Racist and Ignorant McCain/Palin Supporters in Ohio
Oct 10 at 11:11am by Jagwire X
I ran across a couple of interesting blog posts in which some enterprising bloggers (Blogger Interrupted and BlueOhioan) got their cameras out and asked people standing in line for a McCain Palin rally in Ohio what they thought about Barack Obama, John McCain and Sarah Palin. It’s truly scary. I don’t mean like kind of scary like Halloween, I mean really truly terrifying like Nazi Germany.
From Blogger Interrupted:
It’s no wonder that the slightest incitement from Sarah Palin or John McCain will turn one of their rallies into a lynch mob. Just talk to the folks who attend.
My camera was rolling for literally seconds before people happily said to me, on camera, that Barack Obama is a terrorist. If I hadn’t spent most of my time at the event inside, waiting for the candidates to show up, I could have gotten dozens of these people on tape.
The McCain-Palin mob in Strongsville, Ohio
The McCain-Palin mob in Strongsville, Ohio
Anthony Fossaceca of BlueOhioan:
These people will stop at nothing to further spread the lies and hate that surround that campaign. Bill Ayers, Osama bin Laden, Muslim terrorists, Hamas, PLO, Arab - all things we heard in connection to Barack Obama in yesterday’s crowd line at the Strongsville McCain rally.
Hate First
The one of the things that strikes me in these videos is how ill-informed these people are, and how hateful. These people want John McCain and Sarah Palin in office because it will allow their magnificently tiny worlds to go on existing in their heads. I got news for you people, the future is coming and you my sad pathetic creatures are the dinosaurs.
The other thing that really gets me is how these people just seem to think that, well, how well do we really know Barack Obama? And I think, how well do you really know John McCain?
Well, let me tell you, he known to be unethical. He cheated on his first wife (who was disabled due to a car accident in 1969) with his soon to be second wife, he was involved in the Savings and Loan Scandal in the 1980’s and was known as one of the Keating Five. I don’t care that he’s expressed remorse for these acts - it shows that he is capable of them and reflects on his character. The fact that John McCain is veteran of the Vietnam War and was a POW does nothing to bolster my faith in him. I’ve know a lot of ‘nam veterans and everyone one of them is unstable and suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. That doesn’t mean they aren’t war heroes and it doens’t mean their bad people but if we need a “steady hand at the tiller” then John McCain certainly isn’t it.
McCain and Palin’s allegations toward Barack Obama are, if you bother to look at the facts, completely unfounded, and are being used to create a boogey-man out of Obama. To his credit Obama has remained very steady and unlike McCain has stayed focused on the issue which is what you as citizens should really care about!
There seems to be a strange attraction to the right wing of the political eagle in this country of the very wealthy and the ignorant despite the rather large gap between the two. It’s as if being a dumbass has now become some sort of badge of honor for the right. This is something I am going to have to write about in a follow up post, so be on the look out for that.
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Racist, Fascist and Lying Their Heads Off
Oct 8 at 2:02pm by Jagwire X
McCain is behind in the polls because he has no real plan for the average citizen and Obama does and anyone that’s paying the least bit of attention knows it. So how does the McCain campaign react? Do they get their shit together and come up with a plan other than “the heels are on, the gloves are off?” No, they don’t, they rely on attacks against their opponent, more and more lying and general fascist attitudes. It’s become clear now that the McCain/Palin team is composed of and attracts racists and fascists. There is little doubt about the kind of administration we would get should they get into office. One that would transform America from the Land of the Free to the Land of the Oppressed.
At this point Sarah “Pit-Bull” Palin’s campaign rallies have apparently degenerated into some sort of neo-nazi pseudo-pogroms against the media and Barack Obama.
Dana Milbank of the Washington Post wrote:
Barack Obama, she told 8,000 fans at a rally here Monday afternoon, “launched his political career in the living room of a domestic terrorist!” This followed her earlier accusation that the Democrat pals around with terrorists. “This is not a man who sees America the way you and I see America,” she told the Clearwater crowd. “I’m afraid this is someone who sees America as imperfect enough to work with a former domestic terrorist who had targeted his own country.” The crowd replied with boos.
McCain had said that racially explosive attacks related to Obama’s former pastor, the Rev.Jeremiah Wright, are off limits. But Palin told New York Times columnist Bill Kristol in an interview published Monday: “I don’t know why that association isn’t discussed more.”
