An Unheavenly Scene in Bethlehem

“Senator John McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin have been running one of the most appalling campaigns we can remember,” the Tuesday editorial said. “They have gone far beyond the usual fare of quotes taken out of context and distortions of an opponent’s record — into the dark territory of race-baiting and xenophobia. Senator Barack Obama has taken some cheap shots at Mr. McCain, but there is no comparison.”
Those comments come two weeks after senior McCain advisors derided the New York Times, calling the news outlet “an Obama advocacy organization” in response to an article in the paper that reported McCain campaign manager Rick Davis was still profiting from failed mortgage giant Freddie Mac.

All the republicans are doing is further damaging their brand. Hopefully for generations.

Ugh. Hope Obama has a lot of Secret Service people around him. It is just ugly.

seems McCain doesn’t care if he takes the whole republican party down with him.
I think pretty soon you will see a whole lotta republicans throw he and palin and Cindy under the bus.

Palin lights the fire and let the crowd shout racists rants. The worse in this story is that when a man shouted “kill him” in Florida, Palin was smiling.

I see that even some of the racist states like WV are now moving toward Obama. I guess when you are drowning people don’t care who will throw the life-preserver. They know that we just can’t afford 4 more years of the same bush/cheney policies. Obama/Biden 2008!!!

The McCain/Palin ticket reflects hypocrisy at its extreme. Palin criticized Obama in PA for changing his position on off-shore oil drilling. Yet, she claims credit for Alaska divesting from Sudan when she was actually against it from the beginning. When it became a battle she couldn’t win she hopped on the divestment bandwagon. It was the same situation for the bridge to nowhere. McCain wants to pat himself on the back every other day about the so called success of the surge yet he forgets he was one of the people who brought us to this debacle in the first place. How are these two going to fare sitting around the table from either our allies or our adversaries. God forbid these two people get anywhere near the White House.

I am sorry the last time I checked that was his name – Barack Hussein Obama! If he is so proud of it why does he not use it? Barack Hussein Obama- Barack Hussein Obama – Barack Hussein Obama! That is what the Rev. Wright said during the most memorable press conferences he gave Barack Hussein Obama -Barack Hussein Obama – Barack Hussein Obama!
Speaking of the Rev. Wright where has he been lately?

I want to know why Sarah Palin doesn’t wear her wedding ring or a flag pin? Is she a cheater who hates america?

If Barry didn’t want Ayers coming up he shouldn’t have lied about their relationship in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. How Ayers was just some “guy from the neighborhood” after they worked on 2 or 3 public groups and Ayers had Barry appointed head of the Chicago Anneberg Challenge how is this just some random guy? Trying to take away a reporters right to print about said relationship and the chicago anneberg challenge also shows he had something to hide.
Same goes with the flag pin. First Barry said it represented false patriotism and he chose not to wear one. Then he didn’t wear one because it was on the other jacket. Then he wore one because a vet gave him one.
Considering Barry has called McCain a racist several times a warmonger even more times (saying McCain wanted 100 years of war) the Obama campaign has no room to complain.

Just like in the debates, we see more examples of grumpy old McCain’s campaign.
Just like when McCain said “that one”, now he makes sure his GOP is using angry tactics as well.

Sara Palin and Mccain have done nothing but lie bring fear, hate, racisim, Into this election this will backfire big time secret service please up Senator obamas security no telling what those two nuts might do!MCCAIN/PALIN are the dangerous ones and when palin speaks on tv i turn the channel i dont want my children listening to that anti-american nut!

A new report out by the Wisconsin Advertising Project and TNS Media Intelligence/CMAG reflects the mounting intensity of the presidential campaign in its closing weeks
The analysis concluded that in the latest period, nearly 100 PERCENT OF McCAIN’S ADDS WERE NEGATIVE, compared to 34 percent of Obama’s ads.

We need leaders like Obama for the 21st century and NOT throwbacks to the 1950s. McCain should retire while he has some semblance of dignity and Palin should return to moose hunting.

This is the sixth time it has been done. It is not an accident. They are egging people on, and need to stop it.

“Are you better off than you were 2 years ago?”… 2years ago we had 4.5% unemployment, gas was $2.25 a gallon. interest rates low, virtually no inflation, Stock market climbing.. Then the Democrats came into power, especially taking over trhe banking committees and overseeing freddie mac and fannie mae, Look where we are now…. Democrats have destroyed America in just 2 years. This was thier plan to win the election, make people suffer.

The original PATRIOTS WERE NOT soldiers. They were ordinary folks who stood up against an oppressive govenment.
Barack knows EXACTLY what it is to be a patriot.

Jake, Sen. McCain just laid out his economic plan for “my fellow prisoners.” I’m sure the script said “my fellow Americans” or “my friends”. this is a noteworthy gaffee-is the Sen’s mind still locked in 1968?

People – Obama’s parents choose his name. His father was also named Barack Hussein Obama. GET OFF IT. Look at all the damage two guys named George and Dickk have done to this country.

Obamamam, please research before posting in public places. The Chicago Annenberg Challenge was not part of the Anneberg foundation. The CAC was set up as part of a 500 million dollar gift from Walter Annenberg and was not controlled by the Annenberg Foundation proper.

.”But she did start the Annenberg Foundation. Right the one that Ayers and Obama both sat on the board for. Obviously McCain is a big fan, and doesn’t care that she has such “dangerous terrorists” on her board.”
Please educate yourself Obama supporter. Ayers and Obama did not sit on the Annenberg Foundation board. Annennberg gave them $50 million and challeneged them to improved Chicaho schools. They FAILED.
Obama became the first chairman of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge — an education-reform project Ayers had founded, on whose board Obama would serve until it ended in 2001 (he was chairman until 1999).
The final technical report of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge is available online here. We learn that the program received a $50 million grant from the Annenberg Foundation, on the condition that they raise at least twice as much (they did slightly better than the requirement, spending $160 million total when all was said and done) and commission their own evaluation. The report includes a lengthy description of the Challenge’s goals and methods, and a 33-page description of the methodology used to measure its progress. The bottom line is in the report’s executive summary:
Our research indicates that student outcomes in Annenberg schools were much like those in demographically similar non-Annenberg schools and across the Chicago school system as a whole, indicating that among the schools it supported, the Challenge had little impact on student outcomes.

Tom Brokaw stated last night: “…let’s see if we can establish tonight the Obama doctrine and the McCain doctrine for the use of United States combat forces in situations where there’s a humanitarian crisis, but it does not affect our national security.”
Sen. Obama responded (in part):
“Well, we may not always have national security issues at stake, but we have moral issues at stake.
“If we could have intervened effectively in the Holocaust, who among us would say that we had a moral obligation not to go in?
“If we could’ve stopped Rwanda, surely, if we had the ability, that would be something that we would have to strongly consider and act.
“So when genocide is happening, when ethnic cleansing is happening somewhere around the world and we stand idly by, that diminishes us.
“And so I do believe that we have to consider it as part of our interests, our national interests, in intervening where possible.”
YET, just moments earlier he said: “I don’t understand how we ended up invading a country that had nothing to do with 9/11.”
So it would have been okay to send troops into Rwanda–which obviously had nothing to do with 9/11. But he doesn’t understand us going into Iraq to end the mass killings, torture and rapes committed during Saddam Hussein’s presidency?

It leads one to believe that the type of people who go to her rallies are either outright bigots, or have no moral compass that directs them towards the right path.
Other countries watch us in this historic election, and we are showing them that we are just as backward as we have ever been and that bigotry even in our government rears it’s ugly head.
I am sorry but I thought better of my fellow man, I thought after all these years we could be blind and not see color, but I see I am wrong.
I can understand this vile garbage coming out of Sarah’s mouth, it is who she is, but for a man of supposed honor like McCain to condone the behavior, makes him as much as a domestic terrorist as Ayers.
Bombs are not the only weapon needed in order to kill another human being, words of hate like what is being put out by the Republican Party, can kill just as easy.
It kills your dignity, your moral fiber,your true purpose in life, that which is to be your brother’s keeper and as McCain once said, (but I feel he has forgotten it) “to hold yourself up to something bigger then yourself.”
Maybe he will take Obama’s view and really change!!
Obama/Biden ’08

I think the words maverick and the slogan “my friends” should be eliminated from the english language. A friend of mine says that whenever mcbush says “my friends” a huge lie is coming. Send little john back to arizona and sarah back to alaska. They have worn out their welcome. they are embarassing not only themselves, but the country they profess to love, only they don’t

“Our research indicates that student outcomes in Annenberg schools were much like those in demographically similar non-Annenberg schools and across the Chicago school system as a whole, indicating that among the schools it supported, the Challenge had little impact on student outcomes.”
Geevil uses clipped quotes from right wing sources.
A brief narrative description of the journal article, document, or resource. This study examined whether the Chicago Annenberg Challenge promoted improvement in schools it supported and in student achievement and other outcomes; factors that might explain improvement or lack thereof among Annenberg schools; and what could be learned from the Challenge’s experiences. It highlighted the period between 1996-1997 through 2000-2001. Results suggest that among the schools it supported, the Challenge had little impact on school improvement and student outcomes, with no statistically significant differences between Annenberg and non-Annenberg schools in rates of achievement gain, classroom behavior, student self-efficacy, and social competence. The study also examined trends in school improvement among a small group of “Breakthrough Schools,” which received special financial and professional support from the Challenge between 1990-2001, a time during which the Challenge began withdrawing funds from the other Annenberg schools. Overall, Breakthrough schools began to develop in ways that distinguished them from other Annenberg schools and sustained or strengthened aspects of teacher professional community, school leadership, and relational trust while other Annenberg schools did not. Factors distinguishing strong and weak schools included cultivation of strong, distributive leadership and use of an array of complementary, reinforcing strategies. Appendixes contain research methodology and results.
Surprisingly(ok I jest) they do not tell the full story.

sorry put my aol name in
klondiek is dl

James – “YET, just moments earlier he said: “I don’t understand how we ended up invading a country that had nothing to do with 9/11.” Osama Bin LAden was in Pakistan and the “government “there supported his efforts to stage 9- 11. I think we wound up in Iran because of some boggus weapons of mass destruction.The “retaliation”for 9-11 was in Pakistan.

Guilt by association? It goes both ways. Of course you don’t like it when it’s unfairly aimed at your candidate. Thanks for proving the point.

whether you don’t like or support obama or not
you have to be revolted by Palin and the tactics we have seen in the past 2 days.

His middle name is Hussein? I would mention it all the time. Why is his name off limits?

James Danley :did you just post this and not really read it at all???
Read the last 12 words and then re-think your statement.
It had nothing to do with terrorism in our country…It had to do with genocide in another country and not our national security.
And last note:Bin Laden was not in Iraq, oh, but the oil was!!!
Tom Brokaw stated last night: “…let’s see if we can establish tonight the Obama doctrine and the McCain doctrine for the use of United States combat forces in situations where there’s a humanitarian crisis, but it does not affect our national security.”
Obama/Biden ’08

I wonder if she realizes what she has done to her reputation
the reputation of her state
what she has done in the past few days (never mind in her interviews and the last few weeks)
to republicans chances down ballot…
actually she doesn’t deserve the first blame
that should go to the guy that was so self centered and so valuing his own caniddacy over that of the welfare and safety of the country…
John Mccain.
same team
same tactics (actually worse)
9th year
tell these a##es where to go.

PT: I presented a very similar juxtaposition, to point out the insidious nature of bigotry within our system. Suffice it to say, one of the responses I got was one of ignorance, while the others, demonstrated support for Obama. My point? Simple, while there’s an obvious desire to change the way we, as a country, do things. We must keep in mind that the people that are spewing this bigoted venom, are actually SCARED. They’re scared of having to be held accountable to the very ones they’ve spewed their hatred on. While change is sufferable, people would prefer to suffer.

I think it’s very hypocritical of the McCain camp to try and play the good cop.
The McCain ship is sinking fast. They’re looking at the polls… especially the state by state poll giving an Obama landslide. They’re in panic mode.
Obama did a GREAT job last night and should continue to hammer away at the economy and healthcare.

“But he doesn’t understand us going into Iraq to end the mass killings, torture and rapes committed during Saddam Hussein’s presidency?”
Except the rape rooms and people shredders we were told about by con artist Chalabi did not exist.
The mass killings by Saddam?
We were a decade late.
Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have died in the last 5 1/2 years either by violence directly from our hands or because of the instable conditions we have created.
Iraq will forever be our shame.
A war based on lies that accomplished nothing but death and destruction.

