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Sunday night open thread

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Last night went well, so let’s do this again.

What’s on your mind? Got any links you want to share? Stories that need a plug? Requests to make?

The floor is yours….

Comments

  • TomB

    says:

    I’m surprised by how close the polls are. In Ohio, for instance, McCain recently gained 2 points. How can McCain gain ground after Obama’s big week in Europe and McCain’s widely criticized TV ads? I’m hoping that it’s because the majority of voters haven’t started paying attention and instinctively lean toward the “maverick” former POW because it’s simply more emotionally appealing. I’m hoping that once they get to see McCain more, things will change.

  • ericfree

    says:

    Apart from the one paragraph Kathy Hilton statement on HuffPo, the best column of a not-very-inspiring weekend came from Bob Herbert of the New York Times, headed “Running While Black.”
    http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/02/opinion/02herbert.html?em

    Hilton’s columnlet is short and pithy enough to be repeated in full: “I’ve been asked again and again for my response to the now infamous McCain celebrity ad. I actually have three responses. It is a complete waste of the money John McCain’s contributors have donated to his campaign. It is a complete waste of the country’s time and attention at the very moment when millions of people are losing their homes and their jobs. And it is a completely frivolous way to choose the next President of the United States.”

    Proof that not all Republicans are as devoid of character as McCain and his Rovian enablers. I hope the Obama campaign makes this into an ad. And a poster.

    I noticed Herbert’s column because it was Number One in the Most Popular Opinion box, beating out Dowd and Friedman. (Dowd actually wrote half a good column today, but threw it away in the second half.) I’m not very familiar with Herbert, but his column is thoughtful, angry and hilarious at the same time. He should get a writing award just for a few sentences.

    First two paragraphs: “Gee, I wonder why, if you have a black man running for high public office — say, Barack Obama or Harold Ford — the opposition feels compelled to run low-life political ads featuring tacky, sexually provocative white women who have no connection whatsoever to the black male candidates.

    Spare me any more drivel about the high-mindedness of John McCain. You knew something was up back in March when, in his first ad of the general campaign, Mr. McCain had himself touted as ‘the American president Americans have been waiting for.’ ”

    After all the talk about the uselessness of political columnists, with Richard Cohen being this week’s irrefutable example, it’s like a jump into a fresh cold stream to read writing of this intelligence, crispness and quality. Less than a hundred words, cutting through the drivel of the rest of the week.

    And speaking of good columnists, this guy Benen isn’t bad either.

  • Fargus

    says:

    I think that Obama is biding his time, wanting to let McCain spend more while less of the population is paying attention. That gives McCain the temporary advantage, at least, but leaves him hurting more after the conventions. I don’t know I’d it’ll work, but that’s the impression I’d gotten.

  • calvinthecat

    says:

    John Aravosis at Americablog.com has posted a video from The Jed Report tonight which is truly scary. It’s of John McCain not being able to answer a very simple question. It brought to my mind dealing with my aging father. This, on top of three different media sources (Fox, WSJ and ABC) bringing up situations which tend to confirm what the video shows. Obviously, I’m not a doctor, nor an expert on aging, but somebody in the McCain family or campaign needs to address this. And, soon. I hope it’s not what I’m inclined to think it is. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfkKk2C1W1c

  • zeitgeist

    says:

    fargus –

    McCain’s spending now does not change in any way what he can spend later. Indeed, the bizarre nature of his spots may be borne of a need to spend the money quickly and no one can come up with good ideas on the timeline.

    In short, because he is taking public financing, McCain cannot roll his primary money over – once he is post-convention, he can only spend the $85M is federal funds. Obama’s people are smart enough to know this so the “letting him spend it now” theory doesn’t work.

  • Steve

    says:

    TomB, there might be something to those “polls.” I live in Chardon (a Republican town if there ever was one); of all the Dems I know in Chardon, not one has been called by any “random” poll, but the Republican household across the street has been called twice, the Republican house next door to that has been called twice, and the Republican house around the corner and two houses up from the intersection has been called three times.

