An Open Letter To Barack Obama

If anyone with any connections to the Obama campaign reads this letter, please pass this on to somebody who can influence campaign strategy.

Dear Senator Obama,
I watched the debate last night with friends who are mostly Obama supporters plus a couple of independents who have not made up their minds. Unanimously, the consensus of the watchers was that you wasted valuable time repeating the attacks you made in the previous debate against John McCain. Everybody knows McCain is tied to Bush. Everybody knows McCain supports the war in Iraq. Everybody knows McCain supports tax cuts for the rich. What all of us were looking for were specific answers to questions that concern us all, particularly on the economy. We all thought you were better than your opponent last night, but you did let McCain steal the headlines for coming up with something new that might help the average American, the buy-up of mortgages. Please stop wasting time attacking McCain. Spend more time convincing the independents that you really are the one that can help them.

Let the bloggers do the attacking. They really are better at it than you are anyway. Don't get down in the gutter with Palin/McCain. Take the high road, talk about the issues, refuse to be sucked in to the character debates. The main reason swiftboating hurt John Kerry was because people remembered him throwing his medals over the Whitehouse fence. It resonated with them. There is nothing in your background that can cause the same reaction. Just shrug off the attacks saying, "We don't have time for that kind of campaigning. There are too many problems to solve and too little time to solve them, so here's what I'm going to do . . ."

You have our support. My family, which is large, is 100% behind you. Now show us your are worthy of our support.

Thanks,

Manny Tomes
An evangelical Vietnam Vet from Norman, OK

Famous Last Words

"I would rather lose a political campaign than lose a war." When John McCain made this memorable statement it was an obvious attempt to disparage his opponents motives. Now, because of his ill-conceived selection of Sarah Palin as running mate, we clearly see that he did not mean he wouldn't endanger the country in other ways just to try to win a political campaign. Carl Bernstein, as astute an analyst of the political scenc as anyone writing today, says it well in his article, The Palin Pick -- The Devolution of McCain. Berstein says,

Indeed, no presidential nominee of either party in the last century has seemed so willing to endanger the country's security as McCain in his reckless choice of a running mate. He is 72 years old; has had four melanomas, a particularly voracious form of cancer; refuses to release his complete medical records. Three of our last eleven presidents (and nine of all 43) have come to office unexpectedly in mid-term from the vice presidency: Truman, who within days of FDR's death was confronted with the decision of whether to drop the atom bomb on Japan; Lyndon Johnson, who took the oath in Dallas after JFK's assassination; Gerald Ford, sworn in following the resignation of Richard Nixon. A fourth vice president, George H.W. Bush, briefly exercised the powers of the presidency after the near-assassination of Ronald Reagan.

Given that history, what does John McCain's choice of Sarah Palin -- the cavalier, last-minute process of her selection and careless vetting; and her over-briefed, fact-lite performance since -- reveal about this military man who has attested to us for years that he is guided by his personal code of honor? "Two things I will never
do," McCain told me, "are [to] lie to the American people, or put my electoral interests before the national interest" -- an obvious precursor of "I would rather lose a political campaign than lose a war."

He then answers his own question:

It does not take a near-death experience to know that Sarah Palin is not qualified to be commander in chief, or that -- in choosing her -- McCain has ignored his own oft-avowed code of conduct. "McCain made the most important command decision of his life when he chose Sarah Palin as his vice presidential nominee," noted David Ignatius in the Washington Post. "....No promotion board in history would have made such a decision."

I having no problem praising Berstein for coming to this decision because he now agrees with me. Of course I came to this same conclusion almost a month ago. See my post McCain Throws the Election on August 29, 2008.

I don't always agree with the folks at MoveOn.org but this message hits the nail on the head.

Yesterday was one of the stranger days in presidential election history. John McCain actually asked to "suspend" Friday's much anticipated debate with Barack Obama so that he could posture on the financial crisis.


Even the arch-conservative Wall Street Journal editorial board was mystified.


Bottom line: This isn't presidential behavior. It's a desperate, reckless move that actually threatens to make it harder to resolve this crisis. And of course, presidents have to be able to handle lots of important issues at once—they can't panic and take their eyes off of one urgent priority when another one pops up.


Obama wants the debate to go forward. So do millions of other Americans. With 40 days left until the most important election in a generation, we deserve a debate on the issues. What's motivating all this panicky erratic behavior from McCain? It's hard to tell, but here are what some of the experts are saying might be behind it: A drop in the polls. As Politico writer Ben Smith pointed out, "In terms of the timing of this move: The only thing that's changed in the last 48 hours is the public polling."


