

The Republican Party announced earlier in the day it had raised $1 million in the wake of Palin's speech.

Protesters in the Hall During McCain's Speech

Sanford — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 23:03:35 EDT

'U.S.A.' chant is code to drown out protesters Posted: 10:40 PM ET
From CNN's Candy Crowley, CNN's Dana Bash, CNN's Ed Henry

ST. PAUL, Minnesota (CNN) – In response to early rumors that demonstrators might try to interrupt Republican presidential nominee John McCain's acceptance speech Thursday night, a number of delegations agreed to chant "U.S.A." in order to quell the sound of protesters.

"There's word of a possible demonstration coming. If it does, the chant is 'USA, USA'," a floor whip was overheard telling members in the New York delegation.

Similar whispers were heard from the Alaska delegation clear across to the Louisiana delegation on the other side of the hall only moments before McCain began speaking.

On at least three occasions during the early part of his speech, members of the audience began chanting "U.S.A." in response to protesters, who were then escorted out of the hall.

In one such case, McCain weighed in telling the crowd not to be distracted “by the static…Americans want us to stop yelling at each other.”

He Just Wants to be Obama

Sanford — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 22:09:05 EDT

Remember during the primaries, when Senator Obama was the first candidate to not have his name on the podium when he spoke? Bill Maher joked about it once, saying he wanted to vote for Senator Change.

Now, everybody does it. McCain just wants to be Obama, and he's bitter that he can't be.

Attack their Policy Message

Sanford — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 13:18:02 EDT

By Hilary Rosen
CNN Contributor

Editor's note: CNN contributor Hilary Rosen is the political director and Washington editor at large of HuffingtonPost.com, which describes itself as an Internet newspaper and focuses on politics from a liberal point of view. A longtime Democratic adviser, Rosen is a former CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America and supported Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign. Click here for a rival view.

Hilary Rosen says she empathizes with Sarah Palin's personal choices but opposes her political views.

(CNN) -- Warning! This pundit isn't feeling the same way as many of my colleagues about Sarah Palin. She is being attacked for her lack of experience for the job and for whether she should be putting her family first instead of her career.

This just isn't that unusual in my book. And the more it goes on, the more uncomfortable I feel with that message.

Let's reflect. In her acceptance speech, we saw a woman who was compelling, charming and aggressively partisan. She succeeded in demonstrating that she is a regular mom who came to government to make a difference.

And she had that crowd in the convention hall eating out of her hands. Celebrity? It will be hard for the Republicans to attack Sen. Barack Obama for his celebrity now that they have one of their own.

A superstar of the radical right was made Wednesday night. And she may also have made some headway with those who buy her folksiness without knowing the extreme nature of her actual policy views. Read the transcript of Palin's speech

So where does this leave us as Democrats in making the case against Sarah Palin and her running mate for president? What is the choice now for the American people? There is a really strong case to be made against the McCain/Palin ticket and Democrats need to make it the right way, right away.

I am a woman who someone took a chance on several years ago when they gave me a job that had only previously been done by old white guys. Experience? How do you get any if no one takes a chance on you? And the decision to take a chance can be instinctive, as John McCain said.

And what about the argument that she is a negligent mother who will be distracted from her important role? I am a mother who constantly feels the pressure from others about whether I am fit to be a parent, whether I put my kids first often enough and whether my children get enough of my attention. Who has the right to judge my family?

My grandmother always said, "You can't tell time on someone else's clock." Judgments about people's personal lives are better left unsaid and unrealized.

So why then do I think that Sarah Palin would be a terrible vice president? Because I also think that John McCain would be a terrible president.

I don't care about how Sarah Palin or John McCain take care of their families. I care about how their policy choices affect my family and millions of other Americans.

McCain and Palin get their health insurance paid for by the government (hers in Alaska and his in Washington). Yet they oppose giving the nearly 46 million uninsured Americans the same access to affordable health care.

John McCain's kids don't have to worry about paying for college. Yet he has opposed every single education support program to help others.

McCain and Palin say they will stand up to oil companies. Yet the only energy policy they support gives millions of dollars in tax breaks to oil companies to do more drilling and he has opposed every piece of federal legislation to explore alternative fuel sources.

McCain and Palin say they will revamp how Washington does business. Yet his campaign is filled with lobbyists and she has cooperated with Sen. Ted Stevens in funneling federal money for useless projects in Alaska for years. And McCain and Palin have no solutions for Americans worrying about their jobs in a fragile economy.

McCain and Palin want us to leave their families alone. Yet they want to make rules for our families by eliminating our right to make our own choices over abortion, eliminate our access to family planning education or domestic partner benefits, and our freedom from discrimination.

They want to control what our kids learn in school about sex and about science. In short, through the policies they promote and the judges they support, they want the government to have more control over our private lives than at any time in history.

McCain and Palin now say their campaign is about change, too. Yet the only real change they have proposed is a change from a suit to a skirt in the vice president's office and one man fighting a misplaced war for another in the Oval Office.

That seems to me to be the right reason to oppose them in November. It's not the process or the people, it's what they represent. This unconventional choice of a vice presidential nominee by John McCain won't result in a win in November, because McCain and Palin are the wrong choice for the country.

My 1st Yard Sign!

Sanford — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 20:13:53 EDT

UPS just delivered our Obama '08 Yard Sign, and the fiance and I just put it up! I've never had a yard sign before, and I'm so excited to have it displayed proudly!

We're both fired up!

Now we're watching the RNC (cause I just gotta see Bush try to talk), wearing our Obama shirts and buttons!

McCain Camp Pissed at CNN, Pull Interview

Sanford — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 16:37:27 EDT

CNN is reporting that the McCain Camp, upset by THIS INTERVIEW, have cancelled McCain's scheduled interview tonite on Larry King Live.

Now, who's whining?

Why Palin Fits Right In With McCain

Sanford — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 13:17:03 EDT

A McCain speech: "Noun... Verb... I was a POW."

A Palin speech: "Noun... Verb... Bridge to Nowhere."

And BTW, enough with the GOP talking suits answering every question about Palin: "Asking that question is offensive to all women." It's like, all questions about McCain are off limits because he's a former POW, and all questions about Palin are off limits because she's a woman". I just saw James Carville trying to defend himself to some GOP Representative, saying, "Hey, I supported a woman for the Democratic Nomination! Don't tell me that I'm offending women!"