    “Random,” my backside….

  • TR

    says:

    If the rumors are true that McCain is vetting Eric Cantor for the VP spot, it’s worth revisiting his performance on “Hardball” in which he asserted that the Constitution gave all powers in deciding whether or not we go to war to the commander-in-chief.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsuKXO_McNE

    MATTHEWS: This isn‘t an option question. This isn‘t multiple choice.

    Right now, February 8, 2007, do you believe we should go to war with Iran?

    CANTOR: I‘ll leave that decision up to the commanders on the ground and those in our military …

    MATTHEWS: Commanders on the ground whether we go to war with another country?

    CANTOR: I will leave the decisions in the military arena to—this is exactly the point.

    MATTHEWS: This is Barry Goldwater taking. He used to say that.

    Regional commanders can decide whether we want it use nuclear weapons. You‘re obviously saying soldiers should decide which country to go to war with.

    CANTOR: I‘m here to say the military experts are those which might come up with the recommendation to the commander in chief that makes the decision. It is silly for us to expect .

    MATTHEWS: I‘m not talking — I just asked you a very simple question .

    CANTOR: We‘re going 535 commanders in chief .

    MATTHEWS: I‘ve never heard of anything like this in my life. Never in my life.

    ISRAEL: Congress has a constitutional responsibility to decide whether we‘re going to war or not. That‘s what we‘re elected to do. Those are the debates we should have.

    CANTOR: Every president since…

    MATTHEWS: The idea of declaring war as a soldier is unimaginable. …

    Let me ask you Congressman Cantor, very clearly, to clear up our discussion, if the U.S. Congress were to discuss tomorrow morning whether to declare war on Iran, would you vote yay?

    CANTOR: This congress is not going to do that because it‘s the commander in chief‘s role, Chris, and Steve knows that as well. It‘s not Congress that will ask for that. It is the commander in chief that will make that decision. Every president whether republican or Republican or Democrat since the War Powers Act was in place has interpreted it as being the commander in chief‘s role to do that.

    MATTHEWS: Would you support the president if he declared war in Iran tomorrow morning? As things are right now.

    CANTOR: I will support what is in the best interest of securing this homeland and providing our troops with what they need and if there is a threat on the ground in Iraq and in the region that our troops need us, I will support them and that‘s exactly the point on this Iraqi resolution because the Democrats want to have their cake and eat it, too. This is a nonbinding resolution. It‘s a sense of Congress. It doesn‘t mean anything. In fact it pollutes the message and sends the wrong message to our troops.

    MATTHEWS: Congressman Israel, what‘s the role of Congress in war and peace?

    ISRAEL: Congress under the Constitution of the United States authorizes war. The War Powers Act requires Congress to vote on whether we should insert troops into hostile situations. The law is clear.

    CANTOR: Absolutely not.

    ISRAEL: Come on, Eric.

    CANTOR: As a commander in chief the constitution gives .

    MATTHEWS: Congressman Cantor, why did the president ask for approval of Congress before he went to Iraq?

    CANTOR: I certainly think his counsel gave him guidance why he need to do that but the Constitution gives the commander in chief the right to send our troops into battle.

    MATTHEWS: Maybe when it comes to war we don‘t need a Congress according to that.

    This idiot is one of the ranking Republicans in the House, and a possible contender for vice-president to the oldest man ever to run for that office — and he lacks an understanding of congressional war powers that would suffice for a grade-school civics class. Unreal.

  • libra

    says:

    I’m not very familiar with Herbert, but his column is thoughtful, angry and hilarious at the same time. — ericfree, @2

    Herbert has been one of my favourite columnists ever since I started reading NYT 7 yrs ago (switched from WaPo). If you *were* more familiar with his writing, you’d have known just how unusual this column is for him. His writing is always thoughtful, calm, crafted in elegant prose, with an occasional dash of quiet humour. But I don’t remember him, ever, being this angry; it’s as if he reached the end of his rope and didn’t give a damn anymore.

