Speaking Of Too Angry...

Here is the most popular host on Fox News, conservative Bill O'Reilly, back when he worked on Inside Edition:



You can see why he's a John McCain fan. They both have a tendency to lose their cool.

112

Today marks 112 days until John McCain turns 72 years old.

Happy Mother's Day!

McCain's Advisors, Living In Fantasy Land

The NY Times just posted a pretty good article about the coming battle royale between Obama and McCain. It's a fun read, especially because McCain's camp is so freakin' delusional about how tough this campaign will be for them.

One line that really sticks out, showing how out-of-touch McCain's advisors are:

“We believe America is still a slightly right-of-center country, and that is what McCain is,” said Charlie Black, a senior adviser to Mr. McCain.

Yes, run with that boys. See how far it gets you. A recent Pew poll doesn't agree:


And another gem from the article:

Republicans said they hoped to put New Jersey and possibly California into play.

Wow. That's some chutzpah. Let's look at some recent poll results from CA and NJ.

California:
Obama 50%
McCain 43%

New Jersey:
Obama 56%
McCain 32%

Good luck with that strategy. Considering how poor the McCain campaign will be, I just can't see them wasting tight funds in expensive media markets like CA and NJ, especially when they are almost doomed to lose. But hey, it's a long time until the election and anything can happen.

Anyway, I suggest reading the article. Horse race numbers aside, this should be a fascinating matchup.

Obama's Senior Deficit

As was noted in the LA Times poll below, Obama is only losing to McCain in the over-65 demographic.

But as I've argued plenty of times, this is McCain's peak. He's been getting a free ride, with no real criticisms of his policies yet emerging from the Democrats. Once that changes, watch out.

Matthew Yglesias agrees:

There's no telling how many McCainiac seniors will be swayed by the Obama campaign pointing out that McCain has spent years waging war on Social Security and Medicare and basically thinks everyone should get on the "marry a wealthy heiress" retirement plan, but it's going to be more than zero people. Seniors have already heard a good deal of the sort of culture war attacks on Obama that are likely to be the biggest thing driving them toward McCain, but they've heard essentially nothing of the retirement policy attacks on McCain that are likely to be the biggest thing driving them toward Obama. Consequently, Obama's senior deficit is very big. But he's winning anyway, and though he'll probably never close the senior gap he'll almost certainly narrow it.

I would go a step further. Right now there are a lot of older white Hillary voters who are so mad at Obama for beating their girl that they claim they will vote for McCain. Inevitably, most of these people will come back to the fold when Hillary bows out and endorses Obama. Once all of these fine upstanding Democrats like Bill Clinton, Hillary, Al Gore, John Edwards and the like are speaking out in favor of Obama, you will see mass consolidation of the party.

Attacks on McCain's policies will be critical. But unification of the party alone would probably be enough to put Obama over the top.

McCain To Accept Extreme Right Wing Position On Abortion

So according to ABC News, John McCain is probably going to stand by the Republican platform that calls for banning abortion even in the cases of rape, incest, or danger to the life of the mother.

I think this will poke a rather large hole in his whole "maverick" image:

A senior Republican close to McCain told ABC News that building a more inclusive GOP is a top priority for the Arizona senator.

But this adviser does not see changing the party platform to include exceptions for rape, incest, and the life of the mother as necessary for achieving that vision.

The problem for McCain, however, is that he excoriated then-Gov. George W. Bush during a 2000 debate for not being willing to make this change to the platform, and Democrats are salivating at the prospect of arguing, in the words of one strategist, "that another four years of Bush begins with another four years of Bush's platform."

....

"If he doesn't change the platform, then he's being the same kind of hypocrite that he accused Bush of being in 2000," said Jennifer Blei Stockman, the co-chairwoman of Republican Majority for Choice. "To not accept abortion in cases of rape and incest, give me a break. That's sick. That's inhumane."

"And the life of the mother?" she added. "These are things that we can't even put our arms around because they are so inhumane."

I question the intelligence of anyone who is pro-choice and Republican, since eliminating choice is one of its number one goals of the party. It's like being for drug decriminalization, gay marriage, honest government or balanced budgets while voting for a Republican. It's dumb and counter-productive.

