mjh's blog

How to Win Friends and Influence People

Here’s an excerpt from a vile letter from the fanatical Randall Terry:

[I]f you are one of those Christians – Evangelical, Protestant, or Catholic, who thinks it would be fine if Obama becomes President, you might as well go away now. Your mind is so muddled, your ethics and priorities are so warped, that there is probably no reaching you. God forgive your insanity and treachery.

Way to reach out, dude. Enjoy your obscurity. peace, mjh

(No Ratings Yet)

 Loading ...

The Party ofFear

 FiveThirtyEight.com: Electoral Projections Done Right: McCain Miami Rally, Getting Ugly Down Here

After the rally, we witnessed a near-street riot involving the exiting McCain crowd and two Cuban-American Obama supporters. Tony Garcia, 63, and Raul Sorando, 31, were suddenly surrounded by an angry mob. There is a moment in a crowd when something goes from mere yelling to a feeling of danger, and that’s what we witnessed. As photographers and police raced to the scene, the crowd elevated from stable to fast-moving scrum, and the two men were surrounded on all sides as we raced to the circle.

The event maybe lasted a minute, two at the most, before police competently managed to hustle the two away from the scene and out of the danger zone. Only FiveThirtyEight tracked the two men down for comment, a quarter mile down the street.
“People were screaming ‘Terrorist!’ ‘Communist!’ ‘Socialist!’” Sorando said when we caught up with him. “I had a guy tell me he was gonna kill me.”
Asked what had precipitated the event, “We were just chanting ‘Obama!’ and holding our signs. That was it. And the crowd suddenly got crazy.”

FiveThirtyEight.com: Electoral Projections Done Right: McCain Miami Rally, Getting Ugly Down Here

- – - – -

On Saturday, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) gave little-noticed remarks at Sioux City’s West High School during an appearance by Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK). King went beyond the traditional right-wing talking points — which brand Obama a “Marxist” who adheres to “socialism” — and said that he would turn the United States into a “totalitarian dictatorship.” From a report by the Iowa Independent:

King, known for provocative, partisan remarks, suggested Obama actually could be classified as even more extreme than a socialist. King also said his party is the only one with a legitimate claim on representing freedom as Americans know it.

“When you take a lurch to the left you end up in a totalitarian dictatorship,” King said. “There is no freedom to the left. It’s always to our side of the aisle.” …

Speaking in Exira, IA on Aug. 21, King claimed that Obama was anti-American and raised by polygamists and “left wing hard core atheists”:

“Obama was not raised with an intentional attitude toward Americanism. … The way to look at the reasons Obama doesn’t place his hand over his heart when the National Anthem is playing, or wear an American flag pin is primarily because he is not willful or spiteful, but because it just doesn’t occur to him because it’s not the way he’s been raised. American patriotism is not imprinted on his mind or in his heart, because he wasn’t raised as an American.”

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/10/28/king-obama-dictator/

(No Ratings Yet)

 Loading ...

McCain appeals to Westerners at Albuquerque rally

Appeals may be ironic. peace, mjh

Associated Press – October 25, 2008 2:05 PM ET

ALBUQUERQUE (AP) – Republican presidential candidate John McCain has held the first of 2 visits to New Mexico communities today with a rally at the state fairgrounds in Albuquerque.

McCain appeared with his wife, Cindy, before a crowd of about 1,500 that waved blue McCain-Palin signs and chanted, “USA, USA!”

McCain told the crowd he has a fight ahead of him before Election Day.

El Paso/Las Cruces News, Weather, Sports and Entertainment – KDBC 4 – We are CBS! | McCain appeals to Westerners at Albuquerque rally

This in from FBIHOP via newmexiken.

New Mexico Politics: New Mexico FBIHOP:: Less Than a Thousand at McCain Rally; Campaign Lies About Crowd Size (updated)

(No Ratings Yet)

 Loading ...

Conservative Anti-Intellectualism — What Happened to those Self-claimed “Deep Thinkers”?

E. J. Dionne Jr. – Civil War on the Right – washingtonpost.com

For years, many of the elite conservatives were happy to harvest the votes of devout Christians and gun owners by waging a phony class war against “liberal elitists” and “leftist intellectuals.” Suddenly, the conservative writers are discovering that the very anti-intellectualism their side courted and encouraged has begun to consume their movement.