    When he talks about *why* Obama is just smiling politely and taking this shit without going berserk, he’s, probably, talking about himself. About all the years he’s been writing those twice-weekly, measured, calm columns, trying to make people care about issues of urban poverty and racial inequality, without sounding like the “angry black man”, whose opinions would be easy to discount.

    It has always pissed me off no end, that the “left” just brushed off what he had to say as “boring”, because he never bayed for blood.

  • Dale

    says:

    Both were designed to exploit the hostility, anxiety and resentment of the many white Americans who are still freakishly hung up on the idea of black men rising above their station and becoming sexually involved with white women.

    I thought the phrase “freakishly hung” in a sentence about white anxiety about black sexuality was kind of interesting. 🙂

  • zhak

    says:

    According to the Boston Globe (courtesy of your friendly AP writer Steven Hurst), McCain’s “attack strategy” is starting to “pay dividends,” citing a 9 point skid by Obama in the polls.

    Personally, after the experiences of the last two presidential elections, I simply do not believe this country is a democracy any longer. I think the voting is rigged, I think the media is a propaganda arm of the Republican party, and I think that right now they’re all simply going through the motions to keep things close enough to be plausible to deliver another election to the Republicans so they can finish drowning the govt in the bathtub.

    Let’s face it, modern-day Republicans know absolutely nothing about governing (that ridiculous display in Congress the other day — my gawd … — but they do know a great deal about politics and don’t seem to have the least shame that most (all? I can’t think of anything positive offhand …) of their platform is either hideously hidebound or downright bad for America & the world.

    The question becomes, at what point do people start paying attention?

    Here is the link for the globe piece:

    http://www.boston.com/news/politics/2008/articles/2008/08/03/poll_mccains_attack_strategy_paying_dividends/

  • Jim

    says:

    Has Lieberman’s Lieberman-ness become such an accepted part of our political culture that this:

    SEN. LIEBERMAN: Well, John McCain was right about the surge, and he had the guts…
    SEN. KERRY: He’s been wrong…
    SEN. LIEBERMAN: …to go up against President Bush, Secretary Rumsfeld and, and public opinion in America because he didn’t want America to lose in Iraq and al-Qaeda in Iran to win.

    …is just going to pass un-noticed? This isn’t the first time that Lieberman has tried to introduce the idea of “al Qaeda in Iran” into foreign policy discussions. Why is he never called out on it? He is speaking for the campaign of John McCain, who rather famously can’t tell the difference between Sunnis and Shias. I don’t think Lieberman has the credibility to lie the country into another war, but given all the hand-wringing about Wes Clark’s blunt statement of an incovenient truth, could someone call Lieberman the liar and demagogue he is?

    It was back in April this odious little toad tried to invent this group for the first time, I think

    http://firedoglake.com/2008/04/02/joe-lieberman-attacks-barack-obama-on-fox-news-video/

  • jack sheet

    says:

    The more I see these attack ads — the more my thinking has focused on Obama’s response.

    The fact is — he must respond forcefully to these bullshit ads or he WILL lose this race. Being civil is not a positive when some complete douchebag is spouting lies and propaganda.

    The thinking is — what happens when Ahmanejihad (sp.) or Putin start fucking with him? Is Obama going to say he’s “disappointed” that Iran bombed Israel. You can act diplomatically with diplomatic people but not with McCain who is about as insane as Saddam. You’ve got to at least send back a forceful message.

    I applaud Obama’s very very tactful manner until now but there IS a time to show you can bring the heat. The election is a referendum on Obama and he is in danger of showing the nation that when push comes to shove — he’s a big pussy. Now I don’t think that — but millions will. Hillary — for all her thousand flaws — almost won the nomination because she was perceived as “tough”. People respond to that shit — how else could McPain, the “war hero” receive so much good press — until now.

