The Hysteria in Broadcasting Network

I started listening to Rush Limbaugh over a decade ago. Back then I had two main reasons for being in his audience. First, I enjoyed his constant railing against Bill Clinton, someone I did not and still do not care for at all. And second, while he was and still is a blowhard, he was at least entertaining back then.

I listened rather intently during the 2000 campaign as well, but largely stopped following him when he became far less interesting and much more of a right-wing robot than he was when he started. But I still consider him a "bellwether" to some extent and like to turn on his program from time to time.

Well, that's become quite amusing in recent days, as he reveals -- rather unwittingly -- just how scared and desperate the Republican mainstream has become of how badly McCain is losing this election. Every time I tune in now, it seems all he can do is shriek hysterically about how the "drive by media" is biased against Republicans, and the Dems are "stealing the election" and how his listeners should ignore any poll that doesn't show the race a dead heat. ("It's close! It's close!")

The more shrill he becomes, the better the news is for the more rational among us. His non-stop backpeddalling and attempts to justify his racist comments about Colin Powell are also quite hilarious.

The $150,000 Hockey Mom

The fraud that is Sarah Palin becomes more obvious on a daily basis.

Do You Live in "Real America"?

Once again, Jon Stewart nails it.

McCain and Palin are running the worst, most vile, sickeningly divisive campaign in recent memory. They deserve the defeat they will have earned in two weeks. McCain deserves the utter destruction of his former honorable legacy. And all of America has been done a huge favor by having exposed to them the hate-filled rot that is all that remains of the GOP.

Where I've Been

I'm an amateur / semi-pro photographer with a bit of an obsession for fall foliage photography. Every autumn I take a week and travel around snapping photos wherever I find anything interesting. This particular year I had two trips planned; the first one to northern Vermont got cancelled after I stupidly drove a road too rough for my vehicle and ripped out the bottom of the engine. :) The second was to the Catskills, Poconos and Finger Lakes regions of New York and Pennsylvania. Lovely country, and while the color wasn't always the best everywhere it was a pleasant journey.

This sample is an ironic illustration of the art of photography. It was taken as I was driving from one region to the next because I was unhappy with the color. It was foggy and the sun broke through as I was driving on a busy interstate. Undaunted, I pulled over and snapped a few images in the freezing 27F temperatures, as other drivers looked at me in undoubted confusion.

It looks like I used some sort of Photoshop filter on it to make it appear like a painting, but I didn't....

On the Powell Endorsement

A couple of folks asked me what I thought of it. Well, no big surprise obviously as a lot of people were expecting it. I mentioned some time back in my "Don't Panic" piece that it would probably happen and at a time beneficial to Obama.

My only mild surprise was just how thoroughly damning Powell's comments are about McