By Manifesto Joe
John McCain, he of the many smirks on C-Span split-screen TV, invoked "Joe the plumber" many times during Wednesday night's debate, doing the best he could to source some kind of game-changer.
Turns out that Joe isn't exactly the sort of guy Big Mac was betting on. He's not a licensed plumber. His hope of buying the business he works for is, by his own admission, a long shot. He owes just under $1,200 in back taxes. And even if he were to miraculously reach the income bracket that he was referring to in his silly exchange with Barack Obama, analysts say it's doubtful that he would owe much at all in extra taxes. In the Obama plan, he certainly won't owe any more in his current bracket, and would likely get a cut.
Let's have a closer look at "Joe," courtesy of Yahoo! News:
Here's the link.
There's more about "Joe" apparently. He appears to be related to one Charles Keating by marriage. You know, of the Keating Five, back in the 1980s dregs of John McCain's legislative past. Here's a link to this tidbit. And then, there's some kind of Alaska sled dog connection rumored ...
McCain is obviously doing anything he can to pull this one out of his anus, and failing horribly by not doing any homework. I'll stop short of the allegation that this man was a crude Republican "plant." I don't want to smell that one, either. And, by the way -- if the Palin selection, and then "Joe the Plumber" as a final debate centerpiece indicate what kind of judgment McCain would exercise as president ...
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
Showing posts with label John McCain. Show all posts
Showing posts with label John McCain. Show all posts
Friday, October 17, 2008
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Fundamental Pettiness Of Palin Doesn't Escape Attention of Panel In Her Home State
By Manifesto Joe
The image of a barracuda may sit well with certain voters -- the right-wing fringe, the kind whom John McCain has generally been indulging amid their outbursts of "Kill him!" and "Terrorist" at the rallies, in reference to Barack Obama. But that image apparently didn't sit well with members of an Alaska legislative panel.
The chief investigator of that panel concluded Friday that Sarah Palin, as Alaska's governor, unlawfully abused her power by trying to have her former brother-in-law fired as a state trooper.
Here's more from The Associated Press:
Investigator Stephen Branchflower, in a report to a bipartisan panel that looked into the matter, found Palin in violation of a state ethics law that prohibits public officials from using their office for personal gain.
The inquiry looked into her dismissal of Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan, who said he lost his job because he resisted pressure to fire a state trooper involved in a bitter divorce and custody battle with the governor's sister. Palin says Monegan was fired as part of a legitimate budget dispute.
Monegan's firing was lawful, the report found, but Palin let the family grudge influence her decision-making — even if it was not the sole reason Monegan was dismissed.
"I feel vindicated," Monegan said. "It sounds like they've validated my belief and opinions. And that tells me I'm not totally out in left field."
Here's a link to the complete AP report.
I think we're seeing more that has resulted from the abysmal failure of the McCain campaign to vet his vice presidential choice. The problem here was clearly part of Palin's record in Alaska for many months, yet the McCain campaign had no figurative mine detectors out.
Let's skip thoughts about Sarah Barracuda, as a prospective VP, for just a moment. What does this say about John McCain's fitness to be commander-in-chief? Would he choose his Cabinet, his judicial appointees, more astutely?
Granted, Joe Biden is an old face, all too familiar to viewers of Sunday-morning talking-head TV. But Obama, even with his just-under four years in the Senate, has made a vastly better choice for an understudy. Even if Biden is old news, I would feel a lot safer with him having the nuclear codes than someone like Sarah Barracuda.
I'd say Obama could be trusted to make many more good choices. McCain made a shockingly bad one, and the news gets worse every day. It might be a wise decision for him to urge Palin to step down and try to get, say, Mitt Romney as a late replacement. But it's so late in the game, I don't think he could be persuaded to do anything of the sort.
Bring on Nov. 4. I just hope there isn't some new and ingenious way for the Republican machine to steal this election.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
The image of a barracuda may sit well with certain voters -- the right-wing fringe, the kind whom John McCain has generally been indulging amid their outbursts of "Kill him!" and "Terrorist" at the rallies, in reference to Barack Obama. But that image apparently didn't sit well with members of an Alaska legislative panel.
The chief investigator of that panel concluded Friday that Sarah Palin, as Alaska's governor, unlawfully abused her power by trying to have her former brother-in-law fired as a state trooper.
Here's more from The Associated Press:
Investigator Stephen Branchflower, in a report to a bipartisan panel that looked into the matter, found Palin in violation of a state ethics law that prohibits public officials from using their office for personal gain.
The inquiry looked into her dismissal of Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan, who said he lost his job because he resisted pressure to fire a state trooper involved in a bitter divorce and custody battle with the governor's sister. Palin says Monegan was fired as part of a legitimate budget dispute.
Monegan's firing was lawful, the report found, but Palin let the family grudge influence her decision-making — even if it was not the sole reason Monegan was dismissed.
"I feel vindicated," Monegan said. "It sounds like they've validated my belief and opinions. And that tells me I'm not totally out in left field."
Here's a link to the complete AP report.
I think we're seeing more that has resulted from the abysmal failure of the McCain campaign to vet his vice presidential choice. The problem here was clearly part of Palin's record in Alaska for many months, yet the McCain campaign had no figurative mine detectors out.
Let's skip thoughts about Sarah Barracuda, as a prospective VP, for just a moment. What does this say about John McCain's fitness to be commander-in-chief? Would he choose his Cabinet, his judicial appointees, more astutely?
Granted, Joe Biden is an old face, all too familiar to viewers of Sunday-morning talking-head TV. But Obama, even with his just-under four years in the Senate, has made a vastly better choice for an understudy. Even if Biden is old news, I would feel a lot safer with him having the nuclear codes than someone like Sarah Barracuda.
I'd say Obama could be trusted to make many more good choices. McCain made a shockingly bad one, and the news gets worse every day. It might be a wise decision for him to urge Palin to step down and try to get, say, Mitt Romney as a late replacement. But it's so late in the game, I don't think he could be persuaded to do anything of the sort.
Bring on Nov. 4. I just hope there isn't some new and ingenious way for the Republican machine to steal this election.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Palin's Appalling Ignorance Keeps Surfacing, This Time On Oil Exports
By Manifesto Joe
It matters whom a presidential nominee picks for a running mate. It says quite a bit about their judgment. After all, John McCain is presuming to be the person who will appoint a Cabinet and many federal judges. If he can't pick a good vice presidential running mate ...
Sarah Palin has shown herself to be someone with barely enough of an IQ to do OK with coaching and preparation. (As does McCain.) But when it comes to off-the-cuff knowledge of the issues, she's been losing every round since she was chosen. Today, the subject was oil exports.
The Associated Press reported today:
WASHINGTON - Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, touted by GOP presidential candidate John McCain as his expert on energy, seemed to have problems Thursday explaining whether the government bans oil exports — especially from her state's North Slope fields.
A questioner at a town hall-style meeting in Wisconsin said he had heard that at least 75 percent of the oil drilled in Alaska was being sold to China and said, if true, he would like to know why.
"No. It's not 75 percent of our oil being exported," Palin said, suggesting some of Alaska's oil, in fact, may be going abroad but not that much.
"In fact," she added, "Congress is pretty strict on, um, export bans of oil and gas especially."
No Alaska oil has been exported since 2004, and little if any since 2000, according to the Energy Information Administration and the Congressional Research Service.
And Congress has never imposed outright bans on oil exports. Congress prohibited exports of Alaska oil in 1973 when the Alaska oil pipeline was built. But that ban was lifted in 1996 when there were large volumes of Alaska oil coming down from the North Slope and U.S. demand was soft.
The Alaska ban has never been reinstated.
So this is Big Mac's expert on energy issues?
This is a person clearly trying to play far out of her league. But here's a scary thought: George W. Bush, Il Doofus himself, has been "president" for nearly eight years. Now, we're in two wars with no foreseeable end, the economy has been wrecked, and the Constitution has been sullied beyond understanding.
Bigger mistakes have been made -- perhaps.
(Here's a link to the whole AP article.)
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
It matters whom a presidential nominee picks for a running mate. It says quite a bit about their judgment. After all, John McCain is presuming to be the person who will appoint a Cabinet and many federal judges. If he can't pick a good vice presidential running mate ...
Sarah Palin has shown herself to be someone with barely enough of an IQ to do OK with coaching and preparation. (As does McCain.) But when it comes to off-the-cuff knowledge of the issues, she's been losing every round since she was chosen. Today, the subject was oil exports.
The Associated Press reported today:
WASHINGTON - Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, touted by GOP presidential candidate John McCain as his expert on energy, seemed to have problems Thursday explaining whether the government bans oil exports — especially from her state's North Slope fields.
A questioner at a town hall-style meeting in Wisconsin said he had heard that at least 75 percent of the oil drilled in Alaska was being sold to China and said, if true, he would like to know why.
"No. It's not 75 percent of our oil being exported," Palin said, suggesting some of Alaska's oil, in fact, may be going abroad but not that much.