    Obama needs to make a decision now because if he is really going to sit back and be all non-aggressive while they rip him to shreds — he will lose by a point or two as people decide he really is a smooth talker with no cajones to speak up against tyrannical bullies.

    I am all for Obama but if he’s going to take this crap for another 3 months — I don’t know if he should really be in charge and let international dickheads roll all over him.

  • Wren

    says:

    That some people feel Bob Herbert’s writing and opinions are “boring” has always puzzled me. I’ve been reading his columns for years now, and I’ve always found him to be a well-informed, elegant writer whose subjects are pertinent to the moment, be they national politics or local DC issues.

    I’m delighted to see him lose his temper in print again. He has before regarding Bush. And I say bravo, too — it’s about time that someone called out McCain on his criminal, doltish, and dangerous foolishness.

  • Helena Montana

    says:

    I absolutely agree with zhak @ #13. I would love to be proven wrong, but I don’t have much hope. Democracy is deader than dead.

  • zeitgeist

    says:

    jim @ 14, i think the answer is to quietly let Clark back into good graces as a surrogate and put him in charge of whipping Lieberman’s ass everywhere he goes.

  • bubba the troll you all love to hate

    says:

    OK well it looks like obamma has flipped again… for the longest time when Hillary wanted the delegates votes to count in Florida and Michigan your boy said no way… they shouldnt count ..they broke the party rules.. … ..Of course now he is trying to win an election and woo the voters and its too late for the votes to help HRC so why not change the rules once agAin..now today he says they should count ..”every vote must count” (as long as it helps me)…. oh yeah … Im sorry you dont call these things flip flops but hmmm what was the latest spin here?… oh I remember .. it is ” sound politics from an honest politician”… yeah thats what it is .. sure ..thats the ticket….. http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/08/04/america/NA-POL-US-Elections.php
    Bubba said that
    hey Libra wassup…my man

  • Tom Cleaver

    says:

    TomB (#1) asked:
    I’m surprised by how close the polls are. In Ohio, for instance, McCain recently gained 2 points. How can McCain gain ground after Obama’s big week in Europe and McCain’s widely criticized TV ads?

    Simple answers to simple questions. From TPM today:

    Disquieting Rasmussen numbers this morning–McCain’s crying racism worked. 53% of Americans, including the same % of whites and half of all Democrats, thing that Obama’s “dollar bill” remark was “racist.” Only 22% think the Paris Hilton ad was racist–most of those being black people, of course (only 18% of white people took this view).

    The good news this morning? God Bless David Gergen! Really–he was on This Week and said (check the video or transcript for exact wording), “When McCain’s camp calls Obama “The Messiah” and “The One”, he’s really calling him “upitty.” I’m from the South, and we understand what that means. That’s code.” Jake Tapper looked like he had been pole axed. Donna Brazille knew what he was talking about, of course. But GS, George Will, and Tapper had to be bluntly told the the way the world works by Mr. Blandly Bi-partisan….

    Short form GOP campaign slogan (with apologies to “Blazing Saddles”)

    “The sheriff (Obama) is a nnnniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigg………!!!!!!!!”

    Unfortunately, in the land of the whites and the home of the morons, that works.

  • toowearyforoutrage

    says:

    I once thought Hilary Clinton was poisoning the Obama well hoping to go up against a weak John McCain as the “savior” that should have been picked the first time.

    Now I have to wonder whether John McCain may be falling victim to advisers who wish HIM ill so they might run a candidate more to their liking in 2012? Can they count on him to drill offshore, keep very expensive wars going in perpetuity, bail out S&Ls every 15 years or so, and inflame tensions worldwide so defense budgets can stay bloated and priftable?

    Perhaps they’re worried a 2000-ish McCain might one day assert himself and become troublesome. Much better to spend four years packaging the next ventriloquist doll.

  • libra

    says:

    Bubbaczek*, @20,

    While I’m not your man — I’m all my own woman — I actually somewhat agree with you on this flip; it’s a tad smelly, morally speaking. Though, I suppose, quite sound tactically.