Worse, Palin’s routine attacks on the media have begun to spill into ugliness. In Clearwater, arriving reporters were greeted with shouts and taunts by the crowd of about 3,000. Palin then went on to blame Katie Couric’s questions for her “less-than-successful interview with kinda mainstream media.” At that, Palin supporters turned on reporters in the press area, waving thunder sticks and shouting abuse. Others hurled obscenities at a camera crew. One Palin supporter shouted a racial epithet at an African American sound man for a network and told him, “Sit down, boy.”
Palin says, “This is not a man who sees America the way you and I see America.” You’re right Sarah he doesn’t see America the way you see it, he sees it the way our founders saw it. He sees it as Benjamin Franklin saw it when he wrote: Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.
She goes on to say, “[Obama] is someone who sees America as imperfect enough to work with a former domestic terrorist who had targeted his own country.”
In February 2008 (long before it even became a “topic” of the McCain campaign), Obama spokesman Bill Burton released a statement from the senator about the relationship between the two: “Senator Obama strongly condemns the violent actions of the Weathermen group, as he does all acts of violence. But he was an eight-year-old child when Ayers and the Weathermen were active, and any attempt to connect Obama with events of almost forty years ago is ridiculous.”
CNN’s review of project records found nothing to suggest anything inappropriate in the non-profit projects in which the two men were involved. Internal reviews by The New York Times, The Washington Post, Time magazine, The Chicago Sun-Times, The New Yorker and The New Republic “have said that their reporting doesn’t support the idea that Obama and Ayers had a close relationship”.
That’s a lot of news sources saying the same thing for them to all be wrong.
Oh, and, dear Sarah, your interview with Katie Couric went off so awfully because you are an idiot. You think the mainstream media is liberal but you are wrong, if anything in their attempt to be impartial they favor the conservatives because of the Right’s over vocal attacks. In this case I am referring to the fact that if the McCain campaign attacks Obama the media will generally not look into facts but will rather just say, “Oh, well here’s the equivalent attack from the Obama campaign.” That’s not journalism, that’s equivocation.
Meanwhile rallies that McCain himself attends the crowd is no better.
Greg Sargent from Talking Points Memo writes:
After John McCain delivered the central question of his speech today — “Who is the real Barack Obama?” — the first, and loudest, supporter seems to yell:
“Terrorist!”
McCain listens as his planted crowd member yells terrorist
That’s what John Aravosis and Marc Ambinder heard, and it does sound like it.
Who is the real Barack Obama? Are you really asking? Who the fuck is the real John McCain and what have you done with him?
This really pisses me off to no end. I hate smear tactics, and have no tolerance for people who are so desperate for their power grab that they will sink to these depths, demonstrating their obviously racist bent using typical fascist tactics of scaremongering and party supporters planted in the crowd to whip them into a frenzy. What will the McCain/Palin campaign October Surprise be? A black man committing a domestic terror act?
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Spoonamore Reveals the Plan to Steal the 2008 Presidential Election
Oct 1 at 10:10am by Jagwire X
A Diebold Election Systems, Inc. model AccuVote-TSx DRE voting machine with VVPAT attachment.
It may be crazy — or then again maybe not. I guess we will see come November 5th when all the “votes” are in.
New Spoonamore Interview - E-voting Machines are a National Security Threat
Last week, Velevet Revolution interviewed GOP Cyber security expert Stephen Spoonamore about the upcoming election and his testimony in the new Ohio litigation to take depositions of Karl Rove and others.
The video is posted in full below with ten short clips for You Tube viewing. This interview is so important and explosive that we urge everyone to watch it.
Spoonamore says that the GOP wanted e-voting to steal elections but now foreign governments will be hacking and the winner will be determined by the best hackers. He says that if the GOP wins the hacking competition, McCain will win 51.2 percent with three electoral votes over Obama, and it will be a stolen election.
Spoon also makes a crucial point about the people who have been implicated in much of the election theft: “They are religious extremists.” He names those who know about stolen elections, and he insists that the only way to protect this election is with paper ballots, hand-counted.
Check out this extraordinary interview after the jump.
Read the rest of this entry »
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Why Conservatives are OK with Palin Not Talking to the Media
Sep 25 at 2:02pm by Jagwire X
And why they think this is the Sign of a Strong Leader
Found on reddit and written by marko34. I don’t think I could have summed this up more concisely.
Smash Patriarchy?
I think you have to consider the CONSERVATIVE (not Republican) mindset.
Conservatives are interested in what’s called a “strict father” mentality. In this mentality, the strict father makes all the decisions, and whether or not you agree, or are familiar with the reasons behind the decisions, is beside the point. These are the decisions, live with them. Hence, “I’m the decider.”
