Obscanity: You'll know it when you see it

I’d bet a whole lot of dollars (or donuts) that the Republicans are cooperating with McCain to give him an excuse to postpone the debate. I think everybody realizes a debate is not good for the Republicans right now.

Of course they may just be coming face to face with the reality that many of the people who support Republicans actually expect their elected officials to practice the fiscally conservative beliefs they espouse during their campaigns… oops. Funny how real fiscal conservatives don’t support this bailout.

So Sarah Palin is finally talking to the media, is she? Sure, I suppose so. The real question now: Is she actually saying anything?

Well, if generic stock answers are what you’re looking for, Palin definitely delivers – albeit in some garbled postcard language that appears to be comprised of random prepositions and pronouns blended with Republican Spin Machine talking points.

My favorite:

Katie Couric: Why isn’t it better, Governor Palin, to spend $700 billion helping middle-class families who are struggling with health care, housing, gas and groceries? Allow them to spend more, and put more money into the economy, instead of helping these big financial institutions that played a role in creating this mess?

Sarah Palin: That’s why I say I, like every American I’m speaking with, were ill about this position that we have been put in. Where it is the taxpayers looking to bail out. But ultimately, what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the health care reform that is needed to help shore up our economy. Um, helping, oh, it’s got to be about job creation, too. Shoring up our economy, and getting it back on the right track. So health care reform and reducing taxes and reining in spending has got to accompany tax reductions, and tax relief for Americans, and trade — we have got to see trade as opportunity, not as, uh, competitive, um, scary thing, but one in five jobs created in the trade sector today. We’ve got to look at that as more opportunity. All of those things under the umbrella of job creation.

So… like… giving money to Wall Street is like, good for all of us, because like, health care reform, and you know, job creation, and, such as, tax relief. And definitely trade, because it’s not scary. Does that answer your question?

Ladies and gentlemen: Your Republican vice-presidential candidate.

CNN has posted a map of potential tie scenarios in which Obama and McCain each receive 269 electoral votes. What they don’t seem to explain is what would happen if there was a tie.

See, this makes no sense to me. If we really wanted to be democratic about it, in the event of a tie you would go to the popular vote. But then, that’s just my opinion, and I don’t know much about the electoral tie process. But still – isn’t that what makes sense? Am I wrong?

As you probably already know, yesterday John McCain cancelled his appearance on David Letterman’s CBS late night talk show, claiming that he had to rush back to Washington because the economy was about to crater. Letterman was informed that McCain was rushing off to the airport and was about to board a plane immediately.

Well, about six and a half minutes into this video, you’ll see where McCain really had to go. Well, it turns out that while he was supposed to be on a plane, McCain was having his nose powdered on the set of Katie Couric’s CBS Evening News. Does he think nobody is going to catch him? Seriously? I mean, this is all on camera. In the public eye. What, Letterman just wasn’t going to notice the national broadcast? From the same building???

Of course, the benefit to McCain is that while some of us may see right through this blatant transparency, I guarantee you that the rightwing defense will be, “So what? Letterman isn’t important; the economy is!” To which the correct response is, of course, and now, which is more important, Katie Couric, or the economy? Because McCain put one of these first yesterday, and it wasn’t the economy.

The first couple minutes are not the main point, so if you are pressed for time, skip the intro and the praise for McCain’s war service, and start at 2:22. Or if you’re REALLY pressed for time, skip to 6:35, when things get really interesting. (But if you can, just watch the whole clip.)

McCain bails on Letterman

Talking Points Memo: Obama Rejects McCain’s Call For Suspension Of Debate; Says He Was Blindsided.

My favorite line:

“Obviously if it turns out that we need to be in Washington, we’ve both got big planes, we’ve painted our slogan on the side of them,” Obama also said. “They can get us from Washington to Mississippi pretty quickly.”

Make no mistake: John McCain is NOT suspending his campaign simply because the economy is about to go bust. If his only concern was about the economy, he would be out there, telling the country what he plans to do to fix it. He would be chomping at the bit to get the airtime provided by the presidential debate. He would say the debate is especially necessary now that one of these two men is going to inherit this economic crisis. Time is running out, and the American public NEEDS to hear from the presidential and vice presidential candidates.

But of course, none of that is happening. Why? The real reason he is suspending his campaign – and trying to postpone the debate – is because he sounds better with his mouth shut. He has nothing to say, and has no good way to say it. His campaign has been injured enough by stupid, bigoted, ignorant, completely ridiculous statements coming from him and from his staff. At this point, the very best (and most safe) thing for him to do is smile and look pretty until all the polls are closed. The more he talks, the more we hear him and understand who and what he truly is – and that’s not good for his numbers.