    Mind you, I was conflicted on the whole issue of Michigan and Florida from day one (that’s why I’m a Libra. Or, maybe, it’s *because* I’m a Libra, that I’m cursed with always seeing two sides to every issue)

    On the one hand… You don’t want to exclude *anyone* from having a voice in the political process; the right to vote — and, maybe, push the country in the direction you want it to go — is a precious thing and should be treasured accordingly. 40+yrs later, I still remember the conversation I had with my Mother (in “socialist” Poland, where the slate of candidates was preordained and determined by the party. The only “choice” you had was whether to vote or not). When, on my 18th b-day, I crowed “now, I can vote!”, she calmly replied “you still cannot *elect*”

    On that basis, excluding Michigan and Florida was unconscionable (though *not*, by any stretch of imagination, to be compared to the situation of Zimbabwe, as Hillary had tried to do).

    On the other hand… If there’s never a check put on the race to be first, where will it stop? The ’08 electoral process has, already, been strung out like forever. With more states jostling for position — certain of impunity — who’s to say that the ’12 process won’t start on January ’09?

    Which is why I thought that the decision to halve the votes of those states, while an imperfect solution, was acceptable. To use a Polish phrase: “the wolf is sated and the sheep (almost) whole”. So, I’m not happy with Obama’s “magnanimity” (supported by Hillary, if NYT is to be believed) in asking for a re-think and a “parole” of sorts, because of the long-term impact such a turn-around might have. We’ll see what he credentials committee (sitting the day before the Convention) will have to say.

    Basically, I would hope they’d let it go this time and let everyone vote in full. But. The day after the Convention is over, start *seriously* thinking about re-hauling and standardizing the entire effed-up system.

    *Bubbeleh, Bubbaczek, Bubbchek Bubb(a)chik, Bubbalino, Bubbiko, Bubbeke, Bubb(a)ling…

    All of the above are diminutives of your name, like “Stevie” is of “Steve” (in fact, “Steve” is already a diminutive; of “Steven” or “Stephen”). It’s up to you to decide, whether they’re used as terms of endearment, or with intention to diminish.

  • It's a plutocracy stupid

    says:

    Below ‘s an excerpt from a piece in the Seattle Times about the increased use of pawnshops. It’s amazing to me that anyone would consider voting for more Republican government.

    http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/pacificnw/2008079685_pacificpawn03.html

    “Nancy Baughman, chief executive officer of the online e-BizAuctions.com, agrees.

    The rising cost of gas tipped the scales for people who already were having a difficult time financially, she says.

    “One gentleman lost his job and now he’s selling all his movie memorabilia. A lady on disability is selling her grandmother’s things. It’s heartbreaking. I do what I can for the people.”

    craigslist.com/”>Craigslist.com CEO Jim Buckmaster says the online classified-ad site in the first few months of 2008 had a “tremendous surge of activity” in its for-sale section — “beyond anything we’ve really seen before, to the point where we’re scrambling to add additional server capacity.” Especially busy, he noted, is the cars/trucks category “as millions of Americans look to unload their gas guzzlers — which puts money in their pockets and reduces the need for expensive gasoline.” In April 2007, the Web site listed 8 million cars and trucks for sale; a year later, it was 19 million.

    The past few months have brought a big change to the pawnshop industry in general, says Nick Buell, state president of the trade group Washington Pawnbrokers Association.

    “Buell, owner of Kent Jewelry & Loan, says not only are a lot more people coming in, “there’s a change in the nature of why they’re getting loans. Yesterday, half the loans went to people who needed gas money. Some said it was just to get to work. The gas prices are killing them.”

    In the past, he says, people got loans for more mundane things like entertainment or a household item or a vacation. “They turned to us to get them over the potholes in the road. Not anymore. Now it’s for survival.”

  • SaintZak

    says:

    “The fact is — he must respond forcefully to these bullshit ads or he WILL lose this race. Being civil is not a positive when some complete douchebag is spouting lies and propaganda.”