"In fact," she added, "Congress is pretty strict on, um, export bans of oil and gas especially."
No Alaska oil has been exported since 2004, and little if any since 2000, according to the Energy Information Administration and the Congressional Research Service.
And Congress has never imposed outright bans on oil exports. Congress prohibited exports of Alaska oil in 1973 when the Alaska oil pipeline was built. But that ban was lifted in 1996 when there were large volumes of Alaska oil coming down from the North Slope and U.S. demand was soft.
The Alaska ban has never been reinstated.
So this is Big Mac's expert on energy issues?
This is a person clearly trying to play far out of her league. But here's a scary thought: George W. Bush, Il Doofus himself, has been "president" for nearly eight years. Now, we're in two wars with no foreseeable end, the economy has been wrecked, and the Constitution has been sullied beyond understanding.
Bigger mistakes have been made -- perhaps.
(Here's a link to the whole AP article.)
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
McCain-Keating-Palin '08: The Real GOP Ticket
If there is any remaining doubt about John McCain's connection with the deregulation debacle facing the country now, let's go back 20 or so years, to his "palling around" with one Charles Keating. Obama is only slightly acquainted with Billy Ayres, and was 8 when the bad behavior took place. Whither Charles Keating, Big Mac? (Fries with that, hon?)
http://www.keatingeconomics.com/
Or:
There are technical problems, but one or the other approach will get you there. -- MJ
http://www.keatingeconomics.com/
Or:
There are technical problems, but one or the other approach will get you there. -- MJ
Friday, September 19, 2008
Latest Gaffe: McCain Apparently Thinks Spain Shares A Border With Venezuela
By Manifesto Joe
This is a little scary, sort of like having the ignorance of Bush and the senility of Reagan both rolled into one overage candidate. During an interview, John McCain doesn't appear to have caught on as to who Spain's leader is, apparently confusing Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero with Venezuela's Hugo Chavez or Bolivia's Evo Morales.
This is part of a transcript from an interview on Miami Spanish-language radio, as reported by Sam Stein of The Huffington Post:
QUESTION: Senator, finally, let's talk about Spain. If you're elected president, would you be willing to invite President Jose Luiz Rodriguez Zapatero to the White House to meet with you?
MCCAIN: I would be willing meet, uh, with those leaders who our friends [sic] and want to work with us in a cooperative fashion, and by the way, President Calderon of Mexico is fighting a very very tough fight against the drug cartels. I'm glad we are now working in cooperation with the Mexican government on the Merida plan. I intend to move forward with relations, and invite as many of them as I can, those leaders, to the White House.
QUESTION: Would that invitation be extended to the Zapatero government, to the president itself?
MCCAIN: I don't, you know, honestly I have to look at relations and the situations and the priorities, but I can assure you I will establish closer relations with our friends and I will stand up to those who want to do harm to the United States of America.
QUESTION: So you have to wait and see if he's willing to meet with you, or you'll be able to do it in the White House?
MCCAIN: Well again I don't, all I can tell you is that I have a clear record of working with leaders in the hemisphere that are friends with us, and standing up to those who are not, and that's judged on the basis of the importance of our relationship with Latin America, and the entire region.
QUESTION: Okay... what about Europe I'm talking about the President of Spain?
MCCAIN: What about me what?
QUESTION: Okay... are you willing to meet with him if you are elected president?
MCCAIN: I am willing to meet with any leader who is dedicated to the same principles and philosophy that we are for human rights, democracy and freedom, and I will stand up to those that do not.
McCain's campaign is trying to cover their collective ass by making out that their 72-year-old candidate meant to say this, apparently spanking Spain for doing mean things to the U.S. like pulling their military contingent out of Iraq and such. Here's the Huffington Post link that gives the McCain campaign version of things, along with the transcripts and the broadcast. (Notice that the McCain spokesman refers to Zapatero as Spain's president, rather than the prime minister.)
A big problem with that explanation is that McCain talks like he thinks Spain is part of Latin America. Or maybe not -- the radio reporter didn't get that impression. Anyway, nobody seem to know exactly what kind of fool McCain is here -- a senile Reaganesque one, a natural successor to an inflammatory fool like Bush, or some of both.
There was more foolishness in the interview. McCain's suggestion that the Calderon government in Mexico is a friend of the U.S. is a bit of a stretch. The right-leaning Mexican governments of recent years, unwilling to undertake desperately needed economic reform, have proved more than willing to export their unemployable people to the U.S., to maintain an arrogant economic oligarchy that creates that situation, and then to characterize Americans as xenophobes and bigots for questioning that condition. With friends like those, give me Hugo Chavez and Evo Morales anytime.
Meanwhile, the Republicans have a standard-bearer who can't seem to function well without a teleprompter. And he chose a shockingly unqualified small-state governor as a running mate in an obvious bid to placate the GOP fundamentalist right wing.
All this reminded me that I have a couple of good recipes for gazpacho. I hear they make it mighty tasty down in Bolivia.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
This is a little scary, sort of like having the ignorance of Bush and the senility of Reagan both rolled into one overage candidate. During an interview, John McCain doesn't appear to have caught on as to who Spain's leader is, apparently confusing Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero with Venezuela's Hugo Chavez or Bolivia's Evo Morales.
This is part of a transcript from an interview on Miami Spanish-language radio, as reported by Sam Stein of The Huffington Post:
QUESTION: Senator, finally, let's talk about Spain. If you're elected president, would you be willing to invite President Jose Luiz Rodriguez Zapatero to the White House to meet with you?
MCCAIN: I would be willing meet, uh, with those leaders who our friends [sic] and want to work with us in a cooperative fashion, and by the way, President Calderon of Mexico is fighting a very very tough fight against the drug cartels. I'm glad we are now working in cooperation with the Mexican government on the Merida plan. I intend to move forward with relations, and invite as many of them as I can, those leaders, to the White House.
QUESTION: Would that invitation be extended to the Zapatero government, to the president itself?
MCCAIN: I don't, you know, honestly I have to look at relations and the situations and the priorities, but I can assure you I will establish closer relations with our friends and I will stand up to those who want to do harm to the United States of America.
QUESTION: So you have to wait and see if he's willing to meet with you, or you'll be able to do it in the White House?
MCCAIN: Well again I don't, all I can tell you is that I have a clear record of working with leaders in the hemisphere that are friends with us, and standing up to those who are not, and that's judged on the basis of the importance of our relationship with Latin America, and the entire region.
QUESTION: Okay... what about Europe I'm talking about the President of Spain?
MCCAIN: What about me what?
QUESTION: Okay... are you willing to meet with him if you are elected president?
MCCAIN: I am willing to meet with any leader who is dedicated to the same principles and philosophy that we are for human rights, democracy and freedom, and I will stand up to those that do not.
McCain's campaign is trying to cover their collective ass by making out that their 72-year-old candidate meant to say this, apparently spanking Spain for doing mean things to the U.S. like pulling their military contingent out of Iraq and such. Here's the Huffington Post link that gives the McCain campaign version of things, along with the transcripts and the broadcast. (Notice that the McCain spokesman refers to Zapatero as Spain's president, rather than the prime minister.)
A big problem with that explanation is that McCain talks like he thinks Spain is part of Latin America. Or maybe not -- the radio reporter didn't get that impression. Anyway, nobody seem to know exactly what kind of fool McCain is here -- a senile Reaganesque one, a natural successor to an inflammatory fool like Bush, or some of both.
There was more foolishness in the interview. McCain's suggestion that the Calderon government in Mexico is a friend of the U.S. is a bit of a stretch. The right-leaning Mexican governments of recent years, unwilling to undertake desperately needed economic reform, have proved more than willing to export their unemployable people to the U.S., to maintain an arrogant economic oligarchy that creates that situation, and then to characterize Americans as xenophobes and bigots for questioning that condition. With friends like those, give me Hugo Chavez and Evo Morales anytime.
Meanwhile, the Republicans have a standard-bearer who can't seem to function well without a teleprompter. And he chose a shockingly unqualified small-state governor as a running mate in an obvious bid to placate the GOP fundamentalist right wing.
All this reminded me that I have a couple of good recipes for gazpacho. I hear they make it mighty tasty down in Bolivia.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
McCain's Selection For VP Is An Insult To Female Supporters Of Hillary Clinton
By Manifesto Joe
I held off a couple of days commenting on McCain's selection of a prospective VP. I wanted to see reactions. Now, I think it's important to note what a pathetically lame insult this is to erstwhile female supporters of Hillary Clinton. It's as though McCain and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin thought that, in order to lure female voters who had backed Clinton, having a running mate with a vagina would be enough.
I truly hate to break this to McCain and the Grand Old Putzes, but the majority of women who voted for Hillary have brains as well as vaginas. Most of them are hip to the fact that Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin are galaxies apart on the issues, and also highly distinguishable in terms of experience.
