Powerful Blog Compares McCain To Bush

Worldwide, opinions of the United States have probably never been more negative in the history of our great nation. As CNN contributor Jack Cafferty points out, President George W. Bush would leave the Oval Office a wreck of what it once was prior to his inauguration. Not that former President Bill Clinton was necessarily the greatest man ever to walk through the Oval Office, but he certainly left the country better off than it is today. Clearly, Clinton was not without his flaws and scandals. But, where is this country right now? Many view Bush II as a man of great charm, but one who lacks depth. Here is one quote I extracted from the article (which I will link below) that particularly caught my attention. “George Bush’s record as a student, military man, businessman and leader of the free world is one of constant failure. And the part that troubles me most is he seems content with himself. He will leave office with the country $10 trillion in debt, fighting two wars, our international reputation in shambles, our government cloaked in secrecy and suspicion that his entire presidency has been a litany of broken laws and promises, our citizens’ faith in our own country ripped to shreds. Yet Bush goes bumbling along, grinning and spewing moronic one-liners, as though nobody understands what a colossal failure he has been. I fear to the depth of my being that John McCain is just like him.” Whether you agree or disagree with his words, the statement is powerful.

CNN contributor on McCain:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/18/cafferty.mccain/index.html

McCain Campaign Arrogance Upstages Their Own Candidate’s Success

Sen. John McCain’s attacks on NBC reporter Andrea Mitchell, who is a highly-credible straight-shooting journalist, is not only off base, but flat out stupid. The McCain campaign is killing itself with a self-inflicted wound. Instead of enjoying McCain’s strong performance at the Saddleback Forum, the campaign is crying about a report from Mitchell that McCain was not in a so-called “cone of silence” as he was supposed to be in – something the McCain campaign admitted to in its own attacks on Mitchell, NBC and the Obama campaign. The idiocy of the McCain campaign is that their zest to attack and eagerness to criticize Obama has taken away from their own candidate’s strong effort in the forum. McCain was in his environment and he excelled in a format suited to his strengths. It will be interesting to see what happens when he is challenged with questions that make him uncomfortable and test his anger and quick temper (his mostly pitiful albeit somewhat improving civil rights record, the question about medical coverage of Viagra vs. birth control that twisted him in knots). The McCain campaign accuses the Obama campaign of whining, but who really is doing the whining considering the protests of McCain’s people to NBC and the fact that it felt the need to address the situation on its Web site and at every turn in the media. They should be celebrating a solid effort by their candidate, but instead they have been unable to resist an opportunity to make an attack on the media and the Obama campaign – even at the cost of an opportunity to positively tout their own candidate. McCain’s people believe Mitchell lacks credibility and impartiality with respect to the claim about their candidate’s advantage, but they think she is credible when she says the comments were sparked by the Obama campaign since they can use that to their advantage. It’s all about politics. What a McShame.

From John McCain’s Web site:
http://www.johnmccain.com/McCainReport/Read.aspx?guid=86cd988c-66ce-4416-951e-489c30596ee1

McCain campaign whining about media bias after claiming Obama campaign is whining:
http://washingtonindependent.com/view/mccain-camp-charges

McCain Tries To Bring Lewis On Board … But, Not So Fast!

Sen. John McCain has shaky credibility with respect to civil rights. In fact, you could argue he has a downright poor civil rights record for most of his political career. He once stood defiantly against the holiday for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and he has and continues to oppose affirmative action by echoing the partisan right wing talking points of referring to them as “quotas” which they absolutely are not. But, calling affirmative action “quotas” inflames many of his ultra-conservative base who look at affirmative action as lesser-qualified people of color stealing jobs from better-qualified white people. At the Saddleback Forum, McCain tried to apparently solidify his spot in the black community by trying to ride the reputation of Rep. John Lewis, who is an unsung hero of the civil rights movement (I will add a link about his career and efforts with the civil rights movement) – particularly in Selma, Ala. attempting to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge as part of Bloody Sunday. Lewis was one of many blacks who took part in the march only to be beaten by authorities (local police and state troopers) who were the enemies of civil rights. McCain, however, jumped the gun trying to latch onto Lewis to gain strengthen his race cred. McCain has talked glowingly of Lewis, but unfortunately he has done little too actually build a relationship with Lewis and with leaders of civil rights from the black community. Here is a passage from the piece linked to below, “In response to McCain’s latest invocation of his name, Rep. Lewis said in a statement requested by Mother Jones, ‘I cannot stop one human being, even a presidential candidate, from admiring the courage and sacrifice of peaceful protesters on the Edmund Pettus Bridge or making comments about it.’ But, he added, ‘Sen. McCain and I are colleagues in the US Congress, not confidantes. He does not consult me. And I do not consult him.’”

 

John Lewis to Mother Jones about McCain:

http://www.motherjones.com/mojoblog/archives/2008/08/9293_john_mccain_john_lewis_wise_man.html 

 

John Lewis bio:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lewis_(politician)

Limbaugh: When Black People Are Successful It’s Affirmative Action

Conservative extremist (or is that an oxymoron) Rush Limbaugh has played the “if black people are successful it is because of affirmative action” card. You hear it all of the time from old and conservative white men. They don’t get a job, don’t get into law school, don’t get into college and it’s the same old tired tale: An unqualified black person (the late Jesse Helms would be smiling at the thought of this considering a campaign he once ran) taking something he or she does not deserve from a more qualified white person. Honestly, you have to wonder if Limbaugh would find any black man (or probably black woman) as competent to be president of the United States. it seems that almost any time a black person is successful, at the highest levels, leave it to someone to blame it on affirmative action either explicitly or implicitly. And, Limbaugh says that Sen. Barack Obama is only getting away with this is because white people are afraid to say “no” to the black man. In other words, we need the white man to put this uppity black man, who is getting to big for his own good, in his place. This is the same Limbaugh who ridiculously marginalized Philadelphia Eagles’ quarterback Donovan McNabb by attributing his success and fame to the National Football League and followers of the NFL simply wanting a black quarterback to be successful. Limbaugh was stupid then and is stupid now. I’m trying to remember what Limbaugh said when George W. Bush was running for president and people thought he was unqualified.