    In November when everyone is watching Barck Obama make his concession speech remember he lost the election the moment he repudiated Wes Clark for challenging John McCain’s commander in chief credentials. That’s when this election was lost. It opened the door for all this bullshit we’ve been seeing come from the McCain camp. It gave them permission and told them “We won’t fight back.” John Kerry didn’t lift a finger to fight back in 2004 and it cost him the election. Everyone knew what the Repubicans would do, and once again, the Democrats don’t fight back. This was Obama’s race to lose and he lost it. At this point he’ll spend from now untill November fending off one volley of ridicule after another. Has anyone noticed how much the word “fun” is being used (or some notion of it) by the Republicans and their supporters? The Paris HIltion ad…it was “fun”, the youtube Moses ridicule, it was “fun”. John McCain, “You just have to have some fun with these things.” Lieberman, “I think everyone should relax and enjoy it.” Yeah, everyone relax and enjoy us make an ass out Obama.

    The minute this started Barack Obama needed to hit back so har there was nothing left but bones. He didn’t do, and now everything he does and everything he says is being turned into a joke…hey, but it’s :fun.”

  • Bruno

    says:

    Zeitgeist @ 18 said:…i think the answer is to quietly let Clark back into good graces as a surrogate…

    I think it should be the other way around. Instead of ‘letting’ Wesley Clark back as a surrogate; the Obama campaign, should apologize to him and ask if he’s willing to be a surrogate again, like he did before, and rip McCain a new one on military matters.

    Wesley Clark did the RIGHT thing questioning McCain’s military blabber, and there was absolutely no reason for Obama to distance himself. Shame on Obama, when it comes to that.

    Let’s make it that Obama wins this election. We need some more smart videographers who can clip together McCain’s gaffes for some viral videos on YouTube.

  • EAST COAST

    says:

    THE OBAMA CAMP HAS BEEN RACE-BAITING FOR MONTHS!

    HE WOULDN’T AGREE TO 10 TOWN HALL MEETINGS, SO “AMERICANS” CAN ASK THE QUESTIONS OF HIM AND McCAIN AT THE SAME TIME — BUT HE DID A DOG AND PONY SHOW OVERSEAS TO PEOPLE WHO CAN’T VOTE! WHAT IS HE HIDING? WILL WE KNOW BEFORE NOVEMBER? HOW MUCH MONEY HAS MIDDLE-EASTERN MUSLIM COUNTRIES CONTRITUTED TO THE OBAMA CAMPAIGN?

    Where’s the Barack Hussein Obama who shouted out: “I can’t wait to debate John McCain anytime, anywhere!”??? Yeah — that one.

    Why isn’t his staff and his supporters, holding his feet to the fire on that alone?

    Just three debates he’s agreed to give — gives him plenty of latitude to bone up on what he doesn’t know about this country, and all the issues we face.

    Watch for wires and hidden devices to help him get through the debates.

    His refusal to Townhall Meetings doesn’t assure him the space he needs to twist and turn — hem and haw his answers — so he’s playing it safe and just agreeing to the three that are mandatory before the GE.

    I hope he realizes that just having the three debates will put more pressure on him to perform — spreading the debates out gives him a better chance of excelling in at least one of the Townhall Debates — three strikes and he’s out if he sticks to only three debates.

    He’s painting himself into a corner again. He just doesn’t know what is good for him — and his staff is also delusional — they set have him up for failure faster than Obama does on his own.

    STOP THE DRAMA – NO OBAMA!

    GET A BRAIN – VOTE McCAIN!

  • libra

    says:

    GET A BRAIN – VOTE McCAIN! — All Caps East Coast, @31

    I will. As soon as your candidate replaces what passes for *his* brain with something that’s at least half as functional as my own two aging gray cells. After nearly 8yrs on unceasing disaster, I’m tired of having “Stupid for President”

  • Bruno

    says:

    SaintZak @ 28 said: ..The minute this started Barack Obama needed to hit back so har there was nothing left but bones. He didn’t do, and now everything he does and everything he says is being turned into a joke…hey, but it’s :fun.”…

    Or..
    Maybe Obama is letting McCain and Lieberman and all the other surrogates have their fun; making sure there are videos of them saying that it’s all in fun, and to relax.

