One last story on the Palin interview before  I return to bashing John McCain for being a dishonorable liar.

Reading Ross Douthat this morning, young-ish conservative author of "Grand New Party", I was struck by the unflattering comparisons of Sarah Palin to Dubya.  In fact, the title of the blog article is "Palin Channels Dubya".

On the blog "The Next Right", Kristen Soltis writes, in reference to Sarah Palin regurgitation of talking points:

There were oh so many times when I could practically envision the talking points. "We shouldn't second guess Israel.  No matter what, they are our ally.  We don't second guess Israel."  And so it went. "We can't second guess Israel, Charlie."
  Whether that's the correct policy or not what I'm debating. What matters is that it didn't seem like it was really her opinion. I can't see inside the mind of Sarah Palin, so I have no place saying if it is ACTUALLY her opinion or not.  But the feel of it? It didn't feel genuine.  It felt like a repeated talking point.  It felt "done".   And if you're going to try not to sound political, of all the things you can't afford to do, it's sound like Bush. Remember - he was the candidate of cowboy authenticity, shoot-em-straightness, of "lets do this thing, lets get them terrorists".   No doubt Palin has been prepped by Steve Schmidt (Rove's protege), Nicolle Wallace (former Bush staffer).  So maybe that's why I'm so sensitive to Bush-sounding language.

And it's not just the regurgitation of tough sounding talking points and the use of forceful language to answer questions that called for nuance, it's the almost complete and utter lack of intellectual curiosity about events that occur outside her little provincial fiefdom.

Ignorance of key issues + a lack of intellectual curiosity + a desire to seem decisive and tough = a terrifying redo of George W. Bush.

If McCain wins, there is a 1 in 3 chance that we will have a President Palin.  For anyone that has lived through the Bush Presidency, that should be a terrifying thought.

Conservative David Frum summed it up best yesterday on the National Review Online, comparing Palin to Dubya:

A president does not need to know everything. In fact, it's certainly impossible for him (or her) to know everything that he might possibly need to know. That's what the White House staff - and beyond them the whole vast apparatus of the US government - is for. Collectively, the US government knows a lot. And all of that knowledge is at the service and disposal of the president. All the president has to do is - is ask.

But that's not as easy as it sounds.

Somebody who knew President Bush well once remarked to me. "You'll notice he never asks questions."

"Why not?" I said.

"Because he doesn't know what it's okay for him not to know."

John McCain is 72 years old; he has control of what type of campaign that he runs; and yet, there he is again tonight making the outrageous claim that the negative tone of the campaign:

"would have been very different if Senator Obama had accepted my request to appear in town hall meetings across America."

Really, senator?  It's Barack Obama's fault?  Because he wouldn't give you exactly what you wanted?

So . . . your response to not getting exactly what you wanted was to engage in a deeply dishonorable, disgusting, distracting and scurrilous campaign?  This guy is like a wife beater that uses the excuse that "she made me do it".

Although I never agreed with the Republican rugged individualistic, up-by-your-bootstraps fantasy, there at least was a time when then feigned being the party of personal responsibility and accountability.

This is your campaign, senator.  You own it.   Quit blaming others for your actions.

By the way, without getting too "Psych 101" on everyone, this is the same John McCain that, when he became upset when he was young used to:

As an angry toddler, he would hold his breath until he passed out (his parents' cure was to drop him fully clothed into a bathtub of icy water).

Some things never change.  I'm sick and tired of people making excuses for these guys.

Somebody prep some ice water for Sen. McCain.

No, we can't Matt, although I wonder who would star in the "bad Disney movie".

OK, first things first, I generally could care less about a celebrity's opinions concerning politics [except that new sensation Sarah Palin--hell, she's practically the only celebrity whose politics I don't know anything about]. 

However, watching Matt Damon riff on the truly terrifying thought of President Sarah Palin is possibly the funniest, and definitely the most disturbing [the thought of President Palin, that is--not the riff] thing I've seen this election cycle.

Here's the link.

I love how he does the exasperated fade out at the end of the riff: "We Can't Have That".

No, we can't.

At this point in the election cycle, the sad objective unraveling of the once proud wire service would be comical were it not so potentially damaging to the Obama campaign.

Although I'm not sure I can muster any more incredulity at the AP's newfound partisan hackery, let me address tonight's hatchet job courtesy of Nedra Pickler.

By now, I'm sure almost everyone is familiar with the McCain camp's "mock outrage" over Barack's comments today lampooning the McCain/Palin ticket for attempting to dress up and resell the same old tired George W. Bush/Republican Party economic policies.

To wit, Sen. Obama stated:

"You can put lipstick on a pig," he said as the crowd cheered. "It's still a pig."

"You can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called change. It's still gonna stink."

"We've had enough of the same old thing."

The McCain camp immediately responded with the type of dishonorable distortion to which we have all become so sadly accustomed--even setting up a ridiculous "Truth Squad" conference call to state the following:

Speaking on behalf of the McCain campaign, former Massachusetts Gov. Jane Swift tonight flatly stated that Obama had called Palin a pig.

"[T]he formation of the Palin Truth Squad couldn't have happened too soon, as we saw when Sen. Obama in Lebanon, Va., this evening uttered what I can only deem to be disgraceful comments comparing our vice presidential nominee Gov. Palin to a pig," Swift said.

"Sen. Obama owes Gov. Palin an apology," she said.

