McCain Economy

Sarah Palin Blamed by the US Secret Service Over Death Threats Against Barack Obama

Sarah Palin's attacks on Barack Obama's patriotism provoked a spike in death threats against the future president, Secret Service agents revealed during the final weeks of the campaign.
By Tim Shipman in Washington

Sarah Palin's attacks on Barack Obama's patriotism provoked a spike in death threats against the future president, Secret Service agents revealed during the final weeks of the campaign.

The Republican vice presidential candidate attracted criticism for accusing Mr Obama of "palling around with terrorists", citing his association with the sixties radical William Ayers.

The attacks provoked a near lynch mob atmosphere at her rallies, with supporters yelling "terrorist" and "kill him" until the McCain campaign ordered her to tone down the rhetoric.

But it has now emerged that her demagogic tone may have unintentionally encouraged white supremacists to go even further.

The Secret Service warned the Obama family in mid October that they had seen a dramatic increase in the number of threats against the Democratic candidate, coinciding with Mrs Palin's attacks.

Michelle Obama, the future First Lady, was so upset that she turned to her friend and campaign adviser Valerie Jarrett and said: "Why would they try to make people hate us?"

The revelations, contained in a Newsweek history of the campaign, are likely to further damage Mrs Palin's credentials as a future presidential candidate. She is already a frontrunner, with Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, to take on Mr Obama in four years time.

Details of the spike in threats to Mr Obama come as a report last week by security and intelligence analysts Stratfor, warned that he is a high risk target for racist gunmen. It concluded: "Two plots to assassinate Obama were broken up during the campaign season, and several more remain under investigation. We would expect federal authorities to uncover many more plots to attack the president that have been hatched by white supremacist ideologues."

Sarah Palin Visit's Pro-American Area's in the United States, avoids the Un-American Cities

"We believe that the best of America is in these small towns that we get to visit, and in these wonderful little pockets of what I call the real America, being here with all of you hard working very patriotic, um, very, um, pro-America areas of this great nation. This is where we find the kindness and the goodness and the courage of everyday Americans. Those who are running our factories and teaching our kids and growing our food and are fighting our wars for us. Those who are protecting us in uniform. Those who are protecting the virtues of freedom."

More Republicans Jump ship - Weld, McClellan and Pressler Support Obama

Former Massachusetts Governor William Weld, a Republican, announced his support for the Democratic nominee for President, Barack Obama.

Weld’s endorsement comes a day after former Bush Press Secretary Scott McClellan and the former Governor of Minnesota Arne Carlson, also a Republican, announced their support - separately - of Obama’s candidacy.

In a statement Weld said, “Sen. Obama is a once-in-a-lifetime candidate who will transform our politics and restore America’s standing in the world.”

“We need a president who will lead based on our common values and Sen. Obama demonstrates an ability to unite and inspire. Throughout this campaign I’ve watched his steady leadership through trying times and I’m confident he is the best candidate to move our country forward,” he said.

Scott McClellan Appearing on “D.L. Hughley Breaks the News,” McClellan said his vote is all about “change.”

“From the very beginning I have said I am going to support the candidate that has the best chance for changing the way Washington works and getting things done and I will be voting for Barack Obama,” he said to cheers and applause.

Former Sen. Larry Pressler (R-S.D.), who was the first Vietnam veteran to serve in the United States Senate, is the latest Republican to back Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign, Politico learned Sunday.

Pressler, who said that in addition to casting an absentee ballot for Obama he'd donated $500 to the Illinois senator's campaign, cited the Democrat's response to the financial crisis as the primary reason for his decision.

"I just got the feeling that Obama will be able to handle this financial crisis better, and I like his financial team of (former Treasury Secretary Robert) Rubin and (former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul) Volcker better," he said. By contrast, John McCain's "handling of the financial crisis made me feel nervous."

Wave Of McCain Robocalls Reported, Some May Violate State Law
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/16/massive-rnc-robocall-may_n_135348.html

The McCain-Palin campaign and the Republican National Committee launched a massive robocall campaign on Thursday designed to alarm voters about Barack Obama’s past association with former radical Bill Ayers. The committee may be violating state law in the process.

The call begins: "Hello. I’m calling for John McCain and the RNC," before telling recipients that they "need to know that Barack Obama has worked closely with domestic terrorist, Bill Ayers, whose organization bombed the U.S. Capitol, the Pentagon, a judge’s home, and killed Americans."

More remarkable than the message (coming after a presidential debate in which John McCain said he didn’t care about a "washed up terrorist") is the reach of the campaign itself. The Huffington Post received dozens of emails from voters who had either received the call or gotten a voice mail with a recording. Reports came from Ohio, Colorado, New Mexico, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Missouri, North Carolina, Florida, Texas, West Virginia, Maine and even Georgia.

Several readers in Minnesota also reported receiving the call, which could be a violation of that state’s laws. Explains Shaun Dakin, CEO & Founder of the National Political Do Not Contact Registry:

"Most robocalls are supposed to have two things, "paid for by X" and a phone number of the group making the call. Most do that. Now, that being said, there are some states that have their own robocall laws and they are much stricter. Minnesota pretty much bans robocalls entirely unless they are introduced by a human voice. And that pretty much never happens because it defeats the point."

Not About the Financial Crisis
Paul Kurgman

The crisis isn’t the only scary thing going on. Something very ugly is taking shape on the political scene: as McCain’s chances fade, the crowds at his rallies are, by all accounts, increasingly gripped by insane rage. It’s not just a mob phenomenon — it’s visible in the right-wing media, and to some extent in the speeches of McCain and Palin.