Ryan C wrote: “The Democrats opposed S.190 but they did not block it having no power to do so.” It requires 60 votes for a bill to be voted on by the full Senate.

That “pallin’ around with terrorists” quote was used once on Saturda, but has not been used since by the campaign. Why does the media insist on perpetrating this, but chooses not to investigate the real or implied connection between Ayers and Obama? Just today the Obama campaign issued a statement saying that the two were in contact until 2005. Last week, they had a brief encounter with coffee near by once. Why isn’t that getting any play?

They way McCain talk down on Chicago I can not imagae anyone in that state voiting for him. He totally disrespect all the people in Chicago with his nasty remarks. Same on McCain and his out right hatered toward the black race.

The line separating from “classy” from not so was breached a month ago when Barack Obama started running ads questioning John McCain’s “honor”–which no political opponent has ever done to the war hero in his 30 years in politics.
Given that, is it utterly hypocritical to accuse Palin of being tacky by referring to Barack Obama by his full legal name. (Including his middle moniker “Hussein”.)
NOTICE TO ABC: Your candidate of choice is so far in the lead you can relax and at least pretend to be neutral now.

If Obama does become president, we can all look forward to his daily beatings by the press for his further destruction of the economy through higher taxes, his inablility to reach bi-partisan consensus on any topic, his immediate lame-duck status from an emergency freeze on government spending, and his phenominal record-low approval ratings.
At least that is something for us to look forward to…

Saying his middle name “Hussein” means nothing unless you connect it with terrorism the way Palin and others have done.
And since 9/11 it does not take much for people to get worked up over that name.
It would be the same i.e. (and a stretch I know, but could not think of another example) if someone had the middle name Hitler, but had nothing to do with anything, but say that name and put genocide beside it when introducing that person and you know what you have.
That is called guilt by assumption and that shows a real uneducated person.
Enough said, guess we will just wait and see how far this can go and GOD forbid it goes to a much higher extreme.
Heaven help us all.
Obama/Biden ’08

Bev, my point was that Sen. Obama couldn’t understand us invading Iraq when it had nothing to do with 9/11. Yet Iraq was killing innocent men women and child. And millions of children were starving because of Saddam Hussein’s oil-for-food scam. THAT FITS the criteria layed out by Tom Brokaw: “…a humanitarian crisis, but it does not affect our national security.” So Sen. Obama thought we should have gone into Rwanda…but not Iraq!

GOD HELP US IF OBAMA WINS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Geesh, people (Rebecca, et al.). Do some research of your own rather than listening to the Sean Hannitys of the world. As pretty much every legitimate news org. has explained, there is no “relationship” between Obama and Ayers. They live in the same neighborhood and they’ve sat on the board of an educational foundation. (Ayers is respected on both sides for his work in reforming education; in fact, that foundation is funded by a conservative Republican who seems to have no problem with Ayers’ involvement.) The worst that can be said is that Obama attended a fundraiser at Ayers’ house years ago. Yet Obama was invited there by someone else, and didn’t even know about Ayers’ past.
Talk about manufacturing character attacks. Meanwhile, Palin’s *husband* has *recently* been a member of a political party that advocates seceding from the U.S. Hypocrisy is alive and well.

All the voter fraud Obamas been teaching his cronies will still not be enough to win him the WH. Pathetic booger! UGH!

Ryan C. the bill was not brought up because the Senate Majority Leader knew it would be filibustered.

“Did Saddam Torture people? Yes”
Yes and to combat that horrible violation of human rights we went into a Iraq, took over Abu Ghraib, let all the prisoners go, filled it up with our own prisoners and began torturing them.

By the way you gotta love that McCain’s donors is the current president and chairman of Annenberg Challenge Project, Leonore Annenberg.
Sound familiar? That’s because it also graces the name of the Chicago education board where Barack Obama and William Ayers sat in the room six times together.
Want to play guilt by association? I’ll see your Ayers, Wright and Rezko and raise you a Annenberg, Liddy, and Keating. HYPOCRITE!

Obama told his supporters to get in their faces. He stood by while Clinton was savaged by the press and the right wing media machines. He concealed, lied and obsfuscated. He turned the Democratic Party into thugs and along the way corrupted the young with radical ideas that were moldy and dangerous 40 years ago when people like Ayers decided to try to overthrow the American government.
There really is nothing to say at this point. He is reaping what he has sown.
The bad news is if he wins, it will get worse. As the twig is bent, so grows the tree.
And the mainstream media has forfeit any trust, so no consolation there either. You joined the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party.
“Why is a raven like a writing desk?”

The more they say “Barack Hussein Obama”, the less effective it will be.
I instantly tune out anyone who starts a comment with it nowadays. Much like “maverick”.
Oh, and “hope”.
I don’t have much of that anymore either.

See Ryan is back. Was it your turn to shine obama’s shoes for a few days. A body would think you are on his campaign staff to make sure we are set straight on the lies being told by the right. Well, the right may make statements on this blog, but we are just as smart as you and maybe more.

Hey,
Recently right-wing smear groups have tried using guilt-by-association to connect Barack Obama to Professor William Ayers.
Here’s the truth: the smear associating Barack to Ayers is “phony,” “tenuous,“ – even “exaggerated at best if not outright false.” Ayers and Barack barely know each other. They served together on the boards of local charities, but do not know each other well.
Ayers is now professor of education at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Barack has publicly denounced the acts Ayers committed in the 1960’s (when Barack was only 8 years old).
Stick to the script Obama bloggers. Your false attacks on the Annenberg family show your ignorance.

Eddit, Leonore Annenberg had nothing to do with the CHICAGO Annenberg Challenge. She is head of the Annenberg FOUNDATION which did not run CAC.

The conduct of the McCain/Palin campaign is shameful and dangerous. America is too fractured now to be able to easily recover from a political assassination, and Palin has crossed the line to incitement.

McCain and Palin have belonged to organizations founded by despicable, anti-American/anti-semetic/racist people and so they are hypocrites. They should be investigated and the media should be reporting on that (Iran Contra/secessionist party in alaska). Shame on McShame and that cancer, Palin.