It's like bizzaro-world over there.

Executive Experience???

Sanford — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 13:05:01 EDT

I am getting such a kick out of the GOP spin about Palin's experience. She has "2 years of executive experience, more than Barack Obama". Oh dear.

Can't the Obama camp respond, "Well, Senator Obama was President of the Harvard Law Review, which has more members than there are people in Alaska. And he probably had more tough decisions to make than her."

Why is the GOP Convention Wasting Another Day?

Sanford — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 12:31:37 EDT

So, the GOP is ramping up Day 2 of the convention, now that Gustav is over.

The theme of tonight is "Who is John McCain"???

Why waste another day. We all know everything there is to know about him-

He was a POW. End of story.

From what I've seen from his camp over the past 18 months, that's all we really need to know, right? So let's all move on, and talk about how being in charge of the Alaska National Guard is supposed to prove that Palin has foreign policy experience.

CNN's Brown Kicks a McCain Talking Suit's Butt

Sanford — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 12:21:20 EDT

I know, it's Campbell Brown, I couldn't believe it either. But she really does a number on this guy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYYiw_y2qDI

Bring it On!

Sanford — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 23:27:24 EDT

Wow!!!

A perfect speech! There are no words!

I'm so happy I DVRed it. I'm keeping it forever!

Hey John, your 15 minutes of fame are up.

Here's a Random Question about the DNC-

Sanford — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 18:20:10 EDT

Does anyone know the name of the female voice that has been introducing the speakers throughout the Convention?

She reminds me of the voice that you hear just prior to Reflections of Earth at Disney's EPCOT, announcing that the fireworks will begin "in just 5 minutes..."

Ewww, I think I'm Going to Be Sick

Sanford — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 17:52:07 EDT

McCain to extend his congratulations to Obama in special ad Posted: 05:27 PM ET
From CNN Ticker Producer Alexander Mooney
McCain is congratulating Obama in a campaign ad Thursday.

(CNN) – The McCain campaign has finally released the television ad it called "historic" and "exciting" earlier Thursday.

Set to air in key campaign states to coincide with Barack Obama's formal acceptance of the Democratic presidential nomination, the Arizona senator is featured looking directly into the camera to congratulate his presidential rival.

"Senator Obama, this is truly a good day for America," McCain says in the ad. "Too often the achievements of our opponents go unnoticed. So I wanted to stop and say, congratulations."

"How perfect that your nomination would come on this historic day," McCain also says in reference to the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s 'I Have a Dream' speech. "Tomorrow, we'll be back at it. But tonight Senator, job well done."

The upbeat ad is a marked departure from the slew of negative commercials the McCain campaign has released all week as it aims to divert media attention away from the Democratic National Convention.

Those ads have directly questioned Obama's readiness to be president, and most feature past criticisms from his chief primary opponent, Hillary Clinton — prompting the New York senator to directly distance her self from them earlier in the week. But Evan Tracey of TNS Media Intelligence/CMAG, CNN's consultant on television ad spending, reports the majority of those ads have yet to air in most battleground TV markets.

A Great Speech

Sanford — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 08:17:58 EDT

Major props to Senator Clinton for a great speech.

As usual, the talking heads over at CNN (Fox News' new sister station) are doing their usual spin, saying that the speech didn't say enough about what Senator Obama's qualifications are, but instead focusing on how her supporters now need to support Senator Obama over Grampa Munster.

Hey braniacs, that's what the speech was supposed to do! Other speeches have been focusing on Senator Obama's qualifications, but you folks at CNN were so busy interviewing Charles Barkley, and weren't listening.

HRC's speech had exactly the right message. Your choice is now simple, Obama vs McCain. And a non-vote by a HRC supporter is a vote for McCain (she said it herself, every vote is needed). Anyone who votes for McCain (or doesn't vote) is now going against the wishes of Senator Clinton.

I can not, for the life of me, see how any HRC supporter, as upset as they might be that Senator Clinton is not the nominee, would now say, 'Hey Hillary, I don't care about your wishes'.

She made it clear, "I want you to ask yourselves, were you in this campaign just for me? Or were you in it for that young soldier and the others like him?" If you really believe in what HRC stands for, your choice is clear. Anyone who votes for McCain, or does not vote, can not call themselves a true HRC supporter. I understand that it's tough for them to get their hands around that, but as Senator Clinton passionately said last night, "It's time".

"No way. No how. No McCain".

For anyone still out there who thinks, we survived Bush, we'll survive McCain. There's a number of big differences. Here's one that you may not hear a lot of- Keep saying these 3 words: "Roe v. Wade". 5-4 is better than 6-3 against, and that's what you're looking at in this next administration.

As Senator Clinton said, this is a pivotal time in our country. I know we've heard that before, but this time it really is pivotal. For our kids, for our grandkids, for our country's future, there is only one choice. Believe in CHANGE. Senator Obama will bring it.

Four More Months!

Sanford — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 21:51:07 EDT

Four More Months!

Finally! NYT Says What We've All Wanted To!

Sanford — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 13:16:36 EDT

NYT Op-Ed Columnist
Too Much of a Bad Thing
By MAUREEN DOWD
Published: August 24, 2008
WASHINGTON
The New York Times