We’ve seen this before. One thing that has been sort of written out of the mainstream history of politics is the sheer insanity of the attacks on the Clintons — they were drug smugglers, they murdered Vince Foster (and lots of other people), they were in league with foreign powers. And this stuff didn’t just show up in fringe publications — it was discussed in Congress, given props by the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal, and so on.

What it came down to was that a significant fraction of the American population, backed by a lot of money and political influence, simply does not consider government by liberals (even very moderate liberals) legitimate. Ronald Reagan was supposed to have settled that once and for all.

What happens when Obama is elected? It will be even worse than it was in the Clinton years. For sure there will be crazy accusations, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see some violence.

The next few years are going to be very, very tough.

Meeting G7, Bush Vows World Economic Fix
Bush Pledges Coordinated Response From World Leaders on Economic Crisis
By RACHEL MARTIN and JULIA HOPPOCK

After one of the worst weeks in the stock market's history, President Bush met foreign financial leaders today to hatch a plan to take on the international financial crisis. In a Rose Garden address following the meeting, Bush vowed to work together with world leaders to develop a unified response.

"All of us recognize that this is a serious global crisis and, therefore, requires a serious global response for the good of our people. We resolve to continue our strong efforts to return our economies to the path of stability and long-term growth," Bush said.

Bush was joined by financial leaders of the other G7 nations Japan, Germany, England, France, Italy and Canada as well as Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

While Bush did not discuss any strategies for resolving the economic crisis, he emphasized the need for global leaders to work together in order to avoid worsening the situation.

"As our nations confront challenges unique to our individual financial systems, we must continue to work collaboratively and ensure that our actions are coordinated," Bush said. "We must ensure the actions of one country do not contradict or undermine the actions of another. In our interconnected world, no nation will gain by driving down the fortunes of another. We're in this together. We will come through it together."

Bush also praised swift action taken by some G7 nations earlier in the week to enact a joint interest rate cut. In an historical coordinated policy action, central banks around the world, including the Federal Reserve and European Central Bank, lowered key rates in hopes of boosting liquidity and unfreezing the credit markets.

Bush tried to instill confidence that world leaders were doing everything they could to lessen the crisis, but warned it would take time.

"The benefits will not be realized overnight. But as these actions take effect, they will help restore stability to our markets and confidence to our financial institutions."

Troopergate Report: Palin Abused Power
Filed by David Edwards and Andrew McLemore

An investigation of Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin found she abused her power as an Alaska governor in the firing of the state public safety commissioner, the Associated Press reported.

The report concludes that Palin's desire for a state trooper to be dismissed following a family dispute was one of several factors leading to the firing of Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan.

Monegan claims his dismissal was an act of vengeance for resisting pressure to fire a state trooper involved in a bitter divorce with the governor's sister.

"I feel vindicated," Monegan said. "It sounds like they've validated my belief and opinions. And that tells me I'm not totally out in left field."

Investigator Stephen Branchflower led the bipartisan panel that investigated the matter and found Palin in violation of a state ethics law, KTUU reported.

"I find that Governor Sarah Palin abused her power by violating Alaska statute 39.52.110(a) of the Alaska Executive Branch ethics act," Branchflower said in the 263-page report.

John McCain, the Maverick, the Myth

By: David Phillips

October 6, 2008

Senator John Sidney McCain III was born August 29, 1936 and celebrated his 72^nd birthday last month, if elected he would become the oldest person ever elected as President. McCain was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1982; he served two terms, and was then elected to the U.S. Senate in 1986, winning re-election easily in 1992, 1998, and 2004.

Senator McCain, whose nick name is “The Maverick” had ruffled many feathers over the years by not voting in lock step with his Republican congressional caucus in Washington.

Over the past 26 years that Senator McCain has been in Washington there have been many others who also have not voted in lock step with the GOP, but somewhere along the way, it was McCain who was tagged the Maverick by the media for differing with the Republican Party on some key issues.

Well the Maverick is gone, dead, buried, it is no more, the only thing left of the maverick nickname that McCain was once famous for is now a myth of a man that once was.

McCain is a man who now votes in lock step with his GOP brethren, McCain is now a follower and no longer a leader. In 2006 Senator McCain voted with Bush and the GOP 90 percent of the time, in 2007 95 percent of the time and 2008 100 percent of the time on the few times he came off the campaign trail and back to Washington to cast a vote.

John McCain has been campaigning on two personal notes; one is that he is a maverick, and two, that he is a former POW.

As I said, the maverick is no longer, it is his past, as is his POW status.

McCain in every campaign from his past to the present has used his history as a POW as if it qualifies him for whatever office he was and is seeking. This is not to belittle his history as a POW, McCain endured torture that only others who themselves have been tortured can truly understand. But in no way does being captured and tortured qualify him or entitle him to be President of the United States.

In an interview with Katie Couric a couple of months back McCain was asked to clear up the flap he created in a previous interview with Politico, when McCain was asked how many homes he owns and said “I think — I’ll have my staff get to you.” McCain’s answer to Couric was, "I spent some years without a kitchen table, without a chair." McCain was referring to his time spent as a POW as to the reason why he did not know how many homes he owns.

McCain’s aide Brian Rogers said to the Washington Post, while in full damage-control mode, said his boss had “some investment properties and stuff,” then added: “This is a guy who lived in one house for five and a half years — in prison.”

Another of McCain’s POW entitlement happened when he was making a comment about Elizabeth Edwards, the wife of former Senator and Presidential candidate John Edwards, when she ridiculed McCain's health care policy. A McCain aide said that the Senator knows what it’s like to get inadequate care "from another government.”

And then there have been the countless ads showing McCain in a bed at the Hanoi Hilton, the opening video at the Republican convention were McCain’s POW history along with film of the 911attack which were used as the intro to McCain’s speech.