But you can see the sticky spot McCain is in. Either he sticks to his word (and stated position) and changes the Republican platform, or he flip-flops and keeps it as is. Either way he will lose a whole pile of votes. He'd probably lose more votes by going "soft" on abortion, so expect him to leave the platform as is. Maybe Jennifer Blei Stockman and other pro-choice Republicans should just re-register as a Democrat. They'd fit in a lot better on this side of the aisle.

McCain: Did He Or Didn't He?

This whole brouhaha about whether McCain voted for Bush in 2000 cannot be good for him. Some have called it a gift to McCain, allowing him to wink-wink at indie voters who hate Bush. But they forget that this only undermines McCain even more with his base -- Republicans. They don't trust McCain, they never trusted him, and his denials about this stuff just don't seem too genuine. I'd be a lot less likely to support Obama if I learned that he voted for Bob Dole in 1996, or Bush in 2000, I'll tell you that.

And what's worse - to counter these charges, McCain has to go on TV and talk about how he voted for Bush, campaigned for Bush, how much he loves Bush. It's a no-win situation for him.

The Young Turks sum it up fairly well here:

Yet Another Bad Poll For McCain

From the LA Times:

Although Democrats are tangled in a fractious primary contest, both Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama probably would win the White House against presumptive GOP nominee John McCain if the election were held now, according to a new Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll.

Obama: 46%
McCain: 40%

And remember that Dems are still divided, deflating poll numbers for both Obama and Clinton (since a lot of hard core supporters are currently claiming they would vote for McCain if their candidate loses).

These are terrible numbers for McCain. But expect to see worse down the road, probably in June when Clinton concedes and endorses Obama.

Among voters 65 and older, Clinton and McCain were essentially tied; but McCain led Obama 47% to 41%.

Among people ages 18 to 44, Obama led McCain 55% to 35%. Clinton led McCain 48% to 35%.

Among baby boomers -- the giant post-World War II generation that will begin to reach retirement age in the next president's term -- both Democrats edged out McCain: Clinton 47% to 39%, Obama 45% to 37%.

And this isn't really an outlier. Yesterday Hotline released similar poll results:
Obama: 47%
McCain: 43%

Not looking too good for Old Man McCain. He's been getting a free ride and should be at his peak right now.

But Don't Worry, Lieberman Checked McCain's Bearings

Boy, I'm glad that's all sorted out:



If this is the best McCain can do, defending himself with dumb jokes from his old dumb friends like Lieberman, he's in bigger trouble than we thought.

Is there anyone under 60 who really, truly supports McCain? The only faces I see on TV these days are George W. Bush (61), Mitt Romney (61), Fred Thompson (65), Joe Lieberman (66), Dick Cheney (67), John Hagee (68), John Warner (81), and a bunch of other pasty old white dudes. Oh, and let's not forget Mama McCain (96).

It's like corpse central.

McCain Stumbles Again, This Time With Mic

Maybe it's just me, but his attempts at humor seem so fake and forced. He's an exceedingly angry guy who knows that in order to get elected, he has to suppress his inner Dick Cheney and act silly for the folks. His appearance on the Daily Show was filled with the same crap, laughing and mugging for the camera so people won't realize he's an asshole.

NY Times: McCain Already Lying About Obama

Pretty good read today about the desperation and lies emerging from the McCain camp:

Speaking at a news conference in New Jersey, Mr. McCain said he believed that comments made by a Hamas leader approving Mr. Obama’s candidacy were “a legitimate point of discussion,” and he went on to accuse Mr. Obama of agreeing to negotiate with the president of Iran, who on Wednesday referred to Israel as “a stinking corpse facing annihilation.” He described that as “a distinct difference between myself and Senator Obama.”

Mr. Obama has not let attacks go unanswered. On Thursday, he replied by saying that Mr. McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, was “losing his bearings” and engaging in “smear” tactics. “My policy toward Hamas has been no different than his,” Mr. Obama said in an interview on CNN....

