Editorial News, Analysis News

20080630
John McCain - Barack Obama - 2008 Election - Military - Media - Politics
"“Attacking” McCain’s Military Record: What [General] Wesley Clark really said; how the press missed it." ... "So: The latest round of mock outrage—in a presidential race that has turned the tactic into an art form—now comes in response to comments made by General Wesley Clark. Appearing as a surrogate for Barack Obama on CBS’s “Face the Nation”, Clark, in reference to John McCain, said:"

"I certainly honor his service as a prisoner of war…But he hasn’t held executive responsibility. That large squadron in the Navy that he commanded—that wasn’t a wartime squadron. He hasn’t been there and ordered the bombs to fall." ... "When moderator Bob Schieffer interjected that “Barack Obama has not had any of those experiences, either, nor has he ridden in a fighter plane and gotten shot down”, Clark responded: “Well, I don’t think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president.”"

"The McCain camp, sensing an opportunity, complained that Clark had “attacked John McCain’s military service record.” Of course, Clark had done nothing of the kind. He had questioned the relevance of McCain’s combat experience as a qualification to be president of the United States. This is a distinction that you’d expect any reasonably intelligent nine-year old to be able to grasp." ... "But many in the press have been unable to." -By Zachary Roth -CJR.org

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WATCH: General Wes Clark on John McCain on Face the Nation June 29, 2008

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John McCain - Bud Day - Politics - 2008 Election - 2004 Election - Military - History
"McCain’s new Truth Squad has former member of Swift Boat Veterans." ... "Following the lead of [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] Barack Obama’s campaign, [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] John McCain is establishing his own Truth Squad – an effort to “respond to unfair attacks” on him military record. One of the members of McCain’s new Truth Squad — Bud Day — was a member of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, and appeared in an attack ad for the group in 2004. Day said of [2004 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] John Kerry’s military service: “My view is he basically will go down in history sometime as the Benedict Arnold of 1971.”" -ThinkProgress.org

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20080627
Grover Norquist - Jack Abramoff - John McCain - Racial - Politics - History - Military - People - Economic - Illinois - 2008 Election - Obama
"Norquist describes Obama as ‘John Kerry with a tan’." ... "Grover Norquist has quite a history of being unhinged. He’s said the Estate Tax is morally equivalent to the Nazi Holocaust; he’s called WWII veterans “anti-American,” and he’s called bipartisanship “another name for date rape.”" ... "But this clown isn’t done pushing the envelope."

"Norquist dropped by The [Los Angeles] Times’ Washington bureau today and, as part of his negative critique of Obama’s liberal stances on economic issues and other matters, he termed the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee “John Kerry with a tan.”" ... "Since Norquist isn’t running for anything, he can get away with such remarks; we doubt McCain will be incorporating the line into his speeches anytime soon."

"Greg Sargent responded, “Guess it could have been worse. He could have termed the Illinois Senator ‘John Kerry in blackface.’ Such admirable restraint on Norquist’s part!" ... "Now, the LAT’s Don Frederick noted that Norquist can “get away with such remarks,” presumably because he’s not a candidate and everyone expects lunacy from him anyway. He’ll “get away with” this, just as Norquist got away with the other instances of insane rhetoric, not to mention his role in the Abramoff scandal, which somehow seems to have been largely forgotten." ... "But I’m going to go ahead and argue that this probably should matter in the context of the presidential campaign, not just because Norquist is using offensive racial language, but also because he’s suddenly best buddies with [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] John McCain." -Steve Benen -TheCarpetbaggerReport.com

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20080625
Faith - Politics - Justice - Obama - 2008 Election - "James Dobson Doesn't Speak For Me." ... "Dr. James Dobson recently attacked [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] Barack Obama for a 2006 speech that Obama gave on his Christian faith. Does he speak for you?" ... "James Dobson doesn't speak for me. He doesn't speak for me when he uses religion as a wedge to divide; He doesn't speak for me when he speaks as the final arbiter on the meaning of the Bible; James Dobson doesn't speak for me when he uses the beliefs of others as a line of attack; He doesn't speak for me when he denigrates his neighbor's views when they don't line up with his; He doesn't speak for me when he seeks to confine the values of my faith to two or three issues alone; What does speak for me is David's psalm celebrating how good and pleasant it is when we come together in unity; Micah speaks for me in reminding us that the Lord requires us to act justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with Him; The prophet Isaiah speaks for me in his call for all to come and reason together and also to seek justice, encourage the oppressed and to defend the cause of the vulnerable; The book of Nehemiah speaks for me in its example to work with our neighbors, not against them, to restore what was broken in our communities; The book of Matthew speaks for me in saying to bless those that curse you and pray for those who persecute you; The words of the apostle Paul speak for me in saying that words spoken and deeds done without love amount to nothing. The apostle John speaks for me in reminding us of Jesus' command to love one another. The world will know His disciples by that love." ... "READ Barack Obama "Call to Renewal" Speech. [Barack Obama on Faith and Politics:WATCH: Barack Obama "Call To Renewal" (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) ... Barack Obama: "10 Questions: Religion in America."]" -By Pastor Kirbyjon Caldwell et al -JamesDobsonDoesntSpeakForMe.com

