There is one cardinal rule in my family: You mess with one of us, and you have messed with all of us. Period.
We are all glib wordsmiths and naturally snarky, and intra-family ribbing is not only tolerated but celebrated -- as it was, happily, this past Fourth of July weekend in Vermont, where we were lucky enough to be together. We can rib each other with impunity, but no outsider, not anyone, may rib one of us without having the others join in universal condemnation. We are loyal to each other, to a fault.
I was just watching Countdown with Keith Olbermann and Jonathan Turley, a constitutional law professor at George Washington University law school, was on. They were talking about the fact that tomorrow, the senate will pass the FISA "compromise". Turley said that warrantless wiretapping is a felony under federal law. He pointed to a recent court decision a couple of days ago, which was made during one of the telecom lawsuits, in which a federal judge said outright "obviously the president committed an illegal act". Turley elaborated, "that illegal act is defined as a felony, so what the [senate] democrats are doing is trying to conceal a crime". Turley went further, saying, "no one wants to have a confrontation over the fact that the president committed a felony, not once, but at least thirty times." Once the congress has decreed that the president can draw his sword, who will set a limit on him? Who will stand against him?
Reuters just reported that in response to the tenfold rise in U.S. cigarette exports to Iran, McCain said, "Maybe that's a way of killing 'em."
The article also reminds us of McCain's "Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran" ditty when he was asked last year whether there was a plan to attack Iran.
The article also rightly reminds us that
Tension is high between the two countries over Iran's nuclear program, which Washington says is aimed at making an atomic bomb but Tehran says is for generating energy. There has been media speculation of a possible U.S. or Israeli military strike against Iran's nuclear facilities.
I know I'm preaching to the choir when I say that this sort of flippant jokesterism about bombing, obliterating, or killing off a country is reprehensible.
Let's vote for the diplomat and leave the joker on the Straight Talk Express.
I generally like Chuck Todd, but just now on Countdown he was repeating to Rachel Maddow the narrative that everyone in the media and the right seem to agree on: that this election is a referendum on Barack Obama.
What makes me so mad is that this is just the narrative-builders' way of covering up all of John McCain's weaknesses. After all, if the election is a referendum on Obama, then the media doesn't need to cover John McCain's flip flops, his 95% mimicing of Bush, his inability to keep Iraq and Iran straight, his colorful personal life, his financial corruption, etc as they would for similar issues with Obama.
Basically, the corporate media is fashioning a "referendum on Obama" narrative which allows them to maintain a double standard of exaggerating Obama's problems while hushing up McCain's.
This is not journalism. It's pro-GOP corporate media propaganda.
The nearly-8,000 word cover story on radio talker Rush Limbaugh in The New York Times Magazine last Sunday drew surprised approval from many conservatives -- and, now, condemnation from many others. Eric Boehlert at Media Matters, for example, ripped the Times today for "duping" its readers by assigning a conservative "dittohead" staffer, Zev Chafets, to write the piece without informing its readers of this "alliance." He asked for Public Editor Clark Hoyt to look into it.
Chafets appeared with host Bob Garfield on the weekly NPR program "On the Media" last weekend, and the show has now posted the revealing transcript.
I was born 58 years and a few hours ago. I am the second daughter of a WWII Navy vet and world class mother. I was raised before the concept of "time outs" when every adult in the neighborhood had free rein to admonish a kid who acted outside the bounds of politeness or good behaviour. I was subjected to bad Toni home perms to my limp straight hair, home-made clothes and bagged lunches for school. My Mom made bread and jelly for sandwiches and we ate dinner as a family 7 days a week. We said Grace before meals, asked to be excused from the table, and thanked both of my parents for the dinner.
Due to Republican John S. McCain's recent troubles mastering the teleprompter, the Senator's campaign has organized a crack team of linguists, copy-editors, and speechwriters to publish "corrections" on the internet and in emails to press following all of his appearances. The first of these speech rectifications was issued this morning...
John McCain can't seem to handle people questioning his accountability on G.I. Bill even if they are Vets.
John McCain gets testy with a vet when questioned on his lack of support for Jim Webb's GI Bill and other bills that he's voted against which would support veterans.
He also attack Jim Webb who actually did the G.I Bill. Said Jim Webb hasn't done enough. Watch the video. So where is the media on this?
Markos, you wrote last week that you were withholding $2,300 from the Obama campaign, claiming that your individual donation didn’t matter. As if you aren’t the proprietor of an influential blog devoted to electing Democrats. As if you aren’t one of the key forces behind "people power" taking back our politics. As if many, many of your users, the ones who frequent your website and generate your ad revenue, aren’t struggling to make donations 1% the size of that.