But important nuances appear to have been lost in the partisan salvos, particularly on Mr. McCain’s side. An examination of Mr. Obama’s numerous public statements on the subjects indicates that he has consistently condemned Hamas as a “terrorist organization,” has not sought the group’s support and does not advocate immediate, direct or unconditional negotiations with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president....

Mr. Obama has been clear in making a distinction between his willingness to talk “not just to countries we like, but those we don’t,” as he puts it, and Hamas and other political movements similar to it. “Hamas is not a state,” Mr. Obama told a Jewish group last month. “Hamas is a terrorist organization.”

Responding to Mr. McCain’s accusations in an interview with CNN on Thursday, Mr. Obama elaborated on that position. He again called Hamas a terrorist group and said that “we should not talk to them unless they recognize Israel, renounce violence and are willing to abide by previous accords” that Israel has negotiated with its neighbors and with the Palestine Liberation Organization.

That is not a new position for Mr. Obama. In 2006, he, like Mr. McCain, was a co-sponsor of the Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Act, which called on “members of the international community to avoid contact with and refrain from financially supporting the terrorist organization Hamas” until it met all of the same requirements that Mr. Obama enumerated again on Thursday.

So the gist of it is, McCain is a scoundrel and a liar. This Hamas bullshit undermines all his talk of running a "respectable campaign". Already Time magazine is calling on McCain to stop the "sleaze".

Maybe he really does want to just repeat all the mistakes of the Clinton campaign. Run on experience during a change election. Make fake claims of "readiness" and avoid tough questions about his bad judgement. Smear Obama with the lowest of race-based attacks. Bring up Rev. Wright every chance he gets.

If this is the kind of campaign McCain wants to run, he'll do even worse in the election than I've been predicting. He's playing to people's worst instincts at a time when Americans are just tired of all that.

Let's not forget what just happened, folks. Barack Obama, a black guy, just took down the number one name brand in Democratic politics. Clinton was leading by 20% in the polls all of last year. In October she was leading 68-25% amongst black women. She had 100% name recognition. She raised more money than he did. Before the first votes were cast, Clinton had 169 superdelegates while Obama only had 63. Yet he took her down without breaking a sweat.

There is a train coming down the tracks, full steam, and McCain better bring some better game if he thinks he can stop it.

McCain: Discussions About My Age Are "Fine With Me"

Today McCain make a very important statement. He said that discussions about his advanced age are fine with him.

This gives us at Old Man McCain the right and the responsibility to make sure his age is discussed in a rational and insightful manner during this election. We want the public to know that McCain would be the oldest president ever elected, that he came of age during the Truman/Eisenhower years, and that he is frequently becoming confused about the differences between Sunnis and Shiites, the existence of the long since disbanded League of Nations, and who is in charge of Germany.

It's all fair game now.

McCain's Mother

After a tip from my friend Joe, I realized that I've barely mentioned McCain's creepy and scary-looking mother. She about 100 years old (and for once, this is not an exaggeration) and she looks like, well, you decide:



I think she looks like Death. But I guess being alive and mobile at 96 is something to cheer, so good for her.

On the one hand I'm glad McCain has some old age genes in him. But then again his father only made it to 70, so maybe he's not as ready to roll as you think.

114

Today marks 114 days until John McCain turns 72 years old.

John McCane

The streets are filled with all sorts of nicknames for McCain: Grandpa McCain, Old Man McCain, Old Poop, McSame, McBush, McSenile, McOld, McWarmonger, Juan McAmnesty, John McLame, John McAsshole, John McPsycho.

But a new one that I kind of like is John McCane. I'd give my pinky finger for a shot of McCain using a walker or sitting in a wheelchair. God it would be priceless.

Luckily we did find a pic of McCain actually using a cane, from a campaign stop last year. One of my friends works at an AZ newspaper and was covering the campaign for a while. He says that McCain's back was killing him, and he apparently ignored his aides' advice not to appear on stage with a prop that screams "old man". If anyone has a wider shot I'd love to see it.

Obama Slams McCain, Says He Is "Losing His Bearings"

Expect a lot more of this as Obama turns his attention from Hill to McCain.

