It's a Mixed Bag, Josh

"So the jury's still out on what kind of campaign McCain runs. I hope my colleagues in the press will call him out everytime he succumbs to sludge tendencies. I certainly plan to do that."

OK, there you have it: Joe Klein made this promise on April 26, 2008.

Let's see how long he remembers it.

The very fact that a Republican would take such a tour is significant

Of course, the Forgotten America McCain is touring has been forgotten largely by McCain himself.

But hey, you're making the sense here.

Good answer, Joe. I'm glad you responded to Josh.

Here's a good piece of journalism about that "poverty tour."
McClatchy Washington Bureau | 04/26/2008 | McCain's poverty tour filled with contradictions

Why can't your colleague Scherer write something like that?

Something to loathe and something to admire...

I'd say that sums it up. McCain desperately wants to be the person he's convinced most of the media (see Michael Sherer's egregious defense of his flip-flops on torture) and good chunk of the public he is, but he lacks the character to follow through.

McCain's daughter wouldn't vote for Bush in '04 because of the things Bush and Rove said about Cindy and Bridget McCain in 2000. John McCain not only campaigned for the ticket, but repeatedly declared his "love" for Bush in public. The self-loathing in his heart was visible on his face as he said it, suggesting some kharmic retribution, but it was still disgusting.

PS good call on McCain (and Bush) being Osama's preferred candidates, and why.

I hope my colleagues in the press will call him out everytime he succumbs to sludge tendencies.

Don't hold your breath, Mr. Joe Klein. Do you know how hard it is to type with BBQ sauce on your fingers?

Why? Because both Bush and McCain have bought Osama's disinformation about Iraq being the central front in the war on terrorism.

Joe, it is much, much worse than that. If Bush had believed that he would have taken out Zarqawi before the invasion, rather than refusing the generals who had spotted him. This is not about buying. This is about selling. That Iraq has something to do with Terra is a pretext, an excuse. Calling Iraqi nationalists "terrorists" is not Bush accepting a falsehood from bin Laden--it is pumping up bin Laden as global threat, and a threat to the US when he is not.

This conflation isn't because Bush is mistaken. Crocker could straighten him out in a heartbeat, as St John got straightened out by Holy Joe when he McCain forgot that he wasn't supposed to al qaeda and Iran in the same sentence.

They're not mistaken, Joe. They're lying, advancing the work of the terrorists because a terrorized populace serves their purpose.

And I again recommend Fallows' Declaring Victory. This fearmongering has to stop. It's bankrupting the nation, fiscally and morally.

Joe was not at the BBQ.

On the substance of the post, why is it that a single misstep by Obama or Clinton is analyzed minutely, but a series of alternating nice speeches and horrible missteps is a "mixed bag?"

He has been horrible on the trail, if the clips that I've seen are any indication. He's lying about his fiscal policy. He's stonewalling on torture. And his mischaracterizing his record on the region he is in.

And as I've said before, and Josh says today, the guy is completely incoherent. There's not a policy position (except abortion and Iraq) where he's not been on both sides. Like on his trip on the earmarked ferry:

Except that McCain, the longtime scourge of congressional "earmark" spending who's promised to veto every bill with earmarks if he's elected president, was aboard a ferry that's financed by a $2 million earmark in a 2005 spending bill.

McCain said there was no inconsistency because the ferry, which connects a tiny, isolated hamlet to a larger town, was a worthy project.

"It's fine with me," McCain said. "What's not fine with me is we don't have the competition and the fair comparison between any earmarked project and others that may be as valuable."

So now he's only against bad earmarks? There aren't any bad earmarks. They all serve some purpose that the sponsor can claim, even the bridge to nowhere.

But that's not what he's said. He's said all earmarks.

"but a series of alternating nice speeches and horrible missteps is a "mixed bag?"

jay: Its not just a mix bag. The jury is still out. In been out and will probably be out until the end of the GE. MS, AMC and their kind can never see anything but the good in McCain. That's why they act as press agents for him instead of reporters. Joe as shown me at least he as the ability to admit he made a mistake and think about his own conduct. He is coming along slowly, but I wouldn't trust an overnight transformation any way.

Joe, thank you for calling this out -- I was sick of his references to Hamas and the crap his campaign tried to start. The Democratic primary needs to end soon so MSM has no more excuse to tip-toe around McCain's stance on issues because it's easier to write a story on Obama's bowling ability vs. Clinton's.

"I hope my colleagues in the press will call him out everytime he succumbs to sludge tendencies. "

Oh my, the stomach still hurts from laughing. Good one Joe.

"I certainly plan to do that."
...as long as people keep calling me out and forcing me to.

Congrats though Joe, you are no longer the worst of the worst here at Swampland, that distinction now belongs to Michael Scherer.

Joe: Is "honor" a mixed bag?

I thought it was supposed to be more consistent than that. An honorable campaign wouldn't be half inspirational and half shameless pandering.

McCain gives you something to admire and loathe almost every day.

Yes, McCain is the amoral political scribbler's dream come true. His zig-zag statements provide a steady stream of subjects for commentary. And Chutzpah Joe would never be so rude as to point out that it is NUTS to change positions and tactics every 24 hours. Who, in his right mind, would vote for a candidate who feels no responsibility to reconcile his statements from one day to the next. TV-addled America. That's who. And Chutzpah Joe Klein is not going to go against the consensus.