I honestly do not think McCain has the “lynch mob” hateful mentality that Palin may.
Palin is smart but dumb and she’s the biggest liar in politics — and that’s saying something. Frankly, she shames my gender. She’s against any program or law that would support women or children, she supports cruelty to animals, and she is lousy with money.
Why McCain would put crazy Sarah Palin in front of the toothless crowd to whip them into a hate-frenzy is beyond my understanding.

If these are the kind of racist ideas illuminated on a simple blog. Can ANYONE image what is happening in the back woods of Alabama, Appalachia, and Alaska?
This will, I am sure, have unintended, negative consequences for the McCain/Palin campaign.
Americans, while a little apprehensive to speak about their fears, are basically over the whole white supremacy thing. This is 2008, who runs on a white supremacy platform anymore?
It is another example of McSame’s McShame’s
McPain(lin).
(Let’s see who David Duke endorses, as if we didn’t know… is he still alive?)
The Obama campaign should check McShame’s donor list for these extreme right wingers. Are they not domestic terrorists too?

I can’t wait for this election to be over so we can stop being barraged with “bad pun” headlines. Unheavenly in Bethlehem, ugghh? Both campaigns and the media coverage has been nothing but “unheavenly”?

If something happens to Obama, McCain and Palin should be held responsible. Sarah has made racists remarks before in Alaska (just read the local press) and now she is showing her true colors.

MayBee: It’s not that his middle name is used. It’s that his middle is used when no-one else’s middle name is used (how often do you hear ‘John Sidney McCain’?). There’s no good reason for it. There’s a lot of bad reasons for it though.

“McCain twice has tried to get floor votes on bills in two different sessions, yes he cosponsored them because he wasn’t on the banking committee (Hagel was) because McCain knew what was happening.”
McCain knew what was happening so he waited a year and half after a bill died in committee and then decided to cosponsor it.
We know he didn’t author it because McCain dislikes any regulations.
Which is why he cared so little about S.190.
And Obama getting $120K in donations from Fannie Mae is peanuts compared to the $240K Rick Davis firm was paid this year alone for access to Sen McCain.
In addition McCain has joint fundraised with RNC $189K from just 8 Fannie Mae bigwigs in the last year.
Speaking of singing, love the McCain lie that his singing bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran was a private joke when he did on stage at a fundraiser.
John McCain “I’ll lose my integrity before I’ll lose and election”

“Think about how you’ll feel on Nov. 5 if you see the news that Barack Obama — Barack Hussein Obama — is president of the United States.”
Relieved?
W’s a nice letter. It spells some of my favorite things. Like…
Wow
Woo-hoo
Water
Whee
Wonder Woman
Wasn’t George W Bush awful?
Worst president ever
Wrong direction for the last 8 years.
Why would we give you 4 more?
We want our country back and of course…
Who really gives a crap what the president’s middle name is?

Donations from Fannie are from individual employees and if 2300.00 is the limit that hardly eqautes to influence. Also Rick Davis is a lobbyist runs a lobbying firm which was being paid 15 k a month up unitl August. Read WAPO and NY Times for more background. Inform yourself nefore you speak.

Conservative writer David Brooks: Sarah Palin “represents a fatal cancer to the Republican party”
Sarah Palin represents a fatal cancer to the republican party. When I first started in journalism, I worked at the National Review for Bill Buckley. And Buckley famously said he’d rather be ruled by the first 2,000 names in the Boston phone book than by the Harvard faculty. But he didn’t think those were the only two options. He thought it was important to have people on the conservative side who celebrated ideas, who celebrated learning. And his whole life was based on that, and that was also true for a lot of the other conservatives in the Reagan era. Reagan had an immense faith in the power of ideas. But there has been a counter, more populist tradition, which is not only to scorn liberal ideas but to scorn ideas entirely. And I’m afraid that Sarah Palin has those prejudices. I think President Bush has those prejudices.

Every stump speech and debate we watch is basically a job interview for the presidency, and we are the ones doing the hiring.
McCain has walked into my office and never looked me in the eyes and/or given me a straight answer. He has never given me a clear rhetoric of what he would do to help me solve any outstanding problems, other than call me “friend” and say “I can do this”, or “I know how to do that”. Beyond that, he is also subversively inciting racial hatred for the African-American potential job candidate ready to sit for his own interview for the position.
When I interview Obama, I am spoken to directly, given clear answers and possible solutions to any problems. He doesn’t pull the race card to get the job. He knows he’s been referred to as “That One” and PERSONALLY lets it slide. He knows he doesn’t have the experience of the previous candidate, but he commands my respect with his ability to clearly and eloquantly address every issue I have. He has assured me that he will utilize all the resources available to him to get the job done and done correctly. He has assured me that he will take time to deliberate the problems and issues we face, but when the time for action has arrived, he will move forward! He has assured me that he is a job candidate that will not repeat the errors of the previous employee.
I think I’m heading to Human Resources as soon as I can and will ask them to hire “That One” as soon as he’s available to start.

I say GO, GO, GO! Pull every one of Obama’s skeletons out of the closet.

I used to register a Republican. My whole family consists of registered Republicans. In general, Republican voters are pretty nice people.
But when I hear stuff like this and read some of the comments… I cannot help but cringe.
The whole tenor of the McCain-Palin campaign (and their bloggers, pundits, and surrogates) and the atmosphere of their rallies… make Republicans seem really stupid.
I know it’s not true. But if I were a Republican, and I heard my fellow Republicans saying some of the inane and cynical stuff they say in the press… I would let them know I don’t approve.

Oh look concerned has jumped on the latest right wing lunacy.
Its gone from seeking an endorsement by the New Party smear from Redstate a few months ago to now he is a member of the party!
Concerned, such a good little water carrier for his right wing masters.
Hope you got extra points for that one.

Concerned in OH
I would be interested to hear the full quote of Obama on genocide in Iraq. usually you guys find some way to twist it around.
Either way, nothing in Iraq could ever be as bad as what we have been standing by and watching in Darfur.

