Dear Fellow Constituent: The George W. Bush Presidential Library is now in the planning stages and accepting donations. The Library will include: 1. The Hurricane Katrina Room, which is still under construction. 2. The Alberto Gonzales Room, where you won't be able to remember anything. 3. The Texas Air National Guard Room, where you don't even have to show up. 4. The Walter Reed Hospital Room, where they don't let you in. 5. The Guantanamo Bay Room, where they don't let you out. 6. The Weapons of Mass Destruction Room, which no one has been able to find. 7. The National Debt Room, which is huge and has no ceiling. 8. The Tax Cut Room, with entry only to the wealthy. 9. The Economy Room, which is in the toilet. 10. The Iraq War Room. (After you complete your first visit, they make you go back for a second, third, fourth, and sometimes fifth visit.) 11. The Dick Cheney Room, in the famous undisclosed location, complete with shooting gallery. 12. The Environmental Conservation Room, still empty. 13. The Supreme Gift Shop, where you can buy an election. 14. The Airport Men's Room, where you can meet some of your favorite Republican Senators. 15. The Decider Room, complete with dart board, magic 8-ball, Ouija board, dice, coins and straws. Note: The library will feature an electron microscope to help you locate and view the President's accomplishments. The library will also include many famous Quotes by George W. Bush: 1. 'The vast majority of our imports come from outside the country.'
2. 'If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure.' 3. 'Republicans understand the importance of bondage between a mother and child.' 4. 'No senior citizen should ever have to choose between prescription drugs and medicine.' 5. 'I believe we are on an irreversible trend toward more freedom and democracy - but that could change.' 6. "One word sums up probably the responsibility of any Governor, and that one word is 'to be prepared'." 7. 'Verbosity leads to unclear, inarticulate things.' 8. 'I have made good judgments in the past. I have made good judgments in the future.' 9. 'The future will be better tomorrow.' 10. 'We're going to have the best educated American people in the world..' 11. 'One of the great things about books is sometimes there are some fantastic pictures.' (during an education photo-op) 12. 'Illegitimacy is something we should talk about in terms of not having it.' 13. 'We are ready for any unforeseen event that may or may not occur.' 14. 'It isn't pollution that's harming the environment. It's the impurities in our air and water that are doing it.' 15. 'I stand by all the misstatements that I've made.'...George W. Bush to Sam Donaldson PLEASE GIVE GENEROUSLY! Sincerely, Jack Abramoff, Co-Chair G.W. Bush Library Board of Directors
It always makes me uncomfortable when I hear politicians say "My fellow Americans" when they mean "my fellow citizens." We tend to forget that everyone in all of the Americas from Canada, Mexico, Central and South America are all "Americans" too! Well while the world rejoiced Tuesday, our fellow Americans in Mexico suffered a tragedy.
I rejoiced on Tuesday when Barack Obama was elected. I never heard until three days later about the possible drug cartel related plane crash in Mexico, which killed 14 people on Tuesday in what appears may be a political assasination. Here are my thoughts:
It's looking good according to the newest polls from the battlegrounds! But like the song says "...you can't trust freedom when it's not in your hands when everybody's fighting for their promised land." With this in mind, we can never underestimate the power of the republican disenfrancizing machine. VIGILANCE!!!
From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Carrie Dann*** Swing states swinging to Obama: Most of the national polls -- including our NBC/WSJ survey -- are now showing Obama with a double-digit national lead. And here come a slew of brand-new state polls that also suggest Obama is in command of this presidential contest. The University of Wisconsin’s Big Ten Battleground polls have Obama up 10 points in Indiana (51%-41%), 13 points in Iowa (52%-39%), 22 in Michigan (58%-36%), 19 in Minnesota (57%-38%), 12 in Ohio (53%-41%), 11 in Pennsylvania (52%-41%), 13 in Wisconsin (53%-40%), and nearly 30 in Obama’s home state of Illinois (61%-32%). Meanwhile, there are new Quinnipiac surveys that show Obama up five points in Florida (49%-44%), 14 in Ohio (52%-38%), and 13 in Pennsylvania (53%-40%). And finally, new CNN/Time surveys find Obama ahead by five points among likely voters in Nevada (51%-46%), four points in North Carolina (51%-47%), four in Ohio (50%-46%), and 10 points in Virginia (54%-44%). The lone state survey that shows McCain ahead: CNN/Time’s West Virginia poll, where McCain’s nine (53%-44%).
Rat Dog and Phil Lesh & Friends + others are playing New Years Eve (plus the 30th) at Bill Graham Auditorium in San Francisco!
Tickets are on sale now; check dead.net for details. Have a grate day & GOOOooooo BARACK!