Because the American electorate has lost the ability to reason, Joe Klein must now exhibit a journalistic amnesisa that parallels that of WAR HERO McCain. Thus McCain's crazy zig-zags will be matched move for move by Chutzpah Joe's congratulations and admonitions. Political insanity is about to be fully normalized.

Well, Joe, would you mind informing your colleague Michael Scherer that McSaint ain't saint anymore but just another gutter Republican. I'm sure BBQ sauce is very tasty, Michael, but since you call yourself a "journalist" and being paid for that, you should probably stop shilling for your beloved McSaint.

McCain gives you something to admire and loathe almost every day.

What an unusually grownup statement to make. How much more grownup it would be if you and your colleagues approached your coverage of all candidates starting from that same, obviously true, premise.

How exactly Joe, did Osama manage to "disinform" McCain, his shadow Lindsey Graham and warrior-poet Joe Lieberman about a terrorist renaissance in Iraq? Is there a secret tunnel between western Pakistan and Iraq (probably how they removed the WMDs)? Or is it more likely that McCain, who finished in the bottom 1% of his class at Annapolis, is lying or delusional? Best case is delusional but it's pretty obviously lying to me.

Mr. Klein:

You've taken some grief from the blogosphere (and frankly you've deserved some of it), but I respect your willingness (and that of your colleagues) to jump into the intertubes. In particular, you've correctly identified Josh Marshall as a guy who's worth talking to. There are others, and you'd do yourself and your readers a favor if you engaged more broadly with the smart bloggers.

In any event, I'm glad you responded to Josh. I'm better off for the exchange. Thanks.

Jim

Hmmm. Yes, terrorism... Obama, Osama, both strange sounding foreign names that rhyme. Long lost terrorist cousins?:

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/04/mccain_campaign_associating_ob.php

Stay classy, St. John!!

Hillary will be running strong on her experience tracking down Monica in the Balkans.

Obama will be playing with his toy Iranian tanker in the Rezko community bathtub.

John Edwards will be suing the neighbors.

Joe Biden will be doing his Joe Klein impersonation while winning neither the presidency nor the Secretary of State's private restroom.

Bill Richardson will be hitting cleanup for the Dodgers.

Denise Kookooseeniche will be standing on a soapbox to Meet Up with the imported Amazonian trophy wife.

John Kerry will remain lost in Cambodia.

Katie Couric will replace Drew Carey on The Price IS Right.

All this and more, coming soon for SURRENDER FEST 2008.

Check your local PBS listings for schedule updates...

As much as I want to praise Joe for writing a truth in this post - that the Republicans' policies align with the goals of Bin Laden - it must be pointed out that Stengel and the Time Warner corporate overlords would unlikely allow such truth telling in the dead-tree version.

Joe can speak his mind in the Swampland bubble, but for the rest of the country, the corporate titans will make sure the narrative is pro-McCain, even if that is anti-truth. Sometimes I wonder if we are too hard on Joe....it's really his corporate bosses that are the true problem.

He may have sold his soul to the corporate devil, but he is not the devil himself.

I hold judgement on Joe's purported vow of impartiality until Joe writes a column pointing out failures of McCain in the dead-tree version as he has done Hillary and Obama.

Joe Klein writes:

he called out Bush's Hurricane Katrina non-performance in New Orleans. (Of course, he also voted against the Katrina relief funds.)

Helpful tip: every time a Dem hack like Klein tries to make hay out of Katrina, discuss how the Dems colluded with Bush on this anti- and un-American scheme.

I don't think that Klein has the chops or integrity to figure out what was wrong with that scheme.

We need to start a Presidential write-in campaign for QH. QH has all the bellicose insanity of McCain without the sanctimonious filler. Who cares about that war hero stuff? Let's cut straight to the future bombing and killing! Forget "no surrender." We want the 3Bs: Bullets, Bombs, and Blood.

QH is the only candidate willing to praise the Kent State killings as the great victory over leftist rabble that they were. QH knows that McCain was a wimp. He ejected instead of crashing his flaming plane into an enemy position. A real man is always killing enemies, even with his last breath.

QH is already running the country through his soul brother Dick Cheney. We need to make sure that America enjoys an unbroken succession of bloodthirsty leadership. Vote for QH in November, and vote for conquest, victory, and glorious death!

He gave a lovely tribute to Congressman John Lewis in Selma, he called out Bush's Hurricane Katrina non-performance in New Orleans. (Of course, he also voted against the Katrina relief funds.)

I guessed you missed the, by now famous, photo of Bush giving McCain a birthday cake on the tarmac in Phoenix while Katrina was going on.

I see...so when you previously claimed that McCain would run an honorable campaign, what you now claim you meant is that he would run a campaign that is at times honorable.

Do you ever say what you mean and mean what you say, Joe? Even once?

Joe - thanks for responding, and with a strong post. But don't you think it's just a wee bit disengenuous for McCain to go to New Orleans and rail against the failure of the Bush administration in Katrina when he voted against the funding? This is like Bush going to the Grand Canyon to look like an environmentalist (I never did see why we should make the connection). The visual is going to be so much more powerful than the reality. And if you read Michael Scherer's post above it's clear he drank the Katrina Koolaid. He'll have lots of company.

And exactly how difficult is it to give a "lovely tribute" to John Lewis?