Just reading some of the posts here makes my hair stand on end.
IGNORANCE BREEDS FEAR
FEAR BREEDS HATE
HATE BREEDS VIOLENCE
It’s bad enough we have to live our lives constantly guarded and wary. Now we get to see the true face of America? Intolerant, unmovable, bullying, manipulative, untrustworthy, and brimming with uneducated, unstable and violent prone individuals to short sighted to think of anyone else but themselves and their personal agenda.
To me Sarah Palin is proof that many people just “don’t get it” and would settle for shallow style versus active substance. The last time the world allowed this was when a man named Aldolf Hitler
seduced a nation and condemned it to the finality of damnation. He fanned the flames of hate, fear and violence and the ignorant masses flocked like lambs to the slaughter.
Ms. Palin with a wink of her eye and flippant folksy rhetoric incites the tenets of fear and hate. McCain and Palin are playing with fire for by doing so as this nation trembles under the stress of one failure after another only invites the ugly specter of violent revolution.
They’ve lit a fuse without thinking of future consequences to further their present agenda. Maybe they are that ignorant or maybe they just don’t really care.
Worse yet, maybe it’s both.

Poor Sarah Palin, shoutin’ and flailin’, flingin’ some old moose doo-doo. She don’t have to read, she don’t have to think, and she’s got her sights set on you. Please Mrs. Dude, don’t be so darned rude, don’t stoop to those old Karl Rove tricks! If you’re gonna run, put down that big gun, put away all the stones and the sticks. Remember Old McCain, who’s now such a pain, the way he once talked straight and true? C’mon, Sarah Palin, this tactic is failin’, let’s hear somethin’ honest from you.
And let’s elect the smart guy this time, not another of these Republican marionettes: go Obama!

I agree, it is trivial. The Obama Supporters are just a tad touchy about it though.
ROFLMAO!!!
PUMA! McCain/Palin 2008 – In lieu of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.
“No self respecting woman should wish or work for the success of a party which ignores her sex.” – Susan B. Anthony

“Interesting stuff there about Obama’s membership in the New Party, and his endorsements from the Democratic Socialists of America back when he was running for the State Senate in the ’90s.
I remember when Bush Sr’s remark about Dukakis being a “card-carrying member of the ACLU” probably cost Dukakis hundreds of thousands of votes back in ’88.”
SandyB unwittingly reveals that when Republicans are losing they play the communist card.
The problem of course is that at this point the American people do not trust right wing media or the McCain campaign so it will be tough to sell them yet another lie.

From Greenwald:
Hannity never once said a negative word about Martin; never challenged him on anything he ever said or did; and never informed Fox viewers about Martin’s despicable, truly demented history. Instead, Martin was Sean Hannity’s respected source, presented as an “Author and Journalist” to support Hannity’s “reporting.” As Fort Lauderdale’s Sun-Sentinel put it: Fox’s “star witness was Andy Martin, whose incendiary, unsubstantiated claims about Obama’s past were allowed to go unchallenged.”

“Sure you are
“You can be whoever you want to be,” says an inviting Phil Tuchman. “You can be a beggar or a millionaire. A mom or a husband. Whatever. You decide!”
I volunteer in political campaigns now and then. After a series of outings for Obama and a first mission as a phone banker for John McCain, I returned to McCain’s headquarters in Arlington, Va. The offer was too alluring to delay — they wanted to put me into action as a ghostwriter. Next to commercials and phone banking, writing letters to the editor is the most important method of the McCain campaign to attract voters. At least that is what’s written in the guidelines that McCain campaign worker Phil Tuchman presents to me.”
Your Point????
PUMA! McCain/Palin 2008 – In lieu of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.
“No self respecting woman should wish or work for the success of a party which ignores her sex.” – Susan B. Anthony

Every time that dimwit Palin screeches more nastiness and hate at one of those rallies, more and more moderate and independent voters head into the Obama column.
So keep it up! You’re doing the Obama campaign’s work for them!
Today’s Gallup poll: Obama up by 11. ELEVEN.

Those use use inflammatory rhetoric so precipitously and cavalierly risk their own consumption by the resultant conflagration.

I can understand the “outrage” if Obama’s name was not Hussein, but if it is indeed his legal middle name and he finds it so offensive….why on earth did he not change it to something else? Just asking.If he is elected does he swear on the Bible his entire name as in Dwight David Eisenhower, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Lyndon BAines Johnson, George Walker Herbert Bush, Richard Milhouse Nixon, William Jefferson Clinton..well you get what I mean.

McCain has hired the same people that smeared him – and this is supposed to be a man who claims to have honor and integrity. McCain was investigated for his role in the Keating 5 scandal and could have been charged with influence peddling – Palin is under investigation by her own party in Alaska for abuse of power in her office. I could understand firing your ex-brother in law if he was a bad guy – but firing his boss? A man that had given 30 good years of service to law enforcement in Alaska? Shameful, selfish, someone who thinks only of herself. Palin is out on the campaign trail ensiting unstable people to shout hateful racist things about “killing Obama” – Palin is a disgrace to America. She is not qualified on so many levels that it is scary. Her ethics investigation, her husband’s political party and her lack of intellect all make her un-fit to even be Governor of Alaska let alone the Vice President of our beloved Country. I am old enough to have lived through the killing of John Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King – and believe me if something happens to Barack Obama – Americans will blame Palin and McCain!

The office of AKORN that was raided today is in Nevada – Obama worked in Illinois and had nothing to do with this branch of a huge organization. Over zealous and misguided workers on both the Democratic and Republican campaigns take things too far in order to win. How many African Americans have been disinfranchised over the years in southern states by over-zealous election officials – plenty!

what about the words and language writen and spoken by the Obama cult people. They are vicious, nasty and partisan. They crucified Bill, Hillary Clinton, even Jesse Jackson
LOL

I’m so tired of the name calling. There trying to bring up all the crap that we dealt with during the primaries. It’s not working anymore. It causes a frenzy at their campaign rallies, but drives a wedge between them and the undecided voters. And thankfully. I can’t imagine having this bunch in the White House. They’re acting like a bunch of idiots. Palin is a joke. McCain deserves to lose for picking the trash mouth. She’s so arrogant she thinks she can make up crap and stretch the truth. And using a person’s given name to inspire a hate filled message. How Christian of them.

You have to resort to this kind of campaign when you have no ideas. Can’t they see people don’t like negativity?