Senator McCain you were a POW, we get it, but that does not entitle you or lend qualifications to you, to be President of the United States.

And finally, last week the Senate approved a bailout bill, and then sent it to the House which also approved the Bill, then Bush signed it into law. The Senate version included $150 billion in pork that the original House Bill that was first voted down did not contain. Senator McCain whose has campaigned on “no pork”, voted yes on the Senate version that was ultimately signed by Bush.

David Phillips is a Vietnam Era Veteran, a Democratic Party Activist, and David is also the Publisher and Editor of the online political magazine YodasWorld.org

 E-Mail Questions or Comments: oneyoda@aol.com

You can also read David’s weekly column in the Santa Ynez Valley Journal or you can go to their web site: www.Syvjournal.com

McCain Accuse Obama of Phoning it In, While McCain Phones it In.

Just another Lie by McCain

John McCain made a huge stink about putting his campaign on hold and postponing the first presidential debate so he could devote his energies to help resolve the banking crisis.

Mcain was still peddling the fiction that he had "suspended" his campaign last week, saying:

You know, remarkably, some people have criticized my decision, but I will never, ever be a president who sits on the sidelines when this country faces a crisis. I know that many of you may have noticed, but it's not my style to simply "phone it in."

Except he did phone it in.

John McCain is staying in Washington this weekend to keep working on the bailout legislation. He will not be visiting Capital Hill, however, preferring to work out of his campaign office.

"He can effectively do what he needs to do by phone,'' said senior adviser Mark Salter.

McCain Says Senate Silence Was Act of Bipartisanship
By Michael Abramowitz

DENVER -- Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) says he didn't speak on the Senate floor in favor of the economic rescue plan Wednesday night because he didn't think the Democrats wanted him or his politics there, and he did not want to get in the way of bipartisan progress on the bill, according to the Denver Post.

In an hour-long interview here with the Post's editorial board, McCain addressed his silence on the Senate floor, which stood in contrast to Democrat Barack Obama, who delivered a floor speech in favor of the measure. McCain did say he was making calls to House members and had persuaded fellow Arizonan, Rep. John Shaddeg (R) to support the bill when it comes up for another vote this afternoon.

"I have never been any good at threatening people," McCain told the Post.

Alaska Town Opens 'Road to Nowhere'
By STEVE QUINN
Associated Press Writer
 
Alaska now has a Road to Nowhere going to what would have been the Bridge to Nowhere.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's transportation department has completed a $25 million gravel road leading to the site of a bridge that Palin, as John McCain's vice presidential candidate, now boasts that she stopped, so as to save taxpayers money. The road was built with federal tax dollars.

Ketchikan Mayor Bob Weinstein said the 3.2-mile road will be useful for road races, hunters and possibly future development. But with no bridge to serve it, that's probably about it.

"I think it will be good for recreational things like a 5K and a 10K," Weinstein said. "And instead of people walking through brush, it may be used for hunting in the area."

Palin repeatedly tells campaign crowds she said "thanks but no thanks" to Washington when it came up with $400 million for a bridge linking Ketchikan to an island with 50 residents and an airport. In fact, she turned against the bridge only after it became a national symbol of wasteful spending and Washington had backed off financing the project.

Roger Wetherell, speaking for the state Transportation Department, said the road opened several days ago might someday get people to and from Gravina Island after all, if cheaper designs for a bridge become a reality. Meantime, it opens access to land development, he said.

McCain opposes the pet projects that lawmakers in Washington wring out of the federal budget for their constituents in the form of special spending, or earmarks. He's railed for years against the bridge, doing more than anyone to make the nickname Bridge to Nowhere stick. And as his running mate, Palin talks about how she killed the bridge project and "championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress."

She supported the bridge during her campaign for governor in 2006, then pulled back state money for it a year later, after Washington had pulled the plug.

Alaska received about half the bridge money anyway, on condition it be used for other things. Palin's predecessor and the Legislature redirected all but $60 million in 2006 to other projects, and Palin has left the remainder untouched, to be used eventually to improve access to the island, her spokeswoman has said.

The airport is separated from its users by a quarter-mile-wide channel of water, forcing travelers to catch either a ferry or a water taxi for a 15-minute ride. Ketchikan, seven blocks wide and eight miles long, is Alaska's entry port for northbound cruise ships that bring more than 1 million visitors yearly.

"Why did the McCain Campaign Take Over the Governor's Office?"

Queries are directed through the McCain campaign machine. Her political capital at home is eroding.

By Kim Murphy
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

ANCHORAGE — Jerry McCutcheon went to Sarah Palin's office here last week to request information about the firing of former Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan, the scandal that for weeks has threatened to overshadow the governor's role as Republican presidential candidate John McCain's running mate.

McCutcheon was given a phone number in Virginia to call: the national headquarters of the McCain-Palin campaign.

Why, he wanted to know, did he have to call a campaign office 4,300 miles away to find out what was going on in Alaska government? The longtime civic activist phoned his local state representative, Les Gara, who quickly filed a protest.

These days, many such queries about Monegan -- or anything else involving Palin's record as governor -- get diverted to McCain staffers. A former Justice Department prosecutor from New York flew in recently to advise the governor's lawyer and field reporters' calls about Monegan. Soon after, Palin's willingness to cooperate in the Legislature's probe of the affair ended.

A recent call to John Cramer, the head of the state Department of Military and Veterans Affairs -- who clashed with Palin during her years as mayor of Wasilla -- was returned by a McCain campaign operative who had just arrived from Washington, D.C. "John who?" she asked.