Courtesy of moveon.org, here's a rundown of Palin's limited background, and her views on key issues:
She was elected Alaska 's governor a little over a year and a half ago. Her previous office was mayor of Wasilla, a small town outside Anchorage. She has no foreign policy experience.1
Palin is strongly anti-choice, opposing abortion even in the case of rape or incest.2
She supported right-wing extremist Pat Buchanan for president in 2000. 3
Palin thinks creationism should be taught in public schools.4
She's doesn't think humans are the cause of climate change.5
She's solidly in line with John McCain's "Big Oil first" energy policy. She's pushed hard for more oil drilling and says renewables won't be ready for years. She also sued the Bush administration for listing polar bears as an endangered species—she was worried it would interfere with more oil drilling in Alaska.6
How closely did John McCain vet this choice? He met Sarah Palin once at a meeting. They spoke a second time, last Sunday, when he called her about being vice-president. Then he offered her the position.7
Here's the link if you want to check out the footnote sources.
Since we've touched on McCain's bizarre lack of vetting of his vice presidential choice, let's not give short shrift to "Troopergate." Surely the McCain campaign, had it been paying serious attention, would have known that this has ballooned into a $100,000 investigation in a small state. It's a problem that may not be fatal for Palin, but those Grand Old Putzes certainly could have done without this grief from the first female standard-bearer on the top ticket.
Washington Post writers James V. Grimaldi and Kimberly Kindy seemed to cover this matter pretty well, so I'll throw in the link. Suffice it to say, it looks like the Palin family got it in for an ex-brother-in-law, perhaps actually going to the length of firing a good state official because he wouldn't go along with the vengeance. Granted, this state trooper could be a man with problems, but evidence seems to point to others who may also have personal issues. ...
Back to the thesis, I noticed that the very morning of the announcement, Palin had the chutzpah to mention Geraldine Ferraro, and Hillary, as forerunners toward piercing that nasty, testosterone-stained glass ceiling. This was from someone who has the most far-right position on abortion rights imaginable.
I won't repeat any of the other problems, but I'll offer a passage regarding Palin's environmental views. This is from Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund:
WASHINGTON-- Senator John McCain just announced his choice for running mate: Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska. To follow is a statement by Rodger Schlickeisen, president of Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund:
“Senator McCain’s choice for a running mate is beyond belief. By choosing Sarah Palin, McCain has clearly made a decision to continue the Bush legacy of destructive environmental policies.
“Sarah Palin, whose husband works for BP (formerly British Petroleum), has repeatedly put special interests first when it comes to the environment. In her scant two years as governor, she has lobbied aggressively to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling, pushed for more drilling off of Alaska’s coasts, and put special interests above science. Ms. Palin has made it clear through her actions that she is unwilling to do even as much as the Bush administration to address the impacts of global warming. Her most recent effort has been to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to remove the polar bear from the endangered species list, putting Big Oil before sound science. As unbelievable as this may sound, this actually puts her to the right of the Bush administration.
“This is Senator McCain’s first significant choice in building his executive team and it’s a bad one. It has to raise serious doubts in the minds of voters about John McCain’s commitment to conservation, to addressing the impacts of global warming and to ensuring our country ends its dependency on oil.”
I hope almost all of Hillary's female supporters will see this right-wing pandering for what it is -- a contemptible insult.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
I held off a couple of days commenting on McCain's selection of a prospective VP. I wanted to see reactions. Now, I think it's important to note what a pathetically lame insult this is to erstwhile female supporters of Hillary Clinton. It's as though McCain and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin thought that, in order to lure female voters who had backed Clinton, having a running mate with a vagina would be enough.
I truly hate to break this to McCain and the Grand Old Putzes, but the majority of women who voted for Hillary have brains as well as vaginas. Most of them are hip to the fact that Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin are galaxies apart on the issues, and also highly distinguishable in terms of experience.
Courtesy of moveon.org, here's a rundown of Palin's limited background, and her views on key issues:
She was elected Alaska 's governor a little over a year and a half ago. Her previous office was mayor of Wasilla, a small town outside Anchorage. She has no foreign policy experience.1
Palin is strongly anti-choice, opposing abortion even in the case of rape or incest.2
She supported right-wing extremist Pat Buchanan for president in 2000. 3
Palin thinks creationism should be taught in public schools.4
She's doesn't think humans are the cause of climate change.5
She's solidly in line with John McCain's "Big Oil first" energy policy. She's pushed hard for more oil drilling and says renewables won't be ready for years. She also sued the Bush administration for listing polar bears as an endangered species—she was worried it would interfere with more oil drilling in Alaska.6
How closely did John McCain vet this choice? He met Sarah Palin once at a meeting. They spoke a second time, last Sunday, when he called her about being vice-president. Then he offered her the position.7
Here's the link if you want to check out the footnote sources.
Since we've touched on McCain's bizarre lack of vetting of his vice presidential choice, let's not give short shrift to "Troopergate." Surely the McCain campaign, had it been paying serious attention, would have known that this has ballooned into a $100,000 investigation in a small state. It's a problem that may not be fatal for Palin, but those Grand Old Putzes certainly could have done without this grief from the first female standard-bearer on the top ticket.
Washington Post writers James V. Grimaldi and Kimberly Kindy seemed to cover this matter pretty well, so I'll throw in the link. Suffice it to say, it looks like the Palin family got it in for an ex-brother-in-law, perhaps actually going to the length of firing a good state official because he wouldn't go along with the vengeance. Granted, this state trooper could be a man with problems, but evidence seems to point to others who may also have personal issues. ...
Back to the thesis, I noticed that the very morning of the announcement, Palin had the chutzpah to mention Geraldine Ferraro, and Hillary, as forerunners toward piercing that nasty, testosterone-stained glass ceiling. This was from someone who has the most far-right position on abortion rights imaginable.
I won't repeat any of the other problems, but I'll offer a passage regarding Palin's environmental views. This is from Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund:
WASHINGTON-- Senator John McCain just announced his choice for running mate: Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska. To follow is a statement by Rodger Schlickeisen, president of Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund:
“Senator McCain’s choice for a running mate is beyond belief. By choosing Sarah Palin, McCain has clearly made a decision to continue the Bush legacy of destructive environmental policies.
“Sarah Palin, whose husband works for BP (formerly British Petroleum), has repeatedly put special interests first when it comes to the environment. In her scant two years as governor, she has lobbied aggressively to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling, pushed for more drilling off of Alaska’s coasts, and put special interests above science. Ms. Palin has made it clear through her actions that she is unwilling to do even as much as the Bush administration to address the impacts of global warming. Her most recent effort has been to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to remove the polar bear from the endangered species list, putting Big Oil before sound science. As unbelievable as this may sound, this actually puts her to the right of the Bush administration.
“This is Senator McCain’s first significant choice in building his executive team and it’s a bad one. It has to raise serious doubts in the minds of voters about John McCain’s commitment to conservation, to addressing the impacts of global warming and to ensuring our country ends its dependency on oil.”
I hope almost all of Hillary's female supporters will see this right-wing pandering for what it is -- a contemptible insult.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
The Geographically Challenged John McCain: That's A Broad Definition Of A Border, Iraq And Pakistan
Asked by Diane Sawyer whether the "the situation in Afghanistan in precarious and urgent," McCain responded: "I think it's serious. . . . It's a serious situation, but there's a lot of things we need to do. We have a lot of work to do and I'm afraid it's a very hard struggle, particularly given the situation on the Iraq/Pakistan border."
He's also having a hard time remembering that Czechoslovakia is a long-defunct country. Here's the piece from The Huffington Post.
What's all this about how somebody can actually get too old to be president? -- MJ
He's also having a hard time remembering that Czechoslovakia is a long-defunct country. Here's the piece from The Huffington Post.
What's all this about how somebody can actually get too old to be president? -- MJ
Saturday, July 12, 2008
'Enron Phil' And Whiner Nation: McStain Has An Adviser Problem
By Manifesto Joe
No sooner than the last problems regarding former Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas, as McStain's economic adviser had calmed, did "Enron Phil," as he is known in some circles, stick a big fat Gucci in his oral cavity Friday.
Gramm, a senator from 1985 through 2002 and a House member before then, wrote much of the deregulatory legislation that made accounting travesties like those at Enron and Arthur Andersen possible. Something one can't say is that the man hasn't got plenty of chutzpah.
Bloomberg News reports:
Gramm, a vice chairman of UBS Securities LLC, said in an interview with the Washington Times that despite the sluggish economy, high oil prices, job losses and the mortgage crisis, growth in the U.S. has stayed around 1 percent.
``You've heard of mental depression; this is a mental recession,'' Gramm told the paper. ``We may have a recession; we haven't had one yet.''
``We have sort of become a nation of whiners,'' Gramm said in the interview. ``You just hear this constant whining, complaining about a loss of competitiveness."
McStain had to do rapid damage control. More from Bloomberg:
Republican John McCain rejected comments by economic adviser and former Texas Senator Phil Gramm that the U.S. is in a ``mental recession'' and is a ``nation of whiners.''
