Next, here is John McCain's brother, Joe McCain, telling a 911 operator "Fuck you". I guess we should start calling him Joe the Asshole. Clearly it runs in the family.
Ever since she was foolishly selected by John McCain, Sarah Palin and her handlers have been trying to defy gravity. But it feels like gravity is finally starting to get the best of them, and there is a long way to fall.
As we know, Palin is a corrupt, dishonest, inexperienced, know-nothing, right wing extremist. I've rarely seen any city council members who are as dumb as she is. For twenty years Dan Quayle has set the standard for dumb politicians, but Sarah Palin makes him look like a genius. She makes George W. Bush look competent and on the ball. She's literally in a zone all her own. Think about this: has she been able to get through a single semi-probing interview without massively flubbing at least one question? The answer, sadly, is no. She barely makes it through her softball interviews without causing headaches for the McCain campaign.
Today one of the hot topics is whether Palin knows what a VP does. Back in July, before she was selected by John McCain, Gov. Palin was asked this question. Here was her answer:
That video clip alone should have been enough for McCain's aides to disqualify her from consideration. You do not select a VP who, a month earlier, didn't even know what the VP does.
But then it became worse. During the VP debate, Palin inferred that the VP is given flexibility by the Constitution:
The next day, on Fox News, Palin still didn't understand the limits of the Vice-Presidency.
And now, in a recent TV interview, Sarah Palin claimed that the Vice President is "in charge of the Senate". We're in serious times folks, and this woman is running for the second-highest position in the land. Colin Powell on Sunday said that the role of the VP is be ready to take over as President, and Palin isn't ready. Polls have shown that Palin isn't ready. And every time Palin opens her mouth, she shows that she isn't ready. Now the press is starting to catch on, they smell blood in the water, and McCain's own aides are having a very tough time defending Palin:
Let me provide for you exactly what the Vice President's role is, according to the US Constitution::
The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided.
....
In Case of the Removal of the President from Office, or of his Death, Resignation, or Inability to discharge the Powers and Duties of the said Office, the Same shall devolve on the Vice President...
That's it. It's not very hard. If reading an antiquated document is too much for Sarah Palin she can read Wikipedia:
The formal powers and role of the vice president are limited by the Constitution to becoming President should the President become unable to serve (e.g. due to the death, resignation, or medical impairment of the President) and acting as the presiding officer of the U.S. Senate. As President of the Senate, the Vice President has two primary duties: to cast a vote in the event of a Senate deadlock and to preside over and certify the official vote count of the U.S. Electoral College.
For Sarah Palin not to understand this at the age of 44, much less after nearly two months of running for Vice President and being asked this question multiple times, is simply shocking.
Yet McCain thinks this person is qualified to be Commander-in-Chief should the need arise. The lack of judgment is simply unfathomable. Should he lose the election, I really wonder what he will say to justify or excuse this decision.
Barack Obama’s lead over John McCain has steadily increased since mid-September, when the race was essentially even. Shortly after the first presidential debate on Sept. 26, Obama moved to a 49% to 42% lead; that margin inched up to 50% to 40% in a poll taken just after the second debate. Currently, Obama enjoys his widest margin yet over McCain among registered voters, at 52% to 38%. When the sample of voters is narrowed to those most likely to vote, Obama leads by 53% to 39%.
As voters have gotten to know Senator Barack Obama, they have warmed up to him, with more than half, 53 percent, now saying they have a favorable impression of him and 33 percent saying they have an unfavorable view. But as voters have gotten to know Senator John McCain, they have not warmed, with only 36 percent of voters saying they view him favorably while 45 percent view him unfavorably.
But hey -- maybe McCain will scare up some votes by talking about how Obama wants to share the wealth by cutting taxes for the middle class. I find it amazing that McCain can get low income voters to clap when he attacks a plan to give them tax cuts. It's surreal, Alice in Wonderland territory, but that's what I saw on MSNBC this morning.
Even worse was watching Sarah Palin attack Obama on foreign policy experience, and how the White House is not a place where you can learn on the job. Sarah Palin. Just goes to show that this will really be an election of smart folks vs. idiots.
Today I finally watched John McCain's performance on David Letterman last week. God, what an embarrassing and awful performance.
First, in a very humiliating moment, he had to admit that he "screwed up" when he lied to Letterman about why he had to cancel his September appearance on the show. It was the sort of mea culpa you usually do after a campaign is over, when it is okay to admit that you are an idiot. McCain admitted he is a poor decision maker just three weeks before the election. Not a good idea.
Second, McCain said that Sarah Palin was his first choice for VP, and that she is "absolutely" qualified to be president if we have another 9/11. Now, I have a very low opinion of John McCain's intelligence, but even I don't think he believes this. You're telling me that Sarah Palin can't do a press conference and can't go on David Letterman, but she can be president during another 9/11? Bullshit. Total bullshit. McCain was lying and he knew it, despite his bluster to the contrary.
