May 29, 2008

• didn't this go awfully wrong for W last cycle? i still have some printouts...
• Wrong, yes, but he still got to be President...
• The link on Optima there is some good readin.' Style over substance, indeed. It's fascinating. Of course, I'm not a typography wonk, and to a typography wonk it may be quite pedestrian.
• didn't this go awfully wrong for W last cycle? Thus the $250 entry fee. Keeps the smartassery down to a minimum. The link on Optima there is some good readin.' I thought it was quite interesting -- and would have been even more so had they been able to come to a conclusion.
• Keeps the smartassery down to a minimum, and reinforces the idea that he only cares what you think if you've got money. I'm sure that's not the message he intends to send, but I can't help mentally adding it, given his neoconism.
• P.S. I hope the Moran family buys one.
• Words fail me.
• Anyone remember the slew of small-publisher books from the mid 1980s that used the Optima typeface as a body font? Egads... I hope we don't return to those days.
• McCain's scary economic advisor: Not only is former Texas Sen. Phil Gramm a shill for special interests, his deregulation policies helped spur the mortgage crisis, among other financial disasters.
• Oven Chips For McCain!
• "I WOULDN'T GIVE A TINKER'S CUSS for McCAIN!" "A WALKING FRAME for McCAIN!" ("WON, TOO, FREE for McCAIN!")
• "D. PENDZE for McCAIN!"
• The Dumas Family for McCAIN!
• Independant Electronics Designers and Responsible Parent Groups for McCain!
• Stephen Colbert Challenges Viewers To 'GreenScreen' McCain
• Adviser Says McCain Backs Bush Wiretaps
• 
• I love you so much it hurts me sometimes.
• It hurts me, too, MCT. ;-)
• It should hurt, if you're doing it right.
• If it hurts YOU, we're definitely doing it right. Can you feel the chafing all the way in Canada? I kid, I kid-- I know you're in a lot of the non-fun kind of pain right now, sorry.
• McCain's Ties To Telecoms Questioned After Wiretapping Flip-Flop
• John McCain Debates Himself on Supporting Bush
• How Much Does John McCain Really Know About Foreign Policy? Not as much as he'd like you to think.
• John McCain don't know jack.
• McCain Campaign's Obama-Britney Video Spurs A Backlash Online
• Paris Hilton responds to John McCain
• Visual representation of most frequently-used words on McCain's and Obama'a blogs. Pretty cool. It's kind of like the picture on the front of the mixed nuts can, which by law must match the actual proportions of nut varieties inside the can.
• 
  see Obama pictures
• Wait -- McCain is going with "Country First", now? Is that another way of saying "my country, right or wrong"? And what's Cindy doing in a dirndl?
• How many homes does John McCain own? Don't ask him!
• John McCain and his secretive plot to 'kill the UN'
• Architectural Digest Visits Senator and Mrs. John McCain
• I'm guessing that piano isn't played much.
• He's wearing blue denim dungarees! He must be A Regular Guy!
• Umm, does he really need to show off the wooden injun? *trying desperately to think of something other than the McCains in a hot tub*
• Wow, that was much more hideous than I had expected...
• Wow, George Bush gave them a picture he painted himself!
• John McCain Gets BarackRoll'd
• John McCain Gets BarackRoll'd Ok, that was very cleverly done.
• Adviser says McCain helped create the BlackBerry.
• Even if you admit the argument of 'creating the economic or technological conditions', shurely McCain didn't do that in Canada.
• Jewish voters complain of anti-Obama push polls.
• Wall Street Journal editorial calls McCain comments "un-Presidential".
• That's a bit surprising. The article is right about McCain's misdirected blame-laying, but it's very silent on where the blame does lie. I guess Murdoch isn't happy with McCain. Also, since when does Rush Limbaugh write in the Wall Street Journal? I thought it had somewhat high standards?
• Cease and Desist, You Old Fart
• Here's the source, btw.