``Phil Gramm does not speak for me. I speak for me, so I strongly disagree,'' McCain told reporters after a town hall meeting in Belleville, Michigan, today. ``I believe that the person here in Michigan that just lost his job isn't suffering from a mental recession.'' Nor are people whining, he said. ``America is in great difficulty.''
And more still:
Asked about reports McCain was considering Gramm as his Treasury secretary if elected, McCain said: ``I think Senator Gramm would be in serious consideration for ambassador to Belarus.''
``I'm not sure how the people of Minsk'' would feel about that, McCain said.
Let's take a walk down memory lane where "Cracker" Gramm is concerned. (Yeah, I know that's politically incorrect, but he's also known thusly in some circles, actually being from Georgia, not Texas.)
This is a man who went to college and grad school largely on programs for disadvantaged people, and got a doctorate in economics. He got a professorship at state-funded Texas A&M University. Once ensconced in Aggieland, he decided to kick the ladder down on those trying to follow in his footsteps. After he got into Congress as a right-wing Democrat (quite a feat for an Aggie professor), he consistently voted to cut the very programs that made his success possible. By 1984 he was running for senator as a Republican. All the while, he had never made a dime in the private sector. His primary income had always originated from taxpayers.
As mentioned before, he was the author of much deregulatory law that made debacles like Enron and Arthur Andersen possible. While he was a senator, Enron heaped largess upon his campaigns, and his wife, Wendy, served on Enron's board of directors while hubby was in the Senate.
There is plenty more Gramm family pond scum. But suffice it to say that I'd like to get Phil Gramm into a room with some of the Enron workers who saw their life savings incinerated by white-collar crime, and see what happens after he tells them that they are a bunch of "whiners."
To hook back: No matter how much McStain backpeddles on this one, a pattern of bad judgment about advisers and confidants is emerging. Gramm was picked to be economic adviser. Did McCain not know about the slimy ghosts of Enron Phil's past?
And recall Charlie Black, PR man for assorted Third World despots, who recently said something to the effect that a terrorist attack on the U.S. this year would be very advantageous to McStain. So far, Black is still with the GOP campaign. Between Charlie and Phil, this says a lot.
To read more on the Gramm family/Enron connection, click here for a 2002 article in The Nation.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
No sooner than the last problems regarding former Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas, as McStain's economic adviser had calmed, did "Enron Phil," as he is known in some circles, stick a big fat Gucci in his oral cavity Friday.
Gramm, a senator from 1985 through 2002 and a House member before then, wrote much of the deregulatory legislation that made accounting travesties like those at Enron and Arthur Andersen possible. Something one can't say is that the man hasn't got plenty of chutzpah.
Bloomberg News reports:
Gramm, a vice chairman of UBS Securities LLC, said in an interview with the Washington Times that despite the sluggish economy, high oil prices, job losses and the mortgage crisis, growth in the U.S. has stayed around 1 percent.
``You've heard of mental depression; this is a mental recession,'' Gramm told the paper. ``We may have a recession; we haven't had one yet.''
``We have sort of become a nation of whiners,'' Gramm said in the interview. ``You just hear this constant whining, complaining about a loss of competitiveness."
McStain had to do rapid damage control. More from Bloomberg:
Republican John McCain rejected comments by economic adviser and former Texas Senator Phil Gramm that the U.S. is in a ``mental recession'' and is a ``nation of whiners.''
``Phil Gramm does not speak for me. I speak for me, so I strongly disagree,'' McCain told reporters after a town hall meeting in Belleville, Michigan, today. ``I believe that the person here in Michigan that just lost his job isn't suffering from a mental recession.'' Nor are people whining, he said. ``America is in great difficulty.''
And more still:
Asked about reports McCain was considering Gramm as his Treasury secretary if elected, McCain said: ``I think Senator Gramm would be in serious consideration for ambassador to Belarus.''
``I'm not sure how the people of Minsk'' would feel about that, McCain said.
Let's take a walk down memory lane where "Cracker" Gramm is concerned. (Yeah, I know that's politically incorrect, but he's also known thusly in some circles, actually being from Georgia, not Texas.)
This is a man who went to college and grad school largely on programs for disadvantaged people, and got a doctorate in economics. He got a professorship at state-funded Texas A&M University. Once ensconced in Aggieland, he decided to kick the ladder down on those trying to follow in his footsteps. After he got into Congress as a right-wing Democrat (quite a feat for an Aggie professor), he consistently voted to cut the very programs that made his success possible. By 1984 he was running for senator as a Republican. All the while, he had never made a dime in the private sector. His primary income had always originated from taxpayers.
As mentioned before, he was the author of much deregulatory law that made debacles like Enron and Arthur Andersen possible. While he was a senator, Enron heaped largess upon his campaigns, and his wife, Wendy, served on Enron's board of directors while hubby was in the Senate.
There is plenty more Gramm family pond scum. But suffice it to say that I'd like to get Phil Gramm into a room with some of the Enron workers who saw their life savings incinerated by white-collar crime, and see what happens after he tells them that they are a bunch of "whiners."
To hook back: No matter how much McStain backpeddles on this one, a pattern of bad judgment about advisers and confidants is emerging. Gramm was picked to be economic adviser. Did McCain not know about the slimy ghosts of Enron Phil's past?
And recall Charlie Black, PR man for assorted Third World despots, who recently said something to the effect that a terrorist attack on the U.S. this year would be very advantageous to McStain. So far, Black is still with the GOP campaign. Between Charlie and Phil, this says a lot.
To read more on the Gramm family/Enron connection, click here for a 2002 article in The Nation.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Rev. Rubber Room Repudiated: McCain's Hand Finally Forced On Hitler Apologist Hagee
By Manifesto Joe
It took awhile, but presumptive GOP nominee Sen. John McCain was finally compelled to reject the endorsement of fundamentalist pond scum John Hagee. It seems that Hagee is on record as having said that Adolf Hitler was, in some way, an instrument of God in forcing Jews to go to Israel.
Granted, Hagee wasn't McCain's personal minister, which raises a distinction between this situation and that involving Sen. Barack Obama and the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. But I've had a hard time figuring out exactly why Obama was as compelled to run from Wright as he was. Wright has said a couple of kooky things, but much of it is no different from what one can read in a Noam Chomsky polemic. And Wright certainly comes across as far more intelligent, schooled -- and sane -- than Hagee.
Here's a report from Bloomberg News:
Republican John McCain today rejected the presidential endorsement of the Reverend John Hagee after revelation of an audio recording in which the Texas televangelist said that God's will was at work in the rise of Adolf Hitler and Nazism.
``Obviously, I find these remarks and others deeply offensive and indefensible, and I repudiate them,'' the Arizona senator said in a statement released by his campaign. ``I did not know of them before Reverend Hagee's endorsement, and I feel I must reject his endorsement as well.''
McCain had declined previously to repudiate Hagee after reports of the pastor's earlier anti-Catholic remarks and his contention that the U.S. must join Israel in military strike against Iran. Hagee argued that the conflict would lead to a second coming of Christ.
Hagee is pastor of the Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, and McCain had sought his endorsement.
Hagee isn't much different from certain other popular American televangelists in that he seems to think he has a direct line to the thinking of providence, and a special knack for interpreting Scripture.
Let's go back to what Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson had to say on the subject of the Sept. 11 attacks -- transcript furnished by www.truthorfiction.com:
Then Falwell said, "What we saw on Tuesday, as terrible as it is, could be minuscule if, in fact, God continues to lift the curtain and allow the enemies of America to give us probably what we deserve."
Robertson replied, "Well, Jerry, that's my feeling. I think we've just seen the antechamber to terror, we haven't begun to see what they can do to the major population."
Falwell said, "The ACLU has got to take a lot of blame for this. And I know I'll hear from them for this, but throwing God...successfully with the help of the federal court system...throwing God out of the public square, out of the schools, the abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked and when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad...I really believe that the pagans and the abortionists and the feminists and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way, all of them who try to secularize America...I point the thing in their face and say you helped this happen."
Robertson said, "I totally concur, and the problem is we've adopted that agenda at the highest levels of our government, and so we're responsible as a free society for what the top people do, and the top people, of course, is the court system."
Falwell added, "Pat, did you notice yesterday that the ACLU and all the Christ-haters, the People for the American Way, NOW, etc., were totally disregarded by the Democrats and the Republicans in both houses of Congress, as they went out on the steps and and called out to God in prayer and sang 'God bless America' and said, let the ACLU be hanged. In other words, when the nation is on its knees, the only normal and natural and spiritual thing to do is what we ought to be doing all the time, calling on God."
It's all self-righteously demented, and a lot like the things Hagee was already on record as saying. But Hagee, in a moment of "youthful" indiscretion, finally went a step further in suggesting that Der Fuhrer was in some way doing the work of the Lord by carrying out the Holocaust.