My mom did not approve of men who cheated on their wives. She called them “long-tailed rats.”
During the 2000 race, she listened to news reports about John McCain confessing to dalliances that caused his first marriage to fall apart after he came back from his stint as a P.O.W. in Vietnam.
I figured, given her stringent moral standards, that her great affection for McCain would be dimmed.
“So,” I asked her, “what do you think of that?”
“A man who lives in a box for five years can do whatever he wants,” she replied matter-of-factly.
I was startled, but it brought home to me what a powerful get-out-of-jail-free card McCain had earned by not getting out of jail free.
His brutal hiatus in the Hanoi Hilton is one of the most stirring narratives ever told on the presidential trail — a trail full of heroic war stories. It created an enormous credit line of good will with the American people. It also allowed McCain, the errant son of the admiral who was the commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific during Vietnam — his jailers dubbed McCain the “Crown Prince” — to give himself some credit.
“He has been preoccupied with escaping the shadow of his father and establishing his own image and identity in the eyes of others,” read a psychiatric evaluation in his medical files. “He feels his experiences and performance as a P.O.W. have finally permitted this to happen.”
The ordeal also gave a more sympathetic cast to his carousing. As Robert Timberg wrote in “John McCain: An American Odyssey,” “What is true is that a number of P.O.W.’s, in those first few years after their release, often acted erratically, their lives pockmarked by drastic mood swings and uncharacteristic behavior before achieving a more mellow equilibrium.” Timberg said Hemingway’s line that people were stronger in the broken places was not always right.
So it’s hard to believe that John McCain is now in danger of exceeding his credit limit on the equivalent of an American Express black card. His campaign is cheapening his greatest strength — and making a mockery of his already dubious claim that he’s reticent to talk about his P.O.W. experience — by flashing the P.O.W. card to rebut any criticism, no matter how unrelated. The captivity is already amply displayed in posters and TV advertisements.
The Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell, the pastor who married Jenna Bush and who is part of a new Christian-based political action committee supporting Obama, recently criticized the joke McCain made at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally encouraging Cindy to enter the topless Miss Buffalo Chip contest. The McCain spokesman Brian Rogers brought out the bottomless excuse, responding with asperity that McCain’s character had been “tested and forged in ways few can fathom.”
When the Obama crowd was miffed to learn that McCain was in a motorcade rather than in a “cone of silence” while Obama was being questioned by Rick Warren, Nicolle Wallace of the McCain camp retorted, “The insinuation from the Obama campaign that John McCain, a former prisoner of war, cheated is outrageous.”
When Obama chaffed McCain for forgetting how many houses he owns, Rogers huffed, “This is a guy who lived in one house for five and a half years — in prison.”
As Sam Stein notes in The Huffington Post: “The senator has even brought his military record into discussion of his music tastes. Explaining that his favorite song was ‘Dancing Queen’ by Abba, he offered that his knowledge of music ‘stopped evolving when his plane intercepted a surface-to-air missile.’ ‘Dancing Queen,’ however, was produced in 1975, eight years after McCain’s plane was shot down.”
The Kerry Swift-boat attacks in 2004 struck down the off-limits signs that were traditionally on a candidate’s military service. Many Democrats are willing to repay the favor, and Republicans clearly no longer see war medals as sacrosanct.
In a radio interview last week, Representative Terry Everett, an Alabama Republican, let loose with a barrage at the Democrat John Murtha, a decorated Vietnam War veteran who is the head of the House defense appropriations subcommittee, calling him “cut-and-run John Murtha” and an “idiot.”
“And don’t talk to me about him being an ex-marine,” Everett said. “Lord, that was 40 years ago. A lot of stuff can happen in 40 years.”
The real danger to the McCain crew in overusing the P.O.W. line so much that it’s a punch line is that it will give Obama an opening for critical questions:
While McCain’s experience was heroic, did it create a worldview incapable of anticipating the limits to U.S. military power in Iraq? Did he fail to absorb the lessons of Vietnam, so that he is doomed to always want to refight it? Did his captivity inform a search-and-destroy, shoot-first-ask-questions-later, “We are all Georgians,” mentality?

NYT- Clinton Didn't Want to be Vetted

Sanford — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 23:17:13 EDT

Hillary Rodham Clinton... asked not to be vetted unless she was going to be picked, the two officials said, speaking on a condition of anonymity to describe the private discussions.

LINK

The 3 AM Call

Sanford — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 03:35:12 EDT

Well, I got my 3 AM call!

It said Obama-Biden!

I'm Not The Guy, Either

Sanford — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 21:51:44 EDT

I would like to publicly announce that I have not been offered the VP slot by Senator Obama.

John... John... John...

Sanford — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 21:13:17 EDT

... Did you think that nobody was keeping track?

By now, we've all read how McCain ripped-off the Cross in the Dirt Story.

But when he tells it, he can't even get his facts or his time-line straight!

Are we just stupid? Is the the WWE audience that he's playing to?

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/8/17/15300/5629/128/569386

Change vs More of the Same

Sanford — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 10:39:21 EDT

That, to me, was the theme of last night's 'forum'.

I couldn't figure out why I felt a bit uncomfortable last night watching the forum. Then, at about 4am, it hit me. Senator Obama is unlike any candidate for President than we've ever seen before.

McCain looked very 'presidential' to the 'political experts' on CNN last night (and boy, do I use that term loosly). I wondered aloud, did they see the same forum I did, because I thought it was a slam-dunk for Senator Obama?

But early this morning, I realized why- McCain stared right at the audience, began every sentence with "My friends...", and gave short, canned, speechy answers to every question.

In other words, he sounded just like every other President I ever heard speak.

Now, is that a good thing? Perhaps. Unless you believe that this country needs CHANGE.

Senator Obama, on the other hand, was described by the 'political experts' as stuttery, thinking too hard on the answers before speaking.

Oh dear, heaven forbid we have a candidate that thinks before he speaks!

Instead of giving a speech, Senator Obama had a conversation. He didn't just say, "Yes and yes" as McCain did. He didn't just say, "My failed first marriage", and then not expand on that. Senator Obama was telling us what he thought, and why he thought that.

It did make me uncomfortable, until I realized why...

He is truly the candidate of CHANGE.

McCain was all about "Yay us! We're America! We can do no wrong! Everybody will do exactly what we say because we're #1!" (BTW- How's that mindset working for you in Russia, John?)

McCain showed that he was the stagnant candidate. More of the same.

Senator Obama was about "We have serious problems in America right now, and we need an overhaul of the way that we do things. If you're looking for a cheerleader, I'm not him. But if you're looking for someone to take the road not taken with you, let's fix this mess together."

So, I think that the Obama campaign may need to remind America of this fact, because there's a possibility that the message has gotten lost in all the McCain attacks. The campaign needs to hammer home, the way Senator Obama approaches situations like this forum is going to be different from what you're used to seeing, and that's a good thing, it's part of that CHANGE, it's what we need to be moving towards.

Oh, and BTW- I have always honored McCain's service to our country and sacrifice. But if I have to hear him bring Vietnam up one more time, I'm going to be sick. John- It was 40 years ago (and 2 wives ago)! Move on!

BTW2- Candy Crowley of CNN needs to stop showing her PUMA-ness. Candy, just because your candidate isn't the Democratic candidate, doesn't mean that you shouldn't at least try to be impartial.

Then what was he answering?

Sanford — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 20:42:04 EDT

So, my question to the McCain campaign would be- If he "didn't hear the question", what did he think he was answering by saying, "gotta keep your sense of humor"? It's not like he saying, "Prune juice," or "Blue," where it's obvious that the answer didn't match the question. Just seems like a heck of a coincidence. I hope someone in the media has the guts to follow up on it.

It's like this- Ask yourselves this question, "Do you want a President who answers questions he didn't hear? What if the question is- 'Mr. President, should we launch our nuclear arsenal?""

Campaign says McCain didn't hear question on attack book
Posted: 07:19 PM ET
From CNN Ticker Producer Alexander Mooney
McCain isn't commenting on Corsi's new book.
(CNN) — John McCain's campaign is denying Democratic charges the presumptive Republican nominee flippantly dismissed a new book attacking Barack Obama that includes several documented falsehoods.
Asked by the Associated Press earlier Friday what he though of author Jerome Corsi's new book, "The Obama Nation," McCain said, "gotta keep your sense of humor."
Related: Book blasted for 'vicious innuendo'
Those comments were immediately slammed by the Obama campaign and the Democratic National Committee, which e-mailed its 3.4 million supporters declaring, "John McCain thinks smears and lies are funny."
"Despite pledging to run a respectful campaign, McCain is just standing by while Corsi and his publisher, former Dick Cheney aide Mary Matalin, poison this presidential race," read the e-mail from DNC Rapid Response Team.
Watch: Is Obama being swift-boated?
But McCain spokeswoman Brooke Buchanan said later Thursday the Arizona senator actually did not hear the question, and would not be commenting on the book.
The book, which is expected to debut No. 1 on the New York Times bestseller list, repeats many long-discredited falsehoods about the Illinois senator, including the claim that he is Muslim.
Corsi, who has said he's on a “mission” to take down Obama, also co-wrote "Unfit for Command" — the 2004 book that spawned the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth attacks against then-Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry.

Military Supporting Senator Obama

Sanford — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 18:52:36 EDT

From CNN's The Cafferty File:

August 15, 2008
Why do military donations favor Obama over McCain?
Posted: 04:50 PM ET

New report shows troops serving abroad have given almost six times as much money to Obama

FROM CNN’s Jack Cafferty:

When it comes to the money race, it appears Barack Obama is ahead on the battlefield. Members of the military are donating more money to Obama than to the military man John McCain. A lot more money.

A nonpartisan organization called the “Center for Responsive Politics” reports U.S. troops serving abroad have given almost six times as much money to the Democrat Obama as they have to the Republican McCain.

These are pretty shocking results when you consider that historically military donations favor the Republican. Also, McCain is a decorated war hero who spent almost 5 years as a POW in Vietnam. He graduated from the U-S Naval Academy and was a naval aviator for 22 years. His military experience is a big part of his candidacy. Obama has never served a day in the military.

It might just mean that Obama’s message of being against the war in Iraq is resonating with the people who have been called on to fight it. Obama says he would pull out all combat troops from Iraq within 16 months.

McCain has been a staunch supporter of the war and insists the U.S. will only withdraw troops when the conditions on the ground are right. At one point, McCain suggested the United States could be in Iraq for 100 years.
Here’s my question to you: Why are members of the military donating more money to Barack Obama despite John McCain’s military background?

Interested to know which ones made it on air? (All responses read on the air are from veterans or currently-serving posters)-

Michael from Greenfield, Wisconsin writes:
As a Vietnam era ex-Marine veteran with a son who is in the Army and was wounded in Iraq in 2003, I would never give a penny to John McCain. I personally do not know any other veterans who are donating to McCain either. Jack, veterans hate war, wrong wars, and the people who talk so cavalierly about waging them. Usually those who never served during war, or never served at all, are the ones who talk so loosely about war. The veterans who I knew that liked war were either stupid, crazy, homicidal, or all of the above. Where does that leave McCain?

Ronald writes:
As a resident of Arizona and a combat veteran, I have had occasion to contact “our” senator on a matter of interest to veterans. Not only did his staff do nothing, they didn’t even have the courtesy to acknowledge they received my emails (2). McCain can say he is “always there” for veterans, but that is just hot air. Contrary to what George Bush said, both he and McCain opposed the new GI bill.

Shana writes:
As an active duty sailor who has been in the Navy for the entire Bush administration, I am tired - sick and tired of fighting in a war I opposed from the beginning. I did donate to Obama’s campaign because the U.S. needs change and not more of McBush. Who wants to spend 100 years in Iraq if need be? Not me. If McSame is elected, I would have spent my whole 20 years in the military in Iraq.

David from Tampa, Florida writes:
Jack, The reason is the lower ranks, guys with their butts on the line doing the dirty work, want to return home quickly. They will support that candidate who will extract them from harm’s ways, they hope. Higher-ranking officers, who spend most of their time brown-nosing for their next promotion and are in the rear areas and pretty much out of harm’s way, support those they believe will increase their lot in life. Respectfully a Vietnam era vet.

To read all the responses:

LINK

Folks, relax. It's going to be fine.

Sanford — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 19:56:54 EDT

Roll calls have happened forever. Here are three-

JFK-Johnson
Carter-Ted Kennedy
Clinton-Brown

It's not going to change anything. The superdelegates have Senator Obama's back. If the Clinton supporters need her name in nomination to feel 'catharsis', if they need to watch her lose to Senator Obama again, so be it.

While we're at it, nobody freak out next week when the credentials committee meets and decides to restore Michigan and Florida's full vote. Senator Obama sent them a letter week ago asking them to do so. It's all part of the plan.

It's all going to be ok. HRC will be nominated and make her speech, Senator Obama will win by 300-400 delegates, and away we'll go. And no HRC supporter in their right mind will be able to continue to argue that HRC hasn't had every opportunity to make her point.

So don't panic. It's happened before. It's part of the process. It may indeed have the planned result of unity. Senator Obama's speech will be one for the ages.

And then, the fun will really start. Just watch, the Obama campaign will step it up in September and October, where it really counts.