So, almost immediately, all respectable media outlets slammed McCain for attempting to play the gender card and gin up fake controversy.  The McCain camp knows exactly to what Sen. Obama was referring.  The McCain camp knows that their response is disingenuous, at best, and dishonorable, at worst.

Jake Tapper at ABC, Chuck Todd at NBC & Marc Ambinder at The Atlantic all called McCain out for the dishonest phony outrage.

Tapper, also noting that McCain himself used the same expression when referring to Sen. Clinton's health care plan, stated:

The inaugural conference call of what the McCain-Palin campaign is calling the "Palin Truth Squad" addressed Obama's remark.

And interestingly, the Truth Squad call was full of half-truths and statements that weren't true at all.

Chuck Todd stated:

But when you read Obama's quote above, it's pretty clear that the "lipstick" remark wasn't directed to Palin at all. And the Obama campaign fired back at what it called McCain's "increasingly dishonorable campaign."

Ambinder wrote--in an article titled "Obama Did Not Call Sarah Palin A Pig" no less:

The McCain campaign has little respect for Obama, but they don't think he is stupid. And the only way one can conclude that Obama meant to refer to Gov. Sarah Palin as a pig is to have concluded that Obama is as dumb as a doornail.

It's sad and pathetic enough that as the nation is bogged down in two wars, dealing with a tanking economy and a mounting mortgage crisis that the McCain campaign would repeatedly engage in these disgraceful, dishonorable games--and that's exactly all it is--distracting games; and I won't even touch on the irony of all this nonsense wrapped up in a pretty little "Country First" bow.

However, despite all credible news organizations debunking this frivolous gamesmanship, enter AP stage right-wing to allow Nedra Pickler to wield their considerably partisan ax.   Pickler's take is a bit different, of course.  After channeling a psychic to divine unstated intentions, she writes:

"You can put lipstick on a pig," he said to an outbreak of laughter, shouts and raucous applause from his audience, clearly drawing a connection to Palin's joke even if it's not what Obama meant. "It's still a pig. You can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called change. It's still going to stink after eight years."

McCain's campaign called the comments "offensive and disgraceful" and said Obama owes Palin an apology.

That article will run in countless newspapers tomorrow.  It will be available to anyone that goes to Yahoo or countless other websites.  I'm literally beyond words for the disgrace that has become the Associated Press.

The deck is stacked.  The only thing to do is give money and/or time in an attempt to simply overpower the odds.  I'm giving another $50.  Unfortunately, it's all I can spare at the moment.  Keep up the good work folks; we need to simply overwhelm these people.

VOTE.  VOLUNTEER.  DONATE

At this point in the election cycle, the sad objective unraveling of the once proud wire service would be comical were it not so potentially damaging to the Obama campaign.

Although I'm not sure I can muster any more incredulity at the AP's newfound partisan hackery, let me address tonight's hatchet job courtesy of Nedra Pickler.

By now, I'm sure almost everyone is familiar with the McCain camp's "mock outrage" over Barack's comments today lampooning the McCain/Palin ticket for attempting to dress up and resell the same old tired George W. Bush/Republican Party economic policies.

To wit, Sen. Obama stated:

"You can put lipstick on a pig," he said as the crowd cheered. "It's still a pig."

"You can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called change. It's still gonna stink."

"We've had enough of the same old thing."

The McCain camp immediately responded with the type of dishonorable distortion to which we have all become so sadly accustomed--even setting up a ridiculous "Truth Squad" conference call to state the following:

Speaking on behalf of the McCain campaign, former Massachusetts Gov. Jane Swift tonight flatly stated that Obama had called Palin a pig.

"[T]he formation of the Palin Truth Squad couldn't have happened too soon, as we saw when Sen. Obama in Lebanon, Va., this evening uttered what I can only deem to be disgraceful comments comparing our vice presidential nominee Gov. Palin to a pig," Swift said.

"Sen. Obama owes Gov. Palin an apology," she said.

So, almost immediately, all respectable media outlets slammed McCain for attempting to play the gender card and gin up fake controversy.  The McCain camp knows exactly to what Sen. Obama was referring.  The McCain camp knows that their response is disingenuous, at best, and dishonorable, at worst.

Jake Tapper at ABC, Chuck Todd at NBC & Marc Ambinder at The Atlantic all called McCain out for the dishonest phony outrage.

Tapper, also noting that McCain himself used the same expression when referring to Sen. Clinton's health care plan, stated:

The inaugural conference call of what the McCain-Palin campaign is calling the "Palin Truth Squad" addressed Obama's remark.

And interestingly, the Truth Squad call was full of half-truths and statements that weren't true at all.

Chuck Todd stated:

But when you read Obama's quote above, it's pretty clear that the "lipstick" remark wasn't directed to Palin at all. And the Obama campaign fired back at what it called McCain's "increasingly dishonorable campaign."

Ambinder wrote--in an article titled "Obama Did Not Call Sarah Palin A Pig" no less:

The McCain campaign has little respect for Obama, but they don't think he is stupid. And the only way one can conclude that Obama meant to refer to Gov. Sarah Palin as a pig is to have concluded that Obama is as dumb as a doornail.

It's sad and pathetic enough that as the nation is bogged down in two wars, dealing with a tanking economy and a mounting mortgage crisis that the McCain campaign would repeatedly engage in these disgraceful, dishonorable games--and that's exactly all it is--distracting games; and I won't even touch on the irony of all this nonsense wrapped up in a pretty little "Country First" bow.