He did some terrific things this week on his anti-poverty tour: He gave a lovely tribute to Congressman John Lewis in Selma, he called out Bush's Hurricane Katrina non-performance in New Orleans. (Of course, he also voted against the Katrina relief funds.)

And, of course, while Katrina was actually happening, he ate cake with President Bush.

McCain's performance regarding New Orleans is a textbook definition of too little, too late. At the very moment the Gulf Coast was being thrashed by Katrina in the long-feared "big one," McCain literally stood with George Bush in a photo-op. He didn't say "uh, George, maybe your full attention should be on this major crisis, and you may wanna cancel the photo-ops!"

During the crisis, he wasn't out in public demanding that Condi come back from shoe shopping, that the situation be dealt with competently. After the crisis, he's done nothing to actually help the people of New Orleans. And he hasn't thought about the issue--his idea is to have a meeting to decide whether to rebuild, tear the place down...or, you know, something in between those two extremes. It's like he never even THOUGHT about this problem until someone asked him. Really, my 10 year old could answer that quesiton with "oh, you know, either we should somehow rebuild it or we should tear it down...or something in between."

The apologetics by the media for McCain are utterly shocking. This was dilettantism at its finest, and you fell for it. His record, his policies, and even his words indicate he would have done NOTHING differently from George Bush. Absolutely nothing.

Normally astute about this sort of thing, Joe mistakes McCain's strategy.

When McCain goes on a trip like this and makes nice speeches about good people, he's not doing it because he's "admirable". He's pandering.

He panders to everyone. He panders to the right-wingers, he panders to the moderates, and most of all, he panders to the press. He has no real loyalty to anyone besides himself, and will do whatever action he deems "right", where right is what will get him closer to the presidency. He's just figured out that if he panders to the press, they'll listen to his words, ignore his actions, and ascribe to him only the noblest of motivations.

I mean, look at this: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/27/us/politics/27plane.html

Is that the way an honorable man devoted to campaign reform behaves? Or does it betray a cynical man exploiting his reputation as a reformer to avoid accountability? After all, if he skirts his own campaign finance laws, it must be only because he really must, and he'll feel very regretful about it.

Maybe his words are sometimes honorable, Joe, but his actions rarely are.

Just to reinforce the difference between words, actions, and pandering:

“I have never thought about it,” Mr. McCain was quoted by The Arizona Republic as saying at a July appearance. “I would never do such a thing, so I wouldn’t know what the legalities are.”

"I would never do such a thing." (unless I really have to.)

Joe:

Regardless of your views on McCain's candidacy, you deserve praise for engaging in a productive dialog with someone as ubiquitously respected as Josh Marshall.

Well done, sir.

I though it was Wonkette who was at the McCain BBQ licking, er, sauce off her fingers? Was it Michael Sherer too? Ugh.

We are coming on the 5 year anniversary of Geroge W. Mugabe's surrender to Osama bin Laden.

Osama bin Laden had, since 1990, demanded the withdrawal of U. S. troops from Saudia Arabia.

George W. Mugabe responded with firm, "Yes, sir, Mr. bin Laden Sir!" and the troops were withdrawn on April 30, 2003.

This was the first U. S. surrender to a foreign 'diktat' since Corregdor in 1942.

I don't expect Time magazine or anyone in the mainstream media to point that out.

I certainly don't expect Joe Klein to write about it unless Pete Hoekstra ghost writes the article.

This is a wonderful piece. John McCain, unfortunately, CANNOT have it both ways: Respectable and cheesy at once!

John McCain & Hillary Clinton have much in common- among which a palbable dislike of Barack Obama is a commonality

They both think Obama should "wait" his turn --
Thanks goodness the American people know the obvious:
McCain is long past the time he even knows who he is or what he believs in other tha war and more war
Dwight Eisenhower, the last military President we had in this oountry warned the country to be wary of an Industrial Military complex--

Hillary Clinton - with her invective to "obliterate" Iran - and other say anything mentality - is just as scary

JOE KLEIN - you appear to have your eyes open at the moment -- how about keeping them open and helping your country

The msm is omplicit inthe deaths of 4000 soldiers in Iraq, 30,000 serverly wounded and hundreds and thousands of dead civilians

They did not do their job and investigate
Last Sunday NYT exposed the Pentagon/General- newspaper/cable connection and it gets hardly any press

JOE: you are just as guilty when you are on Morning Joe or CNN and you allow the conversation to be about flag pins/Rev Wright/all the distractions

The MSM now is lying to the less informed American public about the popular vote baloney the Clinton's are spewing

JOE- you know the Clinton's as well as any other reporter out there - and their PRIMARY color is GREEN (as money and envy) - not red, white and blue

Can you help us?

McCain gives you something to admire and loathe almost every day.

Like how George Bush gave that speech about Katrina that would have been great if he had any intention of actually doing something? So John McCain is about the same, promising things he doesn't deliver?

Like how he collects advisers like John Hagee who said the following in 2006:

"When you violate God's will long enough, the judgment of God comes to you. Katrina is an act of God for a society that is becoming Sodom and Gomorrah reborn." "All hurricanes are acts of God, because God controls the heavens. I believe that New Orleans had a level of sin that was offensive to God, and they are -- were recipients of the judgment of God for that." "I believe that the Hurricane Katrina was, in fact, the judgment of God against the city of New Orleans."

