McScrooged

No candy for McCain supporters! And if you ask me, the kid in the top hat about two-thirds through shows more intelligence and maturity than this insane McCain supporter (remember, "I'm proud of all my supporters." -- John McCain) Hattip: Earthling Blues

Prop 8, McCain and My Straight Friends

I'm trying to work something out. I can't quite put my finger on it.

The other day a straight colleague who is a staunch McCain supporter said to me, "I'm sorry about your father-in-law."

Father. in. law.

Although I think of the LTR's dad in those terms I was kind of startled to hear him acknowledged as such by someone who supports the political party that would use the highest law in the land to ensure that he would never get that designation. That even now the candidate he supports is in favor of Prop 8 in California which would take the right for gay people to have father-in-laws away.

It brought to mind all the straight friends and co-workers who individually have no problem with my relationship and have said to me that it's "silly" we can't marry, but who then give money to and vote for the party and its candidates who support constitutional amendments that would prevent this from ever happening.

I understand that its not a pressing issue to them. They have the right to marry, after all.

But if the shoe were on the other foot...if I were supporting candidates who wanted to take the right to marry away from them, would they be civil to me? Would my support for such a candidate be a matter of passing lightheartedness the way I currently deal with my Republican friends and co-workers?

Doubtful. After all, Romeo and Juliet died for their love; the Greeks went to war with Troy so Theseus could marry Helen. Love and marriage would seem to be a deadly serious business.

So, I appreciate the fact you recognize my relationship with my life partner's father as equivalent to that of a "father-in-law."

And the fact that you vote contrary to that sentiment I'll try not to take personally and ignore it -- even though I doubt the opposite would be true.

McCain Supporters Stand Up to Anti-Islamic Redneck

Here.

A commenter wonders why:

McCain has somehow made these fanatics from the far right think that it is
acceptable for them to act this way at his rallies. Why?

I'll take that one. Because his campaign questions Obama's patriotism at every opportunity and accuse him of "Pallin' around with terrorists."

Good for the McCain supporters who stood up to this nutjob. If only they could get the top of their ticket to see the light, too.

McCain Loses

McCain has lost my father's vote. This is good news. Not because my Dad is going to vote for Obama (he says he's voting for Ron Paul). And since my dad lives in Illinois how he votes isn't going to change anything anyway.

But my dad is a bellwether. Conservative, Fox news-loving and hawkishly nationalist and pro-military, even he can see that McCain is "acting crazy" (his words).

"He's not the same candidate he was three months ago," Dad says. And if he can get that, well.

There's hope.

Josh Marshall on McCain

He gets it about right, I think:

My verdict may be a severe one but I think a lot of people -- a lot of former admirers -- are coming around to agreeing with the general outlines. McCain has revealed himself as a liar well outside the permissive standards applied to politicians. He's shown himself to be reckless to the point of instability, repeatedly putting the country at risk (exploiting the Georgia crisis, picking Palin, storming the bailout negotiations) for transparently self-serving reasons. And in too many ways to count, he's conducted his campaign in disgraceful and dishonorable ways.

If there has been one moment of the campaign that demonstrates this the most clearly (if only symbolically) it's the video of McCain getting makeup while Katie Couric looks on while David Letterman needles him for lying to him. In that image we see McCain -- however honorable his past service to our country -- for what he is now: a fraud.

This is Why McCain Came Back

The more you learn about what happened yesterday and how McCain is "leading," well, I just want to crawl back in bed and pull the covers over my head:

At one point, several minutes into the session, Obama said it was time to hear from McCain. According to a Republican who was there, "all he said was, 'I support the principles that House Republicans are fighting for.'"

Read the rest of the details here.

So a Day After McCain Swoops in to the Rescue, Where Are We?

Let's see.

McCain decides the government can't fashion a rescue plan without him, so he "suspends" his campaign (though his ads continue to run, his surrogates continue to attack Obama) lies to David Letterman about why he can't be on his show, telling him he's dashing to the airport when in fact he's sitting with Katie Couric and getting makeup applied, finally shows up in DC after an initial agreement is set; pulls all the players to a photo op at the White House where the only thing of slight substance he does is mention a counter proposal by Conservative Republicans that he can't defend when challenged by the Secretary of the Treasury. Meanwhile the person he picked to be a "feeble heartbeat" away from the presidency can't respond to softball questions on McCain's record while making an argument that she's got foreign policy experience because Putin flew through her state's airspace.