This is why Conservatives go along with whatever their leaders tell them. They vote in their leaders/”fathers” based on personality & identification, and basically “trust” them (the leaders) to do whatever they think is right. If they (the voters) agree, great. If they don’t, it doesn’t matter. The voters granted their trust on election day, and that’s it.
From this, it follows that Conservatives aren’t interested in their candidate showing depth or competence. Look at George W. Bush! As long as s/he speaks to them in their “gut”, or if they personally identify with their candidate, that’s all that matters.
Following further on, in their view the press also can’t be trusted. It’s the “liberal media” remember?
So in absence of the press being important, or even relevant in their view, all that matters is speaking engagements. The more places that Sarah Palin can speak, the more she can rile up the base, and the more she can deliver those applause lines that speak to the “gut” rather than the brain, the better. Hence the Bush-like “loyalty rallies.”
This in no way has anything to do with her being a strong leader. It’s all in service of propping up her “image” to the base, and speaking to their mindset. I can assure you, the McCain campaign will do NOTHING that isn’t necessary that will risk shattering her image to the base (which would basically be putting her in a position which she might demonstrate weakness or lack of certainty, like answering unpredictable press questions).
It’s only the rest of us, the reasoning, thinking people, that these things are important to.
It remains to be seen, then, if the independents are going to buy into this, if they’ll react to the “strict father” authoritarian mentality, or if they’ll be convinced to think differently.
You can make a difference, btw, by writing to a news outlet of your choice and DEMANDING that they ask her questions. Put pressure on the news outlets, not the candidate. She ain’t listening.
[NOTE: By "Conservative" I am referring to a subset of the Republican party. Not fiscal or social conservatives, but a radical authoritarian wing and its followers that has gained control of the party over the past few years/decades. They call themselves "Conservatives", having stolen the term from true conservative people. So that is the term I use. It also contrasts philosophically with the term "Progressive". Just in case this is still on the front page tomorrow and people are curious about my use of terminology. If you know a better term, for example Robert Reich uses 'radcon' to mean "Radical Conservative", I'm all in favor of it.]
[NOTE 2: Yes in some ways this can apply to some members of the Democratic party, as well. Or ANY party, really. We all have the "strict father" mentality hardwired into our brains somehow. I am merely attempting to explain why Republicans/Conservatives are largely ok with it, because it is their primary active framework, and why, contrary to our intuition, it works for them.]
[NOTE 3: Credit where credit is due. These ideas are based on the brilliant work by George Lakoff, whose book "Don't Think of An Elephant" is a far better and more in-depth exploration of these topics.]
Looks like it’s a nice sucker’s buy in to the patriarchal Judeo-Christian mindset.
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The Blind, the Clueless, and the Mentally Disturbed vote McCain/Palin
Sep 9 at 10:10am by Jagwire X
Palin's True Nature?
I can’t help myself - I have to say it. Anyone, anyone at all, who votes for McCain/Palin is either blind to the truth, utterly clueless when it comes to their claims or mentally disturbed and living in a universe where supernatural entities exist.
The two of them are out and out liars. Neither is a maverick. How can McCain be a maverick and about change and reform when he’s been a Washington insider for more than 20 years? He certainly doesn’t represent the everyman and everywoman - only those who can afford multiple houses. Even his choice for running mate isn’t a maverick concept - the democrats already did that 24 years ago. Palin a maverick? Hardly she bellies up to the pork barrel bar just like any other self-serving politician does.
The best we could hope for if they are elected is four more years of the same. In all likelihood it would be worse - much worse - for everyone. Oh, the evangelical armegeddonists would be happy. I could only hope that China would tank the dollar at that point - not something I really want to see happen but better than letting the end-timers have their wet dream become a reality.
If McCain/Palin are elected the chances of Palin assuming the mantle of president are unfortunately too high what with McCain being as old as he is he is liable to expire while in office. Do you really want someone with so little regard for others, so inexperienced (yes, far more inexperienced than Barack Obama), so extreme in her religious views to be president?
Anyone swayed by the insubstantial drivel McCain and Palin spout is a sucker. And I’ll gladly argue with any McCain/Palin supporters who think I’m full of it. And yes, if you support McCain/Palin I do think I’m smarter and wiser than you because only the ignorant would fall for their bull shit.
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$400 haircuts vs. $520 Italian leather loafers
Aug 1 at 8:08am by Jagwire X
McCain's $520 Shoes
I think Chris Hayes gets this just right.If I were a right-wing blogger, and I found out that Barack Obama was wearing Ferragamo loafers that cost $520, I would spend about 50% of my waking hours making sure everyone knew this. I would mock him for being an out-of-touch elitist and make jokes like, “If you think that’s a lot, you should see how much his purse costs ” I would send the link to Drudge and wait for Instapundit to pick it up, and then watch gleefully as Fox News ran segments about how Barack Obama’s $500 loafers vitiate his entire economic platform.