I can only hope that America is not gullible enough to fall for this ploy. After all, what does it mean that he’s suspending his campaign? Does it mean the endless barrage of deceitful commercials about Obama will stop? No. It just means he saves money because he can let his supporters do all the advertising for him – which probably means more lies, not less. Does it mean that his army of lackeys will stop trying to smear the Democratic candidates at every opportunity they get? Of course not.

All it really means is that now he will have an excuse to stay out of the public eye.

Of course, it may also be that he’s trying to push things as far as he can in order to prevent Palin from ever having to debate Biden. I could see him claiming that the presidential debate is more important than the VP debate, and trying to cancel the VP debate altogether.

All this goes without even getting into the very serious question about whether we’re facing another Reagan in the White House, and if elected, whether he will even survive the presidency.

And what of David Letterman’s suggestion that the right thing to do is for McCain to go back to Washington but let his campaign continue on with his running mate, the vice presidential candidate, at its helm?

Well, I think we see the problem there. She’s busy campaigning for the title of Miss America and arranging staged, scripted photo-op meetings that bear a remarkable resemblance to speed-dating.

This political ploy by McCain will be a true test of what America has learned during the past 8 years. Let’s hope we don’t fail by falling for it again.

Pam’s House Blend:: Tony Perkins: If Prop 8 is defeated, the next step — Christians will be jailed.

Guess the Yes-on-8-er/Haters are getting desperate. Does anybody really believe this bullsh*t?

Could somebody please tell Sarah Palin that the vice-presidency is not a final exam that you can just cram for in a couple of months and then suddenly be prepared? The woman never even had a passport until last year – what makes her think an orchestrated meeting actually means anything?

Op-Ed Columnist – McCain’s Radical Agenda – Op-Ed – NYTimes.com.
Of note:

The whole idea of the McCain plan is to get families out of employer-paid health coverage and into the health insurance marketplace, where naked competition is supposed to take care of all ills. (We’re seeing in the Bear Stearns, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch fiascos just how well the unfettered marketplace has been working.)

This is Your Nation on White Privilege | Red Room.

My favorite: “White privilege is when you can get pregnant at seventeen like Bristol Palin and everyone is quick to insist that your life and that of your family is a personal matter, and that no one has a right to judge you or your parents, because “every family has challenges,” even as black and Latino families with similar “challenges” are regularly typified as irresponsible, pathological and arbiters of social decay.”

People jumped all over John Edwards when he spent a couple hundred bucks on a haircut, calling him everything from an out-of-touch elitist to a faggot. Yet, the GOVERNOR of a state spends exponentially more on a home tanning bed for the governor’s mansion (and remember that she didn’t live there full time), and nobody has any suggestions as to just how out of touch she might be with the American public? Nobody thinks this is a bit excessive, and nobody thinks she might have absolutely no clue what it might be like for millions of Americans who don’t have the money for their own personal tanning bed because it might interfere with less crucial things like food, shelter, and healthcare?

This woman is absolutely ridiculous. She has no business in our nation’s capital, except maybe to go to a tanning salon. But oh wait – she has her own.

You might remember Jay Leno’s recent interview with John McCain, in which Leno asked him how many houses he owns, and he answered that he lived in a prison cell for 5.5 years. Well, the McCain camp strikes again.

Obama’s campaign recently put out an ad targeting McCain as computer illiterate and out of touch with modern times. His spokespeople point out the crucial role the Internet plays in the economy.

Well, I’ll give you three guesses as to the excuse being put forth for McCain’s utter computer illiteracy.

If you guessed “Noun, verb, POW,” you are RIGHT! Karl Rove, dough-headed mouthpiece of the Republican party, is now arguing that John McCain can’t use the computer – because he was a POW.

Karl Rove recently blasted Obama’s campaign for criticizing McCain’s inability to use a computer. Found among his word vomit was the following chunk: “But they then say he doesn’t …send e-mail. Well, this is because his war injuries keep him from being able to use a keyboard. He can’t type. You know, it’s like saying he can’t do jumping jacks,” Rove said. “There’s a reason he can’t raise his arms above his head. There’s a reason he doesn’t have the nimbleness in his fingers.”