Again, he said this in 2006. It's not something new they just released.

So John McCain's campaign is a "mixed bag," as long as you hold him to a different standard as the Democratic candidates. THIS is the most despicable brand of identity politics there is.

I have a prediction: McCain will keep doing exactly what he's doing, but as he goes along and becomes more desperate, it will get worse and worse. And you will 'call him out' on it, numerous times, while still in the end concluding that, no matter what he's done, he's been 'honorable'. Hope I'm wrong.

There was a CNN Headline newsreader that, much earlier, called Obama, the "al Qaeda" candidate - he was, of course, lambasted by the netroots (but not the MSM) and he had the grace to apologize for the outrageous slur.

Senator McCain - and the rest of the lying, smearing Republicans, who have gotten the U.S. embedded in a never-ending disastrous land war in Asia on the basis of baldfaced whoppers - do this routinely. It is merely par for the course for the lying, smearing Republicans - business as usual.

And they - and Senator McCain - will undoubtedly continue to do so because they virtually always get away with it.

Mr. Klein deserves kudos for this column. I have my doubts as to whether it will continue when the next outrageous comment comes from the mouhts of the lying slimeoids.

"I hope my colleagues in the press will call him out everytime he succumbs to sludge tendencies. I certainly plan to do that."

In the print version of Time?. I'll believe it when I see it...

...or as Atrios says NA GA HA PEN...

my guess is that you'll see a great deal of sludge, particularly if Obama is the nominee. the thought that McCain would lose to some upstart must make his blood boil. just consider: when McCain was going into war, Obama was going into the first grade. my hunch is that, privately, McCain believes there is no way on god's green earth that Obama should beat him. he will do whatever is needed to avoid that. a substantive debate? and pigs will fly.

"he called out Bush's Hurricane Katrina non-performance in New Orleans. (Of course, he also voted against the Katrina relief funds.) The very fact that a Republican would take such a tour is significant."

Joe: Why does he deserve credit in your eyes for doing something he has not when he had the chance?

Calling out Bush Katrina. So what? Bush doesn't care and it does the people of NO no good because McCain is stating the obvious. The fact that a Republican would take such a tour is significant of what? When he had to the chance to build a record he could tour on he didn't. This is McCain pandering.

"-but his willingness to go into the muck on Hamas and Obama's "friendship"--or whatever it is--with the American terrorist Bill Ayres is gutter crap.
So the jury's still out on what kind of campaign McCain runs."

How so, Joe? Verdict is in, I'd say. "There are none so blind as will not see". And none so absolutely useless as our modern media "stars".

McCain spoke with bloggers this morning on a number of issues ranging from William Ayers to Rev. Wright to Tony Rezko. Jennifer Rubin noted that Hamas had endorsed Senator Obama and asked McCain whether Obama might have given "an unhelpful signal" to the terrorist group. McCain's response:

"All I can tell you Jennifer is that I think it's very clear who Hamas wants to be the next president of the United States. So apparently has Danny Ortega and several others. I think that people should understand that I will be Hamas's worst nightmare....If senator Obama is favored by Hamas I think people can make judgments accordingly."

WTF does that even mean Joe?

"All I can tell you Jennifer is that I think it's very clear who Hamas wants to be the next president of the United States. So apparently has Danny Ortega and several others. I think that people should understand that I will be Hamas's worst nightmare....If senator Obama is favored by Hamas I think people can make judgments accordingly." Posted by GySgt213 | April 27, 2008 6:27 AM

It means that McCain is not going to bow down to the whims and rantings of terrorists. It means he is not going to bring his favorite San Francisco Chianti and dine on Osama Bin Laden's favorite goat cheese, and discuss diplomacy.

It means that the world knows, more specifically the terrorists of the world know, that John McCain is not going to be an isolationist, and back down to their threats with his tail between his legs.

When you associate yourself with anti-American people of the likes of Rev Wright, William Ayers, and Louis Farrakhan the world terrorists WILL want to see you as the next President and endorse your successful candidacy.

Statements already made by Al-Barak Hussein Obama, sends a clear message to our enemies he is not going to hold them accountable any longer. Obama will attempt to be very friendly with these terrorists, and bow down to their evil threats.

Rev Wright / Obama '08, WRONG for AMERICA!!!!!

Good post Joe. Nice substantive discussion in the thread, with Ionescuesque seasoning by HH and RD.

I would take exception to one item in Joe's post: "The war in Iraq has been a grand strategic gift to Osama, keeping the U.S. military tied down elsewhere and off his tail." Jay touched on it, but I think the record is pretty clear. Osama specifically wanted a western government tied down in an oil rich nation in the Middle East. As Richard Clarke said in "Against All Enemies":

"The ingredients al Qaeda dreamed of for propagating its movement were a Christian government attacking a weaker Muslim region, allowing the new terrorist group to rally jihadists from many countries to come to the aid of the religious brethren."

Iraq is and has been a capacity building movement for al Qaeda. It is exactly what Osama wanted us to do.

Joe's in kind of an uncomfortable spot here, called out by Josh for his honest opinion. Joe resides in a very, very closed and exclusive social network that is the nexus of high-powered politicos, journos, wealthy socialites, and other movers and shakers on the national scene. And he isn't in the position to say outright that he thinks that McCain is a completely, totally, batsh!t, looney-bin bananas. Saying it's a "mixed bag" is about as far as he can go without driving his friends and colleagues reeling gasping for air upon their fainting couches. It just isn't done.