    And…
    Give it at least another week and Obama can start swinging, like McCain – or any other Republican – has never experienced before. But only using the truth – no lies.

    And…
    When the Republicans start whining and crying foul, and accusing Obama of running negative ads… It’s time for Obama and all the progressive surrogates to point the media to those juice clips where they said it was all in fun and to relax.

    Nothing hurts Republicans worse than having their own words used against them. Obama has assembles so much material, where Republicans implicate themselves, there is no need to ‘make up’ stuff about them.

    And…
    Obama needs to use the following famous quote by Adlai Stevenson:

    “If the Republicans will stop telling lies about us, we will stop telling the truth about them.”

    or as Adlai said in one of his campaign speeches:

    I offer my opponent a bargain: If they(Republicans and their surrogates) will stop telling lies about us, I will stop telling the truth about them.

    Wouldn’t that be great? I hope it becomes reality, with the one exception that Obama actually gets elected – (Adlai being lost to History)

  • It's a plutocracy stupid

    says:

    Perhaps Bubbles the troll will tell us why he supports McCain. And for a bonus give us a list of Bush’s accomplishments over the past eight ears.

  • Bruno

    says:

    East Coast @ 31 said:….His refusal to Townhall Meetings doesn’t assure him the space he needs to twist and turn — hem and haw his answers — so he’s playing it safe and just agreeing to the three that are mandatory before the GE.

    I hate to break it to you, but Obama can whip McCain’s ass in any debate, anywhere.

    Have you even seen McCain’s performance in one of his latest “Town Hall format” meetings? Let me warn you – get a box of Kleenex – It’s going to painful for you to watch your old geezer stumble and mumble and finally lie about his documented voting record. Another flip-flop to add to the ever growing list.

    I suggest you take the time and scroll to the top of this page. On the left you’ll find a ‘clickable’ link that will allow you to peruse the flip flops of your candidate.

    Here’s the link for you:

    McCain’s fib on MLK holiday record

    Spoiler alert: It’s going to be painful to see your candidate at his best.

  • Michael W

    says:

    RB-Chicago (#27), thanks for the link. I get the PI, not the Seattle Times, so I didn’t see the article, though the two papers have much content in common. For non-Seattle-ites, the PI is the morning paper, the Times is the evening paper. My and hubby’s honorary god-daughter is currently at University in Vancouver, BC, though she is a US citizen. Encouraging stories like this are great to read. She came out as lesbian a few years ago, and we naturally worry about her. Granted, she has a much easier time with it than we did, and those who came before us, but it’s still not easy. We would have seen her this weekend at Vancouver Pride, but we have had an exhausting month moving back to Seattle from south Florida, driving cross country, working full-time, house hunting on the weekends, and refamiliarizing ourselves with the city we once (and now again) call home.

    On a related note, here’s another encouraging story:

    Democrats Told To Include Gay Issues In Platform

    (Cleveland, Ohio) Democrats crafting the party platform were told Friday to include LGBT issues.

    The National Platform Drafting Committee is holding hearings across the country to hear from various groups on what should be included in the 2008 platform.

  • It's a plutocracy stupid

    says:

    @37 I think you may be e mixing up posts 26 and 27–but no matter. Also the Seattle Times switched to mornings the same as the PI (Hearst) a few years ago. They still operate on a Joint Operating Agreement which is the Times sells ads and prints both papers but they have different reporting and editorial staffs. Both are suffering financially. The Times recently had a major layoff. The Times owner Frank Blethen is a major lobbyist and editorialist for repealing the “death tax.” Many people, including me, think that the Times colors it’s reporting and editorials to favor the wealthy who run Seattle and are making it an unaffordable city for the working class to live in.

