JaBbA's Hut

Sarah Palin just came out on stage and said to Joe Biden "Can I call you Joe?".

Brilliant.

Of course he's going to say yes. If he doesn't, then he looks like a dick. And now she doesn't have to call him Senator, which deemphasizes his experience.

At the same time, every time he calls her Sarah, he sounds condescending. He really needed to be calling her Governor Palin.

Evil, and brilliant. She's a cagey one, this Sarah Palin.

Jon Stewart always makes fun of the idiocy of politicians, but watch this to the end. He actually gets pissed off about the fact that Congress is taking Rosh Hashana off!



Link: http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=186754&title=kill-bill-volume-1

There has been so much campaign idiocy that has infuriated me. I have a stack of stuff to post.

I'm throwing it away. Instead, I found this video from the Obama campaign. And it once again tells me why I am voting FOR Barack Obama, rather than just AGAINST John McCain.

In 2004, After Obama's speech to the DNC, I felt we had found an inspirational leader. 4 years later, I'm glad to have the opportunity to cast my vote for that man and his ideas.


...all across America something is stirring. What the nay-sayers don't understand is that this election has never been about me. It's about you.

For eighteen long months, you have stood up, one by one, and said enough to the politics of the past. You understand that in this election, the greatest risk we can take is to try the same old politics with the same old players and expect a different result. You have shown what history teaches us - that at defining moments like this one, the change we need doesn't come from Washington. Change comes to Washington. Change happens because the American people demand it - because they rise up and insist on new ideas and new leadership, a new politics for a new time.

...

America, we cannot turn back. Not with so much work to be done. Not with so many children to educate, and so many veterans to care for. Not with an economy to fix and cities to rebuild and farms to save. Not with so many families to protect and so many lives to mend. America, we cannot turn back. We cannot walk alone. At this moment, in this election, we must pledge once more to march into the future. Let us keep that promise - that American promise - and in the words of Scripture hold firmly, without wavering, to the hope that we confess.

Thank you, God Bless you, and God Bless the United States of America.

From the Katie Couric CBS interview with Sarah Palin:

Couric: What happens if the goal of democracy doesn't produce the desired outcome? In Gaza, the U.S. pushed hard for elections and Hamas won.

Palin: Yeah, well especially in that region, though, we have to protect those who do seek democracy and support those who seek protections for the people who live there. What we're seeing in the last couple of days here in New York is a President of Iran, Ahmadinejad, who would come on our soil and express such disdain for one of our closest allies and friends, Israel ... and we're hearing the evil that he speaks and if hearing him doesn't allow Americans to commit more solidly to protecting the friends and allies that we need, especially there in the Mideast, then nothing will.

Think about this for just a minute. This is a basic issue that the Bush Administration has been dealing with - and that even they understand. Sometimes, when you encourage democratic processes, the guys who disagree with you will win. Heck, the Bush Administration's reaction to the Hamas win has been fairly reasonable, using economic and diplomatic pressure to make changes to a bad situation.

But Sarah Palin doesn't even understand the question. She doesn't say that Hamas winning wasn't in America's interest. She doesn't point out that there will be occasional bumps in the road. She doesn't understand that Ahmadinejad was elected in a (ostensibly) democratic vote. What she says here is that America should support those who are elected democratically - i.e. she supports Hamas!

And Republicans want to put this woman one heartbeat away from the Presidency?

This is completely horrible. A message from my minister:

Recently, some well-produced DVD's were included with the ad inserts in papers throughout Ohio. The Plain Dealer refused them, so now I have discovered they will be mailed out to all of us in the Cleveland area. These are malicious, anti-Islamic messages and have been characterized by some as hate speech. They are targeting swing states.

More information is on the Ohio Meadville UU District website.

Friends,

A recent Sunday edition of the Akron Beacon Journal included an obviously expensive, professionally-produced anti-Islamic DVD titled "Obsession." One of our OMD ministers who viewed the DVD frankly called it "hate-filled" and "lie-filled." It was also included in newspapers in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Columbus, Canton, Toledo and other cities in Ohio; and, apparently, in still more cities in "battleground" states in the presidential election. The Cleveland Plain Dealer did not carry the DVD.