What the hell? Is this supposed to be accepted as a legitimate excuse? We’re supposed to just accept that McCain has some sort of unnamed disability called POW that he only talks about when it’s politically convenient, and while he’s been able to do just fine as a Senator for some twenty-odd years (collecting a a healthy tax-free disability pension even while voting against similar benefits for current and future disabled veterans), when it comes to modern technology his disability just won’t let him do it?

Seriously?

SERIOUSLY?

Okay, I understand that he doesn’t like to use the computer. Some people are just like that. Why doesn’t he just admit it, instead of saying that his disability prevents him from learning how to use a computer? The computer, and subsequently the Internet, is the most influential non-medical advancement in technology since the creation of television and radio – and perhaps more so, depending on who you ask. It permeates, nu, dominates every level of our economy, and increasingly, much of our society and culture. If all the computers were to shut down tomorrow, mass chaos would ensue. COMPUTERS ARE IMPORTANT – and so are the “Innernets.” A President of the United States should be computer literate, even if he chooses not to use the computer on a regular basis for whatever reason, be it indifference or pain with repetitive motion. The next few presidential terms could see Congress drafting legislation regulating the Internet. The President needs to understand what that means.

So why is it that John McCain somehow “can’t” use a computer – is it really because of his war injuries forty years ago?

So he has a disability. Okay. He tries to avoid repetitive motions. Great. He says he lacks nimbleness in his fingers. Only Cindy McCain can tell us if that’s true, and frankly, I don’t want to know. That’s really not the point.

The issue is not whether he has the manual dexterity to type however words per minute. The issue is not whether his shoulders start to ache if he types for too long. Nobody’s challenging his claim of disability (or maybe they are – but that’s another post altogether, and it’s not coming from me). That’s not the problem here. The problem is that this brushing off of computer ability / literacy as unnecessary and impossible because of physical disability is a slap in the face and a harsh, unnecessary smear against those of us who have disabilities and are not only able to use computers, but are damned good at it.

How is it that so many millions of Americans experiencing disabilities ranging from carpal tunnel and tendinitis to blindness and quadriplegia have managed to become not just literate, but FLUENT on the computer, without relying on their wives or staff to operate it for them? How is it? Oh, yes, I know. THEY CHOOSE TO LEARN TO USE THE COMPUTER.

There are TONS of devices and applications that create accessible workstations for people with a variety of disabilities ranging from ergonomic/pain complaints to access issues for the vision-impaired. Those with typing issues, like McCain, can use voice-recognition software to draft anything from a quick email to a dissertation (or legislation, in this case). People with disabilities can be computer programmers, web designers, writers, engineers, statisticians, and everything in between – if they want to. It’s true that many people with disabilities are not able to use computers because they cannot afford the technology necessary to accommodate their needs, but I guarantee you that John McCain does not have that problem. Many people with disabilities are also unable to use applications that are not accessible. That is most likely not a problem McCain faces either. He can’t say it’s his age either; plenty of elderly Americans are perfectly adept at this newfangled tomfoolery. So what is his problem?

He simply doesn’t want to learn to use the computer.

So why doesn’t he just admit it, instead of insulting disabled Americans by blaming his self-proclaimed “illiteracy” on his disability?

I’m not some able-bodied chauvinist mouthing off about whining disabled people. I have physical disabilities, including a chronic pain syndrome. Up until a car accident a few years ago, my primary complaint was related to my arms, wrists and fingers. I get it. I understand how much it can hurt to type. Hell, I gave up handwriting because it just got too painful. I use the computer instead. I’m not saying this to somehow absolve myself of any possible incorrectness; having a disability doesn’t qualify me to speak for people with disabilities, nor does it qualify me to speak for anyone else. It just means I have a perspective on the situation that a completely able-bodied person might not have. That’s all – and it’s entirely possible I might get railed on by other folks with disabilities who disagree with what I’ve said here, and that’s fine, because as I said, I don’t claim to speak definitively for a disabled population.

That said, there’s a difference between a preference for not typing and a stubborn refusal to learn the basics of computer literacy. I certainly don’t think that it’s fair for one disabled person to tell another disabled person what s/he can or can’t, or should or shouldn’t do in relation to disability and accommodation, especially when it comes to pain management. That’s not what this post is about. I don’t care whether McCain chooses to use a computer on a daily basis. Hell, I am always talking about how necessary it is to approach pain management from an economic standpoint, weighing the factors and determining when the cost of performing an activity outweighs the benefits.