On MSNBC, Republican mouthpiece Susan Molinari said, in response to today's development, that McCain, by disavowing Hagee and purging his campaign of active lobbyists, is "acting like a presidential candidate."
Yes, he is. He's acting a lot like the Republican nominee of the past two cycles. And like a couple of others of the past 30 years.
The Matter Of Rod Parsley
And Hagee isn't the only Chrust-chun kookster that McCain has courted. Mother Jones reports that:
Senator John McCain hailed as a spiritual adviser an Ohio megachurch pastor who has called upon Christians to wage a "war" against the "false religion" of Islam with the aim of destroying it.
On February 26, McCain appeared at a campaign rally in Cincinnati with the Reverend Rod Parsley of the World Harvest Church of Columbus, a supersize Pentecostal institution that features a 5,200-seat sanctuary, a television studio (where Parsley tapes a weekly show), and a 122,000-square-foot Ministry Activity Center. That day, a week before the Ohio primary, Parsley praised the Republican presidential front-runner as a "strong, true, consistent conservative." The endorsement was important for McCain, who at the time was trying to put an end to the lingering challenge from former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, a favorite among Christian evangelicals. A politically influential figure in Ohio, Parsley could also play a key role in McCain's effort to win this bellwether state in the general election. McCain, with Parsley by his side at the Cincinnati rally, called the evangelical minister a "spiritual guide."
The leader of a 12,000-member congregation, Parsley has written several books outlining his fundamentalist religious outlook, including the 2005 Silent No More. In this work, Parsley decries the "spiritual desperation" of the United States, and he blasts away at the usual suspects: activist judges, civil libertarians who advocate the separation of church and state, the homosexual "culture" ("homosexuals are anything but happy and carefree"), the "abortion industry," and the crass and profane entertainment industry. And Parsley targets another profound threat to the United States: the religion of Islam.
In a chapter titled "Islam: The Deception of Allah," Parsley warns there is a "war between Islam and Christian civilization." He continues:
I cannot tell you how important it is that we understand the true nature of Islam, that we see it for what it really is. In fact, I will tell you this: I do not believe our country can truly fulfill its divine purpose until we understand our historical conflict with Islam. I know that this statement sounds extreme, but I do not shrink from its implications. The fact is that America was founded, in part, with the intention of seeing this false religion destroyed, and I believe September 11, 2001, was a generational call to arms that we can no longer ignore.
In case there's any doubt about this, here's the video, posted on YouTube by bravenewfilms:
Perhaps McCain, in seeking so ludicrously to ally himself with the forces of the "divine," has actually made a couple of starkly different kinds of deals that he has come to regret. I, for one, intend to do all I can to make him regret them most profoundly come a Wednesday morning in November.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
It took awhile, but presumptive GOP nominee Sen. John McCain was finally compelled to reject the endorsement of fundamentalist pond scum John Hagee. It seems that Hagee is on record as having said that Adolf Hitler was, in some way, an instrument of God in forcing Jews to go to Israel.
Granted, Hagee wasn't McCain's personal minister, which raises a distinction between this situation and that involving Sen. Barack Obama and the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. But I've had a hard time figuring out exactly why Obama was as compelled to run from Wright as he was. Wright has said a couple of kooky things, but much of it is no different from what one can read in a Noam Chomsky polemic. And Wright certainly comes across as far more intelligent, schooled -- and sane -- than Hagee.
Here's a report from Bloomberg News:
Republican John McCain today rejected the presidential endorsement of the Reverend John Hagee after revelation of an audio recording in which the Texas televangelist said that God's will was at work in the rise of Adolf Hitler and Nazism.
``Obviously, I find these remarks and others deeply offensive and indefensible, and I repudiate them,'' the Arizona senator said in a statement released by his campaign. ``I did not know of them before Reverend Hagee's endorsement, and I feel I must reject his endorsement as well.''
McCain had declined previously to repudiate Hagee after reports of the pastor's earlier anti-Catholic remarks and his contention that the U.S. must join Israel in military strike against Iran. Hagee argued that the conflict would lead to a second coming of Christ.
Hagee is pastor of the Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, and McCain had sought his endorsement.
Hagee isn't much different from certain other popular American televangelists in that he seems to think he has a direct line to the thinking of providence, and a special knack for interpreting Scripture.
Let's go back to what Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson had to say on the subject of the Sept. 11 attacks -- transcript furnished by www.truthorfiction.com:
Then Falwell said, "What we saw on Tuesday, as terrible as it is, could be minuscule if, in fact, God continues to lift the curtain and allow the enemies of America to give us probably what we deserve."
Robertson replied, "Well, Jerry, that's my feeling. I think we've just seen the antechamber to terror, we haven't begun to see what they can do to the major population."
Falwell said, "The ACLU has got to take a lot of blame for this. And I know I'll hear from them for this, but throwing God...successfully with the help of the federal court system...throwing God out of the public square, out of the schools, the abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked and when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad...I really believe that the pagans and the abortionists and the feminists and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way, all of them who try to secularize America...I point the thing in their face and say you helped this happen."
Robertson said, "I totally concur, and the problem is we've adopted that agenda at the highest levels of our government, and so we're responsible as a free society for what the top people do, and the top people, of course, is the court system."
Falwell added, "Pat, did you notice yesterday that the ACLU and all the Christ-haters, the People for the American Way, NOW, etc., were totally disregarded by the Democrats and the Republicans in both houses of Congress, as they went out on the steps and and called out to God in prayer and sang 'God bless America' and said, let the ACLU be hanged. In other words, when the nation is on its knees, the only normal and natural and spiritual thing to do is what we ought to be doing all the time, calling on God."
It's all self-righteously demented, and a lot like the things Hagee was already on record as saying. But Hagee, in a moment of "youthful" indiscretion, finally went a step further in suggesting that Der Fuhrer was in some way doing the work of the Lord by carrying out the Holocaust.
On MSNBC, Republican mouthpiece Susan Molinari said, in response to today's development, that McCain, by disavowing Hagee and purging his campaign of active lobbyists, is "acting like a presidential candidate."
Yes, he is. He's acting a lot like the Republican nominee of the past two cycles. And like a couple of others of the past 30 years.
The Matter Of Rod Parsley
And Hagee isn't the only Chrust-chun kookster that McCain has courted. Mother Jones reports that:
Senator John McCain hailed as a spiritual adviser an Ohio megachurch pastor who has called upon Christians to wage a "war" against the "false religion" of Islam with the aim of destroying it.
On February 26, McCain appeared at a campaign rally in Cincinnati with the Reverend Rod Parsley of the World Harvest Church of Columbus, a supersize Pentecostal institution that features a 5,200-seat sanctuary, a television studio (where Parsley tapes a weekly show), and a 122,000-square-foot Ministry Activity Center. That day, a week before the Ohio primary, Parsley praised the Republican presidential front-runner as a "strong, true, consistent conservative." The endorsement was important for McCain, who at the time was trying to put an end to the lingering challenge from former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, a favorite among Christian evangelicals. A politically influential figure in Ohio, Parsley could also play a key role in McCain's effort to win this bellwether state in the general election. McCain, with Parsley by his side at the Cincinnati rally, called the evangelical minister a "spiritual guide."
The leader of a 12,000-member congregation, Parsley has written several books outlining his fundamentalist religious outlook, including the 2005 Silent No More. In this work, Parsley decries the "spiritual desperation" of the United States, and he blasts away at the usual suspects: activist judges, civil libertarians who advocate the separation of church and state, the homosexual "culture" ("homosexuals are anything but happy and carefree"), the "abortion industry," and the crass and profane entertainment industry. And Parsley targets another profound threat to the United States: the religion of Islam.
In a chapter titled "Islam: The Deception of Allah," Parsley warns there is a "war between Islam and Christian civilization." He continues:
I cannot tell you how important it is that we understand the true nature of Islam, that we see it for what it really is. In fact, I will tell you this: I do not believe our country can truly fulfill its divine purpose until we understand our historical conflict with Islam. I know that this statement sounds extreme, but I do not shrink from its implications. The fact is that America was founded, in part, with the intention of seeing this false religion destroyed, and I believe September 11, 2001, was a generational call to arms that we can no longer ignore.
In case there's any doubt about this, here's the video, posted on YouTube by bravenewfilms:
Perhaps McCain, in seeking so ludicrously to ally himself with the forces of the "divine," has actually made a couple of starkly different kinds of deals that he has come to regret. I, for one, intend to do all I can to make him regret them most profoundly come a Wednesday morning in November.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Update: McCain Forced To Confront Lobbyist Issue
By Manifesto Joe
Last week, in response to criticism about his habit of employing current and former lobbyists for his Republican presidential campaign, Sen. John McCain and his staff set down a new rule: No one currently working as a lobbyist can also work as a paid campaign staffer.
There was a casualty reported yesterday, and on Page One of today's Washington Post. Tom Loeffler, a former Texas GOP congressman who had been on McCain's staff as a fundraiser, resigned over his status as a lobbyist.