Many Unitarian Univeralists in the OMD have already expressed outrage that something which blatantly violates the principles of religious freedom and tolerance could be distributed in our community, and put into the hands of our children, under the label of "advertising". They are writing the newspapers which distributed the DVDs to let them know how they feel.

This is a non-partisan issue. Our congregations and the district are able to express their disgust with this kind of reactive messaging without any risk to their non-profit status. I believe that we are called by our values and principles as Unitarian Universalists to speak out against those who would promote intolerance and fear in our communities.

With blessings,

Rev. Joan VanBecelaere
District Executive
Ohio-Meadville District of the UUA

Information on the DVD is at Obsession With Hate.

I'll update here if I hear anything else. I know this kind of hatred exists out there, but people need to fight it whenever it comes out of the shadows.

This should have been an easy decision for ANY newspaper - well done to the PD for refusing the insert, but some investigative reporter needs to explore why other papers accepted this and where the money came from to pay for it.

JaBbA says get involved, let the world see that America stands against this kind of filth.

There are some pretty crazy right-wing nutjobs on the interwebs. And there's one place you can get (mostly) consistent, well-written conservative thought - the National Review Online, the digital version of William F. Buckley Jr.'s conservative standard-bearer. (What the hell Michelle Malkin and [previously] Ann Coulter are doing there, I do not know. They pretty much fit the nutjob label).

So if you are a conservative, you better at least have their acceptance, if not their support. Well, Sarah Palin has lost the support of at least one NRO columnist:

Palin’s recent interviews with Charles Gibson, Sean Hannity, and now Katie Couric have all revealed an attractive, earnest, confident candidate. Who Is Clearly Out Of Her League.

No one hates saying that more than I do. Like so many women, I’ve been pulling for Palin, wishing her the best, hoping she will perform brilliantly. I’ve also noticed that I watch her interviews with the held breath of an anxious parent, my finger poised over the mute button in case it gets too painful. Unfortunately, it often does. My cringe reflex is exhausted.

Palin filibusters. She repeats words, filling space with deadwood. Cut the verbiage and there’s not much content there.

[...]

If BS were currency, Palin could bail out Wall Street herself.

If Palin were a man, we’d all be guffawing, just as we do every time Joe Biden tickles the back of his throat with his toes. But because she’s a woman — and the first ever on a Republican presidential ticket — we are reluctant to say what is painfully true.

What to do?

McCain can’t repudiate his choice for running mate. He not only risks the wrath of the GOP’s unforgiving base, but he invites others to second-guess his executive decision-making ability. Barack Obama faces the same problem with Biden.

Only Palin can save McCain, her party, and the country she loves. She can bow out for personal reasons, perhaps because she wants to spend more time with her newborn. No one would criticize a mother who puts her family first.

Do it for your country.

Well, I actually think that McCain should admit his mistake and fire her, but Parker is trying to protect her candidate. I also find Biden a breath of fresh air - Biden's "gaffes" are born of his willingness to speak his mind, while Palin's are from trying to hide the fact that she doesn't know what she's doing.

JaBbA says check it out.

Thanks to Emily for the funny.

Section 8 of Paulson's Wall Street Bailout:

Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.

Oversight? Balance of powers? Who needs that?

We're in the middle of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression and the Bush Administration is making another power play. You'd think Congress would have learned when they abdicated their Constitutional duty to determine when to declare war. Now they're going to create a position that will be completely non-accountable to anyone?

I've seen so much stuff out there, it's hard to know where to begin.

- 2 Polls in Ohio today, according to Electroral-Vote.com. One has McCain up by only 2, the other has Obama in the lead. Don't get too excited yet, the Obama in the lead poll is one that isn't ranked very highly. But it may be a trend. If McCain has to come in to Ohio to save its 20 electoral votes, Obama's $39M play in Florida may just put those 27EV back in play.

- Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) is calling out the McCain campaign about voter suppression. Hopefully, the more people talk about it the more likely it'll be talked about in the mainstream press - which is really the only way to fight it.