However, despite all credible news organizations debunking this frivolous gamesmanship, enter AP stage right-wing to allow Nedra Pickler to wield their considerably partisan ax.   Pickler's take is a bit different, of course.  After channeling a psychic to divine unstated intentions, she writes:

"You can put lipstick on a pig," he said to an outbreak of laughter, shouts and raucous applause from his audience, clearly drawing a connection to Palin's joke even if it's not what Obama meant. "It's still a pig. You can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called change. It's still going to stink after eight years."

McCain's campaign called the comments "offensive and disgraceful" and said Obama owes Palin an apology.

That article will run in countless newspapers tomorrow.  It will be available to anyone that goes to Yahoo or countless other websites.  I'm literally beyond words for the disgrace that has become the Associated Press.

The deck is stacked.  The only thing to do is give money and/or time in an attempt to simply overpower the odds.  I'm giving another $50.  Unfortunately, it's all I can spare at the moment.  Keep up the good work folks; we need to simply overwhelm these people.

VOTE.  VOLUNTEER.  DONATE

At this point in the election cycle, the sad objective unraveling of the once proud wire service would be comical were it not so potentially damaging to the Obama campaign.

Although I'm not sure I can muster any more incredulity at the AP's newfound partisan hackery, let me address tonight's hatchet job courtesy of Nedra Pickler.

By now, I'm sure almost everyone is familiar with the McCain camp's "mock outrage" over Barack's comments today lampooning the McCain/Palin ticket for attempting to dress up and resell the same old tired George W. Bush/Republican Party economic policies.

To wit, Sen. Obama stated:

"You can put lipstick on a pig," he said as the crowd cheered. "It's still a pig."

"You can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called change. It's still gonna stink."

"We've had enough of the same old thing."

The McCain camp immediately responded with the type of dishonorable distortion to which we have all become so sadly accustomed--even setting up a ridiculous "Truth Squad" conference call to state the following:

Speaking on behalf of the McCain campaign, former Massachusetts Gov. Jane Swift tonight flatly stated that Obama had called Palin a pig.

"[T]he formation of the Palin Truth Squad couldn't have happened too soon, as we saw when Sen. Obama in Lebanon, Va., this evening uttered what I can only deem to be disgraceful comments comparing our vice presidential nominee Gov. Palin to a pig," Swift said.

"Sen. Obama owes Gov. Palin an apology," she said.

So, almost immediately, all respectable media outlets slammed McCain for attempting to play the gender card and gin up fake controversy.  The McCain camp knows exactly to what Sen. Obama was referring.  The McCain camp knows that their response is disingenuous, at best, and dishonorable, at worst.

Jake Tapper at ABC, Chuck Todd at NBC & Marc Ambinder at The Atlantic all called McCain out for the dishonest phony outrage.

Tapper, also noting that McCain himself used the same expression when referring to Sen. Clinton's health care plan, stated:

The inaugural conference call of what the McCain-Palin campaign is calling the "Palin Truth Squad" addressed Obama's remark.

And interestingly, the Truth Squad call was full of half-truths and statements that weren't true at all.

Chuck Todd stated:

But when you read Obama's quote above, it's pretty clear that the "lipstick" remark wasn't directed to Palin at all. And the Obama campaign fired back at what it called McCain's "increasingly dishonorable campaign."

Ambinder wrote--in an article titled "Obama Did Not Call Sarah Palin A Pig" no less:

The McCain campaign has little respect for Obama, but they don't think he is stupid. And the only way one can conclude that Obama meant to refer to Gov. Sarah Palin as a pig is to have concluded that Obama is as dumb as a doornail.

It's sad and pathetic enough that as the nation is bogged down in two wars, dealing with a tanking economy and a mounting mortgage crisis that the McCain campaign would repeatedly engage in these disgraceful, dishonorable games--and that's exactly all it is--distracting games; and I won't even touch on the irony of all this nonsense wrapped up in a pretty little "Country First" bow.

However, despite all credible news organizations debunking this frivolous gamesmanship, enter AP stage right-wing to allow Nedra Pickler to wield their considerably partisan ax.   Pickler's take is a bit different, of course.  After channeling a psychic to divine unstated intentions, she writes:

"You can put lipstick on a pig," he said to an outbreak of laughter, shouts and raucous applause from his audience, clearly drawing a connection to Palin's joke even if it's not what Obama meant. "It's still a pig. You can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called change. It's still going to stink after eight years."

McCain's campaign called the comments "offensive and disgraceful" and said Obama owes Palin an apology.

That article will run in countless newspapers tomorrow.  It will be available to anyone that goes to Yahoo or countless other websites.  I'm literally beyond words for the disgrace that has become the Associated Press.

The deck is stacked.  The only thing to do is give money and/or time in an attempt to simply overpower the odds.  I'm giving another $50.  Unfortunately, it's all I can spare at the moment.  Keep up the good work folks; we need to simply overwhelm these people.

VOTE.  VOLUNTEER.  DONATE

At this point in the election cycle, the sad objective unraveling of the once proud wire service would be comical were it not so potentially damaging to the Obama campaign.

Although I'm not sure I can muster any more incredulity at the AP's newfound partisan hackery, let me address tonight's hatchet job courtesy of Nedra Pickler.