• Sweet hula shakin' Jebus in a Hawaiian shirt! That is funny!!!
• More hinky questions about Rick Davis and John McCain. McCain this past Sunday about Davis's role in the advocacy group since 2005: ...has had nothing to do with it since, and I'll be glad to have his record examined by anybody who wants to look at it. Me. I would like to take a look at it. Thank you.
• McCain Suspends Campaign and Asks that Friday's Debate be Postponed.
• I say that Palin and Biden take their place for Friday night's debate. Buncha' political posturing if I ever saw... Meanwhile, those that are desparately trying to chunk this load of crap down our throats are those that had a lot to do with the origins of this mess to begin with...
• Obama: "The Debate Is On"
• It's my belief that this is exact time when the American people need to hear form the person who in approximately 40 days will be responsibly for dealing with this mess and I think that it is going to be part of the president’s job to deal with more than one thing at once. Well put. I think McCain needs to stop pussyfooting around. Maverick, my ass.
• Barney Frank: GOP Colleagues Winced At 'Mighty Mouse' McCain
• McCain ditched a Letterman interview last minute because of his "suspended campaign" and need to hurry back to D.C., but was caught live conducting an interview with Katie Couric down the street in NYC during the show.
• On-again/off-again McCain is *on* for tonight's debate. The guy clearly doesn't know what the hell to do. I think he's done himself a huge disfavor. The Republican base seems to be dividing. All-in-all, it's not looking good for gramps. I'm looking forward to the debates this evening; my hunch is that the deal will most-likely be sealed by this performance.
• As I understand, the debates are controlled not by the networks or anyone 'impartial', but by a corporation jointly owned by the Dems and GOP, created solely for the purpose of holding these debates, and doing so on their own terms. As such, all appearances by the candidates are likely going to be contractual matters. I would suspect that McCain doesn't have much choice in the matter, without wanting to incur huge penalties*, and that the Obama people realized this. McCain always had to attend, and Obama didn't fall for or choose to participate in that grandstanding. *I'm also guessing that the protocol in place for someone quitting the debate is that, failing agreement to the contrary, it would not lead to the cancellation of the debate -- that the other one would be entitled to all that free, uninterrupted airtime. That way the penalty serves as an enforcement mechanism, which it wouldn't necessarily be if it were just cash. Note that all the talk was that something would be going to air -- if McCain was serious in backing out, and the GOP controlled half of that mother corporation, then the GOP would have been able to pull the plug on it entirely. But the fact that something was going to air suggests that they couldn't. IMHO, YMMV, CYLL, etc., etc.
• Not to mention that there would be contracts in place between the debate corporation and the networks. For a no-show, and the resulting loss in content-as-agreed-upon, the networks would sue the debate corporation. On its face, the costs would be split 50/50 between the parties as joint owners of that corporation, but then the DNC would just turn around and sue the GOP, claiming that they were ready, willing and able to perform their part. And so, the GOP would stand to lose an awful lot of money -- whatever an evening's worth of primetime coverage over three or four networks is going for. Which I assume is a lot. All the more reason to think that McCain's threat was an empty one.
• I don't necessarily think that McCain's threat was an empty one, per se, but I do think it was more akin to tossing some chips on the table and spinning the roulette wheel. However, I do think that had the tide gone heavily in McCain's favor (i.e., for backing out of the debate and "fixing" the financial crisis instead), that he would have indeed backed out. Penalty or not. That, obviously, was not the case. That said, I would gather to say that a large % of Americans probably do not know the specifics of the Presidential debates (e.g., that they are sponsored/produced by the Commission on Presidential Debates, which is largely funded by contributions from corporations such as Anheuser-Busch). Faskinatin' topic... *burp* Cheers! *holds a Bud up high and says a Pledge 'o the Allegiance*
• McCain Wins Debate!
• I HAZ A BRACELET!