And now, after all that, whatever deal had been struck is unraveled. Heckuva job, Johnnie.

McCain says he's suspended his campaign but the only thing being suspended is a sense of disbelief.

Is this really a serious person capable of leading us through the century's biggest fiscal crisis and the "global war on terror?"

Or did all those years of appearing on Saturday Night Live go to McCain's head and he's now perpetrating the biggest parody in history on the country?

I'm not laughing.

Locker Room Reax on McCain, Bush

I work out on weekdays in a decidedly GOP-leaning gym in tony Old Town Alexandria. The reax, both to Bush's speech and McCain's "suspension" of his campaign (is his staff reporting to work today?) was decidely mixed. My favorite comment was that Bush during his speech "looked like he was having a root canal." As indeed he should. Where the hell has he been?

Reax to the campaign suspension (which itself requires a suspension of disbelief to take seriously) was mostly negative. One woman said to her workout partner about McCain: "what a loser!" And here I had her pegged as a blue-haired matron of the Republican Woman's Club.

These people see the McCain move for the desperate PR stunt it is. there is nothing McCain, or Obama, for that matter, could do to help the process that they couldn't do from anywhere in the country. Going back to Washington is a distraction to the legislators during the real work.

McCain is following the worse course you can in a crisis: When in doubt, run in circles and scream and shout. Or as George Will put it he is substituting vehemence for coherence.

This is not a McCain we can beleive in.

Letterman Rips McCain

McCain used the "I have to go back to DC and save the economy" excuse to cancel an appearance on Letterman...and then Dave finds out during the taping of his show that McCain is down the street being interviewed by Katie Couric.

Which prompted these comments from Dave:

"He can't run the campaign because the economy is cratering? Fine, put in your second string quarterback, Sara Palin. Where is she?"

"What are you going to do if you're elected and things get tough? Suspend being president? We've got a guy like that now!"

"You don't suspend your campaign. This doesn't smell right. This isn't the way a tested hero behaves." And he joked: "I think someone's putting something in his metamucil."

He also offered to give McCain a ride home.

McCain's Senate Chief of Staff

Outed, today, by the usual suspects.

I'm not linking because I don't agree with outing as a political tool.

That McCain's chief of staff is gay tells us nothing new about the Senator - his embrace of the religious right, his opposition to gay marriage while going on Ellen and congratulating her and wishing her well already show him to be a hypocrite and using anti-gay positions to win political support.

Hell, it's not even a new story -- rabidly anti-gay Rick Santorum had a gay press secretary.

And we've seen how Republicans in private are gay friendly (recently, Newt Gingrich movingly eulogizing his gay friend at a memorial service I attended) and how they cynically use homophobia to appeal to voters even while acknowledging the anti-gay policy they espouse is something they personally don't agree with (GOP strategist Rich Galen saying gay marriage might save lives by promoting monogamy instead of promiscuity in a time of AIDS, but GOP candidates should scream "San Francisco values" anyway to get elected. In other words, to his view and in by his own logic, saving lives is less important than winning elections. Disgusting).

This news is simply, well, more of the same.

As for the gay COS. I don't know why he works for McCain and I don't think it's any of my business. I am out socially and professionally and I wouldn't choose otherwise -- but that's my business. We don't know the particulars of his personal life or the reasons he has made the choices he has. Nor should we. He is not the elected official here.

And outing someone -- a potentially personally destructive act -- for policy disagreement, however tempting, is a slippery slope. I know it seems cut and dried in this case, but where does it stop and who draws the line?

I don't think hate crimes laws are necessary. Does that mean the many gays who do are justified in trying to punish me personally? That's what outing is. It may make some gay activists feel good but doesn't change a damn thing.

Bush Rejects McCain Approach to Russia

From the NYT:

The Bush administration, after considerable internal debate, has decided not to take direct punitive action against Russia for its conflict with Georgia, concluding that it has little leverage if it acts unilaterally and that it would be better off pressing for a chorus of international criticism to be led by Europe.

That's a far cry from John "We're All Georgians" McCain who wants to treat Russian transgressions against Georgia as the next Cold War.

Sometimes it's as if a McCain Administration wouldn't be "more of the same" but simply the realization of the policies even the Bush Administration though too stupid or risky.