- Oliver Stone's "W." is coming out October 17th. This is NOT good news for anyone being tied to the current occupant of the White House. From the trailer, it appears that this film is going to be very embarrassing to the Bush family and anyone tied to them.

- Sarah Palin's favorable/unfavorable ratings are down to -2. That honeymoon didn't last long.

- Obama supposedly has a woman problem, with Clinton's supporters so mad that they're considering voting for McCain. Not so.. Quinnepac found Obama leading among all women 54-40, and CBS found the gap 54-38. Even among white women, Obama, who was losing just before the Democratic convention, is now up 2 points among white women. So much for the "Palin bounce".

- How many days has it been since a talking head mentioned lipstick? Perhaps the same amount of time since the Wall Street collapse?

- Serious conservative writers like David Brooks (New York Times), Andrew Sullivan (The Atlantic) and Richard Cohen (Washington Post) are strongly criticizing the McCain campaign for its "ugly" tactics, its choice of Palin, and for being unable to handle the current crises.

- Fox News - of all places - is beginning to "grow a pair". (Well, some at least. ) McCain spokesmen are being held on-topic and challenged on their statements, and Fox has demanded that McCain remove their reporter's voices from his ads.

- Palin's ability to deliver a canned speech isn't translating so well to more, well, "real" events. At her first town hall, her answer to questioners were, shall we say, a little general. And then, seeking a sound bite, she invited the audience to play "stump the candidate" on foreign policy matters - and was almost immediately taken off the stage before anyone could ask a question.

- Obama is finally finding his counterpunch to McCain's attacks.

Trend is definitely up. If this continues for 1 week, McCani is going to be going into the debate needing to play offense to catch up - and that should play right into Obama's strong suit. All he has to do then is be smart, concise, on message and look presidential.

[I'm not one for email forwarding. But this was sent to me, and it's too priceless to pass up]

I'm a little confused. Let me see if I have this straight.....

- If you grow up in Hawaii , raised by your grandparents, you're "exotic, different."
- Grow up in Alaska eating mooseburgers, yours is a quintessential American story.

- If your name is Barack you're a radical, unpatriotic Muslim.
- Name your kids Willow,Trig and Track, you're a maverick.

- Graduate from Harvard law School and you are unstable.
- Attend 5 different small colleges before graduating, you're well grounded.

- If you spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer, become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drive that registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor, spend 8 years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, become chairman of the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, spend 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of 13 million people while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you don't have any real leadership experience.
- If your total resume is: local weather girl, 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people, 20 months as the governor of a state with only 650,000 people, then you're qualified to become the country's second highest ranking executive and next in line behind a man in his eighth decade.

- If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising 2 beautiful daughters, all within Protestant churches, you're not a real Christian.
- If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and then left your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you're a true Christian.

- If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, including the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society.
- If, while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with no other option in sex education in your state's school system while your unwed teen daughter ends up pregnant, you're very responsible.

- If your wife is a Harvard graduate laywer who gave up a position in a prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family's values don't represent America 's.
- If you're husband is nicknamed "First Dude", with at least one DWI conviction and no college education, who didn't register to vote until age 25 and once was a member of a group that advocated the secession of Alaska from the USA, your family is extremely admirable.

OK, much clearer now.

No little sound bites, no clever slogans. Just Obama, laying out what he'll do for America. Two minutes of straight talk:

It took a while, probably because the sheer amount of crap spewed in Jerome Corsi's "The Obama Nation" took a while to wade through, but FactCheck.Org has finally gotten through a thorough debunking of the book. The non-partisan group's article doesn't hide their contempt for the smear book:

...as a scholarly work, "The Obama Nation" does not measure up. We judge it to be what a hack journalist might call a "paste-up job," gluing together snippets from here and there without much regard for their truthfulness or accuracy.

