The Progress Report.

McCain/Palin supporters let their racist roots show

This is some really scary stuff. I keep hoping to find out that this is just some clever satire from Mike Judge or somebody, but alas, it is not. Idiocracy, indeed.

(From Crooks and Liars:) McCain/Palin supporters let their racist roots show (video + transcript):

It was kind of strange, dintcha think, that John McCain came to the defense of his supporters last night after Barack Obama pointed out that people at McCain/Palin rallies were shouting out "terrorist" and "kill him!" in reference to Obama.

Now an Al Jazeera camera crew caught the honest sentiments of McCain/Palin supporters at an Ohio rally:

Go here for the video and some of the quotes from the piece.

My particular "favorite": “I’m afraid if he wins, the blacks will take over. He’s not a Christian! This is a Christian nation! What is our country gonna end up like?”

Uh, he IS a Christian, dumb-ass. (Not that it should matter, but since it obviously does matter to some people, let's get the facts straight at least. It's amazing the number of sheep who are brainwashed by Faux News and company.)

John McCain on Education: Limited and rash.

After his earlier post on the two candidates' take on education, here is a follow-up from Mark Phillips on the heels of the final presidential debate:

JohnMcCain's comments on education last night were a perfect microcosm of both his limited knowledge and his rash thinking.

I won't waste time, as Obama didn't, on his support of voucher programs. They don't work. They increase educational inequities. They challenge the separation of church and state. But his Troops to Teachers proposal was scary and the epitome of his limitations.

There are Troops to Teachers programs, some very good ones. He should have acknowledged that. It's not an original idea at all. And the idea of offering teaching as a career for former military people is a good idea. Contrary to a sometimes knee jerk liberal response, we know that many soldiers are highly intelligent and humane. But McCain's comment that they could "go right into teaching and not have to take these examination which - or have the certification that some are required in some states,"  besides being borderline unintelligible, makes a mockery of those programs.

They require training. They require demonstrated competency. They require certification. McCain implied that they could no sooner shed their uniforms then they would be able to start teaching. The absurdity of that needs no exposition; it stands on its own as a demonstration of ignorance and shooting mindlessly from the hip.

Hopefully that will be the end of it and the idea will die with his campaign.
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(Maybe Joe the Plumber can get a teaching gig. -- ed.)

McCain Racial Slur, circa 2000.

From the San Francisco Chronicle, Feb 18, 2000:

Arizona Sen. John McCain refused to apologize yesterday for his use of a racial slur to condemn the North Vietnamese prison guards who tortured and held him captive during the war.

"I hate the gooks," McCain said yesterday in response to a question from reporters aboard his campaign bus. "I will hate them as long as I live."

McCain, a former Navy pilot who spent five years in a Vietnamese prisoner of war camp, was questioned about the language because of a story last month in the Nation magazine reporting his continued use of the slur.

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Whatever his twisted reasoning for considering the use of this term being acceptable, it would have seemed prudent during a campaign to use less incendiary speech. But I guess it didn't matter much to McCain back then; he was done in by the Bush campaign's lie-filled attacks against him.

And now here we are full circle.

New Yorker editors on the choice for president.

The Choice.
Never in living memory has an election been more critical than the one fast approaching—that’s the quadrennial cliché, as expected as the balloons and the bombast. And yet when has it ever felt so urgently true? When have so many Americans had so clear a sense that a Presidency has—at the levels of competence, vision, and integrity—undermined the country and its ideals?

The incumbent Administration has distinguished itself for the ages. The Presidency of George W. Bush is the worst since Reconstruction, so there is no mystery about why the Republican Party—which has held dominion over the executive branch of the federal government for the past eight years and the legislative branch for most of that time—has little desire to defend its record, domestic or foreign. The only speaker at the Convention in St. Paul who uttered more than a sentence or two in support of the President was his wife, Laura. Meanwhile, the nominee, John McCain, played the part of a vaudeville illusionist, asking to be regarded as an apostle of change after years of embracing the essentials of the Bush agenda with ever-increasing ardor.

The Republican disaster begins at home. Even before taking into account whatever fantastically expensive plan eventually emerges to help rescue the financial system from Wall Street’s long-running pyramid schemes, the economic and fiscal picture is bleak. During the Bush Administration, the national debt, now approaching ten trillion dollars, has nearly doubled. Next year’s federal budget is projected to run a half-trillion-dollar deficit, a precipitous fall from the seven-hundred-billion-dollar surplus that was projected when Bill Clinton left office. Private-sector job creation has been a sixth of what it was under President Clinton. Five million people have fallen into poverty.  Read the whole article here >>

Pastors politicking and religious hypocrisy.

1)  Piece by Frank Scaeffer, a self-described life-long Republican and former evangelical leader, on Evangelical/Republican Racist Hypocrites for McCain, or Redemption.