Stopping the VP debate. Last night, McCain surrogate Sen. Lindsey Graham suggested that the vice presidential debate between Gov. Palin and Sen. Biden be postponed indefinitely to accommodate his request to postpone tomorrow's debate. (Now, why would they ever want to postpone or cancel the VP debate?)

Pure reckless decision-making. McCain has a history of reckless decision-making. Here's how Time's Joe Klein put it yesterday, "McCain suspends his campaign because of financial crisis? Oh please. Given today's poll numbers—even Fox has him dropping—it seems another Hail Mary (like the feckless selection of Palin) to try make McCain seem a statesman, which is difficult given the puerile tenor of his campaign's message operation."


And the Wall Street Journal wrote last week: "In a crisis, voters want steady, calm leadership, not easy, misleading answers that will do nothing to help."

But whatever the cause is, McCain's wrong. Serious situations like this one are exactly the time when Americans most need a real discussion—a debate.

We've got to make sure that the Debate Commission doesn't bend under Republican pressure. Can you sign this emergency petition to the Commission on Presidential Debates urging them to hold strong and make sure that the debate go forward on Friday, as planned? We'll make sure they get your comments by the end of the day.


Clicking below will add your name:

http://pol.moveon.org/demanddebate/o.pl?id=14042-8768238-oW5enXx&t=3



The petition reads: "Now more than ever, the American people deserve a presidential debate. We urge you to make sure the debate goes forward as planned tomorrow night."

Hey McCain, Shutup!

I realize an opening like that is not appropriate in this day of political correctness. And after all McCain is a "real American hero." But I have to agree with Mitchell Bard in his article, "It's Time for the "Deregulators" Like McCain to Step Aside and Shut Up" For some reason all of the people in Washington who are responsible for the economic "CF" keep talking like they think they can now dictate the terms of the solution. It's bad enough that we have to let Bush in, but there is no way congress should allow them to say what kind of "clean bill" they want. Congress needs to have the (I would say balls but that would be sexist) intestinal fortitude to pass a bill with oversight and tax payer protection and dare the shrub to veto it. Then the shrub and his twin can go sit out in Arizona or Texas and watch the sun go down and keep their damn mouths shut. Where does John McCain think he gets the credibility to demand "oversight" and "regulation" now after an entire career of fighting "oversight" and "regulation." So once again I say.

Hey McCain, Shutup!!

Potholes and Garbage

Question: Who said

"I am prepared. I am prepared. I need no on-the-job training. I wasn't a mayor for a short period of time. I wasn't a governor for a short period of time. "

Answer: John McCain in the Republican Debate, October 21, 2007.

Of course then he was running against Mayor Giuliani, mayor of one of the largest cities in the world, and Governor Romney, governor of Massachusetts with 6.5 million people.

Let me make sure I understand McCain's reasoning.
Being the mayor of one of the largest cities in the world doesn't adequately prepare you to be president.
Being governor of Massachusetts, population 6.5 million doesn't adequately prepare you to be president.

But being mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, population 5,469 and governor of Alaska, population 670,000 does adequately prepare you to be the proverbial "heartbeat away from the presidency."

I think Barack Obama said it well last night. Being mayor of a small town is a tough job. You have to make sure the potholes get filled and the garbage gets picked up. Sounds like qualifications to be the strongest person in the free world to me. So please send Sarah back to her potholes and garbage and get serious about who is going to be president of the United States.

The Lies Just Keep On Coming

An old joke with a new subject: "How can you tell when Sarah Palin is lying? Her mouth is open." It just keeps getting piled higher and deeper. Now the Washington Post is reporting some very questionable travel claims including staying in a $700 a night hotel in NY. Not that's what I call a fiscal conservative. Since I am primarily just ranting about McCain/Palin at this point let me point you to a blog that is doing more documentation of the lies and insanity of the McCain crowd.

Go see

How Insane Is John McCain?

He gives you enough evidence to keep several grand juries deliberating for a long time.

Eight Years of Lies Is Enough

I have been upset for the last couple of years because no one on a national level, whether politician or media pundit was willing to tell the truth about George Bush and John Cheney. The flat truth is that they lied about the situation in Iraq in order to get support for their stupid war. And they have continued to lie in order to keep the American people from totally revolting against them. I lost all respect for several people at high levels in government for not only refusing to call a lie a lie but continuing to support the Bush war even though they knew it was based on lies. Among these are Condolezza Rice, Joe Lieberman, and sure enough John McCain. I don't care how much they think the war was a good idea. It was based on lies that Bush and his cronies told to the American people.

