Meet Your Future Presidential Candidates

Expect to see Marc Gonsalves, Thomas Howes, and Keith Stansell running for president in future years. After all, according to the McCain campaign, anyone in the military who gets into a plane crash in a foreign country and spends five years as a hostage/prisoner is unquestionably qualified to be president.

The men — Marc Gonsalves, Thomas Howes, and Keith Stansell — were taking part in a counter-narcotics mission for the Pentagon in 2003 when their plane went down in the eastern jungles of Colombia, a dangerous region largely controlled by FARC guerrillas.

Don't question why their experience of five grueling years in captivity qualifies them to be president. If you even bring up a question, you are anti-troops, just like General Wesley Clark. If you ask McCain why such an experience qualifies them, he will get pissed off. Andrea Mitchell will get mad too. So shut up and don't question it. They are more qualified than anyone, it's not even an issue.

In fact, we should run one of these guys as president this year. Kick Obama off the ticket, put Stansell up there. After all, Obama didn't spend five years in captivity, so how can he seriously claim he is qualified to be president? Only somebody who spent five years under the control of foreign militants knows how to be a Commander in Chief. Therefore, the Democratic party should hold a floor vote at the convention, deciding which of these guys should be our presidential candidate, which should be our VP, and which should get the consolation prize of Secretary of Defense.

That way, we have 10 years of captivity on our ticket, whereas McCain only has five. Let's hope he doesn't pick another POW with more than five years of captivity experience. Hell, let's hope that Gonsalves, Howes and Stansell are all Democrats so that McCain can't pick them off.

And don't let anyone question whether these guys have the sort of executive experience or judgement needed to be president. Who cares what their policies are. Who cares whether they know anything about economics or the price of gas or how to use a computer. They were held captive for five years, they worked for the Pentagon. 'Nuff said.

John McWorried

As I've written many times, John McCain is doing much worse right now than he needs to be. Obama has some great moments ahead, which can only increase his poll numbers: VP selection, overseas trip, convention speech, debate performance.

So the McCain camp should be damn worried that they are still trailing in the polls, sometimes by large margins. So it is no surprise that the McCain campaign is getting rid of their campaign manager and starting from scratch. This despite having a three month lead on Obama, a lead that they totally squandered.

Maybe this will turn things around. Hillary's campaign became much better when they got rid of Patti Solis Doyle. But I guess time will tell. No campaign manager can make John McCain a better candidate. No campaign manager can make him younger or less Bush-like.

John McStupid

Sounds like McCain's health care plan is a real winner:

But if the cost of health care continues to outpace inflation in the economy at large, McCain's health credit would morph into a tax hike for those who currently receive a tax exclusion for employer-sponsored coverage, according to a study released Wednesday by the liberal Center for American Progress.

"For millions of middle class families, the credit is smaller than the current tax subsidies, meaning that it is in fact a tax increase," said Elizabeth Edwards, the wife of former Sen. John Edwards, D-SC, and a senior fellow at CAP. "I know he's pledged not to have any tax increases, but this in fact will work as a tax increase."

McCain's tax credit could morph into a tax hike because the credit grows only at the rate of inflation (about 2 percent a year), while current tax subsidies keep up with health insurance premiums (which are growing at about 7 percent per year).

For a couple earning $40,000 per year and paying an average premium of $13,800, McCain's new tax credit would cut their taxes by $50 in 2009.

"[B]ecause the credit quickly falls behind rising premiums that are the basis for the current tax break, the family would pay $1,169 more in taxes in 2013. The family would pay $2,809 more in taxes by 2018," write James Kvaal, Peter Harbage, and Ben Furnas, the report's authors.

The McCain campaign does not dispute the study's assertion that the Arizona senator's proposed tax credit would offer a smaller subsidy over time than the current exclusion if health premiums continue to grow more quickly than inflation.

Sounds like a typical screw-the-middle-class Republican policy proposal to me. If you like $4 gasoline, you'll love the McCain health plan.

Double Standards

So John McCain fails to pay his property taxes for four years, and Newsweek writes a pathetic "move along, nothing to see here" three paragraph article about it. Other news organizations and TV shows avoid covering it, despite the lawbreaking involved. It's forgotten the next day, down the memory hole.

Barack Obama gets a perfectly normal 5.625% interest rate on his house in 2005. Considering that he made millions from his bestselling books, and both he and his wife are in very high-paying and steady careers, there is nothing shady about this. Hell, I knew people who got 0%, no-down-payment loans around the same time despite making less than $100,000 per year! They are called no-doc liar loans, feel free to Google it. It was quite common for banks to throw money at homebuyers during the housing bubble years.

Yet the Washington Post flips out, writes a 27-paragraph front page story on it, making it sound as if something shady or corrupt happened. Yet another stain on this storied newspaper.

If you want a debunking of this bullshit attack article, go here. And expect to see more of this garbage as the election nears. Such as the bogus "Obama avoids fist bumping story", which was also false.