Finally, when McCain tried to make a big deal out of Bill Ayers, David Letterman did the smart thing by bringing up G. Gordon Liddy. Liddy is even worse than Bill Ayers, because unlike Ayers he has talked about killing people. Ayers always planted bombs that were meant to destroy property, not people. Liddy told militia groups that they should aim for the head when killing federal agents.
And yet McCain said he was happy to have Liddy's support, and that Liddy had done his time in jail and therefore there was nothing wrong with their friendship. What a load of horseshit. He also said that the issue wasn't whether Obama agreed with Ayers, it was that Obama hasn't been honest about how well they know each other. Give me a break. Anyone who saw the debate knows that Obama told the truth about his very minimal acquaintance with Ayers. McCain clearly doesn't care about the Weather Underground, but I guess his campaign people have told him that he has to keep bringing it up. Really pathetic.
Overall, I don't see that appearance winning McCain any votes. He should have just stayed away from Letterman's show, but whatever. It's not like McCain can do anything to really worsen his standing in the polls, short of suspending his campaign again.
It's hard to remember that John McCain was a war hero POW, because right now he just looks like a dishonest, befuddled old man.
Colin Powell Endorses Obama, Attacks McCain's Campaign
Jed Lewison does a devastating montage of Colin's Powell's endorsement yesterday with some of the key examples that he is talking about:
Powell is not just any Republican - he is the most popular Republican in the country. You think McCain had crossover appeal? He's nothing compared to Colin Powell. And not only is Colin Powell a four star general and former head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he is also George W. Bush's first Secretary of State. He stained his reputation by helping Bush lead us into the Iraq War, but his endorsement of Obama is a step in the right direction towards redeeming himself.
Obviously, Republican hacks like Rush Limbaugh are now claiming that Colin Powell is a black power militant who only endorsed Obama because he is black. Ridiculous. If Colin Powell was determined to see a black president, he could have run himself in 1996 or 2000, and probably won. He could have endorsed Alan Keyes in 2000, instead of backing McCain and then Bush.
We also have word that Obama is cleaning up on newspaper endorsements, 112-39. Some of the most conservative papers in the country have endorsed Obama, including the Chicago Tribune and the Houston Chronicle.
I think this election is really coming down to the smart people vs. the stupid people. No one in their right mind can think that John McCain and Sarah Palin are the right choice for this moment in our country. Sure, there are loyal Republicans who are holding their nose and voting for McCain simply because of party loyalty, but I have yet to hear a Republican make a convincing case for McCain. And if the Chicago Tribune and the Houston Chronicle and Colin Powell can't bring themselves to support McCain, you know there is something very toxic about his candidacy.
In 2000, plenty of smart people supported George W. Bush because they thought he'd be surrounded with smart people and would govern as a moderate. The Clintons had eight years, now let's let a Republican moderate have a few years. Four years later, in 2004, it was pretty clear that Bush was not a moderate and his policies were damaging the country. Most smart people, including some principled conservatives, tried their best to get John Kerry elected. But plenty of intelligent people either weren't paying enough attention, or engaged in some cognitive dissonance that allowed them to vote for Bush again. He won by the narrowest margin of any incumbent in 100 years.
This year, there is no way to deny the obvious. If you are a smart person, and if you given at least a sliver of attention to the campaign, you know that Barack Obama is the smarter and safer choice. Bush and the Republicans have brought the economy from record surpluses to the brink of ruin. We have two wars with no end in sight. John McCain is a horrible manager running an incompetent smear-based campaign with zero fresh ideas. Barack Obama has inspired millions both here and abroad, he has run a flawless campaign, and he has been steady and calm where McCain has been erratic and reckless.
Barack Obama is young, healthy, energetic. John McCain is old, tired, angry and doesn't look particularly healthy. Obama picked an extremely well-versed policy expert as his VP. John McCain picked a corrupt know-nothing imbecile as his VP. And yes, this last difference is probably the one that could decide the election. Even some of the most rock-ribbed Republicans can't stomach the idea of Sarah Palin becoming president in the midst of this current crisis.
Add it all up, and the choice is obvious. Obama is clearly the person we need as President, while John McCain is a trainwreck and his VP is a nightmare waiting to happen. This election really will come down to whether the smart folks outnumber the dumb ones. Colin Powell and most conservative newspapers are setting aside partisanship and going with the smart choice. It has yet to be seen what the American people will decide, but it bodes poorly for our future if we blow this one.
So he picked his VP as a "cold political calculation"? In other words, screw experience, screw capability, screw intelligence. McCain wanted her solely to get votes, because everyone knows she isn't ready to be president. John McCain confirms that Sarah Palin is merely a token to woo female voters, and he also admits that Palin is an enemy of feminism. On top of his offensive "health" of the mother statement in the last debate, this is just further proof that John McCain is a misogynist asshole.