By now, I'm sure almost everyone is familiar with the McCain camp's "mock outrage" over Barack's comments today lampooning the McCain/Palin ticket for attempting to dress up and resell the same old tired George W. Bush/Republican Party economic policies.

To wit, Sen. Obama stated:

"You can put lipstick on a pig," he said as the crowd cheered. "It's still a pig."

"You can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called change. It's still gonna stink."

"We've had enough of the same old thing."

The McCain camp immediately responded with the type of dishonorable distortion to which we have all become so sadly accustomed--even setting up a ridiculous "Truth Squad" conference call to state the following:

Speaking on behalf of the McCain campaign, former Massachusetts Gov. Jane Swift tonight flatly stated that Obama had called Palin a pig.

"[T]he formation of the Palin Truth Squad couldn't have happened too soon, as we saw when Sen. Obama in Lebanon, Va., this evening uttered what I can only deem to be disgraceful comments comparing our vice presidential nominee Gov. Palin to a pig," Swift said.

"Sen. Obama owes Gov. Palin an apology," she said.

So, almost immediately, all respectable media outlets slammed McCain for attempting to play the gender card and gin up fake controversy.  The McCain camp knows exactly to what Sen. Obama was referring.  The McCain camp knows that their response is disingenuous, at best, and dishonorable, at worst.

Jake Tapper at ABC, Chuck Todd at NBC & Marc Ambinder at The Atlantic all called McCain out for the dishonest phony outrage.

Tapper, also noting that McCain himself used the same expression when referring to Sen. Clinton's health care plan, stated:

The inaugural conference call of what the McCain-Palin campaign is calling the "Palin Truth Squad" addressed Obama's remark.

And interestingly, the Truth Squad call was full of half-truths and statements that weren't true at all.

Chuck Todd stated:

But when you read Obama's quote above, it's pretty clear that the "lipstick" remark wasn't directed to Palin at all. And the Obama campaign fired back at what it called McCain's "increasingly dishonorable campaign."

Ambinder wrote--in an article titled "Obama Did Not Call Sarah Palin A Pig" no less:

The McCain campaign has little respect for Obama, but they don't think he is stupid. And the only way one can conclude that Obama meant to refer to Gov. Sarah Palin as a pig is to have concluded that Obama is as dumb as a doornail.

It's sad and pathetic enough that as the nation is bogged down in two wars, dealing with a tanking economy and a mounting mortgage crisis that the McCain campaign would repeatedly engage in these disgraceful, dishonorable games--and that's exactly all it is--distracting games; and I won't even touch on the irony of all this nonsense wrapped up in a pretty little "Country First" bow.

However, despite all credible news organizations debunking this frivolous gamesmanship, enter AP stage right-wing to allow Nedra Pickler to wield their considerably partisan ax.   Pickler's take is a bit different, of course.  After channeling a psychic to divine unstated intentions, she writes:

"You can put lipstick on a pig," he said to an outbreak of laughter, shouts and raucous applause from his audience, clearly drawing a connection to Palin's joke even if it's not what Obama meant. "It's still a pig. You can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called change. It's still going to stink after eight years."

McCain's campaign called the comments "offensive and disgraceful" and said Obama owes Palin an apology.

That article will run in countless newspapers tomorrow.  It will be available to anyone that goes to Yahoo or countless other websites.  I'm literally beyond words for the disgrace that has become the Associated Press.

The deck is stacked.  The only thing to do is give money and/or time in an attempt to simply overpower the odds.  I'm giving another $50.  Unfortunately, it's all I can spare at the moment.  Keep up the good work folks; we need to simply overwhelm these people.

VOTE.  VOLUNTEER.  DONATE

At this point in the election cycle, the sad objective unraveling of the once proud wire service would be comical were it not so potentially damaging to the Obama campaign.

Although I'm not sure I can muster any more incredulity at the AP's newfound partisan hackery, let me address tonight's hatchet job courtesy of Nedra Pickler.

By now, I'm sure almost everyone is familiar with the McCain camp's "mock outrage" over Barack's comments today lampooning the McCain/Palin ticket for attempting to dress up and resell the same old tired George W. Bush/Republican Party economic policies.

To wit, Sen. Obama stated:

"You can put lipstick on a pig," he said as the crowd cheered. "It's still a pig."

"You can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called change. It's still gonna stink."

"We've had enough of the same old thing."

The McCain camp immediately responded with the type of dishonorable distortion to which we have all become so sadly accustomed--even setting up a ridiculous "Truth Squad" conference call to state the following:

Speaking on behalf of the McCain campaign, former Massachusetts Gov. Jane Swift tonight flatly stated that Obama had called Palin a pig.

"[T]he formation of the Palin Truth Squad couldn't have happened too soon, as we saw when Sen. Obama in Lebanon, Va., this evening uttered what I can only deem to be disgraceful comments comparing our vice presidential nominee Gov. Palin to a pig," Swift said.

"Sen. Obama owes Gov. Palin an apology," she said.

So, almost immediately, all respectable media outlets slammed McCain for attempting to play the gender card and gin up fake controversy.  The McCain camp knows exactly to what Sen. Obama was referring.  The McCain camp knows that their response is disingenuous, at best, and dishonorable, at worst.

Jake Tapper at ABC, Chuck Todd at NBC & Marc Ambinder at The Atlantic all called McCain out for the dishonest phony outrage.