Like in your own family. You aren't allowed to call your Uncle John a deranged drooling moron around your mother. He's never been quite right. He's had difficulties in his life. Dealing with Uncle John is a "mixed bag." And then the kids like weird Uncle John. Sure, he touches them funny and chases them around the house, but he barbecues up one hell of a dry-rub babyback rib.

That's what that's all about.

McCain gives you something to admire and loathe almost every day

I'm not sure the most polite way to say this but if you do the slight extra work of assigning relative importance to the various items in the 'like' and 'loathe' columns and weigh accordingly, you wouldn't be quite so polite in your posts.

To name-drop Hamas® and Al Qaeda® as brazenly as he does when he's talking about neither organization in fact is to deliberately fan hatred and exploit it for his own goals.

He's using bigotry as a tool for his own purposes and there's no amount of happy talk in New Orleans or elsewhere that will change that basic equation.

Dear Joe:

There is something hilariously absurd about you accusing anyone of gutter politics when that is your chosen specialty. You claim to be a geo-strategic and military genius (the master of the myopic, self-destructive, micro, short term view of America's national interests) even as you cling to the idiotic notion that Afghanistan is more important to the USA than Iraq even though the USA has NO direct economic interests in Afghanistan and America's most vital economic interests (65% of the earth's oil reserves) reside within a 500 mile radius of Basra.

In Joe Klein world, the USA should abandon Iraq to bloody chaos and control by Iran and Al Qeada that would threaten Iraqi oil exports and global access to Middle East oil at tolerable prices and trigger another massive rise in oil prices that would cripple the already staggering American economy and jeopardize the financial well being of every American and then send more troops to uselessly chase 6th century Taliban around Afghanistan while they watch helplessly as Osama and his buddies thumb their noses at the USA from their sanctuary inside Pakistan where the new democratic government is cutting deals to give Al Qaeda free reign in Waziristan.

Joe, instead of focusing on John McCain, why don't you get off your butt and shuffle over to the NYMEX in lower Manhattan and ask the oil traders what will happen to the price of oil if America takes your advice and abandons Iraq and the Middle East to chaos by removing 160,000 American security troops from the region? Then you might ask Obama what he plans to do to reverse the doubling of oil prices that has occurred since "white flag" Harry Reid announced that Iraq was lost on 4/19/07 and committed the democrat party to surrender in Iraq.

The subsequent doubling of oil prices from $59 to $118 per barrel today is the direct result of profit speculators and hedgers investing in oil commodity futures in huge numbers in anticipation that democrats will win in November and abandon 65% of the earth's oil supply to extreme threats by America's worst enemies. Unlike you, Joe, and your clueless democrat buddies, the oil commodity markets operate in the real world where America's retreat from Iraq will cause oil prices to skyrocket, and they are investing to protect their financial well being from your economic insanity.

The reality, Joe, is that Americans are paying about $450 billion per year more for oil today than the were when they made the dumb mistake of electing a democrat congress in November 2006 that immediately began demanding an unconditional retreat from Iraq that would cause oil prices to explode. The $450 billon is 3.6x as much as the $125 billion the USA spends on the Iraq mission each year that is only costing 75% of Americans only $5.00 per person per month. A rational mind would conclude that is a very small price to pay to avoid the massive additional increase in oil prices and economic devastation that will occur if the USA adopts your point of view and retreats from Iraq.

As always, Joe, you are dead wrong about Iraq. The solution to oil prices and the economy is Americans uniting in their determination to stay in Iraq and defend their most vital economic interests from control by our worst enemies while helping the Iraqis build a friendly democracy and increase their oil production from 2.5 million barrels per day to their 10 million barrels per day potential. Those two actions would cause oil prices to plummet and trigger an economic boom while causing Al Qaeda's financial supporters and the oil export dependent regimes in Iran, Russia and Venezuela to financially implode.

Of course, Joe, you are more interested in clinging to the adolescent notion that Osama would rather have America stay in Iraq than move to Afghanistan. He, unlike you and your clueless lib buddies, understands that oil prices are the key to destroying the American economy and he prays four times a day that your point of view will prevail.

Visit www.politicalrealityonline.com for a reality check befor you commit economic suicide by voting for any democrat in November.

Well when there is nothing else left to say, the SNOBamabots love to play those 3rd grade playground name calling games. "BIGOT", "RACIST", ageism remarks of "drooling moron...deranged" and demented.

There must be a MoveOnOrgy web-site that has these radical statements already to cut and paste on blog sites.

How does atrios do it?

I liked "Double Talk Express."

But "Sycophant Express" beats it all hollow.

Joe's colleagues operate at three levels:

Level 1: All out assault on the Clintons.

Level 2: Modified limited hangout on Obama: more in sorrow; it hurts me to say this bit...if only he could have phrased it like this... (mostly governed by the fear of being called a racist).

Level 3: The Richard Cohen treatment for McCain. What a noble fellow. When he lies he does not mean to...look he is very good deep down...don't interrupt.. he is getting the steaks done on the bbq. He;\'s our guy!

"The top dawgs at the CIA are gathered to analyze the tape. Dep. Director John McLaughlin says, "I wonder who Osama is voting for?" Everyone cracks up because the answer is so obvious."