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"Call to Renewal"

by Barack Obama

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McCain - Bin Laden - Chris Shays - Charlie Black - Terrorism - Politics - History - 2004 Election - 2008 Election - Connecticut - US - Pakistan
"McCain In 2004: "Bin Laden May Have Just Given Us A Little Boost"." ... "Back in 2004['s election], as [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate John] McCain was stumping in Connecticut on behalf of GOP [GOP=Grand Old Party=Republican Connecticut Representative] Rep. Chris Shays, McCain said flatly that the recent release of an Osama Bin Laden tape had likely given the GOP a "little boost."" ... "This is courtesy of The Hour, a daily paper in Norwalk, Connecticut, in November of that year [2004] (also verified in Nexis)..."

"But as McCain greets two breakfast-eating business partners, one from Stamford [Connecticut] and the other from Bridgeport [Connecticut], the topic turns to the presidential race. The two men tell the senator they support [Republican] President George W. Bush, and to that end, McCain says, "(Osama) Bin Laden may have just given us a little boost. Amazing, huh?".... " ... "The two men, who requested anonymity, nod their heads in agreement. Later, while riding with Shays on an RV to a rally at the Stamford Government Center, McCain further explains, "(The video) is helpful to President Bush because it puts the focus on the war on terrorism.""

"The reference was to a tape of Bin Laden that had emerged a few days earlier. The McCain camp didn't immediately return an email." ... "[McCain's top adviser Charlie] Black also said that the assassination of [Pakistan's Presidential Candidate] Benazir Bhutto had also helped McCain, something the McCain camp also disavowed. But back in December [2007], when the assassination happened, he [McCain]  said it could "serve to enhance" his "credentials."" -By Greg Sargent -TPMElectionCentral .TalkingPointsMemo

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20080622
US - Iraq - Afghanistan - Military - Terrorism - Media - Politics - McCain - 2008 Election
"Now That We’ve ‘Won,’ Let’s Come Home." ... "The Iraq war’s defenders like to bash the press for pushing the bad news and ignoring the good. Maybe they’ll be happy to hear that the bad news doesn’t rate anymore. When a bomb killed at least 51 Iraqis at a Baghdad market on Tuesday, ending an extended run of relative calm, only one of the three network newscasts (NBC’s) even bothered to mention it." ... "The only problem is that no news from Iraq isn’t good news — it’s no news. The night of the Baghdad bombing the CBS war correspondent Lara Logan appeared as Jon Stewart’s guest on “The Daily Show” to lament the vanishing television coverage and the even steeper falloff in viewer interest. “Tell me the last time you saw the body of a dead American soldier,” she said. After pointing out that more soldiers died in Afghanistan than Iraq last month, she asked, “Who’s paying attention to that?”" ... "Should voters tune in, they’ll also discover that the [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate John] McCain policy is nonsensical on its face. If “we are winning” and the surge is a “success,” then what is the rationale for keeping American forces bogged down there while the Taliban regroups ominously in Afghanistan? Why, if this is victory, does Mr. McCain keep threatening that “chaos and genocide” will follow our departure? And why should we take the word of a prophet who failed to anticipate the chaos and ethnic cleansing that would greet our occupation?" ... "Vanished into the memory hole are such earlier examples of the McCain Iraq wisdom as “the end is very much in sight” (April 9, 2003) and “there’s not a history of clashes that are violent between Sunnis and Shiites” (later that same month)." -By Frank Rich -NYTimes

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[Note: there is a very long history of violent clashes between the Sunnis and Shiites.]