And now, John McCain and Sarah Palin evidently think if Bush could get away with it regarding the war, they can get away with it in the campaign. And even after the truth is told they keep telling the lies, evidently thinking that if they just keep saying it, people will eventually believe them. One reallyobvious big lie is that Sarah Palin was against the so-called "Bridge to Nowhere." She supported it from the beginning of her statewide political career until it was obvious that it was making Ted Stevens the laughingstock of the Senate. Then even after she canceled the project, she kept the $200+ million for other pet projects in Alaska including a new road that led to the place the bridge was supposed to be.

John McCain lied when he said Barack Obama had not introduced any legislation. John McCain lied when he said he was the lobbyists worst enemy. Sarah Palin lied when she said BarackObama had asked for a billion dollars in earmarks in one year. Sarah Palin lied about her own requests for "earmarks" both as a mayor and as a governor. Sarah Palin lied about her involvement in the troopergate scandal. I was amazed just this morning when one of her old exercise buddies said on Good Morning America that if there is one thing Sarah Palin is, it is honest.

Of course, the BIG LIE concerns John McCain himself. Far from being a proponent of change, he is a major part of the problem in Washington. George Bush along with his republican allies in congress has come close to destroying the American economy in the last eight years and we haven't even begun to pay for the war yet.

I do not understand how anyone can honestly support John McCain and Sarah Palin in the current election. Their campaign is filled with lies from beginning to end. My only conclusion is that the purported 46-48% of Americans who are supporting the liars McCain and Palin are blind, stupid or just plain evil.

This is not a lie. It's 133 days until the end of the Bush disaster and America cannot stand one more day of the same failed policies, much less four more years. If you really care about this country, look at the records, look at the evidence and tell John McCain to pick one of his houses to go hide in and tell Sarah Palin to go back to Alaska. They elected her, they can have her.

Palin--Energy Expert?

I'm not sure how or why but anti-Palin blogs, articles, messages, etc. keep jumping off the screen at me. I tried changing computers and logins but nothing seems to help. I thought I knew away to escape when I turned off the computer and got in my car, turned on the radio and hoped for some relief from the onslaught of antisarianism, but right there on my car radio was my republiclone representative, Tom Cole, praising Sarah Palin saying that because she's governor of a state with 20% of the nations energy reserves she knows more about energy than anyone else in the race, including McCain. The problem with this kind of thinking is that it perpetuates the very problem some of us are trying to solve, dependence on oil, whether domestic or foreign. To her credit, she did help get some tough energy legislation passed. But then she used the proceeds to buy her 80% approval rating by distributing money to all of the citizens of Alaska. She may know something about the oil business, (oh wait, that is her family business isn't it? Haven't we had enough oil men or women in the white house to last us for a long, long time?) As I was saying, just knowing something about the oil business does not make you an energy expert.

Of course, my biggest complaint about her is not her lack of experience but her heavy handed way of dealing with anyone who opposes her. The firing of the chief public safety officer is only the latest in a string of power grabs. I am not really concerned about all the other people she has fired through the years but when she starts picking on librarians she is in big trouble. How much more evidence of her megalomania do you need, than to read that when she took over as mayor of Wasilla, she asked all of the department heads, including the town librarian, to resign as a show of support for her administration. She had to back down from the librarian but some of the others were more than willing to say goodbye. I guess they were like Daniel. We have just had 8 years of imperial presidency and don't need any more. I don't care how well she does in her speech tonight, and she ought to to well since her only job outside of being a politician seems to have been as a part time sports journalist and everyone knows how eloquent sports reporters are. Just ask them.

So far the best of the blog articles on Sarah Palin that I've seen is Sarah Palin: Dick Cheney in a Dress by Reality Catcher. I do think he takes a cheap shot at the end but the rest of the article is very good.

Reality Catcher: Sarah Palin: Dick Cheney In A Dress

So Who's the Celebrity?

I think it is very appropriate that the first interview with the republican ticket was given to People magazine. I love the picture of the two wannabe first families right next to the following headlines.

• Ryan Cabrera: Ashlee Will Be a 'Great Mom'
• Johnny Depp Rocks Out for a Good Cause
• Friends Remember Dr. Dre's Son
• Amy Winehouse Cancels Paris Performance
• David Duchovny Has Addressed Rumors of Sex Addiction

Do you think McCain is trying to convince us that in spite his millions and his so-many-he-can't-remember-them-all houses, he is really just one of the folks? Don't underestimate the power of the mob. Remember that GWB won because he pulled off the guy-you-would-like-to-have-a-beer-with image.

