Monday’s Mini-Report

August 18, 2008

Today’s edition of quick hits.

* Stay safe, Floridians: “The center of Tropical Storm Fay passed over Key West on Monday afternoon

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, the National Hurricane Center said. There were no immediate reports of serious injuries or damage. Authorities said there was some localized flooding and power lines were down in some areas. Hurricane forecasters said the storm was expected to strengthen into possibly a Category 1 hurricane before hitting Florida’s Gulf Coast sometime Tuesday.”

* Maybe it’s a very, very slow withdrawal: “The deputy head of the Russian military’s general staff

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, Col. Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, told reporters in Moscow earlier on Monday that Russian troops were being drawn back to the breakaway region of South Ossetia, which sits just on the other side of the Georgia-Russia border. But McClatchy journalists in both western and central Georgia saw little sign that was happening. As has been the case during the 10-day conflict, the Russians seemed intent on showing they controlled the ground.”

* I’m not quite sure how someone accidentally files a lawsuit: “An old lawsuit on record at the city courthouse reveals a moment of friction between John McCain’s mother and his ex-wife. Years later, McCain and his former wife presented a united front in a lawsuit of their own. McCain, the Republican candidate for president, calls the first lawsuit a mistake and says he never authorized the second. Both legal actions were settled out of court before they went to trial.”

* Reporters seem to be actively pushing the notion that we’ll learn about the presidential candidates’ running mates soon. Well, yes, we will. It’s a rather obvious point, isn’t it?

* Brave New Films takes a closer look at McCain’s many homes.

* Steve M. takes a closer look at McCain’s “dirt in the cross” story

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, and finds another reason that McCain’s version of events may not be accurate.

* I continue to think this should be a bigger deal: “Randy Scheunemann, John McCain’s top foreign policy aide, has lobbied for Georgia ($780,000 in lobbying fees!), Romania, Latvia, Macedonia, and Taiwan. In other words, he’s lobbied for a variety of foreign governments. McCain’s response? He’s ‘proud’ of Scheunemann’s paid lobbying work for foreign governments. Country first indeed.”

* The Obama campaign went after McCain for the scheduled Ralph Reed fundraiser in Georgia: “It’s clear that Senator McCain is willing to do whatever it takes to win — even if that means embracing President Bush’s policies , his tactics, and now his disgraced fundraisers.”

* Oh hell, Harry and Louise are back.

* Two years ago today, then-Sen. George Allen (R-Va.) used the word “macaca.”

* Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) is all for ethics measures, just so long as they don’t apply to him directly.

* Michael Tomasky’s blog is up and running over at The Guardian.

* It may rile up the far-right base, but the McCain campaign picking a fight with NBC News is mind-numbingly foolish.

* And finally, what do Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili do when he gets nervous? Apparently, he eats his necktie. No, I don’t understand it, either.

Anything to add? Consider this an end-of-the-day open thread.

Two years ago today, then-Sen. George Allen (R-Va.) used the word “macaca.”

If only George had know to use the word ‘arrogant’. He would have been two years ahead of the curve in using the code for ‘uppity n*gg*r’ and no one would have know any different.

Reporters seem to be actively pushing the notion that we’ll learn about the presidential candidates’ running mates soon.

Unless Obama and McCain decide to not have vp nominations made at their conventions! Sometimes reporters have to put a few facts in between their covering up the lies of the McCain campaign – and this is trivia enough.

  • Gee. Maybe the Russians aren’t scampering out of Georgia with their tail between their legs just to show a certain loud-mouthed buffoon that they can do whatever the hell they want. Maybe if the loud-mouthed buffoon would shut up they wouldn’t need to prove a point.

  • And finally, what do Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili do when he gets nervous? Apparently, he eats his necktie. No, I don’t understand it, either. you obviously dont regularly spill food on your necktie …. it’s an emergency reserve, when you need that boost for your bloodsugar levels!

  • We Floridians are pretty relaxed about this hurricane, even those of us in it’s path (Tampa Bay). In brief, it is slow, weak and weepy. Let’s call it Fay McCain.