In stubbornly independent Alaska, the sudden intrusion of a political campaign into so many corners of state government -- not to mention Wasilla, where a dozen or more campaign researchers and lawyers have also begun overseeing the release of any information about Palin's years as mayor -- has touched a raw nerve. McCain staffers have even been assigned to answer calls for Palin's family members, who have been instructed not to talk.

"Why did the McCain campaign take over the governor's office?" the Anchorage Daily News demanded in an editorial Saturday. "Is it too much to ask that Alaska's governor speak for herself, directly to Alaskans, about her actions as Alaska's governor?"

Format of Biden-Palin Debate Sets No Limit on Subject Matter

By Robert G. Kaiser
Washington Post Staff Writer

Negotiators for the campaigns of Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama agreed yesterday on a format for the Oct. 2 debate between Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr., resolving an issue left open in August after the campaigns settled on the structure of the three presidential debates, according to sources involved in the talks.

Under the plan agreed to yesterday, Palin and Biden will have less time than McCain and Obama to reply to moderators' questions and discuss each other's answers. And there will be no guidelines given to Gwen Ifill of PBS, moderator of the vice presidential debate, as to subject matter, allowing her to mix in questions about foreign and domestic matters, the sources said.

Both sides were satisfied with the final agreement, the sources said. The Commission on Presidential Debates, the independent nonprofit organization that manages these quadrennial events, had hoped the campaigns would agree to the same longer segments for the vice presidential aspirants as those adopted in August for the presidential debates.

In the negotiations, Republicans wanted to limit the amount of time available for their neophyte candidate, Palin, to be questioned on a single topic. Democrats, meanwhile, wanted to be sure Biden and Palin spoke from lecterns rather than sitting at a table the way Vice President Cheney and his rivals in 2000 (Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut) and 2004 (Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina) did. Both sides got what they wanted. Palin and Biden will each have 90 seconds to respond to questions, followed by a two-minute period for discussion between the candidates.

61 Lies By McCain/Palin Documented and Fact Checked...Click The Link Below and Read All the Lies From These Two Politicians...

Here are Couple of His latest LIES to Start you off:

Greenspan: Country Can't Afford McCain's Tax Cuts
By GLEN JOHNSON
Associated Press Writer

Alan Greenspan says the country can't afford tax cuts of the magnitude proposed by Republican presidential contender John McCain — at least not without a corresponding reduction in government spending.

"Unless we cut spending, no," the former Federal Reserve chairman said Friday when asked McCain's proposed tax cuts, pegged in some estimates at $3.3 trillion.

"I'm not in favor of financing tax cuts with borrowed money," Greenspan said during an interview with Bloomberg Television. "I always have tied tax cuts to spending."

McCain has said that he would offset his proposed cuts — including reducing the corporate tax rate and eliminating the Alternative Minimum Tax that has plagued middle-class families — by ending congressional pork-barrel spending, unnecessary government programs and overhauling entitlement programs such as Medicare and Social Security.

Democrats pounced on Greenspan's comments, in part because McCain professed last year that he was weaker on economics than foreign affairs and was reading Greenspan's memoir, "The Age of Turbulence," to educate himself.

"Obviously he needs to go back to that book and study it some more," Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., said during a conference call arranged by the campaign of Democratic nominee Barack Obama.

McCaskill said eliminating congressional earmark spending — estimated at $17 billion annually — cannot offset McCain's proposed tax cuts.

"That's a huge amount of money, but it's not even a drop in the bucket to pay for $3.5 trillion in tax cuts," she said. "So, every time he throws up earmarks and he's asked how he's going to pay for it, he knows he's being disingenuous, he knows he's not being forthcoming."

McCain campaign officials dispute the $3.3 trillion figure, saying it assumes eliminating 2003 tax cuts made by the Bush administration and then cutting from that higher level. They say McCain is proposing tax cuts worth $600 billion from current levels.

"John McCain opposed President Bush's tax cuts in 2003, because they didn't include the necessary spending controls. Sen. McCain's proposed job-growing tax cuts are modest in comparison to his plans to slow the exploding growth of federal expenditures — meaning that contrary to Chairman Greenspan's assertions, this relief isn't proposed on borrowed money," said McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds.

McCain Campaign: We will not be Talking about the Issue's...We will only be using Attack Ads and Smears Until the Election

Rick Davis, campaign manager for John McCain's presidential bid, insisted that the presidential race will be decided more over personalities than issues during an interview with Post editors this morning.

"This election is not about issues," said Davis. "This election is about a composite view of what people take away from these candidates."

Davis added that issues will no doubt play a major role in the decisions undecided voters will make but that they won't ultimately be conclusive. He added that the campaign has "ultimate faith" in the idea that the more voters get to know McCain and Barack Obama, the better the Republican nominee will do.

McCain Has Said "Lipstick On A Pig" At Least Three Times
By Greg Sargent

As you know, the McCain campaign is pretending to be outraged by Barack Obama's use of the common phrase "lipstick on a pig," with McCain surrogates pretending that they believe that Obama was tacitly referring to Sarah Palin as a porker.

The McCain campaign even has a new Web ad hitting Obama over the "pig" line.

As it turns out, however, McCain himself has used the same phrase not once, not twice, but at least three times.

The first one is the one that's gotten all the attention: McCain using the phrase last October to describe Hillary's health plan. But there are two more examples.

At a press conference on Iraq war strategy on February 1, 2007, McCain said:

"It gets down to whether you support what's being done in this new strategy or you don't. You can put lipstick on a pig. It's still a pig in my view."
And according to National Public Radio, McCain said the phrase again that same day in a similar context:

"It's all about withdrawal or not withdrawal, okay? I mean that's what it's all about. You can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig."

Oil Brokers' Sex Scandal and John McCain's Drilling

WASHINGTON -- Sex, drugs and offshore oil drilling?