Tapper, also noting that McCain himself used the same expression when referring to Sen. Clinton's health care plan, stated:

The inaugural conference call of what the McCain-Palin campaign is calling the "Palin Truth Squad" addressed Obama's remark.

And interestingly, the Truth Squad call was full of half-truths and statements that weren't true at all.

Chuck Todd stated:

But when you read Obama's quote above, it's pretty clear that the "lipstick" remark wasn't directed to Palin at all. And the Obama campaign fired back at what it called McCain's "increasingly dishonorable campaign."

Ambinder wrote--in an article titled "Obama Did Not Call Sarah Palin A Pig" no less:

The McCain campaign has little respect for Obama, but they don't think he is stupid. And the only way one can conclude that Obama meant to refer to Gov. Sarah Palin as a pig is to have concluded that Obama is as dumb as a doornail.

It's sad and pathetic enough that as the nation is bogged down in two wars, dealing with a tanking economy and a mounting mortgage crisis that the McCain campaign would repeatedly engage in these disgraceful, dishonorable games--and that's exactly all it is--distracting games; and I won't even touch on the irony of all this nonsense wrapped up in a pretty little "Country First" bow.

However, despite all credible news organizations debunking this frivolous gamesmanship, enter AP stage right-wing to allow Nedra Pickler to wield their considerably partisan ax.   Pickler's take is a bit different, of course.  After channeling a psychic to divine unstated intentions, she writes:

"You can put lipstick on a pig," he said to an outbreak of laughter, shouts and raucous applause from his audience, clearly drawing a connection to Palin's joke even if it's not what Obama meant. "It's still a pig. You can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called change. It's still going to stink after eight years."

McCain's campaign called the comments "offensive and disgraceful" and said Obama owes Palin an apology.

That article will run in countless newspapers tomorrow.  It will be available to anyone that goes to Yahoo or countless other websites.  I'm literally beyond words for the disgrace that has become the Associated Press.

The deck is stacked.  The only thing to do is give money and/or time in an attempt to simply overpower the odds.  I'm giving another $50.  Unfortunately, it's all I can spare at the moment.  Keep up the good work folks; we need to simply overwhelm these people.

VOTE.  VOLUNTEER.  DONATE

At this point in the election cycle, the sad objective unraveling of the once proud wire service would be comical were it not so potentially damaging to the Obama campaign.

Although I'm not sure I can muster any more incredulity at the AP's newfound partisan hackery, let me address tonight's hatchet job courtesy of Nedra Pickler.

By now, I'm sure almost everyone is familiar with the McCain camp's "mock outrage" over Barack's comments today lampooning the McCain/Palin ticket for attempting to dress up and resell the same old tired George W. Bush/Republican Party economic policies.

To wit, Sen. Obama stated:

"You can put lipstick on a pig," he said as the crowd cheered. "It's still a pig."

"You can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called change. It's still gonna stink."

"We've had enough of the same old thing."

The McCain camp immediately responded with the type of dishonorable distortion to which we have all become so sadly accustomed--even setting up a ridiculous "Truth Squad" conference call to state the following:

Speaking on behalf of the McCain campaign, former Massachusetts Gov. Jane Swift tonight flatly stated that Obama had called Palin a pig.

"[T]he formation of the Palin Truth Squad couldn't have happened too soon, as we saw when Sen. Obama in Lebanon, Va., this evening uttered what I can only deem to be disgraceful comments comparing our vice presidential nominee Gov. Palin to a pig," Swift said.

"Sen. Obama owes Gov. Palin an apology," she said.

So, almost immediately, all respectable media outlets slammed McCain for attempting to play the gender card and gin up fake controversy.  The McCain camp knows exactly to what Sen. Obama was referring.  The McCain camp knows that their response is disingenuous, at best, and dishonorable, at worst.

Jake Tapper at ABC, Chuck Todd at NBC & Marc Ambinder at The Atlantic all called McCain out for the dishonest phony outrage.

Tapper, also noting that McCain himself used the same expression when referring to Sen. Clinton's health care plan, stated:

The inaugural conference call of what the McCain-Palin campaign is calling the "Palin Truth Squad" addressed Obama's remark.

And interestingly, the Truth Squad call was full of half-truths and statements that weren't true at all.

Chuck Todd stated:

But when you read Obama's quote above, it's pretty clear that the "lipstick" remark wasn't directed to Palin at all. And the Obama campaign fired back at what it called McCain's "increasingly dishonorable campaign."

Ambinder wrote--in an article titled "Obama Did Not Call Sarah Palin A Pig" no less:

The McCain campaign has little respect for Obama, but they don't think he is stupid. And the only way one can conclude that Obama meant to refer to Gov. Sarah Palin as a pig is to have concluded that Obama is as dumb as a doornail.

It's sad and pathetic enough that as the nation is bogged down in two wars, dealing with a tanking economy and a mounting mortgage crisis that the McCain campaign would repeatedly engage in these disgraceful, dishonorable games--and that's exactly all it is--distracting games; and I won't even touch on the irony of all this nonsense wrapped up in a pretty little "Country First" bow.

However, despite all credible news organizations debunking this frivolous gamesmanship, enter AP stage right-wing to allow Nedra Pickler to wield their considerably partisan ax.   Pickler's take is a bit different, of course.  After channeling a psychic to divine unstated intentions, she writes:

"You can put lipstick on a pig," he said to an outbreak of laughter, shouts and raucous applause from his audience, clearly drawing a connection to Palin's joke even if it's not what Obama meant. "It's still a pig. You can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called change. It's still going to stink after eight years."