And, as Jeffrey Goldberg also points out, America needs Russia if we're going to keep the nukes out of terrorist hands, a prospect made more difficult by the saber rattling McCain.

Hmm, let's see: Russia out of Georgia; Russian nukes out of America.

I know which one I would pick.

McCain Opens 15 point Lead Among Independents

Read it and weep.

What is happening in this campaign is truly absurd. McCain is winning by proclaiming himself a maverick despite the fact that he caved into the entrenched evangelical wing of the Republican Party that the former truly maverick McCain denounced.

Sarah Palin was not John McCain's first choice for the person who should succeed him if needed. He was forced to abandon his preferred veep because the pro-life party establishment made him.

This...is a maverick?

Clip From McCain's Speech Last Night

Well not really. But kinda.

"It Began with Iran"

With those words, the Republicans began their "9/11 Victims Tribute" video.

Iran? Iran had nothing to do with 9/11. Al Qaeda who was responsible (we know the current Republican party doesn't care about science but you'd think recent history...) was not mentioned once.

Iran linked to 9/11. Al Qaeda not even mentioned.

The Bush administration partly justified the invasion of Iraq due to alleged ties to 9/11.

"It began with Iran."

McCain at least is clear, however implicitly. His election = war with Iran.

Do we really need to do this all over again?

McCain vs. the Media

Joe Klein is telling it like it is in saying the McCain campaign is trying to use and pump up the Bristol pregnancy story as a smokescreen for other issues:

There is a tendency in the media to kick ourselves, cringe and withdraw, when we are criticized. But I hope my colleagues stand strong in this case: it is important for the public to know that Palin raised taxes as governor, supported the Bridge to Nowhere before she opposed it, pursued pork-barrel projects as mayor, tried to ban books at the local library and thinks the war in Iraq is "a task from God." The attempts by the McCain campaign to bully us into not reporting such things are not only stupidly aggressive, but unprofessional in the extreme.

Different Hats

I'm a couple days late commenting on this, but you know what they say.

McCain said, in advance of the hurricane and curtailing the first day of his convention, "It's time to take off our Republican hats and put on our American hats."

Golly. I never knew they knew there was a difference.

Quotes of the Day on Sarah Palin

They love Sarah Palin:

“She’s really a perfect selection,” said Darla St. Martin, the Co-Director of the National Right to Life Committee.

Politico has a must read about the six things this selection tells us about John McCain. Another quote for the day:

Most people know the staff at the local Starbucks better than McCain knows Palin.

The Hail Sarah Pass

The reaction of the DNC women that I've seen here in Denver over the McSame selection of what's-her-name is anger.

Anger that he would pander so blatantly. Anger that he would think them that stupid. Anger that he could be so presumptuous that Gov. What's Her Name has the same qualifications, let alone policy positions, of Hillary.

One woman I talked to said that maybe those who were still harboring anger and resentment would go for it. But those Democrats were probably going to stay out of it anyway.

There's also some glee that McSame would cede the "experience" issue.

The best analysis I heard on CNN was that McSame gets a short term gain (everyone is now talking about it) but a long-term loss (everyone will be talking about how stupid it was).

The Polls and McCain and Obama

Someone asked me today my thoughts on the tightening of the polls. Here's my take:

I think the polls are wildly inaccurate in this election. Two reasons:

As George Will has pointed out, the polling models don't take into account the new voters Obama will bring. Remember, most polls are predicated on "likely voters" which is based on past elections. 2008 will not be like past elections.

Countering that is the number of people who won't vote for Sen. Obama because of his race. I know people, back where I come from, who are life-long Democrats who have never voted for a Republican but who have said they are voting for John McCain. That factor is also unlikely to be picked up by the polls.

Do these trends balance each other out? Dunno.

John McCain in the 21st Century!

John McCain's lecturing, well, the world, on proper behavior in the 21st century is just, well, wrong.

Being a self-made man, rising from a single-parent, bi-racial background to be Harvard educated, first black to be president of the Harvard Law Review, a constitutional law professor, best selling author, successful legislator, strong marriage with a self-made woman, first black candidate for president of a major political party in America: now that's 21st century.

Using family connections to get into the Naval academy and favorable treatment from your captors in Vietnam, never using the Internet, ditching your first wife to marry into money to finance your political career : soooo 20th century.