  • It's a plutocracy stupid

    says:

    And 37 you will find Seattle these days to be comparable to San Francisco as a gay friendly place to live. Welcome!

  • Michael W

    says:

    Thanks, Plutocracy. We’ve been gone over eight years, and I wasn’t aware of the changes with the Times. Seattle is still not as crowded as San Fran, but it’s getting there. For economic reasons, we’re buying across the Sound in Bremerton–in fact, we have a peek-a-boo view of the Sound and downtown Seattle from our soon-to-be new house (closing at the end of the month). I’m lucky enough to telecommute from home, so all I need is a broadband connection. Hubby is a lawyer, currently using up four months of unused vacation from his last job while also working a temp job with the Tacoma Public Defender’s Office while we get settled, but it’s looking like he’ll either join an up-and-coming private firm in Bremerton or hook up with the AG’s office in the area.

    BTW, it’s nice to “meet” another “late night” denizen of The Carpetbagger’s realm.

  • Tim McFarland

    says:

    Do people alive today remember Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn, the author of The Gulag Archipelago and other books, who died today at 89?

    I do.

    Maybe it was seeing, then later being in, the play One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich when I was in high school; maybe it was just the era (Post-Watergate, Carter & human rights), but I remember buying The Gulag Archipelago, published and sold at the same time as The Pentagon Papers, in the early 70s. I read it, and the two succeeding volumes (1800 pages, total), in college.

    The subtitle to this work is An Experiment in Literary Investigation. In it, Solzhenitsyn described the climate of oppression that was the Soviet Union. He talked about the suspension of human rights, and systematic torture and extermination of those who Stalin saw as a threat to his power. This fear led to what Solzhenitsyn estimated as the death of sixty-six million people, from the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, to 1959 – three years after Stalin’s death. Since the book was published, the estimate has been revised to up to one hundred million deaths.

    Why is this important? Why is Solzhenitsyn’s life and work important to us today?

    Solzhenitsyn quotes a proverb as he begins The Gulag Archipelago:
    “Dwell on the past, and you’ll lose an eye.
    Forget the past, and you’ll lose both eyes.”

    It is ironic that Solzhenitsyn dies today. I have recently rediscovered my interest in him, after leaving my collection of his works in boxes for many years. You see, history repeats itself, and events happen that make one recall similar events in history. Guantanamo, for example. Habeas corpus. Torture.

    No, we are not killing millions. We are not the Soviets. Bush is not Stalin.

    But read chapter one of the Archipelago, “Arrest.” Read how Solzhenitsyn knew it was all a mistake, that they would make it right. Read later about torture, about “the secret brand.”

    Read, comrade, about how a society was changed to believe in it’s own idiocy.

    I have to wonder what is happening to our society, when we allow laws to be broken by our leaders, and atrocities to be visited upon our weakest members. What happens to our humanity?

    Solzhenitsyn’s answer: “One man can be bent into so many shapes in a lifetime! How different he may become, for himself as well as for others. And one of these different selves we readily, eagerly stone to death, obeying an order, the law, an impulse, or our blind misconception.”

    We cannot afford to lose both eyes.

  • NB

    says:

    Guys, leave East Coast alone… he’s just trying to get his McCain “blog points.” Soon he’ll have saved enough to get free McCain bow-biters for his shoes.

  • JS

    says:

    Just a silly thought, if the republicans define marriage as a union between one man and one woman, if Romney is vice president will it change to an alternate description of ‘ or one man and six little girls’

  • Dave G.

    says:

    I hate to break it to you, but Obama can whip McCain’s ass in any debate, anywhere.

    Bruno, I hate to break this to you, but this doesn’t matter.

    Kerry whomped Bush in 3 debates. it didn’t matter. Waiting around until the debates to see our candidate doing alright really isn’t the best strategy. I just want him to hit back and hit back hard, now, unless we end up with another 4 years of bullcrap.