This isn’t about bloggers hate filled posts. Or people’s comments unrelated to the camp itself. This hateful message is being confirmed by Palin and now Cindy McCain by them taking center stage and smiling in agreement to this message.They foolishly believe that they are so superior to everyone else, that this message isn’t being heard not only here, but around the world. Hussein is a very popular name, like John. To insult millions of people around the world by using the name Hussein in such a way as to suggest that it’s bad, not good enough, or that all people named Hussein are muslims and all muslims are terrorists. It shows their ignorance and stupidity. And it certainly isn’t very presidential. What’s she going to do when she meets a foreign dignitary with the name Hussein?

For anybody to bring up Obama’s middle name in a negative context just shows how shallow some people are. Just because your middle name is Hussein does not make you a terrorist.

What say I? I say that although none of these candidates are perfect, or have a squeaky clean record, for them to continue with the fear mongering and subtle xenophobia and race baiting is disturbing. If this is what you need to do to rile up your base, raise doubts about your opponent, and ultimately win the white house, what does it really say about you?
It says that you value personal ambition over integrity. It says that even though your political opponent smeared you with rumors and innuendo, you will swallow your pride and hire his team to win. It says that you don’t put country first, you put your ambition first. It says that at a time when this country is facing enormous obstacles, the smallness of your campaign eliminates you as the person qualified to lead us.

They bring up Obama’s middle name in hopes of banking off the general ignorance of the ‘murican people.
Most muricans aren’t very well edumacated, let alone cultured. So invoking his middle name, they are trying to make it seem like, he’s one of THEM, icky, terrorismists or something like that.
And it works for the dumber parts of our country, which is about 25% of the entire population.
The average voter is just that, average intelligence.
Oh well, like it matters. A black man will be elected the next president of the USA, and the GOP will be thoroughly destroyed into 1000 pieces.
Maybe only then will the GOP fracture, and finally kick out the fundie morons for good. Let them start their own Jezuz Chrysler party, where they believe the earth is 6000 years old and that evolution is ‘only a theory’.

Obama is the culprit but the worship of the man by the intellectual upper class hides the conflagration on the horizon. The damming part is this fire set by Obama will burn past the election well into the first terms of whomever wins this race.
And that is going to make it very hard to govern. Given the problems we face and the low likelihood of them being resolved in the next two years, the midterms will tell the tale.
The Republicans will put together a formidable machine by then having observed what worked and having collected all the needed information on the players, both major and minor, in this campaign.
This kind of bitter butter campaigning was set in motion by Reagan’s first campaign and has only grown more intense with every subsequent election. Welcome to the four year campaign cycle that never ends with ever increasing extremism.
Study the Italian elections starting post war up into the 1970s for a picture of where this is leading.

No, McCain and Palin do NOT fan these flames with their rhetoric. McCain falls all over himself not to appear racist and has consistently, as you pointed out, rushed to condemn anyone using Barry’s middle name. Which is kinda silly, but I agree in this case, the middle name was thrown in there purposely to take a shot, so I’m glad McCain made clear his disagreement with that move.
By the way, I notice in footage from campaign rallies on CNN and other places lately that the audiences in rallies for BOTH sides are starting to get more vocal and throw out inappropriate remarks. Much is made of folks shouting out stuff at Palin’s speech the other day, but I noticed today that someone at an Obama speech yelled, “You killed him” as soon as Obama said, “At the debate last night…” Obama did not chide the audience member for the language, which drew crazed cheers from the crowd and started up an “O-bam-a” chant. Both sides are getting fired up, and I hope people will be evenhanded in reporting on that.

“Biden would of picked Hillary for vp. Hussein Obama should of picked Hillary, but he picked Biden, and he would of never picked Palin, becous she is a women.”
The McCain ghostwriting teams must still be depending on English as a 2nd language folks
“You can be whoever you want to be,” says an inviting Phil Tuchman. “You can be a beggar or a millionaire. A mom or a husband. Whatever. You decide!”
I volunteer in political campaigns now and then. After a series of outings for Obama and a first mission as a phone banker for John McCain, I returned to McCain’s headquarters in Arlington, Va. The offer was too alluring to delay — they wanted to put me into action as a ghostwriter. Next to commercials and phone banking, writing letters to the editor is the most important method of the McCain campaign to attract voters. At least that is what’s written in the guidelines that McCain campaign worker Phil Tuchman presents to me.
Today he is training six ghostwriters. What on earth is the appeal of McCain for the former Soviet bloc? Last time I was here, an exuberant Polish guy was phone banking next to me. Today, a Russian in yellow suspenders is shimmering at the same table, looking just like an actor who is famous in the Netherlands for star turns as a genius who suppresses his dark side with painstaking self-control.
The assignment is simple: We are going to write letters to the editor and we are allowed to make up whatever we want — as long as it adds to the campaign. After today we are supposed to use our free moments at home to create a flow of fictional fan mail for McCain. “Your letters,” says Phil Tuchman, “will be sent to our campaign offices in battle states. Ohio. Pennsylvania. Virginia. New Hampshire. There we’ll place them in local newspapers.”

As a Bethlehem native and Lehigh County resident, I can tell you the Obama campaign has blanketed the region with volunteers. Obama/Biden yard signs far outnumber McCain/Palin ones. I see no volunteer action from the McCain camp. Opportunists like Bill Platt may do all of the aspersion-casting they please, but they are becoming dinosaurs, and they know it.

Why even question it? When McPalin and their surrogates keep making the same “mistakes” time after time…dog whistles, fear mongering and outright race baiting are the red meat for this campaign and its base crowds.

How many Americans know that America derives from Americo Vespucci, the Florentine cartographer who proved that Columbus’s discovery in 1492 was not an extension on the Asian continent but an independent landmass called the 4th continent. E pluribus unum-America’s motto- means “Through many one.” Our numeral system was invented by Arab mathematicians. Every person in America including native Americas is the descendent of an immigrant. Obama’s middle name “Hussein” only becomes a flashpoint when presented to a select group that is threatened not by sticks and stones but the names they believe will hurt them.