  • Good for you Steve. You made me look! “Oh hell, Harry and Louise are back” – good to know that this time they are on the right side!!!!!!!!!

  • orange is NOT the answer (#3):

    Heh, I was thinking of a towel in the “Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy” series.

    One end is for nutrients, the other end is for anti-depressants.

  • Maybe it’s a very, very slow withdrawal:

    I’ve asked this quesiton before; Just how good is Russia’s Command and Control system over its personnel in the field?

    I accept that much of the disconnect between what is coming out of Moscow and what’s really happenning on the ground is just basic ‘yanking the chain’ behavior, but there is the possibility that a few ground commanders went further and farther and did a little more looting then they were authorized to.

    Don’t forget just how debilitated the Russian military has been for the past decade. Even with the infusion of oil revenues over the last couple of years, many of its people are still badly underpaid.

  • * Brave New Films takes a closer look at McCain’s many homes.

    HOW DARE THEY SUGGEST THAT JOHN McCAIN LIVES AN ELITIST LIFESTYLE! SEN. McCAIN CERTAINLY WASN’T LIVING IN A LUXURIOUS HOME WHEN HE WAS A P.O.W. IN VIETNAM!

  • Too many deadlines today, so I haven’t had time to read all the posts – someone else has probably asked this – what the hell is a “cone of silence?”

    Do these people have nothing better to do than make up idiotic terms – “faith-based,” “placeness,” “partial-birth abortion?” Are we going to have cones of silence in the lexicon forever now? Is there actually such a thing?

    Obama had better win – how could we survive another four years of government-by-nutcases?

  • WOW!!

    A friend of mine just called me and told me that McCain’s cheating was being covered, on the local news, on Channel 9. I only saw the end of it, but they certainly were giving McCain no break, and they quoted from Rick Warren saying that he was under the impression that McCain was in the building, quoted the joke McCain made — and even showed the original ‘cone of silence’ from GET SMART.

    Why is this significant?

    Because Channel 9 in New York is the secondary Fox outlet and the news is clearly labeled “Fox News”

    I really am looking forward to the Republican Convention, because I now believe that when the motion is made to ‘make the nomination unanimous’ it will be vigorously opposed.

  • Ghillie:
    I’d thought it was the equivalent of the ‘isolation booths’ that used to be used on quiz shows, but (see my last comment) it came from GET SMART and was a running joke on the show.

  • Ghillie @9

    Cone of Silence is from the classic tv show Get Smart. Maxwell smart and the chief would have meetings were to be totally secure they would use “The Cone of Silence”. It worked so well they could not hear each other. Great gag and great show.

  • “Hurricane forecasters said the storm was expected to strengthen into possibly a Category 1 hurricane before hitting Florida’s Gulf Coast sometime Tuesday.”

    Please let it be minor when it hits here if it does. I am so not in the mood for another 2-3 weeks without power.

    “An old lawsuit on record at the city courthouse reveals a moment of friction between John McCain’s mother and his ex-wife. Years later, McCain and his former wife presented a united front in a lawsuit of their own.”

    So McCain is the type of man who sues his own mother. I already thought he was scummy and I still didn’t see that one coming.

  • Read the article and he didn’t sue his mom. They should have made the “united front” against whom more clear in that initial paragraph.

  • SadOldVet said:
    SteveT

    I once was a fetus. What is relevant about that or your comment?

    Since you’ve been born already, we Republicans actually give a damn about you — unless, of course, you’re a millionaire or the C.E.O. of a corporation. So your question is beneath my notice. Especially since it sounds like you’re denigrating John McCain’s service. DON’T YOU KNOW HE WAS A P.O.W. AND A WAR HERO!?!

    But be sure to vote for John McCain, be cause he’s a REAL AMERICAN who will PUT AMERICA FIRST!

  • Thanks – I grew up with very little television, guess I missed out on that bit of useful information (cone of silence).

    So they had a virtual coin toss and a virtual cone of silence and virtual integrity of the proceedings. What a string of successes.