???

They were laughing at John DISS THE TROOPS Kerry, you dim dwarf.

Truly, you IS the Jimmy Carter of journalism: Sane, until somebody mentions Hamas.

McLame, McShame, McPain - you name it and he'll be it. Pro-torture, pro-war, pro-Hagee. He is getting more stupid by the day. His logic just doesn't work - if it ever has. Now he thinks Hamas "endorsing" Obama says something about Obama. Well, if that is how you want to play it then... then I endorse you. I Angry African endorse McCain.

What I do know is that Al-Qaeda would endorse him. They love him. He will give them 100 years for a new recruitment drive. Stupid man. They are playing you like a tin drum - and you are marching to their tune.
http://angryafrican.net/2008/04/26/i-angry-african-endorse-mccain/

PoliticalRealityOnline1

Joe will be following the Fitin Photojournalists of the 357th into Pakistan right behind Admiral Obama in his Not So Swift Boat, steered by John Kerry, via the Cambodia Intercoastal Toll Road from Logan Dig Port.

SecDef Howard Scream will phone it in from Junior's cell at the Burlington City B&E Club Drunk Tank.

Ali iGore will provide the hemp-powered main battle tanks and solar air cover.

QH, don't you mean "Ali Al-eGore", the inventor of the internet? The great theorists on Global Warming? The man who has an eco-footprint the size of Godzilla?

BLASPHEMY I say, BLASPHEMY!! Who would ever want to doubt this great man and his accomplishments. Soon I am sure he will pronounce Obama as "King of the FAR LEFT LIBERAL EXTREMISTS thus giving to him the grand chalice of the MoveOnOrgy croonies to save us all from our right-wing damnation.

REV WRIGHT / OBAMA '08, WRONG FOR AMERICA!!!!!!!!!!

Rustydog

you need a tentenus shot

McCain is the Republican nominee because Giuliani and Romney imploded. He is the winner, yet people still voted for Huckabee in the recent PA primary. He is trying to be all things to all people and failing in the attempt. When the Democrats get through with their current circus, the media spotlight will shine on the remaining candidates and McCain will lose his cover. Like the conservative candidate in the London mayoral race, his 'lovable bumbling' will be exposed as the vacuity it is. A debate between McCain and either Democratic hopeful should be interesting.

There is only so long that a future oriented country will allow a potential president to bask in past glory. McCain has had astonishing good luck to win the nomination and now has to sound like a president. Clinton may feel that she has had astonishing bad luck in equal measure, to be trailing behind a novice; she now has to sound like she believes she has a chance to win. Come November, luck may not factor in the ultimate decision.

Obama was as charming, evasive, and clueless as usual on Fox this morning.

He's a tool of the far and huge taxing Me Me Me left to be sure, but likable.

Of course, any guy or gal scooping waffle cones at Coney Island today offers the same (if not better) relevant world experience, and at a much easier price to swallow.

Someday he might even make a decent Senator from Hawaii.

Any comment on this, Joe?

over a seven-month period beginning last summer, Mr. McCain’s cash-short campaign gave itself an advantage by using a corporate jet owned by a company headed by his wife, Cindy McCain, according to public records. For five of those months, the plane was used almost exclusively for campaign-related purposes, those records show.

This is the same period during which he talked about flying coach to save money:

LETTERMAN: You got into financial trouble, and all of that changed, turned around. What did you do—did you ever consider getting out?

MCCAIN: Well, I was riding on a well-known airline in group D, you know, that’s the one where you get to sit in the center seat between two heavyset Americans… I was carrying my own bags, which was good training, good experience.

Coming to a Broadway Theater near YOU, Starring.....

Sniper Fire Hillary Clinton as Dorothy

Flip-flopping Barry Obama as the Scarecrow

Stab you in the back Bill Richardson as the Cowardly Lion

Scream Howard Dean as the Tin Man

and everyone's favorite

Global Warming Al Gore as the Great Wizzard of Oz!!!

Ladies and Gentlemen, please give your donations to www.MoveOn.Orgy George Soros has lost a bundle in the lastest Home Mortgage debacle, and we thank you for your support.

Hey Joe, almost forgot, if you play your cards right you and Jimmy Carter might land roles as a flying monkey!!!

"...Mr. McCain’s cash-short campaign gave itself an advantage by using a corporate jet owned by a company headed by his wife, Cindy McCain..."

Bastard, he saved the TAXPAYERS more money!

Liberal Outrage Time!

Meanwhile, Air Hillary just landed in Cheataqua, after another vital photo-op at Pristina Airport, where she instructed the U.N. troops on proper Apache maintenance and making the most of their Time at the NTC, including the best places for breakfast burritos in Bakersfield.

Move On!

PS: Listening to the 2 DNC campaign dorks on Face The Nation this morning it IS almost impossible to keep from blowing Cheerios out the nose. Way too many laughs! Oh you demlix IS sooooooooo funny!

PoliticalRealityOnline1

Thank you for honestly stating control of Iraqi oil is the real reason for the war/occupation.

However, your economic and political analysis are flawed. Iraq is bloody chaos now with us there. Last I knew Bush (regrettably) is still President, not Harry Reid. And it was Bush's administration who were predicting cheap gas as a result of this misbegotten "adventure" before we invaded.