A brewing scandal could not have come at a worse time for Republicans who have been goading Democrats into expanding offshore oil drilling to increase domestic oil production.

Democrats are also trying to impose new taxes and royalties on the industry. They're emboldened by the scandal that has revealed what the Inspector General called "a culture of ethical failure" within the Interior Department's Minerals Management Service, the agency that issues offshore drilling leases.

Federal investigators said government officials handling billions of dollars in oil royalties engaged in illicit sex with employees of energy companies and received improper gifts.

The alleged transgressions involve 13 Interior Department employees in Denver and Washington. Alleged improprieties include rigging contracts, working part time as private oil consultants and having sexual relationships with -- and accepting golf, ski trips and dinners from -- oil company employees, according to three reports released Wednesday by the Interior Department's inspector general.

The inspector general also claimed the former head of the Denver office -- which markets oil to energy companies -- was having sex and using illegal drugs with subordinates.

Sen. Charles Schumer pounced on the reports, saying they show "the Bush administration officials once again in cahoots with Big Oil" by failing to collect millions in oil royalties.

Colleague Bill Nelson said, "This is why we must not allow Big Oil's agenda to be jammed through Congress."

In fact, the inspector general called it an agency rife with conflicts of interest.

Sarah Palin Never Visited Troops in Iraq, Contrary to Campaign's Claim

Aides to Sarah Palin have admitted that their statement that Palin has visited American troops at a military outpost in the Iraq battle zone is false. Palin visited Kuwait last year, but never set foot in Iraq.

The McCain/Palin campaign corrected another of its own statements last week about Palin's "trip of a lifetime." Originally saying she'd visited Ireland on the trip, the campaign has since admitted that it was only a layover to refuel.

Speaking of her experience with other countries, Palin told ABC News recently that she had visited Canada and Mexico. Her campaign has confirmed the visit to Canada, and said that she went to Mexico for a vacation.

Biden and Palin, Are they ready to step up if needed?

By: David Phillips

September 8, 2008

The Vice President choices are in, Senator Biden and Governor Palin have both given their parties acceptance speeches, one of these two politicians will be a heartbeat away from the Oval office if something were to happen to the President, but are they ready?

Senator Joe Biden (D-DE) has been a US Senator since January 1973, he is currently the fourth longest serving US Senator in Washington. Sen. Biden is the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he is the former Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, he has years of experience in both Foreign and Domestic policies. Sen. Biden’s experience will be a great sounding board for President Obama as he attempts to change the way Washington works.

Senator Biden is well known for his gift of gab and off the cuff remarks, this gift of gab, is a strength as well as a weakness for him, because sometimes he puts his own foot in his mouth, but more often than not, he is putting his foot in his opponent’s mouth. Sen. Biden’s years in Washington are an open book and there are very few skeleton’s in his closet that can come back to hurt him or Obama.

Governor Sarah Palin (R-AK) is very new to politics and to the American people, outside of Alaska until recently know one really knew who she is and what her political beliefs encompass.

Gov. Palin was the Mayor of Wasilla, Alaska and now Governor the last 18 months

Unfortunately for both Gov. Palin and Senator John McCain much has come out over the last several days about her ability to step in as President if Sen. McCain who is 72 and a four time cancer survivor should not be able to do his job. And what has been learned about Gov. Palin has many wondering if the McCain campaign did its due diligence in vetting Gov. Palin.

The McCain campaign in recent interviews has said that they vetted Gov. Palin but the truth is, they did not.

The Washington Post reported last week that “Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was not subjected to a lengthy in-person background interview with the head of Sen. John McCain's vice-presidential vetting team until last Wednesday in Arizona, the day before McCain asked her to be his running mate, and she did not disclose the fact that her 17-year-old daughter was pregnant until that meeting, two knowledgeable McCain officials acknowledged Tuesday.”

McCain only met Gov. Palin one time before he asked her to be his running mate, and that was several months ago in Alaska for about five minutes.

McCain has said over and over that a Vice President must have the qualifications and the experience to step in as President if needed. The fact that she was not vetted properly and the fact that she has very little experience to speak of, and no experience at all in foreign policy, should have been enough to disqualify her. But McCain did not pick her because of her experience even though he says he did, he picked her because she is young, a women and might garner some of the disenfranchised Hillary supporters.

But one only has to look at her ideology and those of Hillary’s supporters to see that they are totally opposite. The only thing the two have in common is that they are women. I must conclude that McCain is playing identity sexist politics with his pick of Gov. Palin.

Gov. Palin is against stem cell research, against Gay/Lesbian marriages and even civil unions, she is against choice for women to make decisions over their own bodies, she wants Creationism taught as a science in all schools, she opposes sex education, she wants to be allowed to ban books that she herself disagrees with. There is plenty more that separates her from the Democrats who were Hillary supporters, but you get the idea.

She recently said, “What does the Vice President do? She says that she has not been paying any attention to the War in Iraq, and she is currently being investigated for abuse of power as Governor of Alaska.

There is plenty more about Gov. Palin that has come out in recent days and from what we have learned she should have no place on McCain’s ticket.

Any chances that McCain may have had before his naming of Palin on his ticket are now slowing and methodically blowing in the wind all because he and his campaign were too lazy to properly vet Gov. Sarah Palin.

David Phillips is a Vietnam Era Veteran, a Democratic Party Activist, and David is also the Publisher and Editor of the online political magazine YodasWorld.org

 E-Mail Questions or Comments: oneyoda@aol.com

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You can also read David’s weekly column in the Santa Ynez Valley Journal or you can go to their web site: www.Syvjournal.com

Which Candidate does the Media Favor More?