In my previous post on this subject I did neglect to give SP credit for her leadership experience as the point guard on the Wasilla Warriors basketball team. Don't get me wrong. I'm a great fan of women's basketball. Some of my very favorite people play the game, but somehow I never saw it as preparation for the White House.

McCain Throws the Election

I knew McCain and his ilk were desparate, but this is absolutely crazy. His most effective criticism of Barak Obama has been his lack of experience and now, if he wins, a 72 year old heartbeat away from the most powerful office in the world will be a person whose primary experience is being mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, a town of about 8400 people. She has no experience, she has no credentials, she has no credibility, she has nothing to justify her as a candidate for Vice President of the United States except that the McCain people hope that some of the dissaffected Hilary supporters will vote for her just because she is female. Oh yes, she was Miss Wasilla of 1984.

If you take a look at the City of Wasilla webpage for today (http://www.cityofwasilla.com/) these are the two lead stories:

Former Wasilla Mayor Picked for Vice Presidential Run
CNN and Fox News are reporting Senator John McCain has picked Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate on the GOP ticket for the White House! More...

Baby & Me Lap-Sit Program at the Library
Baby & Me Lap-Sit is a new one-on-one program for an adult and baby (ages 4-18 months). The program will be held of Fridays at 10:30 am at Wasilla Public Library. Registration is required.

As a former public librarian, I fully recognize the value of the Lap-Sit programs. In fact I have conducted some myself and they are quite a learning experience. And I don't mean for the babies. But I can conceive of no situation where any of the mayors of my town, which is bigger that Wasilla, would ever be considered as candidates for the vice-presidency.

Here is the bio of the current mayor of Wasilla. Peruse it at your leisure to discover the political nuances that would prepare here to be next in line for the most powerful job on the planet.

Mayor Dianne M. Keller was twice elected to the Wasilla City Council, Seat B.
She was previously appointed to serve a one-year term from 1996-1997, and was
elected to serve a full term from 1997-2000. Her Council term ended in October
2002 when she ran for and became the Mayor of Wasilla. Dianne was re-elected as
Mayor in 2005 and will serve until 2008.
The Mayor is an active
member of our community. She has been a member of the AML Legislative Committee
from 1996 to 2004, and the Alaska Conference of Mayors from 2002 to present.
Mayor Keller also chairs the Mat-Su American Red Cross leadership committee and
formerly was a Board Member for the Greater Wasilla Chamber of Commerce in
2005.
In addition, she is a member of the Alaska Resource Development
Council, Mat-Su Resouce Development Council, Alaska State Chamber of Commerce,
Alaska Miners Association, the Mat-Su Youth Court, a member of the Alaska Moose
Federation, and Chair for the Statewide Moose Safety & Rebuilding Task
Force.
The Mayor was appointed to serve the State residents on the State
Emergency Response Commission (SERC). She is also an active supporter of the Boy
Scouts of America and donates regularly to the Blood Bank of Alaska.
Mayor
Keller was born and raised in Anchorage and has lived in the
Matanuska-Susitna valley since 1983. She and her husband Dave have lived in
the city since 1992 and their son Seth was born in Wasilla in 1994.

After Obama's acceptance speech which should have removed all doubts about his ability to lead and after the Bill & Hilary shows of the previous nights in support of Barak Obama removed all doubts about who they are supporting the repubs really needed to pull out their big guns to counter the momentum of Obama's campaign had coming out of the election. So the first thing they do is time the release of McCain's running for the day after the convention to take away some of the headlines and talking head time. That's pretty transparent but all's fair in presidential politics. But this is absolutely ludicrous. I'm sure Mrs. Palin is a very fine woman, but she has no business being nominated or agreeing to this nomination. The Bush/McCain team continues to make a mockery of the American political system. McCain likes to be known as a maverick, but this is just plain old ordinary stupidity.

McCain's Lobbyists Come Out of the Closet

A recent letter from Howard Dean notes:

I've got a joke for you.

Last week, John McCain's campaign manager, Rick Davis, sent a memo to the McCain campaign staff about a brand new "conflicts policy."

This policy was designed to identify staffers with "conflicts" working within McCain's organization after three advisers resigned from the campaign. One was found to be working for an anti-Democrat "527" organization, and the other two -- a regional campaign manager and the convention CEO -- were found to have lobbied for the Myanmar junta in 2003.