But of course, I’m not a right-wing blogger. And the $520 shoes belong to John McCain. And frankly, I don’t think how much his shoes cost matters one whit for how he’d govern the country.
Put it this way — if Barack Obama paid $520 for a pair of Italian loafers, every voter in America would know about it. Every media outlet would report it and every Republican would talk about it.
I’m reminded, of course, of John Edwards’ $400 haircuts. Last year, that story was everywhere, with the Washington Post writing multiple articles about it. “How could Edwards relate to regular folks if he has that kind of lifestyle?” the media asked, over and over again.
Indeed, the media seems to go to great lengths to look for evidence to bolster the far-right meme that Obama is some kind of outsider. From bowling to orange juice to arugula, reporters love to characterize Obama as something less than a “real” American.
Well, McCain has a half-dozen homes and spends on shoes what some families spend on rent. All the while, he advocates more tax cuts for millionaires, opposes increases to the minimum wage, and tells Americans their economic problems are in their heads.
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John McCain, the new Ronald Reagan?
Jul 29 at 12:12pm by Jagwire X
Pretty Good Timetable
I don’t mean in a good way either. I feel bad for anyone with Alzheimer’s but John McCain has worse memory issues than Ronald Reagan. That’s really not fair, even to Ronald Reagan, his memory problems didn’t start until late in his presidency. More likely McCain is a pathological liar. Maybe he’s just a bit deranged.
So you were probably thinking the other day, after all the chastising McCain has directed toward Obama for pushing a timetable for withdrawing from Iraq he wouldn’t go on CNN and supported a timetable himself. He did, clever fellow. One day McCain said he thought sixteen months was a “pretty good timetable”, the next say he claimed never to have said the word “timetable.” Funny.
But wait there’s more. McCain is too weak to keep his policy straight what with the chronic changes and denials in his statement. His shoot from the hip demeanor that the media seems to love so much must certainly lead to some interesting backtracking in the McCain camp. Why isn’t the media calling him out on this? Who knows. The media has always liked McCain for some reason and seem willing to give him a pass for just about any foible.
The Real McCain 2
Make no mistake McCain will be worst than the currently assumed worst president. How anyone could believe this guy is beyond me. If he’s such an obvious liar then even the staunchest Republican’s should question him. If he suffering from memory impairment do we really need someone sitting in the Oval office who is going to forget what the big red button is for? No thanks.
This is a guy whose memory is so sharp that he has missed more than half of the roll-call votes since January 2007. At this point it is more than any other senator including Senator Tim Johnson who spent most of 2007 recuperating from a brain hemorrhage. He even forgot to vote on money for Iraq and Afghanistan and the new GI Bill which he opposes. If he can’t be bothered to do his current job how can he be expected to act as president should he manage to win somehow?
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FOX News Outed as Mouthpiece for Bush Administration
Jul 28 at 11:11am by Jagwire X
FOX News Busted
It should probably read: FOX News Outed as Mouth of Sauron. Not particularly surprising.
On July 25th 2008 on Hardball with Chis Matthews, Scott McClellan, former White House Press Secretary, admitted that the White House uses FOX News as a propaganda machine. McClellan says, “Certainly there were commentators and other, pundits at FOX News, that were useful to the White House,” adding that they were given “talking points.”
McClellan also told MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann that “it was done frequently, especially on high-profile issues” and that FOX News often gave the White House “its desired results.” Current Press Secretary Dana Perino would only tell Olbermann, “I’m not aware of that.”
As I said not surprising - FOX News’ claim of “Fair and Balanced” is utterly laughable at this point.
If FOX News is complicit in this as it seems to be the it is nothing less than propaganda though a state organ. As Rachel Maddow says in the video, “it’s not Pravda.”
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Americans Have Become a Bunch of Lazy, Worthless Citizens
Jul 21 at 11:11pm by Jagwire X
Al Gore: Green Energy by 2018
On Thursday July 17th, 2008 Former U.S. presidential candidate Al Gore delivered a speech on America’s future energy needs in Washington, D.C. The gist of the speech is that promises of 40 years to make changes to how we power everything is meaningless and 10 years is something people can focus on.
“Our dangerous over-reliance on carbon-based fuels is at the core of all three of these challenges — the economic, environmental and national security crises,” the former Democratic vice president and presidential candidate in 2000 told a meeting in Washington.
