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

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/

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)

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

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

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

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.

New Mexico Politics: New Mexico FBIHOP:: Meet Bill the Rancher

Read the full story at FBIHOP:

I’ve never been one for politics, and Ed Tinsley is the only politician I’ve known on a personal level. Sometimes I think that if he treated me this way, how would he treat the rest of us in Southern New Mexico? Based on what I know about the man, he’ll pretend to be your friend as a candidate, and turn his back on you as a Congressman. Bill Vance Eunice, NM

New Mexico Politics: New Mexico FBIHOP:: Meet Bill the Rancher

McCain the Socialist!

At an October 2000 town hall on MSNBC’s Hardball, an audience member asked Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) about why the rich pay higher taxes than the middle class. McCain defended progressive taxation, stating, “I think it’s to some degree because we feel, obviously, that wealthy people can afford more”:

[T]he very wealthy, because they can afford tax lawyers and all kinds of loopholes, really don’t pay nearly as much as you think they do when you just look at the percentages. […]

So, look, here’s what I really believe, that when you are — reach a certain level of comfort, there’s nothing wrong with paying somewhat more.

Hello, Dan Foley? WTF?!

Dan Foley must be the biggest jackass in New Mexico – maybe even the Four Corners. Foley knows nothing about history – such as the mass migration of Southern Democrats to the Republican Party in response to the Civil Rights Movement and the open arms with which the GOP welcomed those former Dems. Worse, in an essay George Orwell would love, Foley explains Dems are the hate-mongers. Apparently he’s as clueless about current events. Listen to Hate Radio for a day, Dan, if you can stomach it. peace, mjh

Heath Haussamen on New Mexico Politics: What about the left’s ‘verbal terrorism?

By Dan Foley

Obama and his racist supporters have gone too far. Comparing Sen. John McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin to Democrat Gov. George C. Wallace has to be the straw that breaks the camel’s back!

How come Obama and his Far Left thugs continue to accuse Republicans of bringing race into this campaign when the fact is the only people who constantly bring race up are the left-wingers themselves? Why do the media let them get away with the continued hate- mongering and divisive race-baiting that the Obama campaign relishes?

Heath Haussamen on New Mexico Politics: What about the left’s ‘verbal terrorism?

Another McCain-Palin supporter yells ‘kill him!’ about Obama.»

The Scranton Times-Tribune notes that yet another McCain supporter at a rally today with Gov. Sarah Palin yelled “kill him!” in reference to Sen. Barack Obama:

Chris Hackett addressed the increasingly feisty crowd as they await the arrival of Gov. Palin. Each time the Republican candidate for the seat in the 10th Congressional District mentioned Barack Obama the crowd booed loudly. One man screamed “kill him!”

Last Monday, a supporter also yelled “kill him” at a rally. In the past weeks, McCain supporters have called Obama “an Arab,” “Little Hussein,” and a “terrorist.” (HT: TPM)

UPDATE: At a rally in Virginia Beach, a supporter yelled “Obama bin Laden!“:

E. J. Dionne Jr. – McCain and the Raging Right – washingtonpost.com

Yet culture war politics is relatively mild compared with the far-right appeals that are emerging this year. It is as if McCain’s loyalists overshot the ’60s and went back to the ’50s or even the ’30s.

What we are witnessing is the mainstreaming of the far right, a phenomenon that began to take shape with some of the earliest attacks on Bill Clinton in the 1990s.

False claims that Obama is Muslim, that he trained to overthrow the government and that he was educated in Wahhabi schools are a standard part of the political discussion. These fake stories come from voices on the ultra right that have dabbled in other forms of conspiracy, including classic anti-Semitism. McCain and his campaign do not pick up the most extreme charges. They just fan the flames by suggesting that voters don’t really know who Obama is, hinting at a sinister back story without filling in the details.

McCain cannot be blamed for all of the crazies who see in Obama a chance to earn fame and fortune by concocting lies about him. And yes, we should defend the speech rights even of those whose views we find abhorrent.

But the angry McCain-Palin crowds, and particularly those who threaten violence or shout racist epithets, should be a wake-up call to McCain. The dark hints about Obama that McCain’s campaign is dropping dovetail too nicely with the nasty trash floating around the Internet and the airwaves.

We are in the midst of what could become the worst economic downturn in decades. The last thing we need is a campaign that strengthens fanaticism, tarnishes the authority of the next president and whips up the worst kinds of prejudice. This works both ways: Obama should not be delegitimized if he wins, and McCain should not want to win in a way that would undermine his own capacity to lead.

When Christopher Buckley, a novelist and former speechwriter for George H.W. Bush, announced last week that he would vote for Obama (his first vote ever for a Democrat), he referred to words once spoken to him by his late father. “You know,” the conservative hero William F. Buckley Jr. said, “I’ve spent my entire lifetime separating the right from the kooks.”