• NOOOOOOOOOOOO THEY BE TAKIN MAH BRAYSLUT
• Monkey politics
• "Do I really look like a guy with a plan?"
• Make-Believe Maverick: A closer look at the life and career of John McCain reveals a disturbing record of recklessness and dishonesty
• At the Craps Tables With John McCain: How the Senator Lost it at a Puerto Rican Casino
• John McCain's New Mortgage Plan Is Worse than I Had Imagined Possibly, Even Given What I Know About John McCain McCain's Housing "Solution": A Gift from Taxpayers to Banks
• Heckuva job etc.
• McCain Volunteers Taught to Accuse Obama of Terrorism
• How McCain Will Steal the Election from Obama (sort of)
• McCain Calls Obama a 'Decent Person'; is booed by his own supporters. Fearing the raw and at times angry emotions of his supporters may damage his campaign, John McCain on Friday urged them to tone down their increasingly personal denunciations of Barack Obama, including one woman who said she had heard that the Democrat was "an Arab." Each time he tried to cool the crowd, he was rewarded with a round of boos. Video here, via YouTube.
• Verizon and AT&T Provided Cell Towers for McCain Ranch
• Winner of Debate: Joe the Plumber
• WTF?
• Damn, someone give that man some beano! WTF is right...
• Oops: Joe the Plumber is Related to Charles Keating. That's awkward...
• If Gramps doesn't need to vet a Vice-Presidential candidate, he sure as hell doesn't need to vet the subject of his tokenistic talking point.
• my opponent. he haz a flavor.
• Dramatic McCain
• Hot fried bananas! I like it. I love it! Let me get down with the TTT... *rubs Capt's head for good luck*
• Joe the Plumber unlicensed, unregistered, likely a scab.
• It's also looking like he's related to Keating's son-in-law.
• And he also owes backtaxes on his house. So he's one of those guys who complains about having to pay too much tax, but then doesn't pay anyway. Nice. And since he's unlicensed, I'm sure he's never worked under the table while working under the sink. Douche.
• Link about connection to Keating.
• Further proof to my hypothesis that no one around here reads my comments. :S
• Whoops, goddamn, how'd I miss that?
• I wish Tenacious P. would break his long silence and make some comments about this.
• I read it, TP. I swear.
• Joe the Plumber: “You know, I’ve always wanted to ask one of these guys a question and really corner them and get them to answer a question,” he said, “for once instead of tap dancing around it, and unfortunately I asked the question, but I still got a tap dance.” He added, “Almost as good as Sammy Davis Jr.” Tell me he did NOT say that.
• Purging Joe the plumber?
• Tell me he did NOT say that. What? Sammy was a great tap-dancer (though I prefered to watch him gun-slingin'.) Ooooh -- right. The black thing.
• More slingin' 'n' spinnin' here. So that's how he lost an eye!
• Andrew Sullivan is reporting that Joe the Plumber now has had more press conferences than Sarah Palin. Do your own fact-checking. I'm like Gramps in that I'm too lazy.
• This is just wrong. So if it makes you laugh, then you're a bad person. Like me.
• Yeah, I'm going to hell for laughing at that.
• Speaking of plumbers, McCain creeps back to Letterman, and Dave brings up G. Gordon Liddy.
• More on the exchange here.
• Neighbor thieves have forced me to escalate hostilities. Five bucks and fifteen minutes well spent. If this one gets stolen, I'm going to start a running total of money they've inspired me to donate to the campaign.
• *applauds*
• I'm still surprised that you actually have to buy signs. We get 'em gratis. It's expected that you'll contribute, but there's nothing obligatory about it.
• Haha, some dude just drove by it, slowed down, stopped, read it, scowled, and moved on. YEAH, THAT'S RIGHT.
• I'm still surprised that you actually have to buy signs. We're a very red state with a very small office. Obama's going to get crushed in AR. He's not going to throw good money after bad.