A horrified America watched John McCain stagger up from his debate chair last night and turn into a monster. He almost caught our Barack Obama! What was happening? Clearly, the special anti-monster juice McCain drinks before public appearances was starting to wear off. They got him in the titanium-lined SWAT van just before he fully transformed. But fully transformed into what?
HORRIBLE MEDIEVAL WEREWOLF: This would actually explain a lot, including, probably, why McCain is always talking about medieval Ireland, when he was a boy, before he was bitten by a werewolf, which put a terrible end to his happy carefree days of being a Celtic warrior who always crashed his horse into the enemy’s village.
HORRIBLE CHILD-EATING DEATH CLOWN: No wonder McCain’s handlers try to get him away from those debate audiences so quick! He was just moments away from turning into this evil-ass thing, the New Hampshire Primary Murder Clown, Rich Uncle Pennywise! Imagine being stuck on Secret Service duty with this campaign. Imagine having to bury the bodies every night.
EVIL GORGON MEDUSA: Walnuts has always roamed the Earth, in his various guises, but by night, he shows his true death’s head, the GORGONEION from Hades, where he spent Five and a Half Million Years. (This is also the face he makes when he has sexytime! Your tax dollars pay for his Viagra!)
DISGUSTING CLASSIC-ROCK GIMMICK CAR: There is nothing more hideous than 700-year-old arena rocker Gene Simmons, so it stands to reason that John McCain is the demon father of the KISS monster. Legend says shitty ‘71 Volkswagen Beetles with home paint jobs and huge styrofoam monster skulls/tongues were frequently on the scene before the Crusaders lost Jerusalem to the Arabs led by Bill Ayers the Terrorist Muslin.
EVIL SILENT-MOVIE GERMAN VAMPIRE: And now, a quote from Bram Stoker’s Dracula: “As the Count leaned over me and his hands touched me… a horrible feeling of nausea came over me, which, do what I would, I could not conceal. When the Count saw my face, his eyes blazed with a sort of demonaic fury, and he suddenly made a grab at my throat.”
Yes, that sounds about right.
THE BEAST: But our demonic experts here on the Wonkette staff finally concluded McCain was turning into this hell-beast of yore, as seen here in a 16th Century woodcut. These demonic shit-monsters once roamed the Eastern Seaboard, until they were captured by Benedict Arnold in 1776 and taught Naval Command skills at Annapolis. The creatures spawn a single fetus from the “egg duct” every hundred years; the fourth spawn of the cycle is always a crazy, self-obsessed idiot who has no military skillz.
World of Friends: Bridges for Obama
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEhwaGwlzz8
WE HAVE LEGIONS OF PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD SUPPORTING OUR CANDIDATE. Beautifully Done Video -- Let's make it go viral !!! :)
Bridges for Obama: American supporters of Sen. Barack Obama have been staging rallies abroad at world-famous bridges to show support for the Democratic presidential candidate and his pledge to span old political divisions. ... Source: www.youtube.com (only 67 views so far! 10/10/08 Noon EDT)
Keywords: abroad, bridge, bridges, span, nations, people, hope, change, global, international
So now the sky is falling? So now we are in Crisis? What happened to "fundamentally sound"? It is so obvious that McCain is grandstanding for reasons of political expediance, while all the while trying to frame himself as above the fray. I'm sorry to tell you this Johnny, but everyone knows that you are trying to call a time out because you are dropping in the polls like a turd swirling down the toilet. What a cowardly move; ducking out of the debate and using a national crisis for cover. And now they are talking about "delaying" the VP debate. They can hear Palin heaving a sigh of relief all the way in Russia! (cuz she lives in Alaska) I honestly dont think our country can survive another 4-8 years of this these reptilian bastards who will twist, and shape-shift, and manipulate the American people in their never ending quest for absolute power. Country First my ass
September 25, 2008McCain camp to propose postponing VP debatePosted: 10:44 AM ETFrom CNN Correspondent Dana Bash
(CNN) — McCain supporter Sen. Lindsey Graham tells CNN the McCain campaign is proposing to the Presidential Debate Commission and the Obama camp that if there's no bailout deal by Friday, the first presidential debate should take the place of the VP debate, currently scheduled for next Thursday, October 2 in St. Louis.
In this scenario, the vice presidential debate between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin would be rescheduled for a date yet to be determined, and take place in Oxford, Mississippi, currently slated to be the site of the first presidential faceoff this Friday.
Graham says the McCain camp is well aware of the position of the Obama campaign and the debate commission that the debate should go on as planned — but both he and another senior McCain adviser insist the Republican nominee will not go to the debate Friday if there's no deal on the bailout.
To our more than 600 members, thank you for joining Obama Supporters for Marijuana Law Reform. Your membership is a very important political statement and we believe the message will get through eventually. If you are not a member, why not?