“We’re borrowing money from China to buy oil from the Persian Gulf to burn it in ways that destroy the planet,” Mr. Gore said. “Every bit of that’s got to change.”
“So today I challenge our nation to commit to producing 100 percent of our electricity from renewable energy and truly clean carbon-free sources within 10 years,”
“A political promise to do something 40 years from now is universally ignored because everyone knows it’s totally meaningless. Ten years is about the maximum time that we as a nation can hold a steady aim and hit our target.”
Needless to say Gore was immediately attacked by big oil and coal businesses. For example the ACCCE (American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity) issued a statement saying the following: “former Vice President Al Gore associated himself with the mainstream by claiming there is scientific certainty that climate change is an issue that must be addressed in a timely fashion.” There is scientific certainty that climate change is an issue the ACCCE is deliberately denying the fact. The ACCCE state also said “we seriously question the feasibility of such a proposal and shudder to consider its costs to the American people, world leaders and key policymakers here in the U.S. do not share Mr. Gore’s notion that such a goal is necessary or achievable.” Going on to say the coal is, of course the solution. Coal is not clean or renewable under any circumstance.
Politicians, never afraid to make asses of themselves made sure to criticize Gore as well. Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio) had an initial one-word response — “ridiculous.” He went on to say “We could put windmills from the Atlantic to the Pacific and, yes, it will increase the amount of carbon-free energy production, but the fact of the matter is, it’s not going to get the job done. What we need to do is to look at all of the various sources of energy… We’d be much more realistic to realize that it’s going to take all of these things in order for us to meet our energy demands.” Meaning the oil and/or coal businesses that lobby me want you to buy their product and not get your power on the cheap.
So why do I say Americans are lazy, worthless citizens. It’s because we have become so. Can we convert all electricity production to cheap, clean and renewable sources in 10 years. We can if we want to, if we have the courage to do so. We put man on the moon in less than 10 years, we entered World War II and fighting on two fronts, along with out allies, won it in less than 5 years. The proliferation of the World Wide Web as a major form of communication took 10 years, mass adoption of the automobile took roughly ten years during the 1920’s and 1930’s. So don’t tell me we can’t do it. Big business doesn’t want us to do it, it would hurt their profits. Our lazy selves will just go along with whatever is marketed to us, and worthless as citizens because we won’t attend to our duty to make this country better.
What would the advantages of such a program be? For one thing, jobs, many jobs. It would fire up the economy in much the way it was fired up after World War II and during the space race and to a lesser extent the early days of the web. During those time periods the United States underwent a tremendous transformation in terms of individual prosperity as well as prosperity on a regional and national level. Another advantage that would result would be the creation of new technologies, again as with the previously mentioned periods much of the technology we have come to rely on today was developed especially in the areas of aerospace, electronic communications (i.e. computers, the internet, etc.), industrial applications and medicine. These efforts had far reaching implications both technologically and socially and helped define our present society. For the most part all of these advances have improved the standard of living in the United States.
What Gore proposes is ultimately going to have to happen at some point. Non-renewable sources of energy are, well, non-renewable. They are going to run out. But while we still have them we should use that advantage and build our foundation for the future, or if not out future, our children’s. It’s estimated that enough solar energy falls on the surface of the earth in 40 minutes to meet the world’s energy needs for a year, and that the winds that blow across the Midwest every day could meet the country’s daily electricity needs. Why wouldn’t we tap into that kind of energy resource? If we wait until the oil is running out and the coal is difficult to transport, we will suffer in ways that make the Great Depression seem trivial. We will be thrown back to the early 19th century in a very brutal manner.
Al Gore is not perfect but at least he’s willing to make a stand. What are you willing to do?
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ACLU and EFF suits challenge FISA Amendments
Jul 16 at 3:03pm by Jagwire X
ACLU
The American Civil Liberities Union filed a Motion For Leave To Participate In FISC Proceedings Required By The FISA Amendments Act Of 2008 in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court, requesting that all proceedings regarding the constitutionality of the FISA law be open to the public and transparent. This is contrary to how the secretive FISA court normally operates. As part of the action the ACLU requests that the proceedings be adversarial (i.e., that the ACLU or others as opposed to just the Government can participate in the FISA court).
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Additionally the ACLU filed another action in federal court in the Southern District of New York, alleging that the terms of which grants massive new warrantless eavesdropping powers in the President violate the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
The ACLU’s lawsuits do not challenge the constitutionality of the telecom immunity provisions of the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 because those sections will be challenged by Electronic Frontier Foundation and local/affiliate ACLU groups in separate actions regarding NSA Spying.