And according to your own figures, the cost the American people are paying in excess of what they should for oil per annum would be $575 billion. The cost of the occupation has to be figured into that price, not juxtaposed to it.

Speculators are just that, speculators, whether it be in oil, real estate, dot coms, or any other prediction of future economic conditions. They can be wrong.

The administration's continued saber-rattling in the region, towards Iran and Syria especially adds more to the instability and driving up the price of oil than anything the Democrats have had to say.

Rustydog

You forgot BJ Clixon as King Munchkin.

Bastard, he saved the TAXPAYERS more money!

No, he saved his campaign money. There IS a difference, you know.

You'd defend the Maverick if he was caught soliciting underage boys, though, QH. That's what IS is.

"...predicting cheap gas as a result of this misbegotten "adventure" before we invaded..."

They pay $8 a gallon in Iceland (land of the geo powered, home of the wave) -- and have for years.

We'll help you and the life partner pack the Yugo, eh?

Be sure to bring your life vest and salad fork.

You'd defend the Maverick if he was caught soliciting underage boys, though, QH. That's what IS is.

...

Meanwhile, one of Joe Klein's leading Gazite families just strapped another belt bomb to a fuzzy logicless PLO teenager headed from Hamas HQ to the nearest olive grove.

Howard Dean will blame it on the No Left Child's Behind problem.

A salad fork for your word salad, QH?

Now back to your regularly scheduled meds.

You'd defend the Maverick if he was caught soliciting underage boys, though, QH. That's what IS is.
Posted by TomT | April 27, 2008 10:55 AM

Tom you are confusing the political platform supporting NaMBLA, you know that association of Men who have sex with young boys?

John McCain couldn't take that near perfect organization away from the Democrats.

That's poor spoofing, Rusty. You can do better.

"John McCain couldn't take that near perfect organization away from the Democrats."

Tommy Toon didn't know NAMBLA was a DNC platform plank.

He simply assumed it was part of his Marin County membership fee.

It is interesting that his aides assembled a white audience in Selma, Alabama, isn't it? It is also interesting that blacks did not show up in Selma, Alabama.

It is interesting that he cannot get his facts straight. I'm not talking about lying here. I am talking about not knowing the facts, not being aware of the situations of which he speaks and making the same mistakes over and over. The facts don't matter to him -- they are irrelevant. So are the facts on the ground here also irrelevant? Recession, the loss of jobs, the loss of stature in theh world. He spoke of jobs in front of an abandoned factory. Granted that's the kind of staff work that makes Democrats like me laugh our butts off but the symbolism is valid. He has a substantial disconnect with reality.

"It is interesting that his aides assembled a white audience in Selma, Alabama..."

Yes, they should outlaw whites in Alabama.

Just as they have in Gary and Oakland.

The dream article I'm waiting for (and you could lead the pack, Joe!) will be written by a "recovering McCainiac" who finally wipes the barbecue sauce off his chin and tells the rest of us why the embarassing sycophants of the press find St. John so thrillingly endearing.

From out here I see a guy who hugs the guy who destroyed his campaign by trying to destroy his family, grovels at the feet of those he once "denounced" as "agents of intolerance" and shares his birthday cake at a photo op, blatantly ignoring the downwards bearing Katrina with the guy he now accuses of paying no attention to the downwards bearing Katrina.

Further he tuts tuts while the North Carolina Republican Party runs vicious racist ads but acts as if he can't do anything about it... "so sorry" and you guys spend thousands of column inches every day telling us what a great guy he is and how strong his principles are.
Let me say that if you guys stay on this path and enable his election I REALLY don't want to read any rueful "nobody could've predicted" columns from you or any of your brethren when McCain screws the pooch beyond recognition next year.

I'm predicting, OK?

"Hamsa Candidate"...and you still sit there with a straight face talking about honor...

BTW, when does Reverend Wrong have his next press mess?

I want to be sure I've got enough popcorn ready for the laugh track.

"The jury's out" Are you kidding me?

He's been morphing into Bush for YEARS.

For anyone who wants to read a review of the Moyer's interview with Rev. Wright that is somewhat more thoughtful than QH's above, this is a good one:
http://www.streetprophets.com/story/2008/4/26/13582/1350

OK Rusty riddle me this.

If it isn't bigotry, then why else would St. McCain insist on referring to Iraqi insurgents as Al Qaeda® when they have no relationship to the organization whatsoever except that they're Muslim and dangerous?

What else should one refer to the act of demonizing a large group of people based on the acts of a small group and actually using the confusion inherent in American's understanding of the Middle East to justify violence against people who in their own view are defending their homeland against an invader?

Of course I'm addressing someone who wrote this:

The great people of Pennsylvania are primarily from solid, Pennsylvania Dutch, Irish, and other european heritage. The EXACT type of people that built and defended this great nation for over 230 years.

http://www.time-blog.com/swampland/2008/04/obamas_bitterness.html#comment-470887

so needless to say, he'd be sensitive to charges of bigotry since he's an unapologetic racist himself.

McCain said today that Wright affair is fair game. Is this the honorable campaign that's been promised to us by MSM (Joe Klein, David Broder, Cohen)?

Used to be ... I admired Captain McCain. But now he's just another clown on the campaign trail. Well maybe he's more of a puppet.
Klein needs to get a life. I'll return to read some of his stuff in about 3 weeks. If he hasn't learned that he's been taken for a goat ride by then he's just too stupid for me to ever read again. I'll even kill my subscription to Time.
Joan Baez song, "Time Rag" is nearing currency and reality.