McCain's campaign called the comments "offensive and disgraceful" and said Obama owes Palin an apology.

That article will run in countless newspapers tomorrow.  It will be available to anyone that goes to Yahoo or countless other websites.  I'm literally beyond words for the disgrace that has become the Associated Press.

The deck is stacked.  The only thing to do is give money and/or time in an attempt to simply overpower the odds.  I'm giving another $50.  Unfortunately, it's all I can spare at the moment.  Keep up the good work folks; we need to simply overwhelm these people.

VOTE.  VOLUNTEER.  DONATE

At this point in the election cycle, the sad objective unraveling of the once proud wire service would be comical were it not so potentially damaging to the Obama campaign.

Although I'm not sure I can muster any more incredulity at the AP's newfound partisan hackery, let me address tonight's hatchet job courtesy of Nedra Pickler.

By now, I'm sure almost everyone is familiar with the McCain camp's "mock outrage" over Barack's comments today lampooning the McCain/Palin ticket for attempting to dress up and resell the same old tired George W. Bush/Republican Party economic policies.

To wit, Sen. Obama stated:

"You can put lipstick on a pig," he said as the crowd cheered. "It's still a pig."

"You can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called change. It's still gonna stink."

"We've had enough of the same old thing."

The McCain camp immediately responded with the type of dishonorable distortion to which we have all become so sadly accustomed--even setting up a ridiculous "Truth Squad" conference call to state the following:

Speaking on behalf of the McCain campaign, former Massachusetts Gov. Jane Swift tonight flatly stated that Obama had called Palin a pig.

"[T]he formation of the Palin Truth Squad couldn't have happened too soon, as we saw when Sen. Obama in Lebanon, Va., this evening uttered what I can only deem to be disgraceful comments comparing our vice presidential nominee Gov. Palin to a pig," Swift said.

"Sen. Obama owes Gov. Palin an apology," she said.

So, almost immediately, all respectable media outlets slammed McCain for attempting to play the gender card and gin up fake controversy.  The McCain camp knows exactly to what Sen. Obama was referring.  The McCain camp knows that their response is disingenuous, at best, and dishonorable, at worst.

Jake Tapper at ABC, Chuck Todd at NBC & Marc Ambinder at The Atlantic all called McCain out for the dishonest phony outrage.

Tapper, also noting that McCain himself used the same expression when referring to Sen. Clinton's health care plan, stated:

The inaugural conference call of what the McCain-Palin campaign is calling the "Palin Truth Squad" addressed Obama's remark.

And interestingly, the Truth Squad call was full of half-truths and statements that weren't true at all.

Chuck Todd stated:

But when you read Obama's quote above, it's pretty clear that the "lipstick" remark wasn't directed to Palin at all. And the Obama campaign fired back at what it called McCain's "increasingly dishonorable campaign."

Ambinder wrote--in an article titled "Obama Did Not Call Sarah Palin A Pig" no less:

The McCain campaign has little respect for Obama, but they don't think he is stupid. And the only way one can conclude that Obama meant to refer to Gov. Sarah Palin as a pig is to have concluded that Obama is as dumb as a doornail.

It's sad and pathetic enough that as the nation is bogged down in two wars, dealing with a tanking economy and a mounting mortgage crisis that the McCain campaign would repeatedly engage in these disgraceful, dishonorable games--and that's exactly all it is--distracting games; and I won't even touch on the irony of all this nonsense wrapped up in a pretty little "Country First" bow.

However, despite all credible news organizations debunking this frivolous gamesmanship, enter AP stage right-wing to allow Nedra Pickler to wield their considerably partisan ax.   Pickler's take is a bit different, of course.  After channeling a psychic to divine unstated intentions, she writes:

"You can put lipstick on a pig," he said to an outbreak of laughter, shouts and raucous applause from his audience, clearly drawing a connection to Palin's joke even if it's not what Obama meant. "It's still a pig. You can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called change. It's still going to stink after eight years."

McCain's campaign called the comments "offensive and disgraceful" and said Obama owes Palin an apology.

That article will run in countless newspapers tomorrow.  It will be available to anyone that goes to Yahoo or countless other websites.  I'm literally beyond words for the disgrace that has become the Associated Press.

The deck is stacked.  The only thing to do is give money and/or time in an attempt to simply overpower the odds.  I'm giving another $50.  Unfortunately, it's all I can spare at the moment.  Keep up the good work folks; we need to simply overwhelm these people.

VOTE.  VOLUNTEER.  DONATE

Everyone that believes John McCain has the temperament to be President of the United States should both look at this Time Magazine interview and then forward it to every person that still stubbornly clings to the myth of the maverick. 

We don't need to listen to other Democrats in this regard.

Sen. McCain's own Republican colleagues in the Senate do not believe he has the temperament to be president.  These are the people that know John McCain the best--the people that are around him at work--people in his own party--people that are generally inclined to protect him.

Republica Thad Cochran of Mississippi had this to say about Sen. McCain:

The thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine," Cochran said about McCain by phone. "He is erratic. He is hotheaded. He loses his temper and he worries me.