As you know, McCain has tried to peddle a baseless Karl Rove type smear against Obama:

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. 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.

I can't really imagine any candidate going any lower than McCain already has. Even George W. Bush never said that Osama bin Laden wants John Kerry to be elected -- he left that up to right wing cretins like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. If McCain keeps up this kind of rhetoric, he will only tie himself closer to the Rovian politics that Americans have become sick of. Karl Rove scared plenty of folks, but he never got anything done. He didn't make the country better. He didn't win any wars. He's a phony and a criminal, and that dog just doesn't hunt any more.

Obama's response today:

This is offensive, and I think it's disappointing. Because John McCain always says ‘I am not going to run that kind of politics,’ and to engage in that kind of smear is unfortunate, particularly because my policy toward Hamas has been no different than his.

I’ve said it’s a terrorist organization and we should not negotiate with them unless they recognize Israel, renounce violence, and unless they are willing to abide by previous accords between the Palestinians and the Israelis. So for him to toss out comments like that I think is an example of him losing his bearings as he pursues this nomination. We don’t need name calling in this debate.

A very subtle reference to how old, confused, and out of touch John McCain is. Obvious Obama can't go as far as we will in saying that McCain is batshit crazy warmonger whose best days passed him long ago. But it's a good first step in labeling McCain has someone who has really lost his marbles (and sold out his principles, if he has any) while trying to win this election.

Movie of the Year

For eight years I've been waiting for Oliver Stone to take on the Bush administration. Only the guy who made JFK, Wall Street, Nixon, and The Doors could properly capture the incredible corruption and tragedy of the Republican junta we have in power.

Stone could have made a movie about the stolen election in 2000. He could have made a movie about the lies leading to the Iraq War. He could have made a movie about the Bush administration's secret wiretapping, use of torture, or short-changing of our troops.

But he let others make those movies. Instead, Stone is going right after the man himself -- W.


It's gonna be epic.

McCain Family Is Hiding Their Wealth

We've already reporter that while John McCain released a few of his tax returns (which showed, among other things, that he is currently on 100% disability from the military), he has refused to release his wife's tax returns.

Cindy McCain, whose wealth allowed him to get into politics in the first place, is worth at least $100 million dollars. Her family owns one of the largest Budweiser wholesalers, along with who knows how many other investments. Wouldn't it be nice to see exactly how much John McCain is worth, and what conflicts of interest he may have?

Sorry, says Cindy McCain, you never get to see how wealthy we are:



Considering that Cindy McCain has already provided her family jet to the McCain campaign for bargain basement prices, and considering the renewal of the estate tax will be a fairly big issue in the next four years, this is crucial information for voters to have. Even Teresa Heinz-Kerry disclosed portions of her tax returns in 2004.

As long as the McCains keep hiding their personal fortune, this issue won't go away.

Bush Packs FEC With Pro-McCain Stooges

The blatant abuse of power and corruption continues:

The White House today withdrew the nomination of “holdover” FEC Commissioner David Mason to serve as a Commissioner on the FEC.

The White House dumped Mason after President Bush had twice proposed Mason for the FEC in the last two and a half years, in December 2005 as a recess appointment and in January 2007 as a nominee to the FEC for Senate Confirmation.

The only apparent reason for President Bush to drop Commissioner David Mason at this stage, an FEC candidate he had twice proposed for the Commission, is to prevent him from casting an adverse vote against Senator McCain on important enforcement questions pending at the Commission. The questions deal with Senator McCain’s request to withdraw from the presidential primary public financing system and the consequences of a loan the McCain campaign took out and the collateral provided for the loan.

Under these circumstances, President Bush’s dumping of Mason can only be viewed as a bald-faced and brazen attempt to wrongly manipulate an important enforcement decision by the nation’s campaign finance enforcement agency.

The White House action today represents the political equivalent of obstruction of justice.

So McCain breaks campaign finance laws, and his buddy Bush backs him up. What else would we expect?

116

Today marks 116 days until John McCain turns 72 years old.

He turns 72 years old on August 29th. That is the day after Barack Obama gives his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention.