Here's the punch line: Rick Davis, author of the memo and the person in charge of finding these "conflicts" within the campaign, founded his own lobbying firm, and, according to the Politico, "has made at least $2.8 million lobbying Congress since 1998."

But it gets worse. Charlie Black is McCain's chief political adviser. Over the past seven years, lobbying filings show he's used his connections with George Bush and Dick Cheney to lobby administration officials for dozens of wealthy clients. The Washington Post reported that "Black said he does a lot of his work by telephone from McCain's Straight Talk Express bus."

John McCain's commitment to keeping Washington lobbyists out of his campaign is a joke -- but it's not funny. It's shocking. Since Davis sent around his "conflicts" memo, two more people have been shamed out of the McCain campaign. But why not Davis and Black? Of all the possible conflicts revealed, isn't lobbying from the campaign bus the worst? And does McCain care that his campaign manager made millions after starting his own lobbying shop? If those are acceptable, what exactly did McCain find about the people they let go?

Tell John McCain to fire Rick Davis and Charlie Black today. If he's really committed to keeping "conflicts" out of his campaign, he should have no trouble cleaning house the way he needs to.

http://www.democrats.org/FireTheLobbyists

This past Sunday, John McCain defended the situation by telling reporters that his lobbyist advisers are "not in the lobbying business; they've been out of that business." And just yesterday, John McCain said he wants to have "the most comprehensive and transparent of any presidential campaign in history" when it comes to lobbyists. How can that be true when people like Charlie Black admit he's conducting his lobbying business on the back of the bus?

John McCain and his campaign can't have it both ways. On the one hand, he says "ethics and transparency are not election year buzz words." But, on the other hand, he and his top campaign advisors have no problem fudging about their lobbying records. When pressed on the discrepancy, they give a flip excuse: Americans don't care.

Demand honesty and openness in politics. Tell John McCain to fire Charlie Black and Rick Davis today:
http://www.democrats.org/FireTheLobbyists
Let's keep McCain accountable,

Howard Dean

McCain needs to do his homework

John McCain is perpetuating a myth that has been debunked many times.

The shrub carried out a thinly veiled attack on Barack Obama as an "appeaser" for suggesting that it might be a good idea to talk to some of the Middle-East leaders. When McCain was asked about the shrub's statements, a part of his response was,

"I believe that it's not an accident that our hostages came home from Iran when President Reagan was president of the United States. He didn't sit down in a negotiation with the religious extremists in Iran, he made it very clear that those hostages were coming home.''

The reaganites are very fond of claiming that it was the fear of the supposed actor's toughness that caused the Iranians to release the prisoners a few minutes after his inauguration on January 20, 1981. All of the news channels gave that as a possible or probable reason for the timing of the release. But the rest of the story came out later when it was revealed that President Carter's Secretary of State, Warren Christopher had concluded negotiations for their release the day before with the signing of the Algiers Accords. Sources inside Iran later revealed that the timing of the release was done deliberately to detract from reagan's inauguration not because they were afraid of his pseudo-macho, Hollywood cowboy toughness.

Please, John. There are enough reagan myths clogging up the minds of the American people without you perpetuating this one.

Who Does She Think She's Kidding

The headline reads "Clinton attacks Obama ahead of debate. " A couple of paragraphs into the story she brings out the same old line, "Who is best prepared to be commander in chief on day one?" I know she's losing and desparate, but I really don't understand what possible reason she has for thinking that she is any better prepared to be commander-in-chief than Barack Obama is, or that the American people would have more confidence in her to handle a military crisis than they would in him. Somehow, I don't see being a senator from New York as preparing one to be C-i-C. Although, I must acknowledge that I have been to NYC enough to know that it can sometimes be mistaken for a war zone. And as far as spending eight years in the Whitehouse, Bill's record as CIC is second only to his "indescretions" as being among the worst things about his presidency.

Besides that she's playing right into John McCain's hand, because he is the only one in the race that can legitimately claim to be "prepared." Fortunately, the framers of the constitution did see military prowess as a necessity for being president. In spite of the unanimous election of George Washington as the first president, only three of the next ten had any military experience and one of them died a month after he took ofice. Looking at the history of how the presidents have used the CIC position, there is no direct correlation between effectiveness in office and military experience. Although there have been a number of presidents who used their military experience to help get them elected.

If Hilary really expects to make a comeback in this race, she had better find a different message. It seems pretty obvious to me that as soon as democrats and independents began to have confidence that Barack Obama was electable, her fate was sealed. We thank her for keeping the repubs on the ropes for so long, but now is the time for both candidates to heat up the attack on McCain and let the nominations chips fall as they may.