Folks, if John McCain erupted at other co-workers in a regular job the way that he has at his co-workers in the Senate, he would have long since been given his walking papers.  But I'll tell you one thing that wouldn't happen--he wouldn't get promoted.

Ignore the previous and horrendously formatted post.

I’m almost flabbergasted that I just typed the words in the above title. This is from someone that had written articles during the primary season with titles such as: ‘Has Hillary Lost Her Flippin’ Mind’,  'Why Does Hillary Continue to Lie’,  'The Increasingly Sad Clinton Legacy’ and ‘Bill & Hillary’s Disingenuous 1992 Narrative’. So, if someone were to characterize me as a ‘Clinton hater’, they could at least come to that conclusion honestly [even if I considered it to be not entirely accurate].

However, Hillary is right about this one. She’s on the money. She’s hit the nail on the head or whatever insipid metaphor fits the bill [get it, another insipid metaphor].

So, what is it exactly that Hillary Clinton is right about? This:

"I happen to believe that we will come out stronger if people feel that their voices were heard and their views were respected. I think that is a very big part of how we actually come out unified."

I agree.

Hillary Clinton's name should be placed in nomination. Not only that, but I believe her speech should echo the address delivered by Jesse Jackson in 1988. That's not to compare the two as candidates. Clinton came within a whisker of winning the nomination. And I think a woman could have won the presidency this year, unlike where African-American candidates were in 1988.

However, the fervent support that each candidate tapped into was partially indicative of the desire to see that an African-American [in 1988] or a woman [this year] could ascend to the highest office in America. To break the so-called 'highest glass ceiling'.

Specifically, I think that Sen. Clinton should emulate this aspect of Jackson's speech:

Every one of these funny labels they put on you, those of you who are watching this broadcast tonight in the projects, on the corners, I understand. Call you outcast, low down, you can't make it, you're nothing, you're from nobody, subclass, underclass; when you see Jesse Jackson, when my name goes in nomination, your name goes in nomination.

I was born in the slum, but the slum was not born in me. And it wasn't born in you, and you can make it.

Wherever you are tonight, you can make it. Hold your head high; stick your chest out. You can make it. It gets dark sometimes, but the morning comes. Don't you surrender!

Perhaps I'm a bit of a romantic, but I think, when Sen. Clinton speaks a 'catharsis' for her supporters, that some semblance of nomination procedure coupled with a 'you can make it' speech would do the trick.

I’m almost flabbergasted that I just typed the words in the above title. This is from someone that had written articles during the primary season with titles such as: ‘Has Hillary Lost Her Flippin’ Mind’, ‘Why Does Hillary Continue to Lie’, ‘The Increasingly Sad Clinton Legacy’ and ‘Bill & Hillary’s Disingenuous 1992 Narrative’. So, if someone were to characterize me as a ‘Clinton hater’, they could at least come to that conclusion honestly [even if I considered it to be not entirely accurate].

However, Hillary is right about this one. She’s on the money. She’s hit the nail on the head or whatever insipid metaphor fits the bill [get it, another insipid metaphor].

So, what is it exactly that Hillary Clinton is right about? This:

"I happen to believe that we will come out stronger if people feel that their voices were heard and their views were respected. I think that is a very big part of how we actually come out unified."

I agree.

Hillary Clinton's name should be placed in nomination. Not only that, but I believe her speech should echo the address delivered by Jesse Jackson in 1988. That's not to compare the two as candidates. Clinton came within a whisker of winning the nomination. And I think a woman could have won the presidency this year, unlike where African-American candidates were in 1988.

However, the fervent support that each candidate tapped into was partially indicative of the desire to see that an African-American [in 1988] or a woman [this year] could ascend to the highest office in America. To break the so-called 'highest glass ceiling'.

Specifically, I think that Sen. Clinton should emulate this aspect of Jackson's speech:

Every one of these funny labels they put on you, those of you who are watching this broadcast tonight in the projects, on the corners, I understand. Call you outcast, low down, you can't make it, you're nothing, you're from nobody, subclass, underclass; when you see Jesse Jackson, when my name goes in nomination, your name goes in nomination.

I was born in the slum, but the slum was not born in me. And it wasn't born in you, and you can make it.

Wherever you are tonight, you can make it. Hold your head high; stick your chest out. You can make it. It gets dark sometimes, but the morning comes. Don't you surrender!

Perhaps I'm a bit of a romantic, but I think, when Sen. Clinton speaks a 'catharsis' for her supporters, that some semblance of nomination procedure coupled with a 'you can make it' speech would do the trick.

I’m almost flabbergasted that I just typed the words in the above title. This is from someone that had written articles during the primary season with titles such as: ‘Has Hillary Lost Her Flippin’ Mind’, ‘Why Does Hillary Continue to Lie’, ‘The Increasingly Sad Clinton Legacy’ and ‘Bill & Hillary’s Disingenuous 1992 Narrative’. So, if someone were to characterize me as a ‘Clinton hater’, they could at least come to that conclusion honestly [even if I considered it to be not entirely accurate].

However, Hillary is right about this one. She’s on the money. She’s hit the nail on the head or whatever insipid metaphor fits the bill [get it, another insipid metaphor].

So, what is it exactly that Hillary Clinton is right about? This:

"I happen to believe that we will come out stronger if people feel that their voices were heard and their views were respected. I think that is a very big part of how we actually come out unified."

I agree.