Senator Obama won scholarships to America's top academic institutions, was voted by his peers to be editor of the Harvard Law Review, is a family man with an exemplary and obviously loving marriage, has a wife who is a brilliant charismatic woman, two lovely children, is a churchgoing born-again Christian comfortable with his faith, has avoided making the fast buck in the new gilded age of greed when he could have, served his community, is thoughtful, considered in his opinions, slow to anger, proved right in his judgment about the Iraq war, looks at every side of a question before making a decision, and is not given to grandstanding. He would be vastly ahead in the polls, even in polls of Evangelical voters who, after all, are also watching their savings and home values evaporate... unless he happened to be... black.

I speak as someone who was brought up in an Evangelical household by famous and influential Evangelical leaders (Francis and Edith Schaeffer). And this year even I've learned something new about my old Evangelical/Republican tribe! This election has shown the true nature of the Evangelical/Republican establishment as never before.

2)  Orange County pastors test the IRS rule against politicking:

...He urged members to think about their faith when voting and spent much of his 40-minute sermon giving a partisan speech about the presidential candidates and their issues. "According to my Bible and in my opinion, there is no way in the world a Christian can vote for Barack Hussein Obama," Drake said. "Mr. Obama is not standing up for anything that is tradition in America."  [Notice the use of his middle name to scare the flock?]

This is the kind of thing that happened in the last election. People need to see through it, look within themselves, to break away from churches that begin to mix state in. that begin to tell you whom to vote for, how to vote.

What's more, looking back at Schaeffer's piece, when you compare the two candidates at hand, if religious voters can separate from the issue of abortion and look at the two candidates in their lives, in their histories, in what they have done for their communities and in their gleaming from their own churches a desire to help others, to demonstrate the highest possible morality when it comes to raising his children, setting examples for others and giving back to the world -- all things I would hope would be important to true Christians and true believers in other religious faiths -- then to me it is no contest. It is Barack Obama, not John McCain, who reflects these values most clearly.

Blurt Out Random Crap: McCain Economic Plan

Yes, Bob Cesca is god___n awesome and so is this post:

McCain's Economic Plan: Blurt Out Random Crap

The goal: Get McCain on record saying something no matter how ridiculous. This way, he can hit the stump later and boast that he said something with regards to scary stuff in the news. I said something [that didn't make any sense and was probably a lie] and Senator Obama didn't say anything [also a lie]! My friends! And whenever he's accused of routinely blurting out random crap, Senator McCain trucks out the old punishment theorem: If Senator Obama had only agreed to the town halls, I wouldn't be selling-out the last shreds of my honor or integrity just to get elected. Can't you see? Senator Obama turned me into a hack, dammit!

First thing that pops into his head. Is it truthful? Doesn't matter. Sex education for kindergarteners, for instance. "Palin sold her jet on eBay," for instance. Does it even make sense or is it just a bunch of words strung together to form a sentence? Who cares. "President Putin of Germany," for instance. "Delivering bottled hot water to dehydrated babies," for instance.

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When that failed, Senator McCain rolled out one of his most egregious lies to date, claiming that Senator Obama, of all people, has been directly responsible for the crisis. Why? Because the former CEO of Fannie Mae, Franklin Raines, once talked on the phone with someone associated with the Obama campaign. Like 16 months ago. And that somehow makes Raines a close economic advisor. Never mind that Rick Davis, McCain's campaign manager, was on the Freddie Mac payroll as recently as a couple of weeks ago.

Which leads us to Senator McCain blurting out that no-one on his staff is associated in any way with Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.

What's next, McCain campaign? A Mogwai ate a sandwich after midnight; morphed into a Gremlin; then caused the economic crisis? Or will it be Marty McFly's sports almanac screwing up the space-time continuum? Or will it be Reverend Wright putting a curse on the banks? Whatever is next is bound to be crazier than what's already been said.

Read the whole goddamned awesome post here.

John McCain: Fundamental Deregulator

Video edited by Jed Lewison for The Huffington Post.

McCain Campaign Manager Paid Nearly $2mil for Mortgage Dereg Advocacy.

From the NY Times:

Senator John McCain’s campaign manager was paid more than $30,000 a month for five years as president of an advocacy group set up by the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to defend them against stricter regulations, current and former officials say.

Mr. McCain, the Republican candidate for president, has recently begun campaigning as a critic of the two companies and the lobbying army that helped them evade greater regulation as they began buying riskier mortgages with implicit federal backing. He and his Democratic rival, Senator Barack Obama, have donors and advisers who are tied to the companies.

But last week the McCain campaign stepped up a running battle of guilt by association when it began broadcasting commercials trying to link Mr. Obama directly to the government bailout of the mortgage giants this month by charging that he takes advice from Fannie Mae’s former chief executive, Franklin Raines, an assertion both Mr. Raines and the Obama campaign dispute.

McCain's Gaffe on Spanish Prime Minister (and the media snoozes.)