• We, on the other hand, are more than happy to.
• Har! Well-played, mct!
• First, there was the do-it-yourself McCain banner. Now there's the do it yourself McCain teevee ad, where you, too, can be like Joe the Plumber and complain about the high level of taxes that you don't pay in the first place.
• So...pathetic.
• From the "Terms and Conditions": I understand and agree that the Video may be used in any manner and for any purpose by McCain-Palin 2008, and that McCain-Palin 2008 shall have the full right and power to reproduce, distribute, broadcast, retransmit, prepare derivative works of, edit, translate, dub, alter, separate, mix, combine with other material, reuse, adapt, and otherwise exploit the Video in all media now known or hereafter developed, throughout the universe, in perpetuity. I quite like the exploiting bit. A nice touch if I do say so...
• I like the "throughout the universe" bit. Assuming that even if they did get a judgement, that they could have it enforced in the Kuiper Belt.
• Obama's birth certificate uncovered!
• > the do it yourself McCain teevee ad That reeks of desperation. And McCain is paying his campaign staff to come up with ideas like this?
• More on yard signs: "They’re going to be in for a surprise if they don’t stop it," Long said in a phone message Thursday morning to the Tribune. "They might find electric shock, and it might shock some sense into their heads." I think I like the MCT/HBS approach better.
• Russians reject McCain's request for campaign funds...
• Bob the Banker speaks out: In an exclusive interview, Joe the Plumber's big brother reveals why Obama's plan to "spread the wealth" will turn America into a socialist hell.
• I couldn't help but to think of mct when I saw this - theft of Obama sign caught on tape. My initial instinct would be to track this person's vehicle down, and plaster it in Obama stickers - - naw, perhaps a nice scratched I ♥ OBAMA through the paint would suffice?
• A friend of mine's 13-year-old daughter recently went to a McCain rally in her town where Obama supporters shoved her, ripped up her McCain sign, and called her a moron. I think Obama is a great candidate and all but I hate the idea of stooping so low, and after hearing about my friend's lovely daughter being abused by some idiot Obama supporters that way I can't find the above amusing.
• Awww, #1. Lighten up on me please (assuming you were directing your comment towards mine)! I've nothing left but humor to get me through this already too long election process here in the US. Personally, I find it apprehensible that anyone - regardless of party affiliation, age, race, gender, religion, etc. and so on - would take, tear, defile or destroy such materials in support of a political candidate. Not to mention yelling such ignorant comments, or getting physical with a young teen (talk about giving someone a bad impression of the election process!). I fondly recall the days when I was far too young to vote, but was very ardent about candidates that I favored - - I couldn't wait to become 18 and be able to make my vote count! When you see and hear about things like this (the video I linked above, or the story that you just shared, for example), I think it only serves to discourage future voters.
• I've nothing left but humor to get me through this already too long election process here in the US. That's why I'd vote for Zombie Pat Paulsen.
• Nah, smt, I've been hearing and seeing comments all over the place, but of course it's only when it happens to you or someone you know that it becomes a real concern. I'm not really grumbling at you, honest.
• Monkeyfilter: I'm not really grumbling at you, honest.
• I didn't mean to be flip. Sorry, #1, if I came off being flip.
• Y'know, I tend to think that if the people who made donations to the RNC wanted their money to end up in a charity, they'd have donated it to charity themselves. Isn't that the line they're preaching - that everyone should decide where his own money does rather than a central authority doing it?
• So they're not going to sell her clothes on eBay?
• DANCE-OFF!!11!1
• Why Has John McCain Blocked Info on MIAs?
• I'm speechless at this one... McCain campaign volunteer fakes beating Yes, America, we are fucked...
• Excellent article you linked, TUM. I'm still digesting that one...
• > McCain campaign volunteer fakes beating Crazy person.