The Most Terrifying McCain Video

Sanford — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 15:47:44 EDT

This man can not be allowed to become President.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdJUCU1UH2w

The First Foreign Affairs Test

Sanford — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 12:27:18 EDT

So, I listened to both Senator Obama's and McCain's statements about the Russian-Georgian conflict.

Both men said the same things, but it's how they said it that I found telling...

Here's what I heard from Senator Obama:

Russia should accept the Georgian offer of cease fire,

Russian peace-keeping troops should be replaced by genuine international peace-keeping troops,

The global community should come together to assist in mediating the situation, led by the French and Fins, and the US should support this global effort,

We want Russia to be the partner in the world society that we know they can be, but we need them to take the necessary steps, so that we can stop the bloodshed and find a cooperative peaceful solution. Remember, with great global roles, comes great responsibility.

This is what I heard McCain say...

The US should convene an emergency session of the US Security Council,

The US should call for economic sanctions against Russia,

This invasion is a moral AND STRATEGIC issue for the US... it's all about oil.

Russia, get out now, or the big bad US will make you. (and we're gonna take your lunch money while we're at it). We'll strengthen all your neighbors like Turkey and the Ukrane (and we'll be in another cold war before you know it),

Remember Russian leaders, the that benefits that you enjoy by being part of the "civilized world" REQUIRE you to follow what we think is right.

If you were Russia, who would you listen to?

This is the fundamental problem with John McCain. He is still under the delusion that the US is the single world leader, and that everyone will cowtow to us.

If we're such a world leader, why does it seem that no one paying attention to what we want? Could it be that:

We're in a recession (mental or otherwise)?
We are sending millions of dollars to other countries for oil?
Companies are moving to other countries and taking the jobs with them?
India, China, and Japan is where the technology is?
It's hard to talk about Russia invading a sovereign nation when we did it TWICE in a year?
We're demonstrating every day how stretched out our military is, so no one is worried about us?
In short, we've become dependent on the rest of the world?

McCain is all about sword-rattling. "Do what we say, or else!" It's the old way of doing things (which is why his statement and Bush's were so similar).

We can't afford to play around here. We need a "global leader", not a bully.

We need Barack Obama.

This Just In!

Sanford — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 19:37:01 EDT

The McCain Camp is putting out lies about Senator Obama in their commercials!

I know, I was shocked as well.

Obama’s Convention Speech Sold Out

Sanford — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 13:40:20 EDT

Obama’s convention speech sold out

Posted: 01:03 PM ET

(CNN) — Tickets for Barack Obama’s Democratic National Convention speech at the Invesco Field in Denver sold out within 24 hours, according to campaign officials.

In early July, convention organizers announced the Illinois senator will officially accept the Democratic nomination at the 75,000-seat stadium rather than a 20,000-seat hall.

According to the Colorado Campaign for Change, the application process closed Thursday afternoon after more than 60,000 seats were snatched up.

Because of the demand, the campaign has created a wait list for Coloradans hoping to get a chance to attend the August 28 event.

–From CNN’s Emily Sherman

Can't This Guy Just Shut Up?

Sanford — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 19:39:41 EDT

I think that there should be some sort of a disclaimer whenever Bush speaks that hangs underneath him and says, "The words of George Bush do not necessarily express the opinions of the American people." I can't believe that this guy is making political statements about China, while on his way to China. Not that I don't think there are issues to address over there, but there is a time and place, and the Olympics are not it. If I were them, I wouldn't let him into the country.

Bush chides China over human rights

BANGKOK, Thailand (CNN) -- U.S. President George W. Bush expressed "deep concerns" over religious freedom and human rights in China on the eve of the 2008 Beijing Olympics in a wide-ranging Asian policy speech delivered Thursday in Bangkok, Thailand.

President George W. Bush meets with Thailand's Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej Wednesday in Bangkok.

"America stands in firm opposition to China's detention of political dissidents, human rights advocates, and religious activists," Bush said.
"We speak out for a free press, freedom of assembly, and labor rights not to antagonize China's leaders, but because trusting its people with greater freedom is the only way for China to develop its full potential," he said. "And we press for openness and justice not to impose our beliefs but to allow the Chinese people to express theirs."
Despite the harsh critique, Bush praised what has become a "constructive relationship" between the United States and China in trade and diplomacy. He also said that the association "has placed America in a better position to be honest and direct on other issues."
Bush spoke at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Center in Bangkok.
The trip to Asia is Bush's last as president, and he took the opportunity to shine a light on the well-publicized crackdowns on political dissenters in the "people's republic" -- a communist country that has emerged as a symbol of soaring capitalistic growth.
"I have spoken clearly, candidly, and consistently with China's leaders about our deep concerns over religious freedom and human rights," he said. "And I have met repeatedly with Chinese dissidents and religious believers. The United States believes the people of China deserve the fundamental liberty that is the natural right of all human beings."
China cracked down on protests this year in Tibet. Some demonstrators advocated autonomy and greater religious freedom there while others sought outright independence from China.
On Wednesday, four Tibet activists unfurled Tibetan flags and pro-independence banners near National Stadium in Beijing, a main Olympic venue.
Two men in the group scaled electric poles to display the banners, police said, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency. Police took away "four foreigners" -- three men and a woman, it said.
Students for a Free Tibet, a Tibet activist group, issued a statement saying those involved in the demonstration were from the United States and Britain.
According to the group, one of the signs read, "One World, One Dream: Free Tibet" in English, while the second read, "Tibet Will Be Free" in English and "Free Tibet" in Chinese.
The group said the signs were on display for about an hour, but police said it was about 12 minutes. The demonstrators entered China on tourist visas, police said, according to Xinhua.
Meanwhile, the government's reaction to people protesting in northwestern China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, home to a Sunni Muslim ethnic minority, also has generated concerns. The Uygur people in that region are supposed to enjoy autonomy, guaranteed by China's constitution, but some seek independence.
Millions of Han Chinese, the country's dominant ethnic group, have migrated into Xinjiang over the past 60 years, prompting complaints that they dominate local politics, culture and commerce at the Uygurs' expense.
In the Xinjiang city of Kashgar, Chinese paramilitary police beat two Japanese journalists Monday night, hours after a deadly attack that killed 16 police officers, journalist groups said.
China has also been widely criticized for its policies toward Sudan. It has been perceived as backing the African regime and widely accused of gross human rights abuses in a crackdown against citizens in theDarfur region after a rebellion in 2003. The United States has condemned the campaign of killing in Darfur as genocide.
Team Darfur, a group of athletes committed to raising awareness about Darfur, complained that former speedskating gold medalist Joey Cheek had his visa revoked by the Chinese Embassy.
White House spokeswoman Dana Perino, speaking to reporters en route to Thailand, said, "We were disturbed to learn that the Chinese had refused his visa. We are taking the matter very seriously."
She said U.S. diplomats are asking the Chinese to reconsider their actions and emphasized that the administration hopes China changes its mind.
In Thursday's speech, Bush also focused on other issues, including the economic strides in China -- which endured "rampant" poverty three decades ago.
Beijing is "sprinting into the modern era -- covered in skyscrapers, filled with cars, home to international businesses, and hosting the Olympic Games," Bush said.
He said the "growth sparked by China's free market reforms is good for the Chinese people" and that "China's new purchasing power is also good for the world, because it provides an enormous market for exports from across the globe."
Bush urged China to adhere to the "rules of the international economic system" and "act responsibly on issues such as energy, the environment and African development."
He said the United States and China are embarking on "a new strategic economic dialogue," saying they will "discuss ways to ensure long-term growth and widely shared prosperity in both our economies, as well as issues like currency exchange rates and intellectual property rights."
Bush cited two areas of diplomatic cooperation -- the six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear program and the easing of tensions along the Taiwan Strait.