Here's some of what The Washington Post had:
Tom Loeffler, the national finance co-chairman for Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign, resigned yesterday because of his lobbying ties, a campaign adviser said.
He is the fifth person to sever ties with the campaign amid a growing concern over whether lobbyists have too great an influence over the Republican nominee. Last week, campaign manager Rick Davis issued a new policy that requires all campaign personnel to either resign or sever ties with lobbying firms or outside political groups.
The story also clarifies the question over Charlie Black, a longtime lobbyist who (see my previous post on this subject) was with a firm that has done PR for a who's who of nasty foreign dictators going all the way back to Filipino "strongman" Ferdinand Marcos:
McCain has built his reputation in Congress on fighting special interests and the lobbying culture, but he has been criticized for months about the number of lobbyists serving in key positions in his campaign. Until recently, his top political adviser, Charles R. Black Jr., was the head of a Washington lobbying firm. Black retired in March from BKSH & Associates, the firm he helped found, to stay with the campaign. Davis ran a lobbying firm for several years but has said he is on leave from it.
Black, in particular, remains in the cross hairs of McCain's critics. Campaign Money Watch, a nonpartisan watchdog group in Washington, yesterday praised Loeffler's departure but renewed its call for Black's departure. The group has launched a Web site, http://www.firethelobbyists.com, to urge McCain to rid his campaign of their influence. Loeffler's lobbying for Saudi Arabia and other foreign governments was revealed over the weekend.
McCain has steadfastly defended Black and Davis. "Charlie Black and Rick Davis are not in the lobbying business; they've been out of that business," he told reporters. "Charlie Black has been involved in every presidential campaign going back to President Reagan's first campaign. He has severed his connections with the lobbying group that he was with. Rick Davis has not been involved in any lobbying for years."
So, since Charlie Black finally retired from lobbying for international pond scum like Mobutu Sese Seko, it's more than proper for him to stay on as a McCain campaign staffer? And what about his involvement in all these presidential campaigns going back to Reagan's first? (1968, 1976, or 1980? Reagan won the GOP nomination on his third try.) And what does this suggest about the ethics and values of the modern Republican Party?
Back to Loeffler, there's the Saudi connection. (That government isn't exactly one to win over a little-d democrat's heart, is it?) More from WaPo:
Loeffler, a former congressman from Texas, is a close friend of McCain's and took over the campaign's fundraising last summer. He did not respond to e-mails or a message left on his office voice mail yesterday.
Newsweek reported that his firm, the Loeffler Group, had collected $15 million from Saudi Arabia and millions more from other foreign governments. He is listed as chairman and senior partner at the firm.
There is also the matter of past conflicts of interest involving Loeffler and the Arizona senator. ThinkProgress cited the Newsweek article:
[Loeffler’s] lobbying firm has collected nearly $15 million from Saudi Arabia since 2002 and millions more from other foreign and corporate interests, including a French aerospace firm seeking Pentagon contracts. Loeffler last month told a reporter “at no time have I discussed my clients with John McCain.” But lobbying disclosure records reviewed by NEWSWEEK show that on May 17, 2006, Loeffler listed meeting McCain along with the Saudi ambassador to “discuss US-Kingdom of Saudi Arabia relations.”
What all this indicates is that McCain, for all his grandstanding, is fundamentally no different from others in the modern Machiavellian Republican Party dating back to even Richard Nixon, in terms of ethics and values. If he wins the White House, expect more of what we've been seeing for decades.
Amusing postscript: The late, great Molly Ivins had an anecdote about Tom Loeffler. Molly wrote that Loeffler "wore shower caps on his feet while showering during a visit to San Francisco back in the '80s lest he get AIDS through his feet."
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
Last week, in response to criticism about his habit of employing current and former lobbyists for his Republican presidential campaign, Sen. John McCain and his staff set down a new rule: No one currently working as a lobbyist can also work as a paid campaign staffer.
There was a casualty reported yesterday, and on Page One of today's Washington Post. Tom Loeffler, a former Texas GOP congressman who had been on McCain's staff as a fundraiser, resigned over his status as a lobbyist.
Here's some of what The Washington Post had:
Tom Loeffler, the national finance co-chairman for Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign, resigned yesterday because of his lobbying ties, a campaign adviser said.
He is the fifth person to sever ties with the campaign amid a growing concern over whether lobbyists have too great an influence over the Republican nominee. Last week, campaign manager Rick Davis issued a new policy that requires all campaign personnel to either resign or sever ties with lobbying firms or outside political groups.
The story also clarifies the question over Charlie Black, a longtime lobbyist who (see my previous post on this subject) was with a firm that has done PR for a who's who of nasty foreign dictators going all the way back to Filipino "strongman" Ferdinand Marcos:
McCain has built his reputation in Congress on fighting special interests and the lobbying culture, but he has been criticized for months about the number of lobbyists serving in key positions in his campaign. Until recently, his top political adviser, Charles R. Black Jr., was the head of a Washington lobbying firm. Black retired in March from BKSH & Associates, the firm he helped found, to stay with the campaign. Davis ran a lobbying firm for several years but has said he is on leave from it.
Black, in particular, remains in the cross hairs of McCain's critics. Campaign Money Watch, a nonpartisan watchdog group in Washington, yesterday praised Loeffler's departure but renewed its call for Black's departure. The group has launched a Web site, http://www.firethelobbyists.com, to urge McCain to rid his campaign of their influence. Loeffler's lobbying for Saudi Arabia and other foreign governments was revealed over the weekend.
McCain has steadfastly defended Black and Davis. "Charlie Black and Rick Davis are not in the lobbying business; they've been out of that business," he told reporters. "Charlie Black has been involved in every presidential campaign going back to President Reagan's first campaign. He has severed his connections with the lobbying group that he was with. Rick Davis has not been involved in any lobbying for years."
So, since Charlie Black finally retired from lobbying for international pond scum like Mobutu Sese Seko, it's more than proper for him to stay on as a McCain campaign staffer? And what about his involvement in all these presidential campaigns going back to Reagan's first? (1968, 1976, or 1980? Reagan won the GOP nomination on his third try.) And what does this suggest about the ethics and values of the modern Republican Party?
Back to Loeffler, there's the Saudi connection. (That government isn't exactly one to win over a little-d democrat's heart, is it?) More from WaPo:
Loeffler, a former congressman from Texas, is a close friend of McCain's and took over the campaign's fundraising last summer. He did not respond to e-mails or a message left on his office voice mail yesterday.
Newsweek reported that his firm, the Loeffler Group, had collected $15 million from Saudi Arabia and millions more from other foreign governments. He is listed as chairman and senior partner at the firm.
There is also the matter of past conflicts of interest involving Loeffler and the Arizona senator. ThinkProgress cited the Newsweek article:
[Loeffler’s] lobbying firm has collected nearly $15 million from Saudi Arabia since 2002 and millions more from other foreign and corporate interests, including a French aerospace firm seeking Pentagon contracts. Loeffler last month told a reporter “at no time have I discussed my clients with John McCain.” But lobbying disclosure records reviewed by NEWSWEEK show that on May 17, 2006, Loeffler listed meeting McCain along with the Saudi ambassador to “discuss US-Kingdom of Saudi Arabia relations.”
What all this indicates is that McCain, for all his grandstanding, is fundamentally no different from others in the modern Machiavellian Republican Party dating back to even Richard Nixon, in terms of ethics and values. If he wins the White House, expect more of what we've been seeing for decades.
Amusing postscript: The late, great Molly Ivins had an anecdote about Tom Loeffler. Molly wrote that Loeffler "wore shower caps on his feet while showering during a visit to San Francisco back in the '80s lest he get AIDS through his feet."
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
McCain: Time To Come Clean About Your Lobbyists' Links To Homicidal Dictators
By Manifesto Joe
Sen. John McCain did a fair job in the past of selling himself as a "maverick" Republican -- you know, not one of those whose knees both jerk when Rush Limbaugh's right knee does. I have a vague yet fond memory of him calling Herr Lardbaugh "a circus clown."
But apparently ambition can get the best of people. Or perhaps they never were what they depicted themselves as. Amid all the volleys flying about in the presidential race, it came out early this week that McCain's campaign has been employing lobbyists who have worked for blood-stained foreign dictatorships, and for tidy sums.
The one they call Charlie Black is the senator's "chief political adviser," according to The Washington Post. Here's a current report on Charlie Black's experience as a lobbyist, from Progressive Media USA:
Black Enlisted to Improve Marcos’s Image. The Globe and Mail reported, “A politically well-connected U.S. lobbying firm is being paid nearly $1-million to help a Philippine client linked with President Ferdinand Marcos, and some analysts believe its task is to improve Mr. Marcos’ image.” “The firm, Black, Manafort & Stone Public Affairs, began a year-long contract with a client called the Chamber of Philippines Manufacturers, Exporters and Tourist Associations.” “Stanley Roth, who serves on the staff of a congressional subcommittee investigating Mr. Marcos’ business dealings in the United States, called the arrangement ‘just means of Marcos hiring a public relations firm.’ Under the terms of the contract, the suburban Washington-based concern is to be paid $950,000 plus expenses to provide ‘advice and assistance on matters relating to the media, public relations and public affairs interests’ as well as lobbying services.” [The Globe and Mail, 12/20/85]
Meet Charlie Black: lobbyist, political scientist, public relations man for homicidal dictators. As far as I can gather from the latest news dispatches, Charlie is still on the John McCain payroll.