John McElitist

You gotta be shitting me. The McCains racked up $500,000 in credit card debt in one month? And that's only on one of their credit cards!

Who is the elitist? The guy with 10 houses, $100 million dollars, the heiress wife, millions in credit card usage, and $273,000/yr worth of household servants, or the guy with one house who only finished paying off his student loans a few years ago?

If this were Europe, John McCain would be considered aristocracy. You don't get any more blue-blooded and privileged than John McCain.

John McLiar

This isn't his first lie, and it sure won't be his last. The guy is a serial liar.

Coincidences

I'm sure it's nothing.

John McCrazy

More proof that McCain is too mentally unstable to be president:

Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., told a Mississippi newspaper that he saw McCain, during a trip to Nicaragua led by former Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kan., grab an Ortega associate by his shirt collar and lift him out of his chair....

"McCain was down at the end of the table and we were talking to the head of the guerrilla group here at this end of the table and I don't know what attracted my attention," Cochran said in an interview with The Sun Herald in Biloxi, Miss. "But I saw some kind of quick movement at the bottom of the table and I looked down there and John had reached over and grabbed this guy by the shirt collar and had snatched him up like he was throwing him up out of the chair to tell him what he thought about him or whatever ...

"I don't know what he was telling him but I thought, 'Good grief, everybody around here has got guns and we were there on a diplomatic mission.' I don't know what had happened to provoke John, but he obviously got mad at the guy ... and he just reached over there and snatched ... him."

McCain is denying this, of course. It doesn't look very presidential if you are roughing up people while on diplomatic missions. But why would a fellow Republican senator make up such a damaging story?

I should mention that McCain is known to have scuffled with a fellow Republican, Sen. Strom Thurmond, in 1995. Thurmond was in his 90s at the time. So random acts of violence in professional settings are not out of character by any means.

Right Now, McCain Is Losing The Election

I'm sorry, I just can't get excited over all this Wes Clark/FISA/campaign finance b.s. This is the end of June, and none of this stuff's gonna matter come August, much less election day. Wes Clark committed a gaffe, the media pounced, it will be old news by next week. Clark isn't running for president. FISA pisses off highly-informed liberals and civil libertarians, but it's not the end of the world. Those telecom companies are still open to criminal liabilities, and Obama isn't going to continue Bush's warrantless wiretapping program. Obama's decision to decline public financing and raise money from small donors was his best decision of the month. Who cares if McCain whines about it, he would have done the same thing if he were in Obama's shoes.

What I'd like to do is step back and survey the landscape. I've got some interesting stats for you, courtesy of Real Clear Politics.

For example, did you know that McCain has not led in a national poll since May 3rd? Since then, Obama has led or tied in 30 straight polls.

Since February 1st, Obama has led in 62 polls. John McCain has led in just 10. That's a 62-10-5 record for Obama.

Obama's largest lead in 2008 has been 15 points. He has led McCain by double digits six times this year.

McCain's largest lead was 7 points. He has never led by double digits.

Since Obama announced his candidacy on Febuary 10th, 2007, his record against McCain in head-to-head polls is 95-21-12.

Exclude the ties, and Obama is winning 82% of the head-to-head polls since he started running for president, 86% in 2008, and 100% in the last two months.

For comparison's sake, I looked at the 2004 polls. From around Feb 1st 2004 until July 1st, Bush led Kerry in head-to-head polls 53-36-9. John Kerry took the lead in July and August (33-10-6), but swiftboating and the RNC convention knocked him back for good in September and October. Kerry only led Bush by double digits in a single February poll, and Bush only led Kerry by double-digits in two polls.

Yes, yes, I know that Michael Dukakis had a bigger lead on George H.W. Bush than Barack Obama has on John McCain right now. But as I've said before, Obama is not Dukakis and 2008 is not 1988. Right now Obama is crushing McCain in the polls, and nothing seems to have given McCain any signs of life.

Will McCain come back to life in July, August, September? We'll see. But to do so, he'll have to turn around a situation in which Obama has regularly led him from day one, despite being the lesser known candidate. I wouldn't want to be in the McCain campaign's shoes, that's for sure. No wonder they are so whiny.

60

Today marks 60 days until John McCain turns 72 years old.

NY Times Backs Up Obama

This is a fairly important story, one that completely backs up Obama's criticisms of Bush foreign policy. We took our eye off the ball in Afghanistan and Pakistan, diverted our attention to Iraq, and allowed Al Qaeda to grow stronger.

Good job, Bushie.

Come On, John, Don't Make Us Laugh

This is rich:

"You know, this election is about trust, and trusting people's word" McCain told a crowd of donors to his campaign. "And unfortunately, apparently, on several items, Sen. Obama's word cannot be trusted."

McCain’s remark came at the conclusion of a number of examples of what McCain said were Obama's changes in position. McCain cited a proposal that he and Obama appear together at town hall meetings -– which Obama originally seemed to be in favor of, but has not agreed to yet -– and Obama's reversal on whether or not to take federal financing for his campaign as signs that Obama's word could not be trusted.