  • About the Russians and the Georgians: Remember when Bush said this little bit of Neoconservative wisdom on the use of force:

    Sometimes a show of force by one side can really clarify things.…. GWB

    WonderI if things have been clarified a little for our Neocon friends like McCain, Scheunemann, Kagan, and the rest? Sounds like McCain needs to re-read his GWB and get up to speed. Apparently Putin is ahead of John.

  • And why did Sen. George Allen’s “macaca” comment make him unfit for the presidency and McCain’s derogatory comments about his wife and extremely unkind joke about the young Chelsea Clinton and Janet Reno not disqualify him? Character and integrity are both missing…….

  • Yet another interesting piece on McCain, this time from someone who knew McCain in the Naval Academy, and was a POW not for 5 1/2 years but for 8 years, and whose article is titled
    “Why I Will Not Vote for John McCain” It is on the blog “Military.com” and is at
    http://www.military.com/opinion/0,15202,164859_1,00.html

    A couple of sample quotes, but you really have to read the whole thing:
    “As fortune would have it, John, a First Classman (senior) and his room mate lived directly across the hall from me and my two room mates. Believe me when I say that back then I would never in a million or more years have dreamed that the crazy guy across the hall would someday be a Senator and candidate for President!”

    “John was a wild man. He was funny, with a quick wit and he was intelligent. But he was intent on breaking every USNA regulation in our 4 inch thick USNA Regulations book. And I believe he must have come as close to his goal as any midshipman who ever attended the Academy.”

    “People often ask if I was a Prisoner of War with John McCain. My answer is always “No – John McCain was a POW with me.” The reason is I was there for 8 years and John got there 2 ½ years later, so he was a POW for 5 ½ years. And we have our own seniority system, based on time as a POW.”

    “Was he tortured for 5 years? No. He was subjected to torture and maltreatment during his first 2 years, from September of 1967 to September of 1969. After September of 1969 the Vietnamese stopped the torture and gave us increased food and rudimentary health care.”

    “John certainly performed courageously and well. But it must be remembered that he was one hero among many – not uniquely so as his campaigns would have people believe.”

    “Most of us who survived that experience are now in our late 60’s and 70’s. Sadly, we have died and are dying off at a greater rate than our non-POW contemporaries. We experienced injuries and malnutrition that are coming home to roost. So I believe John’s age (73) and survival expectation are not good for being elected to serve as our President for 4 or more years.”

    “I can verify that John has an infamous reputation for being a hot head. He has a quick and explosive temper that many have experienced first hand. Folks, quite honestly that is not the finger I want next to that red button.”

    and, most devastatingly,
    “I’m disappointed to see John represent himself politically in ways that are not accurate. He is not a moderate Republican. On some issues he is a maverick. But his voting record is far to the right. I fear for his nominations to our Supreme Court, and the consequent continuing loss of individual freedoms, especially regarding moral and religious issues. John is not a religious person, but he has taken every opportunity to ally himself with some really obnoxious and crazy fundamentalist ministers lately. I was also disappointed to see him cozy up to Bush because I know he hates that man.”

    Read the whole thing, and pass it on. (Hat tip to ‘Quincy Adams” of the Reality-Based Community.)

  • ringrid said:
    And why did Sen. George Allen’s “macaca” comment make him unfit for the presidency and McCain’s derogatory comments about his wife and extremely unkind joke about the young Chelsea Clinton and Janet Reno not disqualify him? Character and integrity are both missing…….

    Well, first of all there was video for Allen.

    And secondly, John McCain wasn’t dumb enough to display a noose in his office or a confederate flag in (any of) his home(s).
    http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060911/george_allen

  • Prup (aka Jim Benton) said:
    Yet another interesting piece on McCain, this time from someone who knew McCain in the Naval Academy, and was a POW not for 5 1/2 years but for 8 years….

    So doesn’t that make this person 45% more qualified to be president than McCain?
    (he asked snarkily)

  • So guess who I heard on the Sean Hannity show on my way home? (All the other stations were running commercials, what was I supposed to do? lol)

    Senator Obama’s close, personal friend Rick Warren explaining how HORRIBLE black liberation theology is. Boy with friends like these, what does Senator Obama do for enemies? All Sean Hannity does on his show is lie, lie, lie. But apparently Rick Warren is not bothered in the least.