This post needs an update, after McCain's comments today. He made it clear that he is not going to even try to run the campaign Klein and others have been saying he will.

And I'm not at all surprised.

"This post needs an update, after McCain's comments today. He made it clear that he is not going to even try to run the campaign Klein and others have been saying he will."

Indeed, he'll tell the COMPLETE truth about the Euro-centric trash leading the Ivy league liberals into the proverbial French trench of mediocrity above all.

Worth reporting.

Notify the BBC.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080428/ap_on_el_pr/obama_wright

Sister Stalin Update # 32... Collect Them All

Indeed, he'll tell the COMPLETE truth

Yeah, right on.

The next time John McCain tells "the COMPLETE truth," about anything, will be the first time, probably in his entire life.

McCain is past his prime and time. He let Rove and Bush beat him with slime. It didn't have to be that way, but now John says it's all OK. Now to Obama he'll do the same, even though it's lame, lame, lame ! Happy with Bu$h ? Vote for McSame,vote for John and you will get-more warmed over Bu$h bullsh$t ! How sad it is that this should be the Mavericks path to victory. He hopes to win by spreading lies, while in America freedom dies.

Of course, as the fact that he's married to a woman with her own private jet demonstrates, John McCain has a nine-figure lifestyle.

Naturally, this puts him in the ideal position for a Republican in that he can say things about his likely Democratic opponent, the mixed-race child of a single mother, who worked as a community organizer on the Southside of Chicago [home of the truly wealthy, other than White Sox players of course]:

Republican presidential candidate John McCain on Sunday called Democratic rival Barack Obama insensitive to poor people and out of touch on economic issues.

"McCain said today that Wright affair is fair game. Is this the honorable campaign that's been promised to us by MSM (Joe Klein, David Broder, Cohen)?"

Joe: At what point does a mixed bag turn in to just another bag of bull? Every time McCain either changes positions or pretends he had a position that he really didn't, you and your colleagues either move the goal post back or widen the field.

Jay Rosen: "An honorable campaign wouldn't be half inspirational and half shameless pandering."

A lovely ideal, but by that standard, we haven't seen an honerable campaign in as long as I can remember.

Obama:

How long has McCain been conversing with Hamas and why hasn't the State Dept. investigated? Is McCain on such good terms with Daniel Ortega that he refers to him as 'Danny'?

Um, are you sure there is even a "central front" in the activities formerly known as the "war on terrorism"?

I mean really now. I don't think we should trade Iraq in for Afghanistan as the "next unwinnable war".

I favored going into Afghanistan, which is where Bin Laden was, but let's not get all tangled up in yet another round of rhetoric that will just drag us into yet another boondoggle "you broke it, you own it" war.

The activities formerly known as the "war on terror" are really a worldwide police action. There IS no "central front"!

Get off it already!

The Real McCain (Tech Version)
By Reed Hundt - April 27, 2008, 10:13PM

John McCain is setting a remarkable record: he is the major party Presidential nominee with the skimpiest policy platform since Warren Harding or perhaps Calvin Coolidge. He's making George Bush's year 2000 policy work look encyclopedic by comparison.

Notwithstanding his tenure as chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, where I first met him (and where I recall clearly that he used to have opinions), he has only two planks for a communications sector platform and none at all for information technology more generally. First, he is against "taxes that threaten [the Internet, because it is an] engine of economic growth and prosperity." So what taxes are those? He doesn't say. Does he oppose taxes on cable or telephone companies, which are the engines that drive Internet access? He doesn't say. Does he oppose sales taxes on products sold through e-commerce, which is the issue that has often been debated in Congress? He doesn't say.

Second, we find that "John McCain Will Ban New Cell Phone Taxes. John McCain understands that the same people that would tax e-mail will tax every text message - and even 911 calls. John McCain will prohibit new cellular telephone taxes." So does this mean he supports old cell phone taxes and won't repeal them? Who are the people who threaten to tax text messages or 911 calls? He doesn't say. I can't imagine who proposes, for instance, to tax a free call to a first responder. What is McCain thinking?

And that's it for his campaign's communications and information technology policies. If anyone can find any other evidence of positions on these topics, please do share it with me.

At least with respect to the information and communications technology sector of the economy, this is the Empty Talk Express we have running here on the McCain campaign web site.

On the other hand, if McCain were to put on his website the bulk of the views he expressed while on the Senate Commerce Committee, voters could see that he has not only failed to put those opinions into law (since they draw little support from others) but also that they are not drawn from a coherent philosophical framework. Putting it politely, TechCrunch reported that he has been "standoffish on net neutrality, mobile spectrum rules and the digital divide... [but he] did say that he was "illiterate" when it comes to computers."

There's no denying that McCain has a winning personality and in one-on-one conversations does not lack for charm. In that respect, he reminds me, of all the politicians I have met, most of the George Bush I knew in college: I could hardly dislike either of them, but the duties we each have toward each other and our world did not appear the same way to me as it did to them. Bush's unique point of view on many issues is now well-known to all Americans and his record low in approval ratings reflects how out of touch with the wishes of most Americans he really is. McCain is not any closer to the perspectives and dreams of most Americans.

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/04/27/the_real_mccain_tech_version/

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