But Obama is classy? When he tells the San Fran elite that Pennsylvanian’s are bitter, gun clinging, racists .. that’s classy??? Then he comes to PA to suck up. That’s classy? I think NOT. People of PA, do not forget the remarks this man made about you. This is what he thinks of the people of Pennsylvania.
John McCain would never say such harsh remarks about American people. This is a good example of Obama’s judgement and what he thinks in his heart. He thinks he is above the working class. Don’t reward him with your votes.

“Obama could learn a thing or two from John McCain about what it means to be a patriot”?!
We all have different ideas about what constitutes patriotism. One aspect of “patriotism” that most of us would agree on is our obligation to provide our soldiers the support that they need when they come home.
There is a genuinely creepy disconnect between John McCain’s misty-eyed sermonizing about his love of fellow veterans and his actual record on issues of importance to veterans. It’s about time he gets called out on it.
The Iraq and Afhganistan Veterans of America, a non-partisan group that tracks congresssional voting records on veterans’ issues, recently issued its ratings for the 2007-08 Congress.
The group gave McCain got a D. Obama and Biden received B’s. McCain said that he opposed Senator Webb’s GI bill because he felt it would prevent soldiers from re-enlisting. He didn’t even bother voting on the bill because he had to attend a San Diego fundraiser.
What a patriot! What a disconnect between rhertoric and reality. What a phony.

They are so focused on distracting the public, and hoping some of this mud sticks. They can keep saying Obama is dangerous as many times as they want, but when people see and listen to Obama a different picture emerges. A confident, smart man exhibiting leadership/

Obama does have a lot of very interesting people in his background.
Rev. Wright
Fr. Pfleger
Bill Ayers
Tony Rezko
They couldn’t be brought up if Obama hadn’t put them there in the first place. Why doesn’t the Obama/Biden campaign want the voters to take a closer look at these associations? What are they trying to hide?

SO when the chosen one is sworn in by the chief justice. Will the chief justice be allowed to utter Obambi’s middle name or will the chief justice be called a racist by the press? Maybe
Obambi should just go by one name like.
Prince, Cher, or Madonna, so that noone has to be accused of such things for uttering anything the press deems bad
about Obambi. Jake, you and your press buddy have created the most protected candidate in the history of the world. I can’t wait until the press starts to critisize Obambi – and you will. Who going to be there to point out your racist intent. Just rememeber, thye said these things about the Clintons too.
So, that’s Axelrods MO – And the willing press throws down to protect the candidate. This is going to be a long 4 years. The media is the weakest it has ever been. They have totally compromised themselves

Well,
No one is considering it racist. But I find it extremely disgusting that McCain/Palin seemed to stress the Hussein in his name to incite fears over the whole Islamic radical Muslim thing-which is completely untrue just so that people will not dare to vote for Obama- not because of issues, but because he’s a “Islamic terrorist-sympathizer.”
Considering how McCain seemed to like the respnose of “terrorist” to his question of “Who is the real Barack Obama?”, I have to say they are now explicitly playing on this and questioning Obama’s patriotism.
McCain has the nerve to say “Country First or Obama First” is the choice on polling day. I did not like his insinuation that those who supported Obama were less-than patriotic.
“Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.”-Samuel Johnson.

“Why doesn’t the Obama/Biden campaign want the voters to take a closer look at these associations? What are they trying to hide?”

obama’ middle name is what it is
and it means good,small handsome one in arabic.
we invaded iraq after 9/11
barack hussein obama had nothing to do with 9/11, just as saddam hussein had nothing to do with it.
bush and co. with the support of mccain
played the american people like a cheap fiddle on that one.
and unfortunately, some still believe iraq had something to do with 9/11
because bush and co. will still tell you so.

I think the summary of this story is that you can find shady characters associated with anyone. McCain has some. Palin has some. Obama has some. None of this defines who they are, unless they have in some way shape or form given us a reason to believe that they support them. I don’t see that with Ayers. I don’t see that with Palin and the AIP. McCain knows this, and hence didn’t bring it up when sharing the stage with Obama.
I’d really like to see the McCain camp get on with telling us why to vote for them, rather than not to vote for the other guy. Obama is currently delivering a positive message.

Obama’s ties to terrorist Ayers are of course relevant. If the relationship would have been properly reported when it first broke, we would not be talking about it now because this race would be between Hillary and McCain.

billthomson wrote: “They can keep saying Obama is dangerous as many times as they want, but when people see and listen to Obama a different picture emerges. A confident, smart man exhibiting leadership.”
That reminds me of another young man back in Germany in the 1930s.
Sen. Obama had a mentor and a father-figure back in 1975-1979. This man was Frank Marshall Davis. He was an agitator and a recruiter for the Communist Party USA. Sen. Obama a number of years later studied under the principles of Saul Alinsky, another communist. And Sen. Obama used these principles as he worked for ACORN. Later he was actually the legal council for ACORN. ACORN has a strong socialist agenda. We all know about Sen. Obama’s 20-year pastor and mentor (and “uncle”-figure), Black Liberation theologist, the Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr. And then there is Sen. Obama’s association with Bill Ayers, who to this day still holds anti-America and anti-Capitalism views.
My own opinion is that it is impossible to be indoctrinated with pro-communist, anti-America and anti-Capitalism views for decades and NOT hold some of these views. My own opinion is that is is extremely unlikely that someone with PRO-America and PRO-Capitalism beliefs would associate with so many people who oppose those beliefs–and not know about it.

Apparently M/P have decided that, like most of the corporations we’ve seen implode over the last decade, to take the easy way out. Don’t actually buckle down and come up with meaningful, substantive policies that actually address what’s going on today. Just whip up the faithful and any other wingnut. Make some noise! Contradict yourself! Cast aspersions on your competitor! That’ll get the voters! With nothing left to lose, M/P are trying to make the craft lighter by throwing out the engine. Good thing the american people are smart enough to read the lettering on the side that says “Hindenberg”.

Blip, you want a conspiracy theory? What if the Democrats INTENTIONALLY sabotaged our economy for political gain. If they didn’t plan this from the very outset (pushing the subprime flexible mortgage rates on those who could not afford to pay the mortgages even before the skyrocketting mortgage payments; knowing that eventually the housing market would turn south causing chaos and a crisis), they certainly intentionally ignored the numerous warnings.
And if you look back over the past several years, even when the economy was booming the Democrats (and the mainstream media) continued to portray our economy as failing. Sure looks like they were hoping for an economic crisis. And now you want to reward them by giving them the keys to the White House?