    I’ve also seen an excerpt of an interview that Pastor Warren has done post the big “faith forum”, and let’s just say I think that he is being less than genuine with his true motives. Link below:

    http://blog.beliefnet.com/godometer/2008/08/rick-warren-to-godometer-obama.html

  • Perhaps Mr. Scheunemann’s lobbying helped President Saakashvili with this:

    Georgia’s friends should also urge Mr Saakashvili to postpone the presidential vote, and instead hold a fair, internationally supervised parliamentary election in the spring. The speaker of parliament, Nino Burjanadze, who retains the statesmanlike image that Mr Saakashvili has lost, should convene talks between all political forces, at first to reach agreement on election rules, then to discuss constitutional changes. A new parliament should take back some of the powers that the presidency has recently misused. Until that happens, Mr Saakashvili should be in political quarantine. Any planned official visits to Western capitals, and particularly to Washington or Brussels, should wait until Georgia has returned to normal.

  • Nashville fan:
    What the hell does “Black Liberation Theology” have to do with Obama, except in the minds of Republicans and PUMAs? It’s not what Rev. Wright teaches — listen to or read the whole speech that caused the uproar — and it certainly isn’t what Obama believes.

    I am much more interested in what Warren says tonight on Larry King. (I may not get to it until the replay, but I’ll be commenting then.) But Warren IS a relatively conservative Protestant, and while he may in fact be a friend of Obama, he’s not a political ally.

    But Obama — unlike McCain — has shown himself to work on specific issues on people much farther away from him than Warren, i.e., Tom Coburn. You might check out the Saddleback Church website, and see some of the things that they can work together on — as well as his attitude towards Muslims that is far from the ‘Republican line.’ Again, I’m an atheist, and am not ‘bending over backwards’ towards Pastor Rick, but I accept that many of my fellow Americans are Christians, and I’d rather they pay attention to him than to a Hagee or a Parsley.

  • I am sure by now everyone knows that Mr Saakashvilli is a Heroic Tax-cutter.

    This dude implemented a Flat Tax and launched a pre-emptive attacked….. no wonder he’s a major rock star among the propeller hat crowd.

  • Prup (aka Jim Benton) wrote:
    “Nashville fan:
    What the hell does “Black Liberation Theology” have to do with Obama, except in the minds of Republicans and PUMAs? ”
    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
    I’m not trying to equate Obama to Black Liberation Theology – Sean Hannity is. The point of my post is that alot of “Christian” pastors have a very big BLINDSPOT when it comes to some of the company they keep – and yet they make Senator Obama’s “associations” are a big issue.

    P.S. Senator Obama still needs Republican and PUMA votes, so it would help if there wasn’t and 24 hour LIE MACHINE featuring Senator Obama’s “friends” all the time .

  • OK, can’t resist. SteveT @16: Republicans don’t give a damn about anybody after they’re born, unless they’re born rich.

    And dropping bombs on civilians might make you a POW, but it sure doesn’t make you a hero.

  • And, for a completely different thread, has anyone else noticed how bizarre the CNN web headlines have become?

    “God trumps doctors for many Americans.” Apparently that’s not Donald.
    “Jonas Brothers leave mark on White House.” And they can bloody well clean it up, too.
    “High-tech crime-fighting tool or Big Brother?” This is about GPS and it’s a damn good point, but you’d never know it from the headline. (And the GPS they’re talking about reminds me of the BatTracer Batman used in the Fifties.)
    “Phelps: 8 golds ‘heavy around neck’.” Poor guy.
    “$10/day prostitute sees ‘no other option’.” No other option? Is she lazy? Cheap? Both? Could be this is a different country, but since most countrys’ exchange rate trumps ours…. Again, you’ll never know unless you watch their video.
    “Cow chases bear away from apple tree.” “Not the dancing chicken — that’s human interest!”
    “Mom shocked by teen’s modest clothing.” Don’t know why this isn’t one of their t-shirts.
    “3-lb. dog swallows fishhook with 3 prongs.” Don’t want to watch that.
    iReport.com: “Stripping for art’s sake.” Okay, I’ll watch that.