Cutest Thing Ever

Sanford — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 18:51:33 EDT

Senator Obama answering a 7-year old about why he's running for President.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/politics/2008/08/06/sot.obama.asked.why.running.cnn

The Confusing McCain Economic Plan

Sanford — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 17:22:17 EDT

So today, I listened to a McCain speech about his economic plan (I was in the car, and listening to CNN on XM).

There were 2 things I came away with:

First, McCain has a new buzz-word, or rather an old one. He is pushing an "Economic Surge", whatever the heck that means. I guess, he's getting so senile, his campaign wants to simplify things for him... so the answer to everything is "The Surge"... surge in Iraq, surge in the economy, surge in energy, surge in oil profits.

Now, here's the next thing. McCain spent a great deal of time saying that Senator Obama wants to raise taxes. He said, "Raising taxes in a bad economy is about the worst thing you could do."

Here's my question:

Then, when would be a good time to raise taxes, when the economy is good? I've been thinking all afternoon, and I just can't remember the last time that a President said, "The economy is good, prices are down, we have a budget surplus... Now would be a great time to raise taxes!"

And what's worse is, no one in the press is even questioning this statement. It's like they're all saying, "Duh, he's right! We can't raise taxes when it's necessary! Let's hold off."

What??? Huh? Someone needs to explain this to me like I'm 8 years old.

John McCain vs John McCain

Sanford — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 12:30:27 EDT

Obama pokes at McCain over tire-pressure issue

By TOM RAUM, Associated Press

ELKHART, Ind. - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on Wednesday taunted Republican candidate John McCain for agreeing on the importance of keeping tires inflated as an energy-conservation measure after having joined the GOP in mocking the idea.

"It will be interesting to watch this debate between John McCain and John McCain," Obama said as he campaigned in Indiana with Sen. Evan Bayh, widely considered a top-tier candidate for running mate.

When asked about the air-pressure issue during an appearance Tuesday night, McCain said: "I agree with the American Automobile Association. We should all inflate our tires." Obama had noted that keeping tires inflated and cars tuned was endorsed by both NASCAR and AAA and should be part of any comprehensive plan to reduce reliance on imported oil.

However, McCain had spent recent days ridiculing Obama's remarks about tire pressure, telling a motorcycle rally in Sturgis, S.D.: "My opponent doesn't want to drill, he doesn't want nuclear power, he wants you to inflate your tires." The Republican National Committee, meanwhile, poked fun at the idea, sending reporters tire gauges with "Obama Energy Plan" emblazoned on the side.

Obama's joint appearance with Bayh led to considerable speculation that Obama might announce a decision about his choice for vice president. But it was not to be.

Bayh said Obama would bring "a breath of fresh air" to the nation's capital. He said McCain "is not a bad man," but that McCain had some bad policies.

Bayh opened his introduction of Obama by saying he had some "good news" to depart. "In five short months, the Bush administration will be done," Bayh said. A McCain victory, he said, would mean "four more years of what we've had."

Bayh, a former two-term governor and son of former Sen. Birch Bayh, is a former supporter of Hillary Rodham Clinton, has executive experience and sits on the Senate Armed Services and Intelligence committees. Furthermore, Democrats view Indiana — which has not voted for a Democrat for president since 1964 — as competitive this year.

Obama campaigned in Indiana as his campaign released a new television ad that seeks to link McCain to President Bush and questions whether McCain is the political maverick he claims to be. It shows McCain acknowledging that he agrees with Bush on most issues.

The ad also criticizes McCain on three economic issues of concern to middle-class voters: tax breaks for the wealthy, money for oil companies, and tax breaks for companies that send jobs overseas. The ad ends with a smiling McCain and Bush side by side.

McCain's campaign turned out an ad Tuesday in the other direction, suggesting that McCain differs from Bush and the GOP on important issues — without mentioning Bush by name.

In his appearance here, Obama also questioned McCain's claim to being a maverick.

While the Arizona senator has broken with his party on many issues in the past, he "reversed himself on position after position" to secure his party's nomination, Obama asserted.

"That doesn't meet my definition of a maverick."

McCain's campaign "ran an ad saying Washington is broken. No kidding. It took him 26 years to figure it out," Obama said.

Reporter Claims McCain Team Kicked Him Out Because He’s Black

Sanford — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 10:05:38 EDT

First the "Bush=McCain" librarian, now this?

http://www.breitbart.tv/?p=145893

Wait. What???

Sanford — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 09:30:08 EDT

I'm speechless.

Iraq's oil-fueled surplus could hit $80 billion, report says
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Iraq is raking in more money from oil exports than it is spending, amassing a projected four-year budget surplus of up to $80 billion, U.S. auditors reported Tuesday.

Oil accounted for 94 percent of the Iraq's revenue from 2005 to 2007, a U.S. report says.