Please join in letting others know about the insanity of continuing a war against freedom loving citizens on behalf of alcohol corporations.
We don't advocate drug use, we know not everybody can handle recreational drug use responsibly, but criminalizing it doesn't work and only makes matters worse.
Our group has a fundraising page, and we have already raised over $900 for Senator Obama in the name of Marijuana Legalization.
Won't you please go to the group homepage and click on the fundraising button at the bottom? You will arrive at the fundraising page for our group where you can kick in ten bucks and help us make it over the $1,000 mark? It's easy, safe and an inexpensive way to make an important political point, and help Obama beat McCain and Palin. It's looking like he may need our help again more than ever, now that Palin is galvanizing the religious right in support of McCain.
Thanks for any help you can give Obama in his important mission and thanks for helping us let Obama know how crazy and wasteful the drug war has been and continues to be.
May and Grace.
When the chat on The View turned to Palin’s record on earmarks McCain got it wrong:
Barbara Walters: She also took some earmark spending.Joy Behar: A lot.McCain: Well, not as governor she didn’t.
McCain’s wrong here. It’s true she scaled back the state’s federal spending requests within the last two years. But she didn’t eliminate them. She sent a letter on her gubernatorial stationery with $197 million in earmark requests, directly contradicting McCain’s statement. Palin writes:
Palin:In preparing these requests, the State has been mindful of congressional concerned about budget deficits and earmarks. Accordingly, the total number of requests has been reduced significantly from previous years. Approximately two-thirds of the requests involve programs that have been funded previously.
It’s clear Palin knew the gravy train was slowing (in large part because McCain was applying the brakes), but that didn’t stop her from sending the nearly $200 million request (nearly $30 per Alaskan, according to the 2006 Census Bureau population estimates). And we’ve already reported that Palin’s history with earmarks dates back to her time as mayor of Wasilla.
McCain would have been on more solid ground if he were informing his View-ership of his own earmark-busting record. The Arizona senator’s requests have amounted to a big, fat zero. But Palin’s still asking for pork by the barrel, even if the barrels have been downsized.
Posted under FactCheck.org, John McCain, Presidential Election 2008, Sarah Palin
McCain: His plan will force small businesses to cut jobs, reduce wages, and force families into a government run health care system where a bureaucrat stands between you and your doctor.
McCain: My health care plan will make it easier for more Americans to find and keep good health care insurance.
McCain: [I]nstead of freeing ourselves from a dangerous dependence on foreign oil, both parties and Senator Obama passed another corporate welfare bill for oil companies.
McCain: We are going to stop sending $700 billion a year to countries that don't like us very much.
McCain: We will attack the problem on every front. ...We will increase the use of wind, tide, solar and natural gas. We will encourage the development and use of flex fuel, hybrid and electric automobiles.
McCain: Reducing government spending and getting rid of failed programs will let you keep more of your own money to save, spend and invest as you see fit.
Obama, Feb. 26: I will make sure that we renegotiate. … I think we should use the hammer of a potential opt-out as leverage to ensure that we actually get labor and environmental standards that are enforced.
McCain: We must use all resources and develop all technologies necessary to rescue our economy from the damage caused by rising oil prices and restore the health of our planet.
Palin, Sept. 3: What does he actually seek to accomplish after he's done turning back the waters and healing the planet?
The following is meant to be more in the nature of a sociological essay than a political one. It is primarily about my unique (I think) point of view of the situation, and due to my current (and probably unhealthy) obsession with everything election related. Comments are welcome.
Approximately nine years ago I had the good fortune to hear Barack Obama give a talk at a small youth conference I attended when I had just started counseling teenagers. He was a state senator then, and though I didn’t pay much attention to what his role was I did notice that the way he was introduced was as if he were someone very special. He spoke about youth – particularly inner city youth, as was appropriate – with knowledge and empathy. Not knowing his background I assumed he had been raised on the South Side of Chicago. One of the things that really stuck with me was how he discussed the (false) viewpoint that African American boys don’t read, and that it’s not considered cool by their peers to be a reader. This was one of those vague concepts I think I knew but had never heard anyone speak out loud.
Heres how I see things. I love the role of the underdog. Just like the primary victory will be all the more sweet. Bottomline, people are stuggling. Struggling in the middle class, the upper middle class, the lower middle class, the upper class. Barack's message is tailor made for voters who have been marginalized by big business intrests and corporate dominance. Particularly, if Barack boxes McCain in on tax code and drives home the obvious inequity of our current tax structure we will win, and win by a considerable margin. I hope that is.
"Look George!" said Johnny with the excitement of a young curious child making a new discovery, "all of the poor people look like ants from way up here!" George chuckled knowingly and proceeded to tell little Johnny about the time the poor little ants were in a wild frenzy after the mean ol nasty hurricane flooded their pathetic hovels. "Wow" exclaimed Johnny, smiling like an over ripe jack-o-lantern, "I cant wait to be king of the ants."