The cause of Edmund Burke, Leo Strauss, Robert Nisbet and William F. Buckley Jr. is now in the hands of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity — and Sarah Palin. Reason has been overwhelmed by propaganda, ideas by slogans, learned manifestoes by direct-mail hit pieces.

And then there is George W. Bush. Conservatives once hailed him as creating an enduring majority on behalf of their cause. Now, they cast him as the goat in their story of decline.

E. J. Dionne Jr. – Civil War on the Right – washingtonpost.com

(No Ratings Yet)

 Loading ...

Who Is an Elitist? McCain and Palin Explain | The Trail | washingtonpost.com

Palin derides ‘elites,’ but then says she rejects labels.»

During an interview with NBC’s Brian Williams which aired tonight, Gov. Sarah Palin offered two contradictory statements in the span of just a few minutes. When asked who is “an elite,” Palin answered: “Oh, I guess just people who think they’re better than anyone else.” Moments later, here’s how Palin responded when asked if she’s a “feminist”:

I’m not gonna label myself. And I think that’s what annoys a lot of Americans – especially in a political campaign – is to start trying to label different parts of America, different backgrounds.

Who Is an Elitist? McCain and Palin Explain | The Trail | washingtonpost.com

By Juliet Eilperin
For anyone wondering exactly what constitutes an “elitist” in the eyes of GOP presidential nominee John McCain and vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams has discovered the answer.

In an interview that will air tonight on the Nightly News, McCain and Palin give slightly different takes on the subject. Palin’s view? Anyone who’s snotty. McCain’s? Anyone who lives in New York or Washington, the town where he’s spent much of his time for the past quarter-century.

Here are their answers, in their own words:

WILLIAMS: Who is a member of the elite?

PALIN: Oh, I guess just people who think that they’re better than anyone else. And — John McCain and I are so committed to serving every American. Hardworking, middle-class Americans who are so desiring of this economy getting put back on the right track. And winning these wars. And America’s starting to reach her potential. And that is opportunity and hope provided everyone equally. So anyone who thinks that they are — I guess — better than anyone else, that’s — that’s my definition of elitism.

WILLIAMS: So it’s not education? It’s not income-based? It’s —

PALIN: Anyone who thinks that they’re better than someone else.

WILLIAMS: — a state of mind? It’s not geography?

PALIN: ‘Course not.

WILLIAMS: Senator?

MCCAIN: I — I know where a lot of ‘em live. (LAUGH)

WILLIAMS: Where’s that?

MCCAIN: Well, in our nation’s capital and New York City. I’ve seen it. I’ve lived there. I know the town. I know — I know what a lot of these elitists are. The ones that she never went to a cocktail party with in Georgetown. I’ll be very frank with you. Who think that they can dictate what they believe to America rather than let Americans decide for themselves.

Who Is an Elitist? McCain and Palin Explain | The Trail | washingtonpost.com

(No Ratings Yet)

 Loading ...

Polls

 The Page – by Mark Halperin – TIME

October Set of Big Ten Battleground Polls

Numbers from second set of polls from the Big Ten conference states:

Illinois: Obama 61, McCain 32
Indiana: Obama 51, McCain 41
Iowa: Obama 52, McCain 39
Ohio: Obama 53, McCain 41
Michigan: Obama 58, McCain 36
Minnesota: Obama 57, McCain 38
Pennsylvania: Obama 52, McCain 41
Wisconsin: Obama 53, McCain 40

National number: Obama 52, McCain 42. Error margin 3.1 points.

Dates conducted: Oct. 19-22. Error margin: 4.2 points.

Organized by the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The Page – by Mark Halperin – TIME

(No Ratings Yet)

 Loading ...

Tax the Rich

Report: McCain’s tax plan would have saved the McCains $730,000.»

Earlier this year, the Center for American Progress Action Fund calculated that Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) tax plan would have saved his wife Cindy and himself $373,429, based on their 2006 tax returns. Since then, McCain has proposed additional tax cuts and Cindy has released another year of tax returns, so CAPAF re-calculated the McCains’ savings. Now, if McCain’s tax proposals were enacted, he and his wife would have saved $730,000 over 2006 and 2007.

Read the full analysis here.

(No Ratings Yet)

 Loading ...