Madison Cawthorn reminds me of someone....

Votes for me but not for thee

Norm Coleman wants a do over because he won and Al Franken cheated by running and then asking for a recount when he should have done the right thing and crept away in shame for trying to run against an incumbent Republican in the first place.

Fatherly advice

The tales of two fathers:

...we seem to be ignoring the best guide we have to John McCain and Barack Obama's hearts. Both men have written strange, searching books about their fathers. It is in their pages that we can find the clearest -- and most haunting -- clues to their potential presidencies.

At first glance, these slabs of non-fiction -- Dreams From My Father by Obama, and Faith of My Fathers by McCain -- are strikingly similar. They both tell the autobiographical story of an insecure young man who flails around for an identity, and finds it by chasing the ghost of his absent father to a dangerous place far beyond the United States. Yet Obama ended up writing a complex story of colonised people -- while McCain wrote a simple celebration of the coloniser.

[snip]

I do not want to exaggerate the difference between Obama and McCain. The U.S. political system is hemmed in by vast blocks of corporate power and geopolitical pressures. Any president can only nudge this system by inches, in either the right or wrong direction -- but when a giant moves by a few inches, the effect is vast.

From his father, Obama learned to eschew "the confidence reserved for those born into imperial cultures" that they should rule the world their way, with "a steady unthinking application of force". He can imagine the mentality of the boy in Basra whose father has vanished into an occupiers' prison, because it happened to his father and grandfather too. McCain learned the opposite from his father: that the natives only ever learn "to behave themselves" at the end of a big stick. So now we have to ask: which ghostly father will America choose?

Population.... 9000?

Exactly

The difficulty for the Republican ticket in talking about change and reform and acting like insurgents is that they have been running Washington -- the White House and Congress -- for most of the last eight years.

Unable to get past the form

And check the content.

(CNN) -- As Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, Sen. John McCain's pick for vice president, makes her case to the convention Wednesday night, Republicans hope she will sway Democratic women toward their ticket.

Jesus. Exposes the sexist thinking of the McCain campaign just a bit. They obviously presume women will vote only by the dictates of genitalia.

It doesn't matter that Sarah Palin is a governor of a state, a beautiful, working mother of five. I'm glad she lives in a society that accepts that she can do it all, that women have a voice and representation in government, and it's guaranteed she will receive equal pay for equal work.

The reason why women won't automatically 'flock' to her support is that: she's an extremist Republican. She's a fundamentalist Christian who as mayor tried to censor books in the library, threatened people to sign loyalty oaths, silenced their right to talk to the press, tried to bring religion into schools. As governor she tried to use her office to fire an ex-brother-in-law and is now trying to block the investigation. She's against abortion. She's massively inexperienced.

The article goes on to say:

A recent Rutgers University study said historically, women don't vote for a candidate because a woman is on the ticket. They tend to vote Democratic.

I wonder why that is... hmmm. Maybe it's because Democrats tend to be more supportive of families as opposed to Republicans who are forever declaring themselves the party of family values and continually proving that they don't give a fuck about families, women's rights, equality, freedom of choice, freedom from and of religion, freedom of the press, freedom from corporate greed....

But look! She's a sparkly, pretty woman! Ignore the content! Vote for her form!

Alaska first, Alaska Always...

Alaska to become its own country....

Officials of the Alaskan Independence Party say that Palin was once so independent, she was once a member of their party, which, since the 1970s, has been pushing for a legal vote for Alaskans to decide whether or not residents of the 49th state can secede from the United States.

And while McCain's motto -- as seen in a new TV ad -- is "Country First," the AIP's motto is the exact opposite -- "Alaska First -- Alaska Always."

Lynette Clark, the chairman of the AIP, tells ABC News that Palin and her husband Todd were members in 1994, even attending the 1994 statewide convention in Wasilla. Clark was AIP secretary at the time.

"We are a state's rights party," says Clark, a self-employed goldminer. The AIP has "a plank that challenges the legality of the Alaskan statehood vote as illegal and in violation of United Nations charter and international law."

[snip]

The AIP platform states that the purpose of the party is to "seek the complete repatriation of the public lands, held by the federal government, to the state and people of Alaska in conformance with Article 1, Section 8, Clause 17, of the federal constitution ... To prohibit all bureaucratic regulations and judicial rulings purporting to have the effect of law, except that which shall be approved by the elected legislature ... To support the privatization of government services ...”

[snip]

Earlier this year, Palin sent a video message to the AIP for its annual convention, where AIP vice chair George Clark told the small crowd that Palin "was an AIP member before she got the job as a mayor of a small town –- that was a non-partisan job. But you get along to go along -– she eventually joined the Republican Party, where she had all kinds of problems with their ethics, and well, I won’t go into that. She also had about an 80 percent approval rating, and is pretty well sympathetic to her former membership."

