Now that al Qaeda has endorsed John McCain, it'll be fascinating to hear McCain and his allies explain why America's #1 enemy has thrown its support to him. In case you don't remember, back in May McCain argued that Hamas had endorsed Obama, took these "endorsements" at face value, and concluded that McCain was therefore the better candidate.
The "Hamas endorses Obama" cry was taken up in many other rightist quarters, including the Wall Street Journal, and was a coordinated part of the McCain campaign narrative.
So I'm now looking forward to hearing McCain and his supporters explain how we should interpret the support McCain is receiving from al Qaeda. Whatever the explanation is, I'm sure it will be just the same as it would have been had al Qaeda endorsed Obama instead (where's an extreme sarcasm emoticon when you need one?).
My take on all the Hamas/Obama bullshit, BTW, is here. And, aside from its usefulness in exposing yet more stunning rightwing cynicism and hypocrisy, I'd say this latest "endorsement," of McCain this time, is -- and should be -- equally irrelevant.
But that's why I can't vote for today's Republican party. I try to apply my principles equally, and recoil from people who don't do the same.
Care about the Republican party? Want Republicans to return to principle? Then give them the shock therapy they need. Vote Democratic on November 4.
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I officially heart you.
Hi Barry and All,
This is awesome, especially after what a few people at myspace have been putting me through, lol. I deleted a couple of them from my so called 'friends' list last night. And yup, some of the reason was their continued claims that terrorists were endorsing Obama, lol. And I know I'm far from being the only one getting harrassed for pledging my vote for Obama, and for being a moderate Independent voter.
These virulent form of Republicans, who are playing these profoundly dirty and prejudiced politics, actually believe the Democrats and other Liberals to be too weak and peaceful to even take care of the U.S. or stand up to any military threats against the U.S. And they openly blame the Democrats for all that has gone 'wrong' in the U.S. And this is in the face of the fact that Republicans have had the lion's share of political and economic power in the U.S. for 27 years! Even during Clinton's terms; the Republicans had the majorities in Congress. With the exception of the Senate being 50/50 from 2001-2003; which still wasn't a majority for Democrats.
These very aggressive Republicans are also digging their heels in so firmly in all of their ridiculous claims, that it feels like they would rather have civil war in the U.S., than allow Obama and Biden to win. I have never seen anything like this around an election in my adult life.
So I gave them my own reality check by reminding them that I come from a military family, that more people in my family have served in the U.S. military than not, and both of my sons and my oldest son's wife have all served as well. That we don't just lay down and die for anyone for any reason, including the kind of extremist Republicans who are making this election such a miserable lesson in ignorance, prejudice, lies, twisted half truths, and harrassments.
Even my oldest son and his wife who are Republicans to this day, want very much to see the Republican Party return to a far more moderate and intelligent platform and ethical standards. And they are really quite angry that some of their more extremist Republican Party members have been threatening their Mama!
These extremist Republicans are waking a new 'sleeping giant' within the U.S. among those of us who will no longer tolerate what they have been and want to continue doing to our country, and in this world. One way or another it has to stop.
I'm glad I don't have to put up with those 2 people at myspace anymore; but have to admit that I would love to see the look on their faces this morning in regard to Al Qaeda endorsing McCain. Now that would be a picture worth not just a 'thousand' words...make that a 'million' words, lol.
As I explained to these people last night, if you look at what other countries around the world are saying about Obama and McCain; it is actually the rational and reasonable people among our allied nations, and many others, who are hoping the U.S. elects Obama, far more than McCain. They want someone they can at least sit down and talk with intelligently. And they haven't had that available to them from the U.S. for 8 years now.
The Republican Party I used to belong to, hasn't existed for quite a long time. And they have betrayed us all in so many ways. Barry, like you have said, so also for me...the Republican Party left me, I didn't leave them. Thus I remain an Independent voter; since I don't really fit in any political party right now.
Even so, I still intend to vote for Obama and Biden as the far more competent team to lead our nation.
And I hope more Democratic and third party seats are gained in Congress as well.
The pendulum needs to swing back here significantly; then we have a chance of bringing it closer to moderation again over time.
But right now so much damage has been done to the U.S., to our own people, and to the reputation of the U.S. in the world; that it's going to take a huge amount of work, diplomacy, and negotiations to dig our way out of this one. And that certainly won't happen if McCain and Palin are elected.
Obama and Biden all the way!
I want peace and moderation; but neither will I just roll over and be intimidated by these harrassment tactics.
Bring it on Republicans, and just see what this ol' Mama can really do!
~Tia Hu
Well, we pretty much know how they'll spin it: "Al Qaeda is deliberately targeting the McCain campaign because they want Obama elected. They know Obama, who doesn't have any military experience, and who's never been to Waziristan, will be a weak leader. Plus, he's a Muslim."