Leading members of Congress, noting that Washington is paying for reconstruction in Iraq, expressed outrage at the assessment. One called the findings "inexcusable."
"We should not be paying for Iraqi projects while Iraqi oil revenues continue to pile up in the bank, including outrageous profits from $4-a-gallon gas prices in the U.S.," said Sen. Carl Levin, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. "We should require that U.S. taxpayers be reimbursed for the cost of large projects."
Baghdad had a $29 billion budget surplus between 2005 to 2007. With the price of crude roughly doubling in the past year, Iraq's surplus for 2008 is expected to run between $38 billion and $50 billion, according to a report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office.
The United States has put about $48 billion toward reconstruction since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, auditors reported. About $23 billion of that was spent on the oil and electricity industries, water systems and security.
Iraq spent $3.9 billion on those sectors from 2005 through April 2008, according to the GAO, the investigative arm of Congress. The ongoing fighting there, a shortage of trained staff and weak controls have made it difficult for the Iraqi government to spend its surplus on needed projects, the agency's report concluded.
Levin, a Michigan Democrat, has been an outspoken critic of the slow progress of reconstruction and an advocate of a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq. His criticism Tuesday was echoed by Sen. John Warner, a Virginia Republican who is the former chairman and now a leading member of Levin's committee.

"Despite Iraq earning billions of dollars in oil revenue in the past five years, U.S. taxpayer money has been the overwhelming source of Iraq reconstruction funds," Warner said in a joint statement with Levin. "It is time for the sovereign government of Iraq, using its revenues, expenditures and surpluses, to fully assume the responsibility to provide essential services and improve the quality of life for the Iraqi people."
In its written response to the audit report, the Treasury Department said U.S. officials are working with Iraqis to address the issue, "and we believe progress is being made."
"The report shows Iraq's budget surplus is likely to grow significantly over the course of 2008, but it is equally important to realize that spending in Iraq is also increasing," Deputy Assistant Treasury Secretary Andy Baukol wrote to the GAO.
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government submitted a $22 billion supplemental budget to the Iraqi parliament in July, including $8 billion in proposed capital expenditures, Baukol wrote.
The issue raised the hackles of several members of Congress earlier this year -- particularly because Bush administration officials said on the eve of the war that Iraqi oil money would pay for reconstruction.
In 2003, then-Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz told the House Appropriations Committee: "We're dealing with a country that can really finance its own reconstruction, and relatively soon.''
Rep. Henry Waxman, D-California, said Tuesday's report "is going to make a lot of American families very angry."
"The record gas prices they are paying have turned into an economic windfall for Iraq, but the Iraqi government isn't spending the money on rebuilding," said Waxman, the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
Levin spokeswoman Tara Andringa said the senator hopes to tighten rules governing U.S. expenditures on Iraqi reconstruction efforts in the next Pentagon authorization bill.
The Iraqi surplus has piled up even though the country's oil production has only recently matched prewar levels, according to the Brookings Institution's latest Iraq Index.
The country spent about 80 percent of its $29 billion operating budget in 2007, including public services and salaries, but only 28 percent of its $12 billion investment budget, the GAO found.
The export of crude oil accounted for 94 percent of Iraq's revenues from 2005 to 2007, the GAO reported.

Senator Obama Hits Back Hard

Sanford — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 17:38:16 EDT

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/08/05/obama-republicans-take-pride-in-being-ignorant/#more-11272

Take that Grampa Munster!

McCain Tire Gauge Attack Backfires

Sanford — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 22:43:07 EDT

The Tire-Gauge Solution: No Joke Time- Monday, Aug. 04, 2008 By MICHAEL GRUNWALD

How out of touch is Barack Obama? He's so out of touch that he suggested that if all Americans inflated their tires properly and took their cars for regular tune-ups, they could save as much oil as new offshore drilling would produce. Gleeful Republicans have made this their daily talking point; Rush Limbaugh is having a field day; and the Republican National Committee is sending tire gauges labeled "Barack Obama's Energy Plan" to Washington reporters.

But who's really out of touch? The Bush Administration estimates that expanded offshore drilling could increase oil production by 200,000 bbl. per day by 2030. We use about 20 million bbl. per day, so that would meet about 1% of our demand two decades from now. Meanwhile, efficiency experts say that keeping tires inflated can improve gas mileage 3%, and regular maintenance can add another 4%. Many drivers already follow their advice, but if everyone did, we could immediately reduce demand several percentage points. In other words: Obama is right.

Politics ain't beanbag, and Obama has defended himself against worse smears. The real problem with the attacks on his tire-gauge plan is that efforts to improve conservation and efficiency happen to be the best approaches to dealing with the energy crisis — the cheapest, cleanest, quickest and easiest ways to ease our addiction to oil, reduce our pain at the pump and address global warming. It's a pretty simple concept: if our use of fossil fuels is increasing our reliance on Middle Eastern dictators while destroying the planet, maybe we ought to use less.

The RNC is trying to make the tire gauge a symbol of unseriousness, as if only the fatuous believed we could reduce our dependence on foreign oil without doing the bidding of Big Oil. But the tire gauge is really a symbol of a very serious piece of good news: we can use significantly less energy without significantly changing our lifestyle. The energy guru Amory Lovins has shown that investment in "nega-watts" — reduced electricity use through efficiency improvements — is much more cost-effective than investment in new megawatts, and the same is clearly true of nega-barrels. It might not fit the worldviews of right-wingers who deny the existence of global warming and insist that reducing emissions would destroy our economy, or of left-wing Earth-firsters who insist that maintaining our creature comforts would destroy the world, but there's a lot of simple things we can do on the demand side before we start rushing to ratchet up supply.

We can use those twisty carbon fluorescent lightbulbs. We can unplug our televisions, computers and phone chargers when we're not using them. We can seal our windows, install more insulation and adjust our thermostats so that we waste less heat and air-conditioning. We can use more-efficient appliances, build more-efficient homes and drive more-efficient cars, preferably with government assistance. And, yes, we can inflate our tires and tune our engines, as Republican governors Arnold Schwarzenegger of California and Charlie Crist of Florida have urged, apparently without consulting the RNC. While we're at it, we can cut down on idling, which can improve fuel economy another 5%, and cut down on speeding and unnecessary acceleration, which can increase mileage as much as 20%.