  • I must agree, the only way to get around is in a private jet…”I just love it.”

  • McCain evidently plans to announce his VP pick at an Ohio rally the morning after Obama’s acceptance speech. I am compelled to give credit to the McCain campaign for making one wholly astute decision this summer. That timing is the very best they could have come up with.

  • Judgement?

    If voting with Bush 90% of the time isn’t a slam-dunk argument demonstrating all we need to know about John McCain’s judgement and what a McCain presidency would be about, I don’t know what is.

    Why isn’t Obama hammering that one home day after day? He can’t drive a point if he doesn’t REPEAT it day after day.

  • It makes an interesting story.

    It certainly does. So Cindy McCain’s dad came back from WWII and left his wife and offspring for another woman, Cindy McCain’s mother. And then Cindy McCain’s lover John repeated the pattern, leaving his wife and kids for her, and that was A-okay with Cindy.

    Nice people, the John McCains. Full of character.

  • Has anyone else noticed that Jerome Corsi resembles an anthropomorphized rodent/weasel or perhaps a Simpson’s character.

  • Like lambs to the slaughter. I’d like other’s opinions, but the Republs. are cleaning up on Larry King. McCaskill was horrible, the second surrogate totally over her head. We don’t know how to play at this level. I am beyond depressed at thinking what the world will be like under a McCain Presidency. God help us.

  • ericfree at 31, i have noticed, and i think your post about the bizarre headlines also hits the reason: its been true ever since they introduced the weird t-shirt feature.

  • zeitgeist @39: I blame the t-shirts too. There’s an interesting book called “It’s not News, it’s Fark,” from the site fark.com, devoted to the presentation of non-news as news. Nobody Farks better than CNN, but lately they’ve made the leap from trivial to nonsensical. Since CNN is thoroughly in the bag for McCain though (their fearless analysis of the Warren morality debate, by David Gergen from the Reagan White House and Bill Schneider from the Heritage Foundation, should be the convincer), it’s better they’re doing this stuff than real politics.

  • “On Christmas 1970, Timberg writes, McCain was transferred to a cell with his friend Bud Day — “the perfect Christmas present” because he’d just spent two and a half years in solitary ..”

    Given that solitary confinement often leads to severe mental illness,
    someone ought to ask if McCain if he has been mentally evaluated anytime recently?

    CCRJ inre Gitmo Solitrary

  • Larry King’s show was ridiculous. The Dem surrogates should have at least suggested that *if* McCain knew of the questions ahead of time, that he was CHEATING, and do we want a cheater in the WH.

    That said, Tim Pawlenty is an idiot. So was the other R surrogate. The Dems play too fairly.

    While Warren was on air, Larry played a clip of both as they answered the “rich” question, and they ended McCain’s answer BEFORE he said $5 million. And neither King nor Warren mentioned it either.

    And they cut off McCain’s POW refusing to be released story before he, as an afterthought, added, Oh, and I prayed. Pure pandering.

    Warren did say something interesting at the end. That your faith (or non faith) dictates your world view. And that one’s world view is the values by which you make your decisions. Think about McCain’s world view, which seems to be mired in a Vietnamese POW camp, and how it has affected and would affect his decisions. I think Warren has a point, and if we apply it to McCain it should make us all very afraid.

    Have I mentioned again how much I hate CNN’s talking heads? Why not get some thinking people on there?

  • Ah… one more thing on King’s show: they didn’t once mention McCain’s chiming in on the justice question before it had been asked.

    But at least we now know why Obama knew about the adoption question – Warren had given it to him ahead of time.

  • Hell, confinement with Bud Day can’t possibly be any better for one’s mental health than solitary.

  • SteveT — yeah, “macaca” gave journalists around Virginia a reason to talk about all the racist crap everyone knew about, but that they couldn’t just bring up because it was “old news.”