Hillary Clinton's name should be placed in nomination. Not only that, but I believe her speech should echo the address delivered by Jesse Jackson in 1988. That's not to compare the two as candidates. Clinton came within a whisker of winning the nomination. And I think a woman could have won the presidency this year, unlike where African-American candidates were in 1988.

However, the fervent support that each candidate tapped into was partially indicative of the desire to see that an African-American [in 1988] or a woman [this year] could ascend to the highest office in America. To break the so-called 'highest glass ceiling'.

Specifically, I think that Sen. Clinton should emulate this aspect of Jackson's speech:

Every one of these funny labels they put on you, those of you who are watching this broadcast tonight in the projects, on the corners, I understand. Call you outcast, low down, you can't make it, you're nothing, you're from nobody, subclass, underclass; when you see Jesse Jackson, when my name goes in nomination, your name goes in nomination.

I was born in the slum, but the slum was not born in me. And it wasn't born in you, and you can make it.

Wherever you are tonight, you can make it. Hold your head high; stick your chest out. You can make it. It gets dark sometimes, but the morning comes. Don't you surrender!

Perhaps I'm a bit of a romantic, but I think, when Sen. Clinton speaks a 'catharsis' for her supporters, that some semblance of nomination procedure coupled with a 'you can make it' speech would do the trick.

One party's nominee [the Democratic Party] has a simple idea that costs Americans NOTHING & asks us to do something proactive to conserve energy. The plan might take a minute or two at the most and could save 800,000 barrels of oil a day. Jake Tapper at ABC writes:

That said, if Americans took Obama's advice, they would save about 800,000 barrels of oil a day. Certainly nothing to dismiss out of hand if you actually take this energy crisis seriously.

The crazy idea proposed by Sen. Obama was simply to ensure the tires on our cars are properly inflated. I know--radical. Sen. Obama stated last week:

"There are things that you can do individually though to save energy. Making sure your tires are properly inflated, simple thing, but we could save all the oil that they're talking about getting off drilling, if everybody was just inflating their tires and getting regular tune-ups. You could actually save just as much."

Of course, the other party [the Republican Party] is reacting with derision to this simple suggestion, which seems to be the only response of which they are capable. The RNC is responding by sending tire gauges to reporters. Isn't that cute?

Real solutions v. gimmicks.

Me? I've had enough of a 'head-in-the-sand', willfully ignorant government. I'm ready for politics that ACTUALLY ASKS AMERICANS TO PITCH IN & get involved in improving our lives as opposed to a government that tells us to GO SHOP.

Wait--aren't the Republicans supposed to be the party of personal responsibility?

And she assures me that Barack Obama is, in fact, not The One.

You can imagine my profound sense of disappointment.  Here, I had placed all of my electoral eggs in Sen. Obama's transcendental basket.

Sen. McCain released his silly "The One" ad today for his supporters.  I kept thinking that there must be some subterranean message in this eminently mockable advertisement.  However, not being a part of the wing-nut, 'Left Behind' culture, I missed the false prophet overtones. 

But, according to 'The Google', this 'Obama is the Anti-Christ' stuff has been percolating in the wing-nuttery world all year.  So, I get it now.  This is the quintessential 'dog whistle' ad, which is meant to pray on fears that Obama is the Anti-Christ [I literally can't believe I just wrote those words].

By the way, notwithstanding how much happier I was thirty minutes ago before I knew that typing 'Obama' & 'Anti-Christ' into Google would generate almost a million hits, if you believe that Sen. Obama is the Anti-Christ and it has been foretold by the Book of Revelation--then you should probably be forced to undergo sterilization.  This are genes that we desperately need to ween from the pool.

Did you know that there's a website 'anti-christ.com?  I'll give you one guess as to its two main pieces of content--give up?

The first is a sinister looking Barack Obama.
The second is John McCain's 'The One' ad.

Note also that there's close to a thousand comments in the discussion of whether or not Sen. Obama is, in fact, the anti-Christ, including these gems:

Obama is evil.

I am not saying that he is the antichrist…I don’t believe anyone can know that except God Himself, but I do believe that he will be our next President and what may seem like at first to be a “heaven-sent” solution for our nation, will eventually be the beginning of it’s destruction.

Before I knew anything about Obama, I knew that something with him is not right with him. A black man (and I’m black by the way) with the name hussein, who won’t salute the flag, whose wife has never been proud of America, and who wants to disarm this country could only be winning because satan is backing him. There is no other logical explaination, especially after 911. No way should our next president be named hussein obama, sounds too much like osama. I am 99.999 percent sure that this is the real deal people. The end is very near. Let’s get busy telling the unsaved about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He is the Way the Truth and the Life. And he is coming soon. I have been reading all the scriptures I can on endtime prophecy. The more I read them, the more I am covinced that obama is the antichrist and he is taking the world by surprise because no one expects him to be a black man.

Obama will start us at the End Of Days….. Al-Qaeda backed Obama before and will do so again. Israel has always been backed by GOD and there planning to bomb Iran before Obama gets into office. If they do not succeed then Obama will cut off Israel when he gets into the presidential office because he owes Al-Qaeda.

Obama is scary!!! Several people have mentioned to me that they get strange, evil vibes from him. Lets hope he is not the anti-christ.

You know, forget the forced sterilization--just pray for these deluded people.

And send Sen. Obama some $$$$$$$$.  Praise the Lord and pass the offering plate.