Yeah I agree with the last post, I'm just not sure it's spin. Obama's history (and voting record) puts him far left. FAR left. He's exactly what Al Qaeda need. Withdraw from the middle east, let Afghanistan and Iraq lapse into civil war, and then meet diplomatically with whoever comes out on top. That's his policy. And who will that be?
Even if Obama were the centrist he's now trying to appear, I couldn't vote for a man who said Americans "cling to guns and religion" because the government has neglected them. He's a socialist, and an elitist. Twenty years ago I had to hunt to feed my family. The way the economy is going, I might need to again. And if crime rates keep rising, I'll be glad to have a Colt 1911 in my bedroom as well. I don't hope for the worst, but I'd rather be prepared, and therefore a responsible father and husband, than become a victim while waiting for the government to save me. How can you write about heroes and not understand that?
As it is, Obama's agenda of "redistributing" the wealth and taking our guns doesn't look achievable in the near future. He'll have his hands full with what Bush is leaving on the table. I almost feel sorry for the poor schmuck.
A vote against McCain doesn't need to be a vote for Obama. Obama's gonna be our next president, it's practically written in stone. But its not too late to send a message to the jerks in DC.
A pox on both of their houses.
As for it being all the Republican's fault, I seem to recall President Carter taking actions that smacked of appeasement and had about the same effect.
Can I write in for Elvis ;)
D
Obama's voting record doesn't put him far left, I don't know where you got that . . .
Hi Barry,
Provocative post as usual. I was thinking about just this issue earlier tonight when who should do a few minute “article” about it, but Rachel Maddow on MSNBC. In case you’ve never heard of Rachel Maddow, let me act as the raging fan I am, and give you a brief history (note: this is all from my memory…I may have a fact “almost” correct, but this is essentially the gist of it). Rachel, 35, grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, received her undergraduate degree from Stanford in public policy, got a Rhodes Scholarship and ended up with a Ph.D from Oxford in political science. She has hosted her own radio show on Air America since 2004 and recently, Keith Olbermann helped land her a job with her own show on MSNBC. Since she started her own show (September 8th I believe), the viewers for that timeslot (6:00-7:00pm) have doubled. DOUBLED! That is quite a testament to her awesomeness. She has the only “news” show that I record and watch daily, unless you count Jon Stewart’s Daily Show.
Anyway, I like her show and am very happy for her very rapid success. If you want a sample of how she is different from the typical news/talkshow host, watch her snippet from tonight’s show (Wed 10/22) where she discusses this exact topic. My favorite line: “Al Qaeda is playing the opposite game.”
Please watch: here
Enjoy
Rgds,
Ken
Obama is a bit to the left of me. Pre-Gingrich, I was considered a moderate. Post-Gingrich, with the huge shift to the right in America, I became a lefty by default. Obama is what I would have once called a moderate liberal. But I guess by today's distorted standards, that makes him a commie. [insert extreme-sarcasm emoticon]
Hello All,
In my comments about the Republicans having the lion's share of the power in this country's since 1981; that is a reference to when 'Reaganomics' was introduced by former and late President Ronald Reagan. And it is that kind of thinking and type of economics that has had the most influence on where we are now in our economic situation. What started out as what seemed a good idea, has just gone where it would inevitably go. We are naive if we believe that wealthy, greedy people are going to allow a trickle down effect for anyone. Then add deregulation on top of that, and the rich continue to get richer, and the poor get poorer.
We are not a country, or even a planet, where we have unlimited resources and wealth. The belief that anyone can get rich in America is a delusion. Think of it more like being graded on the 'curve' as some instructors do in school. This is especially true in an economic structure based on capitalism and free trade. I'm not saying let's all of a sudden go to socialism, etc. Just explaining that we have limited wealth and resouces.
With an economic 'curve' in place; that means for every one million dollars gobbled up to line the already extremely deep pockets of the people in the top 3%-5% in this country; then that by default throws another approximately 20 families into enforced poverty. I'm using the figure of $50,000 per annum as a living wage income for the average family of four people. And in the U.S. $50,000 per annum for 4 people is truly not a luxury life at all. These people who are basically culled from the economic 'curve' by the greed of that upper 3%-5%, literally lose access to even having the means to dig their way out of poverty. And this is all so that top 3%-5% of our population can have wealth and assets far beyond anything they would ever possibly need.
In this country, it is illegal to be homeless, people need to have a permanent resident address to even get a legal job or register your children to local public schools, and millions are going without any kind of medical care (which is just medical outbreak pandemics waiting to explode any minute). It is also true that the only people tracked for unemployment statistics are those who are still receiving unemployment benefits. There are many more who have run out of unemployment benefits and are still either unable to get any jobs at all, or not able to get jobs with a living wage. These millions of people who are not receiving unemployment benefits are not tracked at all, and totally ignored by everyone.