• The MIA article mantions many times that all administrations and congresses since the early Reagan days have been complicit in the cover-up, but only highlights and names the Republican players. What part did Clinton have in all this? Also John Kerry, Chairman of the committee in question?
• That's a good question, r88. My guess is that the Republicans are the ones with the closest relationships to McCain, who is not only in the spotlight but was a POW himself.
• Even Fox News admits that if she faked the beating, it's over for McCain. [WARNING: Fox News]
• If it's over for McCain, it shouldn't be because of this mental patient's actions. She's not even officially on his campaign - I think she's working for the Republican College Students or some such group. It's an amateur-hour ploy to generate some negative publicity against Obama while grabbing some attention for herself.
• The comments in that Fox News thread make me want to cry. With so little time left……one issue is not white racism against blacks…..Obama is half and half..so he should appeal to anyone….. the main issue is black racism against whites….which motvates how they vote. the MAIN issue……is Obama legally qualified to be President? No one is touching it in the media Is Obama an illegal alien who is running for PResident? I really want to know. Why are both parties avoiding this question? *cries*
• mothy, piece of advice: don't read comments on Fox News threads. *gives a hug*
• Own It, Bitches
• I'm wondering if there's going to be serious fallout for this or not. I haven't watched the news for a few days, so I have no idea how much traction this is getting.
• Is Obama an illegal alien who is running for PResident? What a stupid question. They don't even HAVE muslims on Neptune!
• By the way, I really like the look of Middleclass's green and leafy street.
• That's not my handsomest topiary, big boy.
• We don't want to hear about your weeping willow.
• McCain signs not "running" out the door of McCain's campaign headquarters in Arizona. McCain's empty Arizona offices are reminiscent of the ghost towns for which Arizona is famous.
• Granted, they probably didn't think O had a chance at any point in time... regardless, kinda telling imho.
• Electoral-Vote shows Gramps leading by only two points, 44 to 42. Well within the margin of error. So it is possible... So that, and the fact that Joe Lieberman is now backtracking and making sweet, sweet overtures to Obama -- this might just be in the bag.
• If Obama does win, and if the Dems do manage to firm up their leads in both houses, Lieberman is going to be Congress's red-headed stepchild. They kissed his ass when he was the one guy maintaining their Senate lead, but if they expand that lead, he's fucking done.
• Unless he's the guy that gives them a fillibuster-proof 60 votes.
• That scenario sounds like Lieberman's ultimate fantasy.
• Ted Stevens guilty on all seven counts. So that pushes another seat in the Dems' column? Assuming there are no appeals. Which there almost certainly will be...
• Socialism for Mavericks: To Each According to his Greed
• thanks for the hug, smt *sniffles, feels better, vows never to read Fox News again*
• Dammit I want this damn thing over aldamnready
• For TUM
• Joe McCain calls 911 to complain about traffic.
• How McCain Could Win With 22% of the Popular Vote
• Joe the Plumber pursued for record deal. Does this guy ever fucking plumb?
• A not-so-nice McCain banner (potentially NSFW, maybe.)
• “He’s a complicated guy with a very dynamic personality,” Della Croce told Politico... Is this bloke channelling Isaac Hayes singing Shaft?
• I can dig it.
• 
  see famous look-a-like faces
• "...or as we call them, 'dick-fingers'..."
• Speaking of dicks... I have no idea if this has been posted here before - but I give you, the Dickipedia. [SFW - unless anyone notices the logo] Oh, they've got 'Bama too...
• Live from New York, it's one more SNL gig for John McCain. And the whoring continues...
• McCain supporter and electrical engineer wires up his lawn sign, and waits to give small children the juice. [via the Wonk, U2b]
• The Coming McCain Military Draft
• "Joe, I'd like a word with you in my office"
• Speaking of Joes, whodda thunk that a campaign based largely in its final days on Joe the Plummer and Sarah Palin would fail? Will not history remember the McCain loss as even more embarrassing than the titanic Michael Dukakis debacle?