By: David Phillips

August 25, 2008

There is a slogan that says any Press coverage is good Press coverage, even if the coverage is negative. The Washington Post a couple of weeks ago wrote that their own paper has a large disparity between the press cover for McCain vs. Obama. The article said that Obama has been in their paper three times as much as McCain. The article also said that it looked bad for the paper and it should change the public’s perspective of this imbalance by covering McCain in their paper more often.

McCain and his campaign have been complaining about the difference in press coverage for several months now. But you may not always like what you are wishing for, because Senator McCain’s gaffes, flip flops and outright lies have been greatly over looked by the Main Stream Media (MSM).

Positive Press vs. Negative Press

The Center for Media and Public Affairs (CMPA) released a report July 28, 2008 that showed the following results:

Study Finds Obama Faring Worse On TV News Than McCain

Barack Obama is getting more negative coverage than John McCain on TV network evening news shows, reversing Obama’s lead in good press during the primaries, according to a new study by CMPA. The study also finds that a majority of both candidates’ coverage is unfavorable for the first time this year.  According to CMPA President Dr. S. Robert Lichter, “Obama replaced McCain as the media’s favorite candidate after New Hampshire.  But now the networks are voting no on both candidates.”

These results are from the CMPA 2008 Election News Watch Project. They are based on a scientific content analysis of 249 election news stories (7 hours 38 minutes of airtime) that aired on ABC World News Tonight, CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News, and Fox Special Report (first half hour) from June 8, 2008 to July 21, 2008. Previously we analyzed 2144 stories (43 hrs 30 min airtime) during the primary campaign from December 16, 2007 through June 7, 2008.  We report on all on-air evaluations of the candidates by sources and reporters, after excluding comments by the campaigns about each other.

MAJOR FINDINGS:

Since the primaries ended, on-air evaluations of Barack Obama have been 72% negative (vs. 28% positive).  That’s worse than John McCain’s coverage, which has been 57% negative (vs. 43% positive) during the same time period.

Obama ran even farther behind McCain on Fox News Channel’s Special Report with 79% negative comments (v. 21% positive), compared to 61% negative comments (v. 39% positive) for McCain since June 8.  During the primaries Obama had a slight lead in good press on Fox, with 52% favorable comments (v. 48 % unfavorable), compared to 48% favorable (v. 52% unfavorable) for McCain. 

Another poll this month from the Pew Research Center (PEW) found that 48 percent of Americans feel they’re “hearing too much” about Obama. Pew found that only 26 percent feel that way about McCain, and that nearly 4 in 10 Americans feel they hear too little about McCain.

Did You Know

 McCain slammed President Bush for his lack of help and support for Katrina. But on the day hurricane Katrina hit, McCain and Bush were cutting a birthday cake for McCain in Arizona having a good time while people were dying. McCain’s first appearance in New Orleans came six months after Katrina. And McCain never publicly denounced Bush’s handling of Katrina, until this past April. The Media never said a word about this.

McCain railed against Jack Abramoff, Tom Delay and the influence peddling they brought to congress. McCain has spouted how proud he is for never asking for one dime in earmarks or any special favors from lobbyists. McCain’s campaign is being run by these same influence peddlers that he supposedly was against. McCain currently has 104 lobbyists on his campaign staff. But the Media barely says a word about this.

McCain once called the Evangelical right wing of his party, “agents of intolerance”. Since his flip he had embraced the support of Revs. John Hagee and Rod Parsley, both of these men are even more controversial than Obama’s Rev. Wright. But the Media barely said a word about Hagee and Parsley.  

There are just too many flip flops and lies from McCain to write in this story, but you can read a list of 74 McCain Flip Flops at this web address: http://yodasworld.org/id353.html

McCain should keep quit on the press coverage because it’s the only thing that is keeping this race close.

David Phillips is a Vietnam Era Veteran, a Democratic Party Activist, and David is also the Publisher and Editor of the online political magazine YodasWorld.org

 E-Mail Questions or Comments: oneyoda@aol.com

You can also read David’s weekly column in the Santa Ynez Valley Journal or you can go to their web site: www.Syvjournal.com 

Too Much of a Bad Thing
By MAUREEN DOWD
Op-Ed Columnist

My mom did not approve of men who cheated on their wives. She called them “long-tailed rats.”

During the 2000 race, she listened to news reports about John McCain confessing to dalliances that caused his first marriage to fall apart after he came back from his stint as a P.O.W. in Vietnam.

I figured, given her stringent moral standards, that her great affection for McCain would be dimmed.

“So,” I asked her, “what do you think of that?”

“A man who lives in a box for five years can do whatever he wants,” she replied matter-of-factly.

I was startled, but it brought home to me what a powerful get-out-of-jail-free card McCain had earned by not getting out of jail free.

His brutal hiatus in the Hanoi Hilton is one of the most stirring narratives ever told on the presidential trail — a trail full of heroic war stories. It created an enormous credit line of good will with the American people. It also allowed McCain, the errant son of the admiral who was the commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific during Vietnam — his jailers dubbed McCain the “Crown Prince” — to give himself some credit.

“He has been preoccupied with escaping the shadow of his father and establishing his own image and identity in the eyes of others,” read a psychiatric evaluation in his medical files. “He feels his experiences and performance as a P.O.W. have finally permitted this to happen.”

The ordeal also gave a more sympathetic cast to his carousing. As Robert Timberg wrote in “John McCain: An American Odyssey,” “What is true is that a number of P.O.W.’s, in those first few years after their release, often acted erratically, their lives pockmarked by drastic mood swings and uncharacteristic behavior before achieving a more mellow equilibrium.” Timberg said Hemingway’s line that people were stronger in the broken places was not always right.