So when McCain gives his acceptance speech on September 4th, you will be seeing a 72-year-old coot on stage. Hopefully he doesn't pull a Bob Dole and do any stage dives!

McCain Pal Sam Alito Wanted To Keep Michelle Obama Out of Princeton

Yesterday McCain stated his position on judges:

Republican presidential candidate John McCain said on Tuesday he would appoint judges in the mold of conservatives John Roberts, Samuel Alito and former Chief Justice William Rehnquist if he were elected in November....

"I will look for people in the cast of John Roberts, Samuel Alito, and my friend the late William Rehnquist -- jurists of the highest caliber who know their own minds, and know the law, and know the difference," McCain told an audience at Wake Forest University.

In his speech, McCain slammed what he called "judicial activism" in court appointments, and criticized Democratic presidential candidates Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, for voting against the nominations of Roberts and Alito.

Clearly McCain loves these right wing justices, including Sam Alito. Perhaps part of his 2008 campaign will be to knock Obama over the head with his opposition to Alito, who McCain says is of the "highest caliber".

But let's not forget who Sam Alito is. Before he became known as "Little Scalia" for his brain-dead conservatism, before he began his mission of destroying liberty and equality in this country, Alito was once a college student at Princeton.

Shortly after graduating Princeton, Alito proudly joined a little organization called Concerned Alumni of Princeton (CAP). I'll let Hilzoy (who attended Princeton around the same time) explain what CAP was all about:

CAP was not about opposing affirmative action. It supported quotas that favored white men. CAP was about opposing the presence of women and minorities at Princeton. Period. Moreover, its tactics were despicable. In retrospect, it was one of the first instances of what has now become a familiar pattern: an extremely well-funded organization dedicated to spreading lies about some opponent in an effort to force that opponent to change course through the sheer volume of vitriol and harassment that a lot of money can buy. Samuel Alito pointed with pride to his membership in CAP in 1985.

Now why would Obama possibly have reason to oppose this guy? As it just so happens, Obama's future wife Michelle Obama graduated from Princeton in 1985. The exact same year that Alito championed his role in an organization designed to keep blacks and women (and especially black women) out of Princeton.

In other words, Alito is an out-and-out racist who wanted to keep people like Michelle Obama from attending his school, simply because of her sex and her gender. Alito has since claimed that he didn't know what the group was about, or joined it for other reasons, but you can't be in a group for 13 years and not know what their founding mission is. I'm sorry, it doesn't work that way.

So long story short, I understand why Obama wouldn't want to put this guy onto the Supreme Court. It's bad enough that Michelle Obama had to face racism from her own white roommate while at college. Additional discrimination from CAP sympathizers like Alito, who despised her very presence at the school, must have made things even tougher.

But the story doesn't end there. Andrew Sullivan, who has his ear to the right wing grapevine, said this yesterday:

Wright is a grenade that will fizzle. The right will try other gambits - the Ayers crap and if that doesn't work, look for them to take aim at Obama's wife.

It's almost funny when you think about it. Why are Republicans so afraid of Michelle Obama? First Alito tries to keep her out of Princeton, now the GOP wants to smear her and slime her to keep from becoming First Lady.

Part of the reason, they will say, is because she wrote this in her Princeton thesis:

"My experiences at Princeton have made me far more aware of my 'blackness' than ever before," the future Mrs. Obama wrote in her thesis introduction. "I have found that at Princeton, no matter how liberal and open-minded some of my white professors and classmates try to be toward me, I sometimes feel like a visitor on campus; as if I really don't belong. Regardless of the circumstances underwhich I interact with whites at Princeton, it often seems as if, to them, I will always be black first and a student second."

But if you know about CAP, if you know that Princeton didn't accept women until 1969, if you know that most blacks were excluded until the late 60s, and if you know that Michelle Obama's white roommate wanted to change rooms out of plain ol' racism, then her thesis makes total sense. If anything, she sounds quite dignified and intelligent while discussing her status as a second-class citizen on that campus.