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20080620
John McCain - Criminal - Financing - Lawyering - Politics - Federal - 2008 Election
"McCain Breaking the Law in Plain Sight." ... "I mentioned earlier today that it was quite a thing to see John McCain denouncing Barack Obama for breaking his word on public financing when McCain himself is at this moment breaking the law in continuing to spend over the spending limits he promised to abide by through the primary season in exchange for public financing. (By the FEC's [Federal Election Commission's] rules, we're still in the primary phase of the election and will be until the conventions.)" ... "I want to return to this subject though because this is not hyperbole or some throw away line. He's really doing it. McCain opting into public financing, accepted the spending limits and then profited from that opt-in by securing a campaign saving loan. And then he used some clever, but not clever enough lawyering, to opt back out. And the person charged with saying what flies and what doesn't -- the Republican head of the FEC -- said he's not allowed to do that. He can't opt out unilaterally unless the FEC says he can." ... "The most generous interpretation of what happened is that McCain's lawyer came up with an ingenious legal two step that allowed him to double dip in the campaign finance system, eat his cake and spend it too. But even if you buy that line, successful gaming of the system doesn't really count as strict adherence. And the point is irrelevant since the head of the FEC -- a Republican -- says McCain cannot do this on his own. " -By Josh Marshall -TalkingPointsMemo.com

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WATCH: "TPMtv: [McCain] Campaign Finance Deformed" -By Josh Marshall -Veracifier

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20080618
Torture - Crimes - Unlawful - US - Iraq - Afghanistan - Guantanamo Bay - Cuba - Military - Intelligence - Prison - Terrorism -War Crimes - Politics - Human - Rights - Medical - Psychological - Science
"Broken Laws, Broken Lives: Medical Evidence of Torture by the US." ... "About: Broken Laws, Broken Lives shows the human consequences of harsh and unlawful US interrogation practices. This landmark report reveals the excruciating pain and continued suffering of men who, never charged with any crime, endured torture at US detention facilities in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantánamo Bay [Cuba]. Based on internationally accepted standards for clinical assessment of torture claims, the report documents practices used to bring about long-lasting pain, terror, humiliation, and shame for months on end." -Physicians for Human Rights -BrokenLives.info

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20080615
John McCain - Hillary Clinton - Women - Health - Abortion - Money - Law
"Angry Clinton Women [HEART] McCain?" ... "Ten years ago [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] John McCain had to apologize for regaling a Republican audience with a crude sexual joke about Hillary and Chelsea Clinton and Janet Reno. Last year he had to explain why he didn’t so much as flinch when a supporter asked him on camera, “How do we beat the bitch?” But these days Mr. McCain just loves the women." ... "You’d never guess that Mr. McCain is a fierce foe of abortion rights or that he voted to terminate the federal family-planning program that provides breast-cancer screenings. You’d never know that his [McCain's] new campaign blogger, recruited from The Weekly Standard, had shown his genuine affection for Mrs. Clinton earlier this year by portraying her as a liar and whiner and by piling on with a locker-room jeer after she’d been called a monster. “Tell us something we don’t know,” he wrote." ... "But while the McCain campaign apparently believes that women are easy marks for its latent feminist cross-dressing, a reality check suggests that most women can instantly identify any man who’s hitting on them for selfish ends. New polls show Mr. Obama opening up a huge lead among female voters — beating Mr. McCain by 13 percentage points in the Gallup and Rasmussen polls and by 19 points in the latest Wall Street Journal-NBC News survey." ... "... the notion that all female Clinton supporters became “angry white women” once their candidate lost — to the hysterical extreme where even lifelong Democrats would desert their own party en masse — is itself a sexist stereotype. That’s why some of the same talking heads and Republican operatives who gleefully insulted Mrs. Clinton are now peddling this fable on such flimsy anecdotal evidence." -By Frank Rich -NYTimes