Bless Talking Points Memo (TPM) for reporting this one, because hardly anyone else in the MSM is -- probably afraid of offending the Barracuda more than they already have? At any rate:

Well, it doesn't appear to have registered in the American press yet. But the story keeps bubbling in the Spanish press about McCain's bizarre gaffe about the Spanish Prime Minister.  Here's the front page cut out from the Spanish news channel that did the interview. They've talked to the interviewer now. Her take? McCain didn't know who Zapatero was ...

Even Later Update: One representative reader response, from among many ...

I listened to the interview. The characterization is correct. I originally gave McCain the benefit of the doubt, thinking that he was just snubbing Zapatero (something that would be welcomed by the Spanish right). When I was there, there was a lot of agitation among Spanish conservatives because Zapatero was ignoring the country's relations with the U.S. and making overtures to more leftist countries in the Latin America--Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia (all the countries mentioned in this interview before Spain). There was even a controversy because Zapatero sat down when the U.S. flag was passing by in a parade. I believe his excuse was "his legs were tired." So I figured McCain was giving the Zapatero the cold shoulder in the same manner as the Bush administration has done.

After listening to the interview, however, I agree with the characterization that McCain was unaware of our relations with Spain, or even the country's geographical and political position. When asked about meeting with Zapatero and the country's relationship with the U.S., McCain ignored the question and went into some boilerplate about America's friends and enemies and analyzing relations (think Palin and the Bush Doctrine). Then, he tried to transition his answer into more friendly territory, discussing President Calderon's government in Mexico. He never really addressed Spain, but pushed right into commenting about Mexico. The interviewer actually tried to redirect him several times (again, think Charlie Gibson and Palin), until she actually stated that she wasn't talking about Latin America anymore, but rather Europe. For whatever reason, McCain responded to this question by repeating what he said before about analyzing America's relationships with our friends and enemies.

Also, the Daily Kos adds:

McCain needs to be hammered on all sides for this, this man is just not fit to lead this country, I mean I am now wondering whether or not the American press will pick up on this, I know with TPM on it, this will slowly spread through the blogs.

we need more Spanish speakers on this

Wanna give a nod over to archibaldtuttle it has a link to some audio of this and to other Spanish sites, as this is already spreading in the Spanish Press.

Update: Here's more (McCain meant to reject the PM, apparently. Huh. Bueno.):

Update 2: The media wakes up: News coverage of the interview.

Update 3: Andy Borowitz, bless is him, satirizes the whole thing: McCain Proposes Sending Troops to South America to Invade Spain

Palin's record on the environment is abysmal.

(After this post, I've made a vow to not post anything specifically Sarah Palin-related for one week. Let's see how good my willpower is! Read and forward this piece, and watch this brutal wolf-killing video.)

This is an editorial by Rick Steiner, a Professor in the Marine Advisory Program at the University of Alaska.

Sarah Palin's record on environment is abysmal

While I disagree with many of Sen. John McCain's policies, I was willing to concede that he may at least make a wise, rational president and represent a step in the right direction for the nation. No longer. With his pick of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate, he has shown a spectacular, even dangerous lack of judgment.

In addition to her frightening lack of qualification to be vice president (much less president) of the United States, Palin is an evangelical, anti-choice, pro-gun, right-wing conservative who wants creationism taught in schools. She is currently under investigation by the Alaska Legislature for alleged abuse of office. Many of us in Alaska simply cannot imagine Palin having anything to do with U.S. foreign policy, domestic policy, national defense or the countless other affairs of federal governance.

A particularly worrisome aspect of the Palin candidacy is her abysmal record on the environment during her two years as Alaska governor, and how that would translate into national environmental policy if she became vice president. Her environmental record as governor of the nation's "last frontier" deserves close examination.

Climate change. Although Alaska is ground zero in the crisis of global warming, Palin has done virtually nothing to address the problem except hold meetings and appoint a "climate sub-cabinet" that likewise has done little. Lots of talk, no action. Although in the past two years the Arctic summer sea ice shrunk to the lowest levels ever recorded, Palin apparently does not believe it is human-induced or cause for alarm. She was asked to establish an Alaska Office on Climate Change, an Alaska Climate Response Fund (based on a tax on Alaska oil production) and emissions reduction targets for Alaska, but has taken no action on those requests.

Polar bears. This summer, Palin filed suit against the Bush administration over the federal listing of polar bears as threatened, saying that her opposition was based on a "comprehensive scientific review." But when asked to release the scientific review, she refused. The document, later obtained by the public (from the federal government), clearly shows that, contrary to Palin's assertions, the state of Alaska's marine mammal scientists agreed with the federal conclusions that the polar bears are in serious trouble because of global warming and loss of their sea ice habitat, and that they would be gone from Alaska by 2050. Palin clearly decided to oppose the listing in order to protect Arctic oil and gas development, then publicly misrepresented the basis for her decision, and then tried to conceal all of that. Having run for office on a platform of honesty and transparency, this behavior was neither. Her extreme position here puts her to the political right of the Bush /Cheney administration.