McCain has an obligation, to his own legacy and the country he has served, to separate himself and his campaign from the kooks. Extremism in defense of liberty may be no vice, but extremism in pursuit of the presidency is as dysfunctional as it is degrading.

E. J. Dionne Jr. – McCain and the Raging Right – washingtonpost.com

PS: I take some comfort that most of the comments on Foley’s awful essay take him to task. Don’t let the liars and fools change the truth.

Duhbya Salutes America

see the youtube video

McSame Smirk

My thanks to Democracy for New Mexico: Prez Debate: “That One” Won for noting the following from the second debate.

Bomb, Bomb, Bomb
One of my favorite exchanges, as reported by the AP:

…Obama seemed to get the better of him in a discussion of whether the United States should violate Pakistan’s sovereignty if that’s what it takes to kill al-Qaida terrorists such as Osama bin Laden. McCain quoted Theodore Roosevelt, who said, “Talk softly, but carry a big stick.”

But Obama “likes to talk loudly,” McCain said. “In fact, he said he wants to announce that he’s going to attack Pakistan. Remarkable.”

Obama shot back: “Nobody called for the invasion of Pakistan. … If Pakistan is unable or unwilling to hunt down bin Laden and take him out, then we should.”

He continued: “Now, Sen. McCain suggests that somehow, you know, I’m green behind the ears and, you know, I’m just spouting off, and he’s somber and responsible.”

McCain smiled and said, “Thank you very much.” But the smile faded when Obama said: “This is the guy who sang, ‘Bomb, bomb, bomb Iran,’ who called for the annihilation of North Korea,” Obama said. “That I don’t think is an example of ‘speaking softly.’ This is the person who, after we had — we hadn’t even finished Afghanistan, where he said, ‘Next up, Baghdad.’

Democracy for New Mexico: Prez Debate: “That One” Won

McCain actually interrupted Obama with his smirking ‘thank you.’ It was a moment of Duhbya-like pettiness. peace, mjh

Rolling Stone on Maverick McCain

McCain Camp Ignores Questions About Candidate’s Military Record

By Jeff Stein, CQ Staff

Evidently taking a page from John Kerry ’s quest for the presidency in 2004, John McCain ’s campaign has decided — for now, anyway — not to respond to provocative attacks aimed squarely at his strong point: his reputation as a military hero.

The much talked about main broadside came in the form of a 12,000-word attack in Rolling Stone (“Make Believe Maverick,” by Tim Dickinson), which portrayed the hard-partying young McCain as a reckless pilot who totaled three jets, and whose career as a pilot was saved only by the pull of his father, commander of the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Fleet during the Vietnam War.

The piece, which Rolling Stone says has garnered 2.5 million hits on the magazine’s Web site since Oct. 6, has been the talk of the liberal blogosphere, but gotten zero attention from the mainstream media. …

The Rolling Stone piece … calls into question McCain’s military legend. …

“I doubt it will have much of an impact.,” says New York Times media columnist David Carr.

“There is a vertical axis of information in conservative circles that the swift boat moved on that is not replicated by liberals,” Carr said “The conservative talk radio shows have an ability to metastasize and amplify negative stories, and they won’t be punching in on this one.”

Washington Post blogger Dan Froomkin, a frequent Bush critic, agreed.

“One enormous difference compared to Kerry, in my mind, is that the [mainstream media], with the exception of the LA Times, has refused to pick up any elements of this story, whereas it served (wittingly and unwittingly) as a massive echo chamber for the Swift boating,” according to Froomkin.

Suppressing the Vote

As reported yesterday by The Missoulian, and denounced today by Project Vote…

[T]he Republican Party of Montana is challenging the eligibility to vote of at least 6,000 residents of that state—mostly in key Democratic strongholds—based solely on the fact that the residents have filed change-of-address cards with the U.S. Postal Service. While state GOP executive director Jacob Eaton claims the challenges are an attempt to protect “the integrity of the voting process,” such massive challenges at this late date threaten to overwhelm election officials, suppress turnout of eligible voters, and create chaos at the polls.

As noted in the Missoulan’s lede graf, the 6,000 challenged were voters are "in seven counties historically considered Democratic strongholds." They also report that "Only twice in the past 15 years has [the] Missoula County election administrator [where 3,422 of the challenges are] had anyone try to challenge another voter’s eligibility." …

UPDATE 10/4/08: James Sample at HuffPo reports that one of those 6,000 challenged voters who may lose their right to vote, is a former MT State Rep, and an Army Reservist, currently in New Jersey because he’s about to leave for Iraq. Again. He won’t be able to go to Montana to confirm his authenticity, unfortunately. First Lieutenant Kevin Furey has released this statement:

It is ironic that at the same time I am about to return to Iraq to help build a democracy that my own right to vote is being challenged at home for partisan purposes. These challenges are a blatant and offensive attempt to suppress the rights of voters.

[hattip to Cisco McSorley]