So it’s hard to believe that John McCain is now in danger of exceeding his credit limit on the equivalent of an American Express black card. His campaign is cheapening his greatest strength — and making a mockery of his already dubious claim that he’s reticent to talk about his P.O.W. experience — by flashing the P.O.W. card to rebut any criticism, no matter how unrelated. The captivity is already amply displayed in posters and TV advertisements.

The Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell, the pastor who married Jenna Bush and who is part of a new Christian-based political action committee supporting Obama, recently criticized the joke McCain made at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally encouraging Cindy to enter the topless Miss Buffalo Chip contest. The McCain spokesman Brian Rogers brought out the bottomless excuse, responding with asperity that McCain’s character had been “tested and forged in ways few can fathom.”

When the Obama crowd was miffed to learn that McCain was in a motorcade rather than in a “cone of silence” while Obama was being questioned by Rick Warren, Nicolle Wallace of the McCain camp retorted, “The insinuation from the Obama campaign that John McCain, a former prisoner of war, cheated is outrageous.”

When Obama chaffed McCain for forgetting how many houses he owns, Rogers huffed, “This is a guy who lived in one house for five and a half years — in prison.”

As Sam Stein notes in The Huffington Post: “The senator has even brought his military record into discussion of his music tastes. Explaining that his favorite song was ‘Dancing Queen’ by Abba, he offered that his knowledge of music ‘stopped evolving when his plane intercepted a surface-to-air missile.’ ‘Dancing Queen,’ however, was produced in 1975, eight years after McCain’s plane was shot down.”

The Kerry Swift-boat attacks in 2004 struck down the off-limits signs that were traditionally on a candidate’s military service. Many Democrats are willing to repay the favor, and Republicans clearly no longer see war medals as sacrosanct.

In a radio interview last week, Representative Terry Everett, an Alabama Republican, let loose with a barrage at the Democrat John Murtha, a decorated Vietnam War veteran who is the head of the House defense appropriations subcommittee, calling him “cut-and-run John Murtha” and an “idiot.”

“And don’t talk to me about him being an ex-marine,” Everett said. “Lord, that was 40 years ago. A lot of stuff can happen in 40 years.”

The real danger to the McCain crew in overusing the P.O.W. line so much that it’s a punch line is that it will give Obama an opening for critical questions:

While McCain’s experience was heroic, did it create a worldview incapable of anticipating the limits to U.S. military power in Iraq? Did he fail to absorb the lessons of Vietnam, so that he is doomed to always want to refight it? Did his captivity inform a search-and-destroy, shoot-first-ask-questions-later, “We are all Georgians,” mentality?

EXXON JOHN

Media Sheep
By Madeleine Begun Kane

McCain’s a straight talker.
Ignore all his lying.
Obama is pompous.
He’s humble?  Not buying!

That’s the agreed-upon narrative.  See?
Facts don’t support it?
So scrap them with glee.

McCain contradicts
All his stated positions.
Just brush this aside.
He’s above all suspicions.

Minor adjustments in views from Barack?
Paint them as flip-flops
And go with the flock.

So, Is This Ageist Too?
By Madeleine Begun Kane
 
Wah, wah, wah! Don’t critique John McCain.
If you do so you’re ageist — Insane!
I think that just maybe
McCain’s a big baby,
Too puerile to win this campaign.

Some Friendly Advice For McCain’s Veep Vetting Team
By Madeleine Begun Kane

McCain doesn’t use a PC
Or a Mac, so he needs a VP
Who can act as his tutor
In using a ‘puter
And help with the phone and TV

Paris's Mom Thinks McCain Ad Not-So-Hot

Blogging on the Huffington Post, Kathy Hilton -- the mother of socialite Paris Hilton and a donor to Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign -- says she does not approve of McCain's new TV ad which unfavorably compares Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., to her daughter.

"It is a complete waste of the money John McCain's contributors have donated to his campaign," Hilton writes.

"It is a complete waste of the country's time and attention at the very moment when millions of people are losing their homes and their jobs. And it is a completely frivolous way to choose the next president of the United States."

McCain, R-Ariz., uses an image of Paris Hilton in a new TV ad to imply Obama is an empty-headed celebrity, apparently unaware that Paris's parents, Rick and Kathy, donated $4,600 to his campaign.

Flubs and Flip Flops from McCain Campaign as the Media Gives him a Free Pass
By CHARLES BABINGTON
Associated Press Writer

Details can bedevil any presidential candidate. Republican John McCain announced this week that he backs an anti-affirmative action referendum that has drawn sharp debate in Arizona, his home state. Then he added a curious note: He doesn't know that much about it.

And when McCain was asked earlier this month about insurance coverage for Viagra but not contraceptives, he admitted he wasn't sure about that issue, though he had once voted against requiring coverage for birth-control pills.

At times McCain can appear to be short on details. In some instances, he has made misstatements or eyebrow-raising comments during the long days of campaigning in front of cameras and microphones. Sympathetic listeners call them understandable slips of the tongue and question whether any candidate can know everything. Opponents call them gaffes, or worse.

"Every candidate, Barack Obama included, has shown they will make a misstatement," said McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds. "John McCain reads and internalizes enormous amounts of information about the most pressing regional, national and international issues every single day. He has an incredible skill in that regard."

Indeed, the McCain campaign, conservative Web sites and others have compiled lists of misstatements by his Democratic rival. Some appear to be minor slips, such as Obama's reference to America's "57 states," or his saying "Israel is Israel's friend," when he meant the United States.

More substantively, in discussing minority issues Obama has said on at least two occasions that more black men are in prison than in college, which is inaccurate.

Last week Obama cited a bill passed by the Senate Banking Committee, calling it "my committee," although he is not on that panel.