Limbaugh running his mouth talking racial garbage:
http://mediamatters.org/items/200808200002?f=h_latest

Limbaugh on McNabb:
http://www.cnn.com/2003/SHOWBIZ/10/02/limbaugh/

Praise For Fox News … Well, Sort Of

It’s not often I find myself in a position to say anything even remotely positive about Fox News Channel, a network that has historically been less than welcoming of and fair to Democrats, mainstream-thinking Americans, and – most obvious of all – minorities (particularly black Americans). But, I must commend Alan Colmes, who is sort of the co-host of the Hannity and Colmes program on Fox News. Colmes is generally put in a role of Robin to Batman (Hannity) in the extreme right-wing topics and perspectives and overall conservative theme of the show. Colmes seems like a good man and I think he showed that during a recent episode of the show when he was in the minority (pun intended) on the show as he battled a host of conservatives on what is a typically unbalanced and right-leaning Fox News panel. Sean Hannity, the man the show is clearly built for, was on his soapbox running his trap about how hard it would be to trust a candidate who has cheated on his wife and lied to his wife (this is of course in reference to the now overly-publicized infidelity of former presidential candidate John Edwards). Hannity, as is typically the case, ignored the fact that McCain has a major infidelity blemish on his record that strained relationships with in his family and ended his first marriage. Hannity made all kinds of excuses for McCain while trashing Edwards in a blatantly hypocritical stance. I can’t bring myself to praise Fox News, but for one night I commend Colmes for pointing out a ridiculous double standard and for one instance breaking free of the shackles of conservatism that has infected Fox News to the point of being virtually incurable.

Colin Powell Has A Major Decision

Many people have mixed emotions with respect to former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and former Secretary of State Colin Powell. Powell seems to fit the profile of a centrist Democrat, but he has been involved with the Republican Party (granted he does lean closer to the middle than most hardcore conservatives would like to admit). Powell, who is black, finds himself in a bit of a strange position: deciding whether or not he should endorse (and presumably vote for) Sen. Barack Obama (who is black) the Democratic Party nominee for president of the United States. I have always had a lot of respect for Gen. Powell and that was true even as he became involved in President George W. Bush’s presidency. Powell spoke eloquently and powerfully about the virtues of affirmative action, to a crowd of conservatives at a Republican national convention, and he has always stuck to his principles (maybe that is why he left the Bush Administration and has seemingly put distance between himself and the current President of the United States). I think Powell will do the right thing and realize that Sen. John McCain, the Republican nominee for president, is simply more of what we’ve experienced during the last seven-plus years with W. I would hope that Colin Powell would come out with a strong endorsement of Obama. It seems clear Powell has far more in common with Powell than with McCain. Endorsing McCain would do this country no good and I suspect (or hope) Powell understands this and knows better.

Jerk Boy vs. Good Guy

What are the qualities of the jerk that make him more appealing to women than the good guy who cares and seems to have his head on straight? I did a little preliminary searching on the Internet and found some interesting characteristics of the jerk that makes him more attractive to the woman than the good guy. Now, some of it I’ve already considered, but some of it I had not and all of it was interesting to hear from the perspectives of other people.
So, why do women like jerks: 1. Women see guys who are jerks as somehow having more confidence and being more aggressive and smooth than the nice guy who steps to her with a more respectful approach. 2. Women want to play amateur psychologist and convert jerk boy into a respectable man in some kind of social experiment. 3. The jerk is usually a high-profile sort of cat who draws a lot of attention to himself and the woman he is with. This guy is a good showpiece in spite of what he might lack in actual substance. 4. One person suggested that women like the emotional roller coaster of being with a guy who satisfies something she needs even if it comes at a cost, emotionally. 5. The nice guy is not a challenge the way that the jerk is. I don’t know how much of this is true and how much of it is B.S. I guess, between the two extremes, the truth is probably somewhere in the middle. And, the above does not factor in looks which is important to a lot of people (men and women). I’m going to keep digging.

Report: Lone Black Reporter Booted Out of McCain Event

I was shocked, to say the least, as I watched MSNBC on Monday night to see Keith Olberman interviewing a black newspaper writer from the Tallahassee Democrat named Stephen Price who was booted from an event for Sen. John McCain, the Republican candidate for president. Apparently, there was some bull made up that he was standing in a place reserved for national writers. Problem was that supposedly Price was not the only non-National reporter in the area … he was just the only non-National reporter booted for the most heinous of crimes, RWB: Reporting While Black. I commend the other reporters who stood up for Price and questioned why this man was being singled out for doing little more than his job. McCain’s campaign spokesperson was full of excuses and declared (even though he was not present) that it had nothing to do with race. Too bad no one can come up with a concrete answer as to what it was about. What are the odds that the only person singled out for this was the one black reporter in a sea of faces of other reporters. Apparently, at least one reporter who stood up for Price also was booted.

From The Daily Kos:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/8/2/141655/8118/37/561349

The Tallahassee Democrat:
http://www.floridacapitalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080802/CAPITOLNEWS/808020312

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