We have in this country a rapidly spiking epidemic of what are called the working homeless. This has been going on for years; but now is truly becoming an epidemic type of problem. We have college graduates flipping burgers and sofa surfing with various friends because they can't get decent paying jobs that even pay a living wage. And if they don't have friends who help them out like that; then they are on the street, in their cars, if they have a car, etc. We have families living in their cars, or just on the streets, even though they have one or both parents working at minimum wage jobs; because that is all they can get in the way of work. And minimum wage jobs don't pay enough to even get most off the street and into what has become extremely high cost housing across the country. The cost of living and housing in this country is just grossly out of proportion to what millions of people are having to live with in the way of wages, wages without any additional benefits at all.
And I'm not pointing fingers just at the Republicans, even though that is the source and mainstay of this kind of economic system. Democrats, and all of us, have played into this situation and allowed it to continue unchecked. Each and every one of us needs to take responsibility for our own short-sightedness, and our own unwillingness to see and respond appropriately to just how desperate this situation for so many.
One thing that would help tremendously is for everyone to get rid of this credit card mentality that has become so prevalent. This applies all the way from the individual to the highest places in government. We are living far too much on money that doesn't even exist anywhere. Even the so called $700 billion bail out for our federal lending instutions is yet more credit card mentality. That is a another huge financial burden added to our national debt that will not just go conveniently away. It will be paid by taxation on our children, their children, and their children. In our own desire to not pay more taxes, we are just deferring that very thing off to future generations. Someone has to pay the bill at some point. So instead of living responsibly within our means; we baby boomers have elected to dump all of our financial responsibilities on to our posterity. And then we wonder why so many of them are angry...
Respectfully,
~Tia Hu
John McCain in Violation of Native American Human Rights.
Normally I wouldn't use a referral to one of my blogs; but the article is even longer than my posts can sometimes get here in your blog Barry, lol. I laugh, but the situation itself is terrible. I had posted in an early blog of yours that I thought McCain had a fairly decent record on Native American issues and rights. I was very wrong, and some of my Native American friends have clued me into the actual reality of his record on violations of even basic human rights afforded to our Native Americans, especially the Navajo in one particular case of enforced relocation of 10,000 people from their traditional tribal lands.
Information from Graywolf via Bear Warrior:
A public research website has brought together diverse historical elements of factual proof that Senator John McCain's was the key "point man" introducing, enacting and enforcing law that removed Dineh-Navajo Families from their reservation on the Black Mesa in Arizona. The McCain revised law relocated them to Church's Hill, Nevada (a Nuclear Waste Superfund Site, called "the New Lands" in PL 93-531). The Dineh-Navajo, a deeply spiritual and peaceful people, engaged in only peaceful resistance to being moved off lands they'd owned since 1500 A.D. Nonetheless, the Public Press and UN depicted brutalization, rights deprivation and forcible relocation.
See the rest of the article and a link to more reading about these atrocities here:
http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=344210870&blogID=443222221
Or if that link doesn't work; then go to:
http://www.myspace.com/tia_hu
And click on blog: John McCain in Violation of Native American Human Rights.
Respectfully,
~Tia Hu
I still can not get over the fact that these two are the choices! No single odds maker would have picked them a year ago, yet here they are. The most troubling two things are that;
1. Obviously the best and the brightest didnt get the memo or are somehow precluded from running
and
2. The only really "Average" folks to get any media this election season have been Palin and "Joe the Plumber" (and most of the time the attention has seemed to be all about making them look stupid).
re: 1. Joe, I think Obama might be the best, and certainly is the brightest, candidate to win his party's primary in a long time. And only a couple of months ago (pre-Palin), I thought McCain was a pretty good choice too, though he's since self-destructed.
re: 2. Sorry, what's your point? Are you trying to say that average folks should get more media attention? If so, why? Personally, I'm a bit tired of having an average person leading my country.
"He's exactly what Al Qaeda need. Withdraw from the middle east, let Afghanistan and Iraq lapse into civil war, and then meet diplomatically with whoever comes out on top. That's his policy. And who will that be?"
Is that really what Al Qaeda need and want?
A while ago Gwyn Dyer wrote a pretty good article that suggested what Al Qaeda wanted all along was a ground war with the US.
Their war with the Russians is what made them and when it ended they lost all relevance. No longer the "protector" of the people they needed another enemy to come to them.
I'd like to know what Barry thinks of this.
Quick note to Jonathon Hayes...
Obama isn't a Muslim. He's Christian.
Sorry :-D
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