Second, Republicans are mad that she said this a few months ago, while talking about the changing tide in American politics:

For the first time in my adult life, I am really proud of my country. Not just because Barack is doing well, but I think people are hungry for change.

Sure, ripped out of context it sounds bad. In a politics where every phrase must be politically correct even when looked at in isolation, it was poorly phrased. But let's be honest -- has there really been a whole lot to be proud of the last 25 years? The 1992 election was cool, as was the 2006 election, but all the other ones involved Republicans winning one branch or another. Americans themselves have done plenty of great things, but that's not what Obama was referring to. American politics, honestly, has been in the crapper since the 1960s. Since the Civil Rights Act and Great Society we've been tumbling backwards, thanks to the near unbroken rule of Republican presidents and Republican congresses. I could list all the travesties, but you are living in it right now. Bush is the worst of the bunch, but he's the natural outcome of the divisive bottom barrel politics we've all become used to.

Barack Obama is riding this wave of change that could alter everything about politics in America. By next January we could have real majority control by real liberals and progressives, not the phony liberals and centrists and conservatives we've had for 30 years. The age of Lieberman and Clinton and Delay and Bush is coming to an end, and that's something we can all be proud of.

So really -- what is it about this woman that they don't like?

Election Night

It looks like the Rev. Wright attacks didn't work.

Many Republican strategists will be crying into their wine glasses tonight.

[Update]

And how come John McCain can't seal the deal with his Republican base? He is currently under 80% of the vote in both North Carolina and Indiana. I thought he won this thing a couple months ago. Yet Huckabee, Paul and Romney are still pulling about 20% of the vote. That means one in five Republicans went to the polls just to vote against their anointed nominee.

Bad news all around for the Republicans.

Anti-Semite Accuses Obama of Being Anti-Semite

You know all those false rumors about how Obama is really a Muslim, how he doesn't like Israel or Jews, and how he went to "Muslim schools" when he was a child?

It turns out that one of the Republicans peddling these false smears is a real anti-semite. His name is Andy Martin, and here is what he said about Obama:

Moy stated that, according to Martin, the school Obama attended was "not a madrassa, but that they did teach the Quran, and they did teach that Jews are pigs. So that it -- you know, those kind of things that the Quran teaches, all of those things in the Quran that offend so many, he was taught."

Tough words. But who is this "Andy Martin", and does he have any credibility on the subject?

Nope.

According to the Tribune article, during bankruptcy proceedings, Martin "referred to a federal bankruptcy judge as a "crooked, slimy Jew, who has a history of lying and thieving common to members of his race," and, separately, stated: "I am able to understand how the Holocaust took place, and with every passing day feel less and less sorry that it did, when Jew survivors are operating as a wolf pack to steal my property." The Tribune also reported that "Federal Bureau of Prisons records show Martin has spent several stints in several federal prisons on issues related to contempt of court."

Any Jewish voter who buys into these smears against Obama must recognize where they are coming from. The far right wing of the Republican party is desperate to win this election, and no amount of hypocrisy and cynicism will stand in their way.

This is the same Republican party that harbors racists like Trent Lott, Pat Buchanan, and current congressional candidate Tony Zirkle:


Even their current presidential nominee, John McCain, has referred to Asians as "gooks", opposed the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday as recently as 1994, and has not only accepted the endorsement of anti-semites like James "Fuck the Jews" Baker and John Hagee but has even hired anti-semites onto his campaign.

McCain Too Old For Most Jobs

Nice catch by Wonkette.

Apparently John McCain is too old to be a judge in his home state of Arizona. In fact, he would have been forced into retirement back in 2006, when he turned 70 years old. And this is the guy Republicans want running the country?

117

Today marks 117 days until John McCain turns 72 years old.

As I've noted before, Old Man McCain is only two years younger than Wilford Brimley.


Ouch.

It Ain't Easy Being Old

Great post by Kos.

McCain will have more and more of these moments as the election continues.

Gingrich Sees Disaster Ahead For Republicans

Sounds about right to me:

According to a New York Times/CBS Poll, Americans disapprove of the President's job performance by 63 to 28 (and he has been below 40% job approval since December 2006, the longest such period for any president in the history of polling).

