This is not a joke - the McCain campaign thinks this will be a big vote getter and perhaps seal the election for the old man.

“It would
be fantastic,” said a McCain insider. “You would have every TV camera there.
The entire country would be watching. It would shut down the race for a
week....McCain is expected to have a front-row seat at Bristol’s wedding and to
benefit from the outpouring of goodwill that it could bring. “What’s the
downside?” a source inside the McCain campaign said. “It would be wonderful.
I don’t know that there has ever been a pre-election wedding before.”



Family privacy? Not an issue when the Republicans think there is political gain. Could this just be another one of Tucker Bounds (the inbred hillbilly looking character who is McCain's main press guy) off the wall ideas that will only work with 'the base'?   Thoughts?

TimesOnline

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Air America Radio relates on his radio program that Republicans are purging the voter rolls because of minor mismatches in names between driver licenses and voter rolls (like Robert F. Kennedy vs. Robert Frances Kennedy - uh oh, you are gone from the voter registration rolls) :



 "One of these requirements under HAVA is called "the perfect match"
and what that does is little known but it is devastating. A quarter of
the voters in Colorado have just been removed from the rolls because of
this - just this one scam. And what it does is they use a computer
system to compare your registration application to all other government
records of you in the state. So they'll look at your social security
records, your motor vehicle records and any time you've had any
interaction with the government and if there is any information on your
voter registration that is different than the information on another
government record that they find they remove you from the voting rolls.



link to text of the radio broadcast link

When has Bush rushed to do anything unless it was to save his ass?

The Paulson bailout is no different. Republicans are quaking in their boots with the 400 point ups and downs in the market and want to put a lid on bad economic news until after the election. At that point they won't care what happens and will just blame problems on the Democrats.

As the New York Times points out, who pays for this should be put into the bill. A tax increase on $250K and up incomes might be a start.

First, Pelosi and Reid should suspend the upcoming recess and hold hearings for at least four weeks. Highlight the abuse of the system that has occurred under the 'no regulation' Republican administration. Push it into the latter half of October. Neither the country nor our economy will be the worse for it.

Then craft a bill letting the big boys (like Fox pundit Hannity) get a hefty tax raise on their million dollar incomes. If Bush doesn't like it too bad. He will be gone in a few months anyway and Wall Street will still be there. This has been going on a year and there is no rush to get it off the front pages now it is kryptonite for Republicans.

Democrats will be losing one of the best opportunities to hold the Bush administration accountable for its incompetence if they pass a quick bailout. If they don't see that they must be blind.

Thoughts?

A contract engineer misses a red light and two trains collide head-on at a combined 80mph and 25 people die? This in California a 'high technology' state?

People's lives depend on one 'red light' not being missed? How about a 'fail safe' backup, GPS tracking of trains, automatic collision avoidance systems, train to train communication, or a dedicated track for commuter lines?

Might some of the trillion spent on Iraq and the GWOT be better used upgrading our crumbling rail and road systems? This LA train system seems to be a disgrace, almost as bad as the antique and outdated hellhole called LAX.

America's infrastructure is killing us, and George Dubya and John Sidney McCain III do not care. America does not need another War President wasting lives and resources overseas.

nyt on crash

How about Obama putting this on as a TV ad? Does Matt Damon nail it on Palin or what? Recommend this to keep it up longer if you think Obama should run Damon in an ad.  youtube damon link

I think there is a very good chance that Sarah Palin could be President.   I think that is a very scary thing, cause I don't know anything about her. I don't think in eight weeks I'll know anything about her. I know she was a mayor of a really small town, and she has been governor of Alaska for less than two years.  The pick was made for political purposes...do the actuary tables and there is a one out of three chance if not more McCain doesn't survive his first term, and it will be President Palin,  and its like a really bad Disney movie.

Oh I am just a hockey Mom from Alaska, and she is facing down Vladimir Putin and using the folksy stuff she learned at the hockey rink - its absurd, it is totally absurd and I don't understand why more people aren't talking about how absurd it is.  It is a really terrifying possibility the fact that we have gotten this far and we are that close to it being a reality is crazy, crazy... I need to know if she thinks dinosaurs were here 4000 years ago, that's important, I want to know that, I really do... because she is going to have the nuclear codes.....

I am totally sick of John McCain and his recounting of his days 'in the box'. The 58,159 young men and women of the US Armed Forces who left Vietnam in a box never to see the light of day again.  They are the ones I mourn for, not for you John McCain, who use war purely for political gain in total disrespect for the dead.

While you, John McCain, spend your old age and your third hand millions in one of your seven homes, the young troops who died in Vietnam never lived to have a house or family or a kitchen table, or were unable to return to an existing family if they had one.

You are a sick old man who does not respect those who were not so lucky as you. I say shame on you for your exploitation of war, shame on you for sending fine young Americans to their deaths today in an unnecessary war in Iraq and in other wars only a sick mind like yours could imagine.

If you had any honor, which you don't, you would use it to ensure that no more young Americans were sent by old men to fight and die in far away lands in wars that are not not necessary to protect America.

Sung to the tune in the Disney film Davey Crockett!

Born on a mountaintop in Wasillee,
Greenest woman in the GOP!

Sarah, Sarah Palin, Queen of the Last Frontier,

Her sister's ex was gettin' her sore,
Said I'm governor, ain't takin' this no more!

Told the commissioner do what I said,
When he didn't, she fired him instead!