And that's just the low-hanging fruit. There are other ways to reduce demand for oil — more public transportation, more carpooling, more telecommuting, more recycling, less exurban sprawl, fewer unnecessary car trips, buying less stuff and eating less meat — that would require at least some lifestyle changes. But things like tire gauges can reduce gas bills and carbon emissions now, with little pain and at little cost and without the ecological problems and oil-addiction problems associated with offshore drilling. These are the proverbial win-win-win solutions, reducing the pain of $100 trips to the gas station by reducing trips to the gas station. And Americans are already starting to adopt them, ditching SUVs, buying hybrids, reducing overall gas consumption. It's hard to see why anyone who isn't affiliated with the oil industry would object to them.

Of course, in recent years, the Republican Party has been affiliated with the oil industry. It was the oilman Dick Cheney who dismissed conservation as a mere sign of "personal virtue," not a basis for energy policy. It was the oilman George W. Bush who resisted efforts to regulate carbon emissions. And most congressional Republicans have been even more reliable water carriers for the industry's interests.

John McCain has been a notable exception. He is not an oilman; he has pushed to regulate carbon emissions; and he opposed Bush's pork-stuffed energy bill, which Obama supported. He also opposed efforts to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and until recently opposed new offshore drilling. But now that gas prices have spiked, McCain is running for President on a drill-first platform, and polls suggest that most Americans agree with him. It's sad to see his campaign adopting the politics of the tire gauge, promoting the fallacy that Americans are powerless to address their own energy problems. Because the truth is: Yes, we can. We already are.

Election Prep and HS Concert Prep

Sanford — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 22:31:00 EDT

Ok, follow me here.

I'm a HS Choral Director. When preparing for a concert, I have to be careful not to get my students prepared too soon. If we peak too early, say more than a couple of weeks before the concert, the kids get bored with the music. The concert is less than what it could be, and the group sounds less-than-energetic.

We all remember how long the primary season was. Near the end, an overwhelming percentage of Democrats said that they were bored with the primary race and that it was going on way too long.

We haven't even reached the conventions yet. Lately, it looks like the Obama camp isn't hitting back at the McCain camp's attacks. Could it be that the Obama camp is giving the public a 'breather' until after the Olympics? Could the Obama camp be ready for a sprint to the finish? November is a long way away.

A tight poll could be a good thing for Senator Obama. If Obama had a huge lead that seemed unbeatable, a great number of Obama supporters might decide not to make the effort to go to the polls in November (especially in bad weather), and that could be disasterous.

If, however, the polls are still tight around the end of September, or if, Heaven forbid, McCain squeaks out a slight lead, just watch how mobilized the millions of new Obama supporters that voted in the primaries will be on November 4th. Senator Obama has always done well as the underdog.

I think that what we're seeing here is like a basketball game (since Senator Obama plays). Obama has built a sizable lead. Now comes the McCain run. If the Obama camp can play defense and hold off this current run, the McCain camp will run out of steam, and we'll get the momentum back the last month and a half.

I Wanna Bop the McCain Supporters Upside the Head

Sanford — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 21:39:27 EDT

It's just so obvious that McCain is the wrong direction and that Senator Obama is the CHANGE that we need.

Listening to McCain speak just gets me angrier and angrier. The things that he says that are just absolutely WRONG are staggering. But there are those that just accept what he says as truth.

The Obama camp should put out a series of short ads that say:

- "Just because McCain says that more offshore drilling will help immediately, doesn't make it true."

- "Just because McCain says that the surge is working, doesn't make it true."

- "Just because McCain says that Obama has used the race card, doesn't make it true."

- "Just because McCain says that meeting with our enemies is bad, doesn't make it true."

- "Just because McCain says that Obama thinks of himself as The One, doesn't make it true."

It's like they all say, "Duh, well, I saw it on TV, so it must be true!"

Ugh!

It should be a responsibility of each American to research and become knowledgable about the issues. If people do, Senator Obama wins in a walk.

Listening to people speak about Obama in Berlin, saying he looked too presidential, just puzzles me. I dunno, maybe it's just me, but I would think that we'd want a presidential candidate to actually look presidential... for a CHANGE.

I just want to bop these people upside the head and say, "duh!"

Intellegence should be a pre-requisite to vote.

Happy Birthday!

Sanford — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 08:34:07 EDT

Very happy birthday wishes to Senator Obama!

JohnMcCain.com

Sanford — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 21:37:07 EDT

Has anyone ever tried navigating through Grampa Munster's website? It's just plain UGLY! The forums look like something out of Windows 3.0, and the site has a link to his MySpace page (SOOOO 3 years ago).

I couldn't stand it there for long. BarackObama.com is sooooo much cooler (as is he)!

McCain vs A Carrot

Sanford — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 21:09:01 EDT

The McCain-Carrot Faceoff:

Which you can play at:

http://www.bush-mccainchallenge.com

Can you tell the difference between John McCain and a carrot we had in our fridge? Play and find out!

Q: McCain has made a big deal of acknowledging that global warming is real. On the environment, who scored higher with the League of Conservation Voters—McCain or this carrot?

A: It's a tie! McCain received a big fat zero for his environmental record last year. That's zero, nothing, null, zip, nada. This carrot received no rating, so that one's a push.

Source: "Conservationists score McCain zero," Associated Press, February 21, 2008

"2007 National Environmental Scorecard," League of Conservation Voters

Q: Who has had more physical assaults and confrontations with colleagues in Congress, including a fistfight with an Arizona congressman and a scuffle with octogenarian Strom Thurmond?

A: John McCain. This carrot has never lost its temper and physically assaulted any elected representatives. Yet.

Source: "John McCain, Senator Hothead," Washingtonian, February 1, 1997

Q: Who has the better plan to bring home our troops from Iraq?

A: Not even close. This carrot has no plan to bring home our troops. But McCain has a policy of escalation, belligerence, and using force instead of diplomacy. He talks about staying in Iraq for 100 years. A carrot couldn't do anywhere near the damage to our country that McCain would…plus, the carrot is loaded with beta carotene.

Source: "I don't think Americans are concerned if we're there for 100 years or 1,000 years or 10,000 years." --John McCain, CBS' "Face the Nation," January 6, 2008

Spread the word: even a carrot is better than McCain.