“over the past several years, even when the economy was booming”
Booming for whom?
Wages went down.
Job losses went up.
The dollar plummeted.

McCain has alot of “connections” in his past too
G. Gordon Liddy-felon
Charlie Keating-felon
Kemper Marley (google that one)

For twelve long months I have been looking into and researching the real questions of judgment, character and experience of Barack Obama. He is a very flawed man and does not deserve the respect and vote of confidence of the American people.
McCain/Palin—Country First
Obama/Biden—Socialism First and then the terrorists, criminals, racists and hate mongers. Traditional America values last.

Ryan C. we had a booming economy between September 2003 and December 2007. There was 52 consecutive months of job growth–5 million new jobs. Unemployment averaged 5.0% during that time.
GDP was up 7.2% in the 3rd Quarter of 2003 and up 4.0% in the 4th Quarter of 2003; Then up 3.1% for all of 2004; up 4.4% for all of 2005; up 3.2% for all of 2006 and up 3.2% for all of 2007. Even in the first two Quarters of 2008 we were up 0.9% and 2.8%.

Ryan, the Invasion of Iraq was not based on lies. After 12 years of diplomatically trying to persuade Saddam Hussein to comply with the conditions of the 1991 cease fire, President Bush rescinded the cease fire and resumed the 1991 Gulf War.

Question. Isn’t it a crime in some states to incite murder? Does what the McCain camp is doing fall under slander? Obama spent 2 years answering questions (Ayers was the first of those). Who is Palin to claim America doesn’t know Barack? We’ve only known her for 5 weeks.

Joe, it is NOT A LIE that Sen. Obama was mentored by Frank Marshall Davis–a communist–from 1975-1979.
It is NOT A LIE that Sen. Obama studied the principles of Saul Alinksy–a communist.
It is NOT A LIE that Sen. Obama was mentored by his 20-year pastor, The Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr–a Black Liberation theologist.
It is NOT A LIE that Sen. Obama associated with Bill Ayers–a socialist, who preaches anti-America and anti-Capitalism dogma.
IT IS NOT A LIE that Sen. Obama is a socialist!

“Ryan, the Invasion of Iraq was not based on lies. After 12 years of diplomatically trying to persuade Saddam Hussein to comply with the conditions of the 1991 cease fire, President Bush rescinded the cease fire and resumed the 1991 Gulf War.”
James,
Was the end of the cease fire what Americans were told was necessary?
I did not question the legality of the war. Any war can be made “legal”. In fact that was an obsession of Hitler’s that his wars be legal. That;s why he had German teams do a false flag operation and blamed on the Poles. Its why he declared war on the US immediately after Pearl Harbor.
The question is not the “legality” it is how the War was sold to the American public.
The many lies that Saddam had stockpiles of WMD(take your pick from the Niger yellowcake forgery to nukes in 45 mins to Powell and his vial at the UN).
The lie that Saddam was a threat.
The lie that Saddam was tied to 9/11.
And what happened when one of their lies was exposed before the war?
Why the criminals in the Bush admin decided they would retaliate by exposing an undercover CIA agent whose job was defending us against black market nukes.

I am not cherry picking. President Bush inherited a recession which lasted right up to the 9/11 attacks. Then it took almost two years to recover from the 9/11 attacks and the corporate scandals of 2002. It was President Bush’s 2001 and 2003 tax cuts that got the economy back on track. Then it was the downturn in the housing market, the subprime mortgage crisis and the skyrocketing energy prices that slowed things down towards the end of 2007. But in spite of this triple whammy hit to our economy, we had GDP growth of 0.9% and 2.8% in the first two quarters of 2008. But then the millions of foreclosures caused the economy to nosedive since.
Incidentally in case you missed it HUD came out with a report today that as many as 5 million illegal immigrants took out fraudulent mortgages. When you figure there are supposed to be only 11 million illegal immigrants in the US, that is an astonishing percentage (45%) of illegal immigrants owning homes!

WHERE WILL THE MEDIA AND EVEN MCCAIN SUPPORTERS DRAW THE LINE?
Today, Frank Keating, McCain’s campaign co-chair, referred to Obama as a ‘guy of the street’ on Dennis Miller’s radio show.
And Politico.com reports that Sarah Palin stated that Obama would:
diminish “the PRESTIGE of the United States presidency. What does it say when Barack Obama says he would sit down unconditionally with Ahmadinejad, Kim Jong Il and others, unconditionally, and I guess sort of hand over some of the prestige of the United States presidency and validate, I think validate, some of the positions that these dictators have taken.”
It seems that McCain and Palin should stop referring to General McKiernan and Patraeus as heroes because they are receptive to the idea of negotiating with Taliban if it can diminish violence in Afghanistan. Is McCain prepared to accuse them of wanting to ‘pal around with terrorists’?

It’s ugly on both sides. It wouldn’t have been this way if-(1) Hillary were the nominee because it’d be a landslide by now for HRC; or (2) Obama was properly vetted from the beginning, instead of being protected by the press with an impenetrable shell-he’s not quite the “hope” or “change” that was being pushed down our throats, or (3) Obama did the 10 townhall debates with McCain that he originally agreed to because all the stuff would have come out then.

Wendy: Yes, a vote for McCain is a vote against Obama. If your republican why wouldn’t you vote for McCain. It has nothing to do with race. It is the fact that people believe that McCain can run the country better than Obama. If your democrat vote for Obama. I was a democrat all my life but switched this year to vote republican. The majority of the people in this country think Obama is going to do all he says. Well, they can be fooled but I am not. Obama is in this race to make history first. He read so many books on MLK and wants to walk in his shoes. There is one problem, MLK was intelligent.

It is laughable the way posters use the term “socialist” to paint a negative picture of Obama when the US government has a nice, well-established socialist program for the corporate sector.
The profits of the free market are privatized and go to the corporations, many of whom receive tax breaks as well.
What many seem to either not know or choose to ignore is that you and I, the taxpayers, shoulder the risk and the misconduct of corporate giants such as those involved in the savings and loan scandals of the 80′s and the current financial, lending and insurance morass. Ladies and Gentlemen, we ALREADY have socialism in the U.S., but of course, like the rest of our government, it only works for those with money and power.