So McSame and his buddy George feel that the economy is fundamentally sound....Bullshit. An oil man and the beneficiary of his wife's beer inheritance know the economy is anything but sound. But if you were cusioned from the economic meat hooks and biting economic reality that 99% of Americans are facing, you might have the old "good enough for government work" attitude too. Besides, without extreme social and economic stratification who will these despondent crusty rich old white guys hire to do all of their yucky yard work, laundry, cooking, ass wiping, ect.
From Wonkette:
Here are the current Top Headlines at Bloomberg:
Can you say "Out of Touch"...I knew ya could
Happy days are here again...or.....brother can you spare a dime?
It has happened once before. Poor vetting and sensationalized stories of mental illness and drunk driving caused McGovern to jettison poor old Eagleton from the ticket. Perhaps Palin will suffer the same fate....
From Wikipedia:
Thomas Francis Eagleton was a United States Senator from Missouri, serving from 1968–1987. He is best remembered for briefly being a Democratic Vice Presidential nominee sharing the ticket under George McGovern in 1972.
Selection as vice presidential candidate
In 1972, Richard Nixon appeared unbeatable. When Senator George McGovern won the Democratic nomination for President, virtually all of the high-profile Democrats, including Ted Kennedy, Walter Mondale, Hubert Humphrey, Edmund Muskie and Birch Bayh turned down offers to run on the ticket.
Having been declined by the "name" Senators, McGovern turned to lesser-known candidates, and Eagleton, who had opposed the Vietnam War, was selected on July 14 with only a minimal background check. Eagleton made no mention of his earlier hospitalizations. Newspapers soon revealed them. McGovern and Eagleton initially joked about the case with Eagleton saying he would undergo a psychiatric examination if other candidates (e.g., Nixon) would do the same. But the charges kept coming. Columnist Jack Anderson wrote a column falsely accusing Eagleton of being arrested for drunk driving — a charge that Anderson had to retract.
Replacement on the ticket
McGovern said he would back Eagleton “1000%”, but on August 1, Eagleton withdrew at McGovern's request and, after a new search by McGovern, was replaced by Kennedy in-law Sargent Shriver.
A Time magazine poll taken at the time found that 77 percent of the respondents said "Eagleton's medical record would not affect their vote." Nonetheless, the press made frequent references to his 'shock therapy', and McGovern feared that this would detract from his campaign platform.[3]
McGovern's handling of the controversy was an opening for the Republican campaign to raise serious questions about his judgment. In the general election, the Democratic ticket won only Massachusetts and the District of Columbia.
From MSNBC:
NEVADA: Per state political guru Jon Ralston, Democrats now have a 76,000-voter registration edge in Nevada, 565,855 Democrats to 489,802. Ralston asks, “Think John McCain should worry yet?”
Nevada is within our reach!!! Time to phonebank and canvass!!
On October 13, Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart will indeed reunite along with Warren Haynes and Jeff Chimenti for a benefit concert in support of for the Presidential candidate Barack Obama. The Allman Brothers Band also will appear on the bill, with a third band to participate as well. The show will take place at the Bryce Jordan Center in State College, PA with ticket information yet to be announced.
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/breaking/news_breaking/20080903_Grateful_Dead_regroup_for_Obama_benefit_at_Penn_State.html
Lyda Green, Republican member of the Alaska Senate and Alaskan Senate President had an interesting reation to the news of Palin as VP:
"She's not prepared to be governor. How can she be prepared to be vice president or president? Look at what she's done to this state. What would she do to the nation?"
From Politico.com :
State House Speaker John Harris, a Republican from Valdez, was astonished at the news. He didn't want to get into the issue of her qualifications.
"She's old enough," Harris said. "She's a U.S. citizen."
Former House Speaker Gail Phillips, a Republican political leader who has clashed with Palin in the past, was shocked when she heard the news Friday morning with her husband, Walt.
"I said to Walt, 'This can't be happening, because his advance team didn't come to Alaska to check her out," Phillips said.
Phillips has been active in the Ted Stevens re-election steering committee and remains in close touch with Sen. Lisa Murkowski and other party leaders, and she said nobody had heard anything about McCain's people doing research on his prospective running mate.
"We're not a very big state. People I talk to would have heard something."
Few wanted to talk about anything else on talk radio Friday. Conservative host Rick Rydell said there are some benefits to the state, but it's a gamble for McCain to pick an unknown with what he considered "questionable vetting."
"It seems almost like a Hail Mary pass at the end of a football game," Rydell said in an interview after his show Friday.
Rydell said McCain has destroyed his argument about Barack Obama's lack of experience.