John McCain is just like George W. Bush and the rest of the Republicans. They will lie and cheat and smear as much as possible to win an election. They will sell their soul, sell off their dignity, sell out their principles. It's fascinating.

John McCain is breaking campaign finance laws right now. Yeah, I know the media hasn't told you about it. But it's happening, it's real. John McCain said he would take public financing for the primary, he used that promise of financing to gain ballot access and some big loans, then backed out of his promise as soon as his fundraising kicked up a notch.

Obama expressed a desire to engage in public financing, but it wasn't a promise. And seriously, he's not breaking the law or doing anything underhanded. He's saving taxpayers $85 million, and instead raising money from millions of energized small donors. That should be applauded, not criticized. He's not gaming the system like McCain did.

And no, Obama never promised to meet McCain in these townhall debates. He looked into it, he offered two debates before the conventions, and McCain turned him down. End of story.

This is all very predictable stuff. But Americans are tired of the same old bullshit coming from Republicans. John McCain needs better ideas, not better smears.

Idiot Of The Day

"I wouldn't characterize anybody who fought in Vietnam as a war hero." Medea Benjamin, a co-founder of the anti-war group Code Pink.

I used to have some respect for Medea Benjamin. Maybe I wasn't paying close enough attention to her actual statements and views. She's a fucking idiot.

Ask Obama To Get FISA Right

I haven't blogged much about this, but the liberal netroots have been pushing (so far in vain) for Obama to vote against the upcoming FISA legislation. Basically, the new FISA bill gives retroactive immunity to telecom companies who spied on Americans illegally for President Bush.

Once you give immunity, you can't take it back. Senator Obama opposes the immunity, but it's an election year, and so he says he would vote for the bill even if he can't get the immunity provision repealed.

I'm hoping that Harry Reid slow-rolls the legislation so that it never comes to a vote. But if it does, you should push Obama to oppose it. I don't have high hopes, since I think Obama has various political reasons not to oppose anti-terrorist legislation during an election year, but it is still worth making your voice heard.

You can join an anti-FISA group at my.barackobama.com by going here.

You can also call the Senator's campaign to politely express your opposition to telecom immunity: (866) 675-2008.

Ultimately, I've decided that there is almost nothing Obama could do that would lessen my enthusiasm this year. We all learned that lesson the hard way in 2000. Al Gore wasn't exciting enough, he wasn't fresh enough, and so we didn't work our hearts out to get him elected. Ultimately, that enthusiasm gap allowed Bush to squeak by, and the country hasn't been the same since. We can't make that mistake this time. John McCain would be a disaster.

But it's still worth taking a stand against a bad Republican-written bill.

McCain Fails To Pay His Taxes

The McCain's appear to be horrible at managing their own finances. Why should we let people like this take control of the country's economy during a time like this?

You already know that the McCain's have racked up about over $100,000 in credit card debt.

And now, thanks to Newsweek, we learn that they haven't paid property taxes on one of their homes for over four years:

San Diego County officials, it turns out, have been sending out tax notices on the La Jolla property, an oceanfront condo, for four years without receiving a response. County records show the bills, which were mailed to a Phoenix address associated with Mrs. McCain's trust, were returned by the post office. According to a McCain campaign aide, who requested anonymity when discussing a private matter, an elderly aunt of Mrs. McCain's lives in the condo, and the bank that manages the trust has not been receiving tax bills on the property. Shortly after NEWSWEEK inquired about the matter, the McCain aide e-mailed a receipt dated Friday, June 27, confirming payment by the trust to San Diego County in the amount of $6,744.42. County officials say the trust still owes an additional $1,742 for this year, an amount that is overdue and will go into default July 1. Told of the outstanding $1,742, the aide said: "The trust has paid all bills shown owing as of today and will pay all other bills due."

Dan McAllister, treasurer- tax collector for San Diego County, said that about 3 percent of San Diego's approximately 1 million property owners default on their property taxes each year. The county assesses a 1.5 percent penalty for each month that goes by unpaid and puts houses up for sale after five years. "We do hear an awful lot of excuses for why people don't pay," McAllister said. "Under the law, the property owner is responsible for keeping the address current. We're only as good as the information we are given."

First of all, I'm shocked that a La Jolla condo could have such low property taxes. But as I've learned from Redfin, the McCains are benefiting greatly from Proposition 13, which keeps home valuations almost flat no matter what happens with real estate prices. So the McCain condo is valued at a mere $140,855, even though the unit next door sold for $998,000 in 2004, and another condo on the property sold for $1.1 million just this year.

So even though the McCains are required to pay 1/6th the taxes that a new buyer to this condo would have to pay, they still failed to even pay those discounted taxes for the last four years.

Already it looks like the media is overlooking this story. What a disgrace. If Barack Obama had huge credit card debts or had failed to pay his taxes for four years, you'd better believe it would become an issue. But when multimillionaire John McCain does it, all you hear is a big yawn.