    For a parallel, it’s possible that if McCain keeps pissing on the press enough to overcome the media’s “maverick” crush, he might have a blowup big enough for them to talk about his history of being a dangerous hothead. But if it doesn’t happen in real time, they’ll never bring it up; McCain’s past cruel jokes and tirades by themselves will never be “news.”

  • This guy has figured it out: http://www.thedemocraticstrategist.org/ac/2008/08/karl_roves_strategy_for_attack.php.

    Although meditative, professorial, articulate and elegant, [Obama] nonetheless does not fit the image of a typical left-wing college professor (or, for that matter, of a Black militant, a well-to-do New York limousine liberal or corrupt Chicago pol).

    The solution the Rove team developed, only days after taking control of the McCain campaign, was to portray Obama as a resident of the rarified world of the “Hollywood movie star liberals” – a pampered universe of exclusive health and exercise clubs, expensive hotel suites and fancy bottled water. The implication was that, like other Hollywood stars, Obama must be “self-infatuated and effete” or “vain and out of touch” or “effete, elite and equivocal” – in short, a weak and vain man without real character; a male fashion model living a movie stars’ life and not the real life of ordinary Americans.

    …
    in fact, Obama’s life story provides a powerful core narrative that supports precisely this alternative way of understanding him. It is composed of three elements:

    1. A far from easy or pampered early life and a youth marked by confusion, mistakes, bad choices and lack of direction.
    2. A remarkable personal turn-around, build on the foundation of the incredibly hard work, perseverance and dedication that is required to get a law degree at a top university.

    3. A decision to turn his back on the “easy life” of a professor or private attorney and to try instead to find a role of service to the community.

    This is simply not the life story of a typical pampered Hollywood star or vacuous celebrity. On the contrary, it is a quintessentially American success story of youthful error followed by redemption and success through hard work and an ultimate decision to seek a way to contribute to society.

    The McCain campaign’s attempt to fit Obama into the “vacuous Hollywood star” framework simply will not stick if Obama’s unique biography can be correctly presented. Between now and the convention, Democrats must make a coordinated and concerted effort to define a simple core narrative along these lines – one that can be driven home every single time the McCain campaign attempts to stigmatize Obama with their utterly fraudulent depiction of his character.

  • Here’s another great post from The Democratic Strategist (no, I don’t work there or know anyone there): http://www.thedemocraticstrategist.org/strategist/2008/08/mccains_vulnerabilities.php

    I can’t recall a competitive major-party presidential candidate who was as dependent on the votes of older voters as John McCain is today. His past and prospective support for Social Security privatization (in the context of an overall fiscal plan that guarantees perpetual raids on Social Security revenues), and his recent attacks on the basic pay-go structure of the program as “disgraceful,” expose him to some very real problems with seniors.

    …
    At some point, the fact that his health care plan is even worse than the status quo will get noticed, along with regressive and pro-corporation tax policies that blow up his credibility as a fiscal hawk, and an unconditional pro-trade-liberalization commitment that should represent a deep political problem for him in battleground states like Ohio and Michigan.


    Think I’ll be checking these guys daily from now on .

  • I am glad McCain has a sense of humor about Corsi’s book on Obama, I hope he keeps it now that people are beginning to see the real McCain, the viet nam veterans, the people who know the real cross story in the sand’s origin, the truth about Cindy’s sister, the lawsuit against McCain’s first wife, and all his other lies.

  • Thanks for the post of Olberman’s special comments, I needed to feel better this morning after watching the Larry King train wreck last night. I had no opinion about Pawlenty before last night. Now, not so much. He effectively delivered the nastiness, leaving the Senator from the Show Me state looking like a tool. No wonder Cheney likes him.

  • I’m not sure why McCaskill has so many fans in the blogosphere. She sells us out on major issues and she’s a truly terrible extemporaneous speaker. So far not much value for the money and work people put into getting her elected. Of course replacing any Repub is good news, but McCaskill is decidedly not all that.

  • And finally, what do Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili do when he gets nervous? Apparently, he eats his necktie.

    This made me think of the Monty Python sketch where John Cleese is a world class marathon runner who gets up at 7 am and rubs gravel into his hair as part of his warm up.

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