A separate New York Times/CBS Poll shows that a full 81 percent of Americans believe the economy is on the wrong track.

The current generic ballot for Congress according to the NY Times/CBS poll is 50 to 32 in favor of the Democrats. That is an 18-point margin, reminiscent of the depths of the Watergate disaster....

The Republican brand has been so badly damaged that if Republicans try to run an anti-Obama, anti- Reverend Wright, or (if Senator Clinton wins), anti-Clinton campaign, they are simply going to fail.

This model has already been tested with disastrous results.

In 2006, there were six incumbent Republican Senators who had plenty of money, the advantage of incumbency, and traditionally successful consultants.

But the voters in all six states had adopted a simple position: "Not you." No matter what the GOP Senators attacked their opponents with, the voters shrugged off the attacks and returned to, "Not you."

The danger for House and Senate Republicans in 2008 is that the voters will say, "Not the Republicans."

Too bad none of Gingrich's ideas have any hope of turning the tide. The word "Republican" has become a dirty word in 2008.

More McCain Funnies

It's a laugh riot every second with McCain. No wonder the press loves him so much.

McCain Doesn't Sound So Healthy

Pretty funny:

Obama Nets 1,500,000 Donors

That's a lot of donors.

Inept McCain Criticizes Obama For Not Being a Bush Republican

I can't make much sense out of this attack by old McCain:

Republican John McCain is castigating Democrat Barack Obama for voting against John Roberts as Supreme Court chief justice....

McCain promised to appoint judges who, in the mold of Roberts and Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, are likely to limit the reach of the Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion.

"They would serve as the model for my own nominees if that responsibility falls to me," McCain said in his prepared speech.

Obama likes to talk up his image as someone who works with Republicans to get things done, McCain said. Yet Obama "went right along with the partisan crowd, and was among the 22 senators to vote against this highly qualified nominee," McCain said....

Despite the controversy, his actual record is very conservative, particularly on social issues like abortion, gay rights and gun control. However, he said once, in 1999, that the landmark Roe v. Wade decision allowing abortion should not be overturned.

But that was a blip in an otherwise unbroken record of opposing abortion rights for women. McCain has repeatedly voted against federal funding for abortion; he has opposed federal Medicaid funds for abortion even in cases of rape or incest.

He voted to require parental consent for abortion and voted to criminalize anyone but a parent crossing state lines with a minor to help get an abortion. McCain also supported a ban preventing women in the military from getting abortions with their own money at overseas military hospitals.

He also has cast conservative votes on judges. In fact, McCain has never voted against a Republican nominee for the Supreme Court or federal courts, the Democratic National Committee pointed out.

"Promising four more years of radical judges who are bent on rolling back our basic rights and freedoms is just one more example of why John McCain is the wrong choice for America's future," DNC spokeswoman Karen Finney said.

So let's see, Obama should have voted to confirm a right wing anti-choice judge to the Supreme Court? He should have acted like Bush sycophants like McCain? John Roberts is not some moderate, folks. Just recently, while listening to arguments over the Exxon Valdez spill, Roberts famously spoke out on behalf of the megacorporation that polluted Alaska's coastline:

What bothered the chief justice was that Exxon was being ordered to pay $2.5 billion -- roughly three weeks' worth of profits -- for destroying a long swath of the Alaska coastline in the largest oil spill in American history.

"So what can a corporation do to protect itself against punitive-damages awards such as this?" Roberts asked in court.

The lawyer arguing for the Alaska fishermen affected by the spill, Jeffrey Fisher, had an idea. "Well," he said, "it can hire fit and competent people."

I don't think opposing right wing cretins like Roberts and Alito will be a negative for Obama. Women prefer to have control over their bodies, Americans enjoy having control over reckless corporations, and the government should be allowed to enforce environmental rules to keep us from living in a smog-choked hell like some of these third world countries.

Really, McCain is just trying to shore up the Bush base. He needs those voters who think the last eight years have been just dandy. If you think the last eight years have been great, vote for McCain! 

If you think things have really gone off the rails in the past eight years, vote for Obama!

It's really that simple.