Socialist?

Why do so many Republicans keep endorsing a socialist like Barack Obama? From Steve Benen:

So, on the one hand, we have the McCain campaign and its cohorts working assiduously to convince voters that Obama is terrorist-sympathizing Marxist. On the other, we have Obama getting endorsements from Ronald Reagan's national security advisor, solicitor general, and White House chief of staff.

And Duberstein joins, of course, former Sen. Larry Pressler, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, former Gov. William Weld, former Gov. Arne Carlson, Charles Fried, Scott McClellan , and Ken Adelman as notable Republicans who've announced their support for Obama over the last couple of weeks.

I doubt this will affect the McCain campaign's smear efforts, but for those paying even a little attention, it's tough to characterize Obama as a radical leftist when high-profile Republicans -- including top officials from Reagan's White House -- keep announcing their support for him.

Could it be that he's not socialist at all, and it's just another label McCain is using to scare people?

Rob

Excuses, Excuses

People make excuses for John McCain. "It's just a nasty campaign all around." "This isn't the way he's like to run, but he's doing whatever it takes to win." "He needed Sarah Palin to shore up the base." "They're making him run this way."

With all due respect: Bullshit.

McCain's choice of Palin was political opportunism at its worst: He has elevated a woman who is clearly unfit to lead the country to a candidate for the second-highest office in the land. It's a sign of palpable disrespect for our judgement to suggest that she is qualified or even ethically fit for the office. She's a disaster, and even McCain supporters know it. Even if he were fit as a fiddle, the idea that he would still put her in line for the Presidency is astounding... and kind of heartbreaking, in respect to the good man I thought McCain was. I thought John McCain would put country first, long before he adopted that as his slogan. With that nakedly political decision, he's shown us otherwise.

Second, when did "whatever it takes" become a virtue? Are there any lines that shouldn't be crossed in pursuit of victory? Someone with a sense of honor would think so.

McCain has been running a disgraceful, race-baiting campaign for a long while now, and this latest bit, smearing the name of a Palestinian professor--who McCain himself gave money to on several occasions--because he's friends with Barack and Michelle Obama is reprehensible. At its core, it's about one thing: saying the name Barack Obama as many times as possible in the same sentence as Rashid Khalidi. Because Khalidi has an Arabic name, and McCain is trying to get people scared of Obama, and he's betting that we find Arabs scary.

I'm not calling John McCain a racist. But he is an opportunist, and he's hoping, deep in his heart, that the American people are racist. He's hoping enough of us are the type of people who will be swayed by garbage like this. Like words like "welfare" in his ads. At the "secret Muslim" nonsense. He's counting on more people being drawn to his tactics than repelled by them.

I hope to God he's wrong.

John McCain is clearly, manifestly unworthy of being President. He shows palpable disrespect for our judgement by proposing that Sarah Palin is qualified in any way to lead us. And this is his campaign, no one else's. He is ultimately responsible for every ad, every smear, and every lie... and every bit of horrible race-baiting that should have been left in the 19th century, to say nothing of the 20th.

Rob

Can We Be Fucking Serious?

The economy is going down the toilet. We're fighting two wars. We need leadership. Leadership.

The idea that anything -- anygoddamnedthing -- is served by yammering on about a guy who made bombs when Obama was fucking eight years old is... I have no words for it.

...

I've been trying to be measured in this election. I've been trying to be calm. And I really think Obama is going to win.

But what McCain is trying to do here, this distraction, this fucking dance amid the slaughterhouse, has me fucking terrified. Suddenly -- SUDDENLY -- I am in the grip of terror. This man cannot win. We cannot have four more years of him dragging us down farther and farther as we choke on the shit of the insanely rich and willfully ignorant. The people who've already got theirs, so fuck you very much.

He used to be a man of honor, but he kicked that shit to the curb a long while ago. Now he stands by while people call Obama a terrorist at his rallies. McCain knows that's bullshit, it's slander and only, only stirs up hate, but still he sits idly by, waiting for someone to light the match and set Rome burning.

There is so much trouble right now, so much, and McCain wants to tell us fairy tales about the 1960s. He is blatantly, willfully changing the subject from anything that is important, because on any issue that matters, he is completely bankrupt. He has nothing to offer. He is a charlatan and a deceiver and a desperate, venomous snake.

He is the opposite of a leader.

Rob

The Sex Ad

I don’t think there’s any way to look at this ad without it being disgusting.

For one thing, it’s just a flat lie in several respects. The bill in question wasn’t passed, so it can’t be considered anyone’s “legislative accomplishment.” Furthermore, Obama wasn’t a sponsor of the bill, so even if it were passed, it wouldn’t be *his* accomplishment. It was a bill that came out of a committee he was on, that he likely supported.

But that’s picking nits. The main claim of the ad—that the bill was designed to teach five-year-olds about sex—is misleading and false. The intent of that portion of the legislation was age-appropriate safety issues... basically the difference between a good touch and a bad touch. To protect kids, not endanger them, as the ad implies.

So what do I see on the covers of two on New York’s papers today? The specious claim that Obama called Sarah Palin a pig.

What kind of world is this? John McCain runs a creepy, sick ad implying Obama is a child molester*, and we’re talking about a hoary old analogy that McCain has used himself about one of Hillary Clinton’s projects?

John McCain, you know this ad is bullshit, and you approved the message anyway. You’ll do anything—absolutely anything, no matter how degrading to yourself and to this country—to win. You have no honor, you have no decency, and you have no vision. But you’ve got a hell of a lot of fucking nerve.

Rob
*Yes, it does. Look at that expression on his face when the words "learning about sex before learning to read" are up on the screen. This ad is vile in every way possible.