Some of McCain's remarks seem to stem from his generally breezy nature and occasional tendency to leave details to subordinates. A case in point is the pending referendum in Arizona, which would bar affirmative action efforts in state agencies' hiring, contracting and college admissions.

Arizonans have debated the issue for years, and the referendum has been the subject of front-page stories in major Arizona newspapers. Much of the one-page text is government boilerplate, with the gist contained in the first sentence: "The state shall not discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, color, sex, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting."

McCain, who has represented Arizona in Congress since 1983, took no stand on the referendum until last Sunday, when he was asked about it on ABC's "This Week." Sitting with McCain in Arizona, host George Stephanopoulos said: "Opponents of affirmative action are trying to get a referendum on the ballot here that would do away with affirmative action. Do you support that?"

McCain replied: "Yes, I do. I do not believe in quotas. But I have not seen the details of some of these proposals. But I've always opposed quotas."

"But the one here in Arizona you support," Stephanopoulos said.

"I support it, yes," McCain said.

On the question of Viagra versus birth-control pills, McCain was aboard his campaign bus on July 9 when a reporter asked about the fairness of insurance coverage for one but not the other.

"I certainly do not want to discuss that issue," said McCain, according to a CNN transcript.

The reporter replied, "But I think you voted against it."

"I don't know what I ..." McCain said. He rubbed his face while looking thoughtful. "I'll look at my voting record on it. But I have — I don't recall the vote right now. But I'll be glad to look at it."

McCain has made other remarks that raised questions about his attention to details, or to aides who presumably alert him to errors. On three recent occasions he referred to "Czechoslovakia," a country that hasn't existed since 1993, when it became Slovakia and the Czech Republic. He also implied that the so-called "Sunni Awakening" in Iraq occurred after President Bush announced plans in 2006 for a surge in U.S. troops, when in fact it began several months before.

Steve Hess, a government professor at George Washington University and former speechwriter for President Eisenhower, said voters should not be terribly concerned about such misstatements by Obama or McCain.

"I always thought it amazing that these folks, who are out 15 hours a day, running for president, giving instant answers and speeches, don't slip up more often," he said. "The rest of us do."

"By and large they are small things, they are easily corrected, and you know that they know the right answer," Hess said. But major news outlets pay more attention to such missteps, he said, because if they do not, "you're one-upped by some amateur with a cell phone out there" who will "rush off to his or her Internet blog" with a juicy soundbite or video clip.

Because McCain is nearly 72, Hess said, some critics "are starting to build in a different narrative" about his misstatements or inattention to details. "Once you do that, it feeds on itself."

But he warned Democrats to be careful.

"I don't think the public gets too upset about calling a country Czechoslovakia even though it hasn't existed for a while," Hess said. Berating a candidate for such slips, he said, "can have a boomerang effect."

McCain Puff’s his Chest

By: David Phillips

Yoda’s World

There is no doubt that the surge has lowered the violence, A LOT...But the Surge is just one of many components that has brought Iraq to, as some congressmen said the other day "Livable" ...The Sunni Awakening (That’s Pentagon PC for paying the Sunni’s to fight against al-Qaeda and not Americans)…The Mahdi Army and other Shiite militias calling a truce and putting their weapons down…Just to name a few …The surge by plan or by sheer luck, entered Iraq at the perfect time...It gives both Obama and McCain help on saying who is right about the ultimate goal of bringing the troops home and LEAVING IRAQ...

McCain gets to puff his chest, then look into the lens of the Camera and say, "I was right about the Surge"...

He was WRONG about everything else, but hey, even old senile Senators get it right, every now and then…

Obama shows that he was right to begin with, by being against the War before it's start, and now because Iraq is in a better way "Livable"...His 16 month Timetable is practically endorsed by Maliki, which caused Bush an aneurism and quickly find someone to come up with the line a "Time Horizon",  which shows that Obama's timetable is the policy that the Iraqi gov wants, the timetable is the policy Bush is trying to avoid but cannot, and the policy of a timetable is what the Majority of Americans want...

Obama was against the War to begin with, why is it any surprise that he was against the Surge as well...

McCain Was wrong about the War when he voted for it, he was wrong against the War when he said when asked in an interview,  If you knew what you knew now, back then, would you still favor invading Iraq?.. McCain said Yes, invading Iraq was the right thing to do...

McCain wants to make five plus years of war in Iraq, more than 4100 dead Americans, 30,000 plus wounded Americans and Trillions ultimately spent on the cost of the War…McCain wants to Puff his Chest and say …Look at Me, I was right about the Surge…

David Phillips is a Vietnam Era Veteran, a Democratic Party Activist, and David is also the Publisher and Editor of the online political magazine YodasWorld.org

 E-Mail Questions or Comments: oneyoda@aol.com

You can also read David’s weekly column in the Santa Ynez Valley Journal or you can go to their web site: www.Syvjournal.com

<b>Y</b>oung and <b>O</b>ld <b>D</b>emocrats of <b>A</b>merica

<a href=http://yodasworld.org>Yoda’s World</a>

YodasWorld.org

Phil Gramm Resigns From McCain Campaign, Sites Mental Disorder As Reason

NEW YORK — Phil Gramm, a top adviser to presidential candidate John McCain, is resigning from the role as campaign co-chairman after his comments that the United States had become a "nation of whiners" who constantly complain about the state of the economy.

The former U.S. senator from Texas and past presidential candidate made the remarks earlier this month. McCain immediately distanced himself from the comments, but they have been criticized constantly as McCain tries to show he can help steer the country past its current financial troubles.

Gramm had also suggested that the country was facing a "mental recession" instead of real economic problems. Gramm said in a statement late Friday that he is stepping down as a co-chair of the campaign to "end this distraction."