But wait, there's more:
While Black Lobbied for Somalia, Siad Barre’s Army Killed 40,000 – 50,000 Civilians. The Associated Press reported, “The Somali army killed 40,000 to 50,000 unarmed civilians between June 1988 and January 1990, according to human rights group Africa Watch.” [Associated Press, 1/2/95]
Black Lobbied for Zaire’s Dictator. Black, Manafort, Stone lobbied for “Mobuto Sese Seko of Zaire.” The “military dictator, Mobuto, was a $1 million-per-year Black, Manafort client until December 1990.” [Common Cause Magazine, Winter 1993; Department of Justice, FARA database, accessed 2/26/08]
There's actually much more than that, but space limitations compel me to keep things relatively brief. Just bear in mind that this is one of Mad Jack's main men.
Granted, there are now a couple of dudes who are no longer on The Straitjacket Express. They were the ones who had to fall on their swords. This is from a recent post on MSNBC:
Doug Goodyear and Doug Davenport, the two McCain aides who resigned from positions within the GOP contender's campaign, stepped down this weekend after Newsweek reported that their lobbying firm, Washington power player DCI Group, represented Myanmar's military junta in 2002 to the tune of $348,000.
It should be noted that Mr. Goodyear was, until his resignation, heading McCain's GOP convention team. That's not a small post to award someone without checking their background -- or perhaps figuring instead that no one important would ever know.
In 2008, we're in a political mode of Barack Obama having to give multiple speeches explaining that he differs markedly from the Rev. Jeremiah Wright on crucial issues. So perhaps this calls for, at the very least, an explanation from McCain to the effect that he doesn't agree with lobbyists who promoted murderous dictators for pay. It seems appropriate and equitable for Mr. Black to get his walking papers, too. I'm sure he will prosper in his Faustian bargains for many years to come, so no one should worry.
Except maybe John McCain?
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
Sen. John McCain did a fair job in the past of selling himself as a "maverick" Republican -- you know, not one of those whose knees both jerk when Rush Limbaugh's right knee does. I have a vague yet fond memory of him calling Herr Lardbaugh "a circus clown."
But apparently ambition can get the best of people. Or perhaps they never were what they depicted themselves as. Amid all the volleys flying about in the presidential race, it came out early this week that McCain's campaign has been employing lobbyists who have worked for blood-stained foreign dictatorships, and for tidy sums.
The one they call Charlie Black is the senator's "chief political adviser," according to The Washington Post. Here's a current report on Charlie Black's experience as a lobbyist, from Progressive Media USA:
Black Enlisted to Improve Marcos’s Image. The Globe and Mail reported, “A politically well-connected U.S. lobbying firm is being paid nearly $1-million to help a Philippine client linked with President Ferdinand Marcos, and some analysts believe its task is to improve Mr. Marcos’ image.” “The firm, Black, Manafort & Stone Public Affairs, began a year-long contract with a client called the Chamber of Philippines Manufacturers, Exporters and Tourist Associations.” “Stanley Roth, who serves on the staff of a congressional subcommittee investigating Mr. Marcos’ business dealings in the United States, called the arrangement ‘just means of Marcos hiring a public relations firm.’ Under the terms of the contract, the suburban Washington-based concern is to be paid $950,000 plus expenses to provide ‘advice and assistance on matters relating to the media, public relations and public affairs interests’ as well as lobbying services.” [The Globe and Mail, 12/20/85]
Meet Charlie Black: lobbyist, political scientist, public relations man for homicidal dictators. As far as I can gather from the latest news dispatches, Charlie is still on the John McCain payroll.
But wait, there's more:
While Black Lobbied for Somalia, Siad Barre’s Army Killed 40,000 – 50,000 Civilians. The Associated Press reported, “The Somali army killed 40,000 to 50,000 unarmed civilians between June 1988 and January 1990, according to human rights group Africa Watch.” [Associated Press, 1/2/95]
Black Lobbied for Zaire’s Dictator. Black, Manafort, Stone lobbied for “Mobuto Sese Seko of Zaire.” The “military dictator, Mobuto, was a $1 million-per-year Black, Manafort client until December 1990.” [Common Cause Magazine, Winter 1993; Department of Justice, FARA database, accessed 2/26/08]
There's actually much more than that, but space limitations compel me to keep things relatively brief. Just bear in mind that this is one of Mad Jack's main men.
Granted, there are now a couple of dudes who are no longer on The Straitjacket Express. They were the ones who had to fall on their swords. This is from a recent post on MSNBC:
Doug Goodyear and Doug Davenport, the two McCain aides who resigned from positions within the GOP contender's campaign, stepped down this weekend after Newsweek reported that their lobbying firm, Washington power player DCI Group, represented Myanmar's military junta in 2002 to the tune of $348,000.
It should be noted that Mr. Goodyear was, until his resignation, heading McCain's GOP convention team. That's not a small post to award someone without checking their background -- or perhaps figuring instead that no one important would ever know.
In 2008, we're in a political mode of Barack Obama having to give multiple speeches explaining that he differs markedly from the Rev. Jeremiah Wright on crucial issues. So perhaps this calls for, at the very least, an explanation from McCain to the effect that he doesn't agree with lobbyists who promoted murderous dictators for pay. It seems appropriate and equitable for Mr. Black to get his walking papers, too. I'm sure he will prosper in his Faustian bargains for many years to come, so no one should worry.
Except maybe John McCain?
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
Monday, April 28, 2008
A Compliment To Jeremiah Wright: Reverend, You're No John Hagee
In perusing YouTube, I found contrasting videos that vividly illustrate something: Barack Obama shouldn't have to be ducking any association with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Agree with him or not, Wright is a gifted preacher and a genuine intellectual. "Pastor" John Hagee, who has endorsed John McCain for president, is at best a demented, foolish zealot, and at worst an opportunistic bigot.
McCain has been largely given a news media pass on his association with Hagee, a man who actually said that Hurricane Katrina was God's judgment on that modern-day Sodom and Gomorrah, New Orleans. (It's on one of the videos to follow.)
Well, enough from this Jeremiah. Let's go on to the one called Wright. And then, to John the Rubber-Room Baptist. -- MJ
Intermission. Have a barf bag ready.
Any questions, class?
McCain has been largely given a news media pass on his association with Hagee, a man who actually said that Hurricane Katrina was God's judgment on that modern-day Sodom and Gomorrah, New Orleans. (It's on one of the videos to follow.)
Well, enough from this Jeremiah. Let's go on to the one called Wright. And then, to John the Rubber-Room Baptist. -- MJ
Intermission. Have a barf bag ready.
Any questions, class?
World Food Riots: When The 'Free' Market Starves Many Millions
By Manifesto Joe
"Free" market dogma and stereotypes have long portrayed "socialism" and protectionism as ideologies that bring only poverty and hunger to nations. There is some modest historical evidence for that case. Yet now, after decades of globalization, neoliberalism, deregulation, tearing down trade barriers and such, world food prices are alarmingly inflated. Food riots are erupting all over the developing world.
The Bush administration's response to a suddenly burgeoning crisis has been predictably pathetic. Congress has been ineffectual as well. The modern agricultural marketplace, with aggressive and skewed export policies and overemphasis on "free" trade, has brought the U.S. and the world the latest in a cluster of existential crises.
Well-fed Americans can truly no longer just look the other way while many millions around the globe go hungry. World hunger is a threat to our own national security.
Oakland Institute Executive Director Anuradha Mittal, writing for AlterNet, reports:
World food prices rose by 39 percent in the last year. Rice alone rose to a 19-year high in March - an increase of 50 per cent in two weeks alone - while the real price of wheat has hit a 28-year high.
As a result, food riots erupted in Egypt, Guinea, Haiti, Indonesia, Mauritania, Mexico, Senegal, Uzbekistan and Yemen. For the 3 billion people in the world who subsist on $2 a day or less, the leap in food prices is a killer. They spend a majority of their income on food, and when the price goes up, they can't afford to feed themselves or their families.
Analysts have pointed to some obvious causes, such as increased demand from China and India, whose economies are booming. Rising fuel and fertilizer costs, increased use of bio-fuels and climate change have all played a part.
But less obvious causes have also had a profound effect on food prices.