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20080613
Tim Russert - Barack Obama - John McCain - Internet - EMail - Media -  - Politics - Religion - Indiana - Illinois - US - Iraq - Iran - Military - Money - Social Security - 2008 Election
[NOTE: On the day MSNBC's Meet the Press television political journalist Tim Russert died, MSNBC published this interview with Tim Russert:]
"Vigilance needed on campaign claims: Big issues, not smears, need to be the focus." ... "Msnbc: Tim, www.fightthesmears.com is a web site launched by the [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] Barack Obama campaign to combat potentially damaging rumor about the candidate and his wife, Michelle. Is this necessary?  How big of a problem is this really?" ... "Tim Russert: It’s amazing how much the Internet has changed our lives.  People get emails that make accusations without foundation and they are circulated around the country within seconds and suddenly become topics of conversations around water coolers or in lunchrooms." ... "I remember being in Indianapolis [Indiana's capital] covering the Indiana primary and a man came up to me and said he wasn’t going to vote for [Illinois] Senator Obama because he was very concerned about the comments made by Jeremiah Wright, Obama’s pastor.  I said, “That’s interesting.  As a reporter, I’m curious what comments particularly bothered you?”  He said, “Well, I can’t think of any that come to mind, but I also read on the Internet that he’s a Muslim.”  And I said, “Now wait a minute.  You can’t have both.  You can’t be offended by his Christian minister and then say he’s a Muslim.  You’ve got to pick one.”" ... "But that just underscores what we’re dealing with in this modern era." ... "Now I’m told there’s a counter organization with a very similar name that is going to be positioned and posted to spread the rumors, so that people that go to the Internet to get clarification will go to the wrong web site and get confused." ... "It’s a virus.  You have bloggers on both sides, liberals and conservatives, Republicans and Democrats all trying to utilize this vehicle without any kind of fact checking and without any kind of editorial control." ... "Msnbc:  Given the way people use the Internet, do you wonder if there are going to be some things said or done during the course of this campaign that will be very unsettling?" ... "Russert:  That’s what we have to be conscious of and vigilant against, particularly at the end of the campaign as things are put out there.  We’ve already had a few fake videos with different words dubbed in and people say, “This must be true because I saw it on the Internet.”" ... "What we hope to do in this campaign is recognize there are big differences on big issues between John McCain and Barack Obama – the war in Iraq, Iran, Social Security, taxes.  You don’t need to get into this other stuff.  If it does surface, then I think the mainstream media has an obligation not to just instinctively put it out there without vetting it.  Or, if it is something that is manufactured as a virus, report on that – who did it and why.  But sometimes it’s very hard to trace it back to its original source." -MSNBC

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20080609
John McCain - Racism - Homophobia - Sexism - Language - Politics - Internet - Media - Obama - 2008 Election
"McCain's Web site talks about the anti-Christ being 'a Jew,' Hillary being a 'bitch,' Obama being a 'Muslim fag,' and America bringing 9/11 on itself." ... "UPDATE: Jed finds more on other McCain sites, including a reference to Obama as a n*gger." ... "Some folks on the right thought they'd pull an "I gotcha" on Obama by trying to find kooky things visitors have written on [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate Barack] Obama's blog. So, I thought I'd take a look at [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] John McCain's campaign Web site and do a search for words like "fag," "bitch," and "Jew," for starters. What I found wasn't pretty. It's interesting to note that each comment has a "flag as offensive" button next to it, so that readers can inform the moderator that the comments are offensive. Either McCain's readers don't find any of this offensive, or McCain's staff was informed and didn't care." -By John Aravosis -AmericaBlog.com

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20080606
Dick Cheney - Douglas Feith - Terrorism - Politicians - Government - People - Military -Intelligence - US - Iraq
"Clarke On Iraq War Architects: ‘We Shouldn’t Let These People Back Into Polite Society’." ... "Noting that “prominent Democrats” had ruled out impeachment, MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann asked former counterterrorism adviser Richard Clarke on his show last night, what “remedy” there could be for the lies and misinformation highlighted in the new Senate Intelligence Committee reports on the Bush administration’s misuse of pre-war Iraq intelligence." ... "“Someone should have to pay in some way for the decisions that they made to mislead the American people,” said Clarke. He suggested that “some sort of truth and reconciliation commission” might be appropriate because, he said, we can’t “let these people back into polite society”:"

"CLARKE: Well, there may be some other kind of remedy. There may be some sort of truth and reconciliation commission process that’s been tried in other countries, South Africa, Salvador and what not, where if you come forward and admit that you were in error or admit that you lied, admit that you did something, then you’re forgiven. Otherwise, you are censured in some way."

"Now, I just don’t think we can let these people back into polite society and give them jobs on university boards and corporate boards and just let them pretend that nothing ever happened when there are 4,000 Americans dead and 25,000 Americans grieviously wounded, and they’ll carry those wounds and suffer all the rest of their lives"
WATCH VIDEO: "Clarke on Iraq War Architects."

"Unfortunately, as Clarke hints, most of the architects of the Iraq war are still fully embraced by “polite society.”" ... "Some, like [Republicans] President Bush and Vice President Cheney, are still working in the White House. But for many of those who left, “the neocon welfare system” has been generous:"

"- Last fall, former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was named a “distinguished visiting fellow” at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, where he focuses on “issues pertaining to ideology and terror.”"

"- After a controversial tenure as the president of the World Bank, former Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz is a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank."

 "- Richard Perle, the chairman of Defense Policy Board during the run up to the Iraq war, also landed on the payroll of the American Enterprise Institute, where he is a resident fellow."

"Despite their re-emergence into “polite society,” these war architects have largely refused to admit that they lied. In fact, some, like former Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Doug Feith, insist that the American people only feel misled about Iraq because “they misremember a lot."" -ThinkProgress.org

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