Lynette Clark says that Palin is "a fine individual. She's forthright and she puts Alaska first."

She is not a fan of McCain.

"I can't understand why in God's name she has aligned herself with a candidate who opposes the development of our republic and Alaska's resource wealth," Clark says.

Remember how Molly Ivins warned us again and again about Bush?

How she said,"The next time I tell you someone from Texas should not be president of the United States, please, pay attention."? Via Steve Bates of The Yellow Doggerel Democrat, here is our next warning about a man running for President, written by Amy Silverman.

We are being warned. Is anyone listening?

Update: Sinfonian of Blast Off absolutely shreds an article expounding on why real men vote for McCain. There's nothing left but feathers floating in the air.

And do you want a Bush third term?

McCain does not speak for the McCain campaign...

Apparently should not be speaking at all if his handlers had anything to say about it:

WASHINGTON — Senator John McCain is so quick to pick up his gold-colored cellphone to solicit advice — from senators, campaign consultants, even the stray former deputy press secretary — that aides, concerned about his tendency to adopt the last opinion he has heard, have tried to cut back on the time he has to make calls.

Mr. McCain is known to sign off on big campaign decisions and then to march off his own reservation. Two weeks ago, he publicly disagreed with his own spokeswoman, Jill Hazelbaker, after she used a line of attack against Senator Barack Obama that he had approved after careful strategizing within his campaign. Ms. Hazelbaker raced out of the Virginia campaign headquarters and refused to take Mr. McCain’s calls of apology, aides said, and a plan to have Republican members of Congress use the same critical line about Mr. Obama’s foreign trip fell apart.

Out of his hearing, Mr. McCain is called the White Tornado by some people who have worked for him over the years. Throughout his presidential campaign, he has been the overseer of a kingdom of dissenting camps, unclear lines of command and an unsettled atmosphere that keeps aides constantly on edge.

Nicknames for McCain's campaign? The White Tornado? How about the Uptight Volcano? No Country for Old Wrinkly White Dudes? Who's Running the Store? Senator Get Off My Lawn? Presidential Hopeful WTF? Meandering Mental Maverick? ... The options are endless!

Update:



A video to prove it.

*edited for crappy grammar.

The gift that keeps on giving

The Grand Old Party.

Here's a list to start your week!

The ten worst!

Here's another viewpoint

On California allowing gay marriage. Basically asking why this was brought up in an election year. We don't need to galvanize the wingnut base anymore than they are already.

That was my reaction at first, but I really can't see it doing harm to the Democratic challengers. I believe most people are so throughly disgusted with the Republicans and their utterly disastrous eight years of full control of the country that they will see this as a vote of wonderful tolerance rather than a frightening taste of what Democratic leadership will bring.

Has anyone asked how the families feel?

Being forced to spend more time with the retired politician?

McCrery, 58, joins 17 other Republicans who are headed into voluntary retirement as the party struggles to adjust to its return to minority status in the 2006 elections.

Officials disclosed McCrery's decision on condition of anonymity, not wanting to pre-empt a formal statement.

A statement prepared for release said that McCrery reached his decision out of disappointment that Republicans no longer controlled the House as well as a desire to spend more time with his children.

McCrery had been well-positioned to take over as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee in January if the GOP had held control in last year's elections.

"The chairmanship would have allowed me to play a leading role in addressing some of the biggest long-term problems facing our country," the statement said.

He said he had sought to work harmoniously with Rep. Charles Rangel, the New York Democrat who chairs the panel, and that the two have had some success in drafting bipartisan trade legislation.

"But on tax reform, Medicare and health care reform, and Social Security Reform, our best efforts have come to naught," the statement said.

"So, given that disappointment and my desire to more fully enjoy the last few years my boys will be at home, I will not seek re-election to the Congress in 2008."

Six more reasons to be in awe of Rudy Giuliani

Besides 9/11 that is. Jesus' General shows us:

Remembering Vince Foster

And all the weird conspiracy theories that went on after his death when Gilmore's autopsy reads thus:
Via Booman Tribune:

First they said it was a heart attack, now they say this:

The death of Rep. Paul E. Gillmor, R-Ohio, was ruled accidental Friday by the Arlington County, Va. medical examiner. A spokeswoman for the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, Northern District of Virginia, said an autopsy determined that the 10-term lawmaker died of a “blunt head and neck trauma.” Gillmor was found dead in his Arlington condominium on Aug. 5.

So....

When will they blame the Clintons?

Update 9/13: Paul Gillmor was found at the bottom of the stairs.