Over the last few decades, the United States, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have used their leverage to impose devastating policies on developing countries. By requiring countries to open up their agriculture market to giant multinational companies, by insisting that countries dismantle their marketing boards and by persuading them to specialize in exportable cash crops such as coffee, cocoa, cotton and even flowers, they have driven the poorest countries into a downward spiral.
In the last thirty years, developing countries that used to be self-sufficient in food have turned into large food importers. Dismantling of marketing boards that kept commodities in a rolling stock to be released in event of a bad harvest, thus protecting both producers and consumers against sharp rises or drops in prices, has further worsened the situation.
Those policies of marketing boards, of keeping commodities in a rolling stock in the event of a poor harvest, sound a lot like Keynesian economics in principle, do they not? It's analogous to, in government fiscal policy, running a surplus in good times and a deficit in bad. That's classic Keynes.
Regulation and planning, when done judiciously, moderately and in the genuine public interest, are suddenly looking very wise. Too bad so few people have been heeding that viewpoint for the past 30 years.
From The Washington Post, we have a report on what the Beltway People are doing. The report:
The Bush administration and Congress have been caught flat-footed by rapidly escalating global food prices and are scrambling to respond to a crisis that they increasingly view as a threat to U.S. national security, according to government officials, congressional staffers and human rights experts.
(Never mind all those hungry bellies. National security is Job One.)
The White House released $200 million in emergency wheat stores for developing countries last week ...
Top Senate Democrats, meanwhile, are pressing the White House to devote more money to emergency food aid ...
But administration officials and legislative aides acknowledge that they have only recently begun to focus on the severity of the problem, and humanitarian groups fear that assistance from the United States, which supplies about half of the world's total food aid, may come too late to provide much benefit in the near term.
It is an especially horrible problem in Haiti, one of the Western Hemisphere's poorest countries. Local rice production has been gradually undermined by "market" preference for exports from Florida, rendering the nation much less able to feed its struggling population than ever before. The crisis recently cost Haitian Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis his job.
Poor people down there are literally eating cookies made partially from mud. I'm not joking; there are stories and photos about this. Impoverished Haitians are really doing anything, and everything, that can be done to fill empty bellies.
Welcome to the New World Order -- it's a lot different from the one advertised 15 or 20 years ago. Most of the world literally got f**ked on the altar of "free" enterprise and globalism.
Mittal goes on to make what seem like very sane suggestions to prevent mass starvation:
First, it is essential to have safety nets and public distribution systems put in place. Donor countries should provide more aid immediately to support government efforts in poor countries and respond to appeals from U.N. agencies, which are desperately seeking $500 million by May 1.
Second, we should help affected countries develop their agricultural sectors to feed more of their own people and decrease their dependence on food imports. We should promote production and consumption of local crops raised by small, sustainable farms instead of growing cash crops for western markets. And we should support a country's effort to manage stocks and pricing so as to limit the volatility of food prices.
To embrace these crucial policies, however, we need to stop worshipping the golden calf of the so-called free market and embrace, instead, the principle of food sovereignty. Every country and every people have a right to food that is affordable. When the market deprives them of this, it is the market that has to give.
Amen, bro. Now try telling that to American Republicans, and in particular to Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. You know, one of the three people from among whom we will choose the next U.S. president. That's a chilling thought.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
"Free" market dogma and stereotypes have long portrayed "socialism" and protectionism as ideologies that bring only poverty and hunger to nations. There is some modest historical evidence for that case. Yet now, after decades of globalization, neoliberalism, deregulation, tearing down trade barriers and such, world food prices are alarmingly inflated. Food riots are erupting all over the developing world.
The Bush administration's response to a suddenly burgeoning crisis has been predictably pathetic. Congress has been ineffectual as well. The modern agricultural marketplace, with aggressive and skewed export policies and overemphasis on "free" trade, has brought the U.S. and the world the latest in a cluster of existential crises.
Well-fed Americans can truly no longer just look the other way while many millions around the globe go hungry. World hunger is a threat to our own national security.
Oakland Institute Executive Director Anuradha Mittal, writing for AlterNet, reports:
World food prices rose by 39 percent in the last year. Rice alone rose to a 19-year high in March - an increase of 50 per cent in two weeks alone - while the real price of wheat has hit a 28-year high.
As a result, food riots erupted in Egypt, Guinea, Haiti, Indonesia, Mauritania, Mexico, Senegal, Uzbekistan and Yemen. For the 3 billion people in the world who subsist on $2 a day or less, the leap in food prices is a killer. They spend a majority of their income on food, and when the price goes up, they can't afford to feed themselves or their families.
Analysts have pointed to some obvious causes, such as increased demand from China and India, whose economies are booming. Rising fuel and fertilizer costs, increased use of bio-fuels and climate change have all played a part.
But less obvious causes have also had a profound effect on food prices.
Over the last few decades, the United States, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have used their leverage to impose devastating policies on developing countries. By requiring countries to open up their agriculture market to giant multinational companies, by insisting that countries dismantle their marketing boards and by persuading them to specialize in exportable cash crops such as coffee, cocoa, cotton and even flowers, they have driven the poorest countries into a downward spiral.
In the last thirty years, developing countries that used to be self-sufficient in food have turned into large food importers. Dismantling of marketing boards that kept commodities in a rolling stock to be released in event of a bad harvest, thus protecting both producers and consumers against sharp rises or drops in prices, has further worsened the situation.
Those policies of marketing boards, of keeping commodities in a rolling stock in the event of a poor harvest, sound a lot like Keynesian economics in principle, do they not? It's analogous to, in government fiscal policy, running a surplus in good times and a deficit in bad. That's classic Keynes.
Regulation and planning, when done judiciously, moderately and in the genuine public interest, are suddenly looking very wise. Too bad so few people have been heeding that viewpoint for the past 30 years.
From The Washington Post, we have a report on what the Beltway People are doing. The report:
The Bush administration and Congress have been caught flat-footed by rapidly escalating global food prices and are scrambling to respond to a crisis that they increasingly view as a threat to U.S. national security, according to government officials, congressional staffers and human rights experts.
(Never mind all those hungry bellies. National security is Job One.)
The White House released $200 million in emergency wheat stores for developing countries last week ...
Top Senate Democrats, meanwhile, are pressing the White House to devote more money to emergency food aid ...
But administration officials and legislative aides acknowledge that they have only recently begun to focus on the severity of the problem, and humanitarian groups fear that assistance from the United States, which supplies about half of the world's total food aid, may come too late to provide much benefit in the near term.
It is an especially horrible problem in Haiti, one of the Western Hemisphere's poorest countries. Local rice production has been gradually undermined by "market" preference for exports from Florida, rendering the nation much less able to feed its struggling population than ever before. The crisis recently cost Haitian Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis his job.
Poor people down there are literally eating cookies made partially from mud. I'm not joking; there are stories and photos about this. Impoverished Haitians are really doing anything, and everything, that can be done to fill empty bellies.
Welcome to the New World Order -- it's a lot different from the one advertised 15 or 20 years ago. Most of the world literally got f**ked on the altar of "free" enterprise and globalism.
Mittal goes on to make what seem like very sane suggestions to prevent mass starvation:
First, it is essential to have safety nets and public distribution systems put in place. Donor countries should provide more aid immediately to support government efforts in poor countries and respond to appeals from U.N. agencies, which are desperately seeking $500 million by May 1.
Second, we should help affected countries develop their agricultural sectors to feed more of their own people and decrease their dependence on food imports. We should promote production and consumption of local crops raised by small, sustainable farms instead of growing cash crops for western markets. And we should support a country's effort to manage stocks and pricing so as to limit the volatility of food prices.
To embrace these crucial policies, however, we need to stop worshipping the golden calf of the so-called free market and embrace, instead, the principle of food sovereignty. Every country and every people have a right to food that is affordable. When the market deprives them of this, it is the market that has to give.
Amen, bro. Now try telling that to American Republicans, and in particular to Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. You know, one of the three people from among whom we will choose the next U.S. president. That's a chilling thought.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
One More Reason To Be Very Afraid Of A McCain Presidency: John Hagee
John McCain used to be admired by some people to the left of him politically for his seeming recognition of how dangerous the Religious Right is. But now that the presidency is within McCain's reach, he is shamelessly sucking up to Kook Right televangelist John Hagee of San Antonio, Texas, the man who is helping with the "awakening" of the "Christian Zionist movement."
Journalism legend and fellow Texan Bill Moyers, on this video, takes a look at the extremist element McCain is now pandering to.
If McCain is elected, the world can kiss any real Mideast peace process goodbye for yet another four years. -- MJ
Postscript: This isn't the first video I put here. I appear to have been sabotaged -- well, in some way. We'll see if it was more than just coincidence.
Journalism legend and fellow Texan Bill Moyers, on this video, takes a look at the extremist element McCain is now pandering to.
If McCain is elected, the world can kiss any real Mideast peace process goodbye for yet another four years. -- MJ
Postscript: This isn't the first video I put here. I appear to have been sabotaged -- well, in some way. We'll see if it was more than just coincidence.
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