Sarah, Sarah Palin, Queen of the Last Frontier,

Sent her son off to the Iraq war,
Makin' armament decisions is really quite a chore,

Husband wants to set Alaska free,
Told her first lie when she was only three,

Sarah, Sarah Palin, Queen of the Last Frontier,

Folks was wunderin' if she's qualified,
in the event that the old man dies.

Sarah said folks, don't you worry 'bout me,
Got the full backing of the G - O - P!

Sarah, Sarah Palin, Queen of the Last Frontier.

Report from Local Colorado News-

Plot to Kill Obama: Shoot From High Vantage Point.....link

....Maass (a Denver CBS4 reporter) reported earlier Monday that one of the suspects told authorities
they were "going to shoot Obama from a high vantage point using a ...
rifle ... sighted at 750 yards."

Law enforcement sources told
Maass that one of the suspects "was directly asked if they had come to
Denver to kill Obama. He responded in the affirmative."....

The FBI take on the arrest (that was made by local Aurora Police):  link

“This is a methamphetamine and firearms case that arose from a traffic stop made by an Aurora Police officer,” said Paul Bresson, an FBI national spokesman assigned to the Democratic National Convention in Denver......“It could also turn out that these were nothing but a bunch of knuckleheads, meth heads,” a U.S. government official said.....

After seven years of wanding grandmothers and harassing everyone at airports, infiltrating peace groups, creating a 'terror list' of one million people, indicting Muslims who gave to Islamic charity, three white guys with high powered telescopic rifles, bullet proof vests and the intent to kill (a Democrat) are 'not credible'?

A small housekeeping matter but I am tired of TPM deference to McCain in the spell check dictionary!

If you misspell mccain it is flagged and can be corrected to McCain, if you write obama it is flagged and can be corrected to:

obadiah, obadias, Bamako or Alabama....

BUT NOT Obama! GET WITH IT TPM!

Yes, in 1990 McCain sued for 'valuable family regalia' he stored in someone else's garage. Including asking a cool one million for a Chinese Foo dog sculpture among other things. Nothing like keeping a million dollars worth of stuff in a neighbors place.  No wonder the guy needed to upgrade his spouse and his finances to a multi-millionaire Bud beer heiress.

As with so many other things he has done or said, McCain has no recollection of the various lawsuits.

Take a look at the old lady in the picture on the Arizona Republic , she looks more scary than Barbara Bush.

Definitely a heartless gal (admiral's wife) who could make or break your naval career if your spouse didn't kiss her ass.

Bush and his democracy promoting cohorts are silent as Russia invades the pro-American state of Georgia. link

Silence  on TPM (or just the usual political navel gazing)  as we witness the repetition of the Russian invasion of Hungary in 1956. Does anyone doubt that this is appeasement of the worst kind by the Bush administration? Bush visited Tbilisi in 2005 and lavished praise on its leaders, the man is a coward and a disgrace.

A Georgian soldier says: “We killed as many of them as we could,” he said. “But where are our friends?”

It was the question of the day. As Russian forces massed Sunday on two fronts, Georgians were heading south with whatever they could carry. When they met Western journalists, they all said the same thing: Where is the United States? link

Using typical Rovian/Republican tactics, McCain approved a new ad link that is taken right out of the George W. playbook. McCain's piece tells lies, it does not tell Americans one iota of truth about our energy problems, McCain presents simple false 'solutions' to get votes, solutions that will not work and will lead to more hardships.  Come another election when things may be even worse, Republicans will once again try to blame  somebody else.

Does McCain and his Straight Talk Express take any resposniblity for the state of the economy? No. Does he give Americans the true picture of how we can solve our dependence on foreign oil? No. Does he present any realistic plan to help America reduce the cost of energy? No. He exploits the economic hardships of middle class Americans to try to get their votes.  He blames it all on the usual target, including first term Senator Obama.

If solving America's energy needs was so easy, why didn't McCain, Bush and the Republicans take care of it years ago?

For John McCain 'staying the course' means more lies and spin and no effort to confront real problems or to improve the lives of Americans by solving the very difficult challenges facing this nation. When will Obama take off the gloves?

McCain's ad:

(1) America can be free of foreign oil if we just drill more.

(2) If we drill more in America it will also lower the price of oil.

(3) Obama and the liberals have prevented drilling.

(4) The high price of oil is Obama's fault.

(5) Vote for McCain if you want cheap gas.

Feingold is fighting this, (see second link below), just another step in an Orwellian direction in Bushworld America!

The digital siezures can apply to <i>anyone</i> passing through a TSA checkpoint at a US airport.

Returning from a brief vacation to Germany in February, Bill Hogan was
selected for additional screening by customs officials at Dulles
International Airport outside Washington, D.C. Agents searched Hogan's
luggage and then popped an unexpected question: Was he carrying any
digital media cards or drives in his pockets? "Then they told me that
they were impounding my laptop," says Hogan  link

If you enter or leave the United States carrying a laptop, flash drive
or cell phone, the government can collect and store a massive amount of
personal information without first obtaining a warrant, having probable
cause or even suspecting you of anything. link

 Will stupid American voters fall for the fear card....again?

Charlie Black, an adviser to the McCain campaign - "When asked whether a terror attack on US soil would help Mr McCain's campaign, Mr Black told the magazine: "Certainly it would be a big advantage to him." link

 If Republicans think a terror attack would be a big advantage politically, why would they stop one?  They control the reins of government law enforcement and any real investigation of another terror attack would occur after the next president takes office. Does Obama need to get out in front of this one, if so how?

It would be all too easy to blame an attack on the homeland on the softie Democrats and the terrorist coddling Supreme Court for their 'interference' of Deputy Dubya and his band of liars and torturers.