Corsi promises in his preface "to fully document all arguments and contentions I make, extensively footnoting all references, so readers can determine for themselves the truth and validity of the factual claims." Some of Corsi's claims do come complete with citations. But even a casual glance at Corsi's lengthy endnotes reveals that his "sources" include obscure Internet postings (which are themselves completely unsourced) and opinion columns from various conservative publications. In fact, on four occasions, Corsi cites himself as a source. Where Corsi does cite news sources, he sometimes presents only those that are consistent with his case while ignoring evidence that doesn't fit the picture he paints.

A comprehensive review of all the false claims in Corsi's book would itself be a book. Our review touches only on a few of the more blatant examples.

JaBbA says check it out. I'm hearing a lot of these lies repeated by McCain supporters - it's important to be able to immediately debunk these claims with more than just a "that just isn't true".

Apparently, they're using Obama's Islamic heritage to push the Jewish Vote.

Push polling is down there with Jerome Corsi on the scum-meter. Remember when South Carolina voters were asked how they would feel about McCain if they knew he had fathered a black baby?

You'd think that McCain would repudiate these tactics. I guess that for McCain,becoming president is more important than his integrity.

The Honest and Open Election Committee sounds like a great idea. The people on the committee - including Sens. Danforth and Rudman, many law professors, and many others - appear to be people of integrity and commitment. The stated principles:

# Every eligible citizen has the right to vote and have his or her vote counted.

# No qualified voter should have his or her vote canceled or diluted by illegal votes.

# Election officials should take necessary steps well in advance of the election to ensure that voting is orderly, efficient, and in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations. Experience has shown that careful, advance planning that anticipates and addresses potential problems on Election Day will substantially reduce problems on Election Day.

# Election officials and campaigns should have zero tolerance for voter intimidation or discrimination in the election process based on age, sex, race, disability, political affiliation, or other categories unrelated to voter eligibility.

# Election officials and campaigns should have zero tolerance for fraud.

Generally seem to be ideas that people would support. I'm concerned that 2 of the 5 are focused on voter fraud, which has always been a Republican talking point but which, at least outside of Chicago, has never actually been a real problem, while voter caging and vote suppression are real problems that have had significant effects on recent elections.

But a more significant problem is just how much effect will this have, or is it simply campaign PR? State and local parties are still up to their old tricks - here in Ohio, the Republican party is fighting Jennifer Brunner's attempt to keep people on the election rolls. Interestingly, they're doing so by comparing her to her predecessor, Ken Blackwell, who was both Ohio's Election Chief and head of Bush's re-election effort. While they fully supported Blackwell in the last election cycle, they are now criticizing him as a way of painting Brunner with the partisan brush!

Will the McCain campaign actually hold state and local officials accountable for their attempts to steal votes from the other side?

I doubt it. McCain has already shown that his ambition outweighs his integrity. It looks to me like just another smokescreen.

Richard Cohen of the Washington Post has always been one of McCain's biggest boosters in the media.

Not any more.

His column this week is entitled "The Ugly New McCain":

McCain has turned ugly. His dishonesty would be unacceptable in any politician, but McCain has always set his own bar higher than most. He has contempt for most of his colleagues for that very reason: They lie. He tells the truth. He internalizes the code of the McCains -- his grandfather, his father: both admirals of the shining sea. He serves his country differently, that's all -- but just as honorably. No more, though.

I am one of the journalists accused over the years of being in the tank for McCain. Guilty. Those doing the accusing usually attributed my feelings to McCain being accessible. This is the journalist-as-puppy school of thought: Give us a treat, and we will leap into a politician's lap.

Not so. What impressed me most about McCain was the effect he had on his audiences, particularly young people. When he talked about service to a cause greater than oneself, he struck a chord. He expressed his message in words, but he packaged it in the McCain story -- that man, beaten to a pulp, who chose honor over freedom. This had nothing to do with access. It had to do with integrity.

McCain has soiled all that. His opportunistic and irresponsible choice of Sarah Palin as his political heir -- the person in whose hands he would leave the country -- is a form of personal treason, a betrayal of all he once stood for. Palin, no matter what her other attributes, is shockingly unprepared to become president. McCain knows that. He means to win, which is all right; he means to win at all costs, which is not.

There's more. JaBbA says check it out.