At the end of the day, I'm pretty irrelevant in the whole affair. Obama is going to raise a ton of dough and win this thing whether I send him money or not.
What if even a fraction of your immense readership follows your lead? Maybe you need a refresher course in people power. I’m challenging the users of this website, thousands of people who are, in your words, "pretty irrelevant in this whole affair," (if you believe that or not!) to donate $2,300 collectively.
No matter what anyone says, we all matter, when we work together.
Yesterday there was lots of discussion about McCain's habitual high-stakes craps playing. That was prompted by the observation McCain is so scrupulous he reports 14 bucks in interest as a line item on his 1040, yet he has NEVER reported any winnings or offsetting losses, even though we know he has been an habitual high-stakes gambler for many years.
Most of that conversation concentrated on tax implications, questions of judgment, or moral lapses. We barely touched on the potential corruption angle.
I want to focus on the corruption angle now because I found something interesting in the Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act Database.
Remember those marathon gambling sessions in 2005? We know he was often in the company of Wes Gullett, a former staffer and now a lobbyist. If you check the client list on the web site for Gullett's firm you find nothing strange there -- now. However, look at their former clients and things get more interesting...
Rasmussen has new poll data out today which answers a big question here of late:
Why is Obama moving to the center?
Personally, I believe Obama isn't actually moving to the center. His centrist policies on display the last two weeks are not new policies but rather the moderate side of the candidate in full display. And today, Rasmussen shows that this message is actually breaking through. This is significant because while the topline numbers remain essentially unchanged in the head to head, the underlying dynamics are changing in a way that gives Obama sure footing heading into the high negatives season, potentially limiting the eventual impact of the coming 527/GOP/McCain negative onslaught.
The polling also may indicate that Obama's Centrism advertising is starting to pay off, while it runs head to head with McCain's Maverick/Pseudo-Enviro advertising.
Are these the first signs that Obama is winning the ad wars?
Boots on the Ground, Balloons in the Air, Up in the Polls!
Someone WORKING...for a CHANGE is so much more than a campaign slogan for this working man running for Congress to finally represent the interests of the people. It's the very work ethic that permeates our campaign for North Carolina's 8th District and shows in our dedicated army of volunteers and recent polling.
Barack Obama is starting the day right: flying into enemy territory (Georgia), proposing new and innovative bankruptcy laws, and slapping McCain hard on his economic record, particularly as it relates to bankruptcy:
The Democratic presidential hopeful also accused Republican rival John McCain of repeatedly siding with the banking industry, saying, "When it comes to strengthening the safety net for hardworking families, he's been part of the problem, not part of the solution." (emphasis mine)
More below, including the substance of Obama's new proposals, more smackdowns, and lines around the block to get to the event in Atlanta this morning...
"The public financing of presidential elections, as it exists today, is broken, and we face opponents who have become masters at gaming this broken system," Obama said, adding that [this wasn't] an "easy decision" for him.
UPDATE: The "debate," which started at 11:30am, IS back up and you can watch it here: http://www.c-span.org/...
If we're going down, I'm going down fighting. This new FISA secret surveillance bill has been haggled behind closed doors (a red flag),l but today the Senate holds final debate on it--a remarkable and appalling turnabout for a once-moribund measure that would have been unthinkable in 2005 when Bush's secret spying program was exposed.
IF ANY OF THE AMENDMENTS PASS, THE BILL MUST RETURN TO THE HOUSE OR BE RECONCILED, RATHER THAN GOING STRAIGHT TO BUSH FOR SIGNING.
We would like some information about where to go as we have not been able to get the information from the medical community that we need in order to make the right decision for our dad.
Our father is an 83 year old man who is trying to decide whether to go home on hospice or to have the dual surgeries: free flap surgery and debriding of his head wound.
I took the title from this piece - which dissected the "Obama is a Muslim" smear.
Today I find myself writing a diary that I should not have to write - defending a candidate that I should not have to defend against a claim that people here should be loath to repeat. This is hardly the first time a Democratic nominee has been misrepresented, lied about, smeared, slammed, etc. on a liberal blog. I'm sure it won't be the last.
Those of us who were here 4 years ago most likely remember SYFPH very well. SYFPH was born as a result of the MANY Democrats here on DKos (and elsewhere) who felt that Kerry would win no matter what, or that he'd lose and then we should all jump off bridges and move to New Zealand, or who felt that a vote for Nader was better than a vote for kerry - because Kerry was WRONG about the war in Iraq...the Republicans were right, he was a flip-flopper, etc.