But we’re talking about learning here, not about doing. McCain doesn’t have to touch a keyboard in order to know the basics of how a computer works, how the Internet works, the dynamics of computer-mediated communication, etc. Hell, you can learn all that without even being in the same room as a computer. He has simply chosen to stay illiterate, and blames this illiteracy on a disability that simply does not preclude his use of a computer if he had any interest whatsoever in using it.

Nobody says McCain has to sign onto Facebook or start playing WoW to prove that he’s “hip” to the computer age – but the president of a modern and technologically advanced country should have a working knowledge of computers and the Internet, and McCain does not. He just doesn’t want to admit that he is out of touch with modern times, and at (many) times intellectually lazy, like his predecessor, G-Dubya. How can we have somebody as our President who can’t be bothered with the most influential technological advances of our time? How can he understand our economy if he doesn’t understand the first thing about the technology that keeps it going?

YouTube – John McCain’s ads are LIES. Here’s the video proof..

Did Obama really call Sarah Palin a pig? Hell no. If you believe that lie being bandied about by conservative whack jobs, you might as well go buy a bottle of Evian and drink it from the bottom up. Yes, he uttered the phrase “lipstick on a pig.” But he wasn’t talking about Palin – he was talking about McCain’s promise to bring “change” to the White House. The “lipstick on a pig” reference is a common expression used by Wall Street junkies and politicians alike. In fact, John McCain used the same phrase in reference to Hillary Clinton’s healthcare plan. Man, I hope somebody caught THAT on video.

If you think we’re not headed toward a police state with no constitutional rights… you NEED to watch this:

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

“And I can see Russia from my house!” (I <3 Tina Fey) Listen to that tone in his voice. "I don't know how to answer this question without looking like an idiot for picking her, so I'm just going to whiiiiiine about Obama and hope I get away with it." And then, petulantly, he answers when pressed - with a supremely idiotic answer.

If you’re hoping for change in the years to come and this doesn’t scare the hell out of you, I don’t know what will… The woman is E-V-I-L.

Oh, how I was waiting for this!! (Also available at NBC.com.)

YouTube – John McCain stumbles on Palin’s National Security Experience.

The Raw Story reports: Whistleblower breaks 15-year silence to allege McCain hid wife’s drug abuse. More here.

I can just imagine the response from the McCain spin machine: “Drug use/abuse is a private matter,” they’ll say. “She’s not running for office,” they’ll say. “This was so long ago,” they’ll say. And they’ll definitely be sure to remind us that “wives are off limits.”

Eric Schmeltzer: Palin’s Wasilla To Rape Victims: Bring Your Checkbook.

Well, she DOES like to cut “unnecessary spending”… except of course when it involves multi-million dollar sporting complexes…

The Michigan Messenger is reporting that the county GOP will use a list of foreclosed homes to block people from voting if they live at those addresses. The problem?

The Michigan Republicans’ planned use of foreclosure lists is apparently an attempt to challenge ineligible voters as not being “true residents.”

One expert questioned the legality of the tactic.

“You can’t challenge people without a factual basis for doing so,” said J. Gerald Hebert, a former voting rights litigator for the U.S. Justice Department who now runs the Campaign Legal Center, a Washington D.C.-based public-interest law firm. “I don’t think a foreclosure notice is sufficient basis for a challenge, because people often remain in their homes after foreclosure begins and sometimes are able to negotiate and refinance.”

So basically, if you’re unfortunate enough to be in danger of losing your house, the Republicans will rub salt on your wound by trying to prevent you from voting out the administration that let the economy turn to such shit that you lost your house in the first place. Pretty great racket, eh?

Women Against Sarah Palin is a fantastic blog. Check it out!

So John McCain’s daughter has now stated in front of the camera that nobody knows what war is like other than her own family. I’m sure the troops currently deployed overseas – and gee, I don’t know, the residents of Iraq – will be relieved to know that they don’t know what war is like. Joe Biden’s family certainly doesn’t know what war is like – his son is only being shipped off to Iraq, right? Oh, but Sarah Palin’s family knows. Their son is going to IRAQ.

By the way, speaking of Sarah Palin? If her daughter’s pregnancy is off limits because family is private, then she and her lackeys need to SHUT THE F*CK UP about her military son and her baby with Down’s Syndrome. If we can’t mention her family as a point of genuine political criticism, then she can’t mention her family to garner the sympathy vote either (and that’s completely ignoring the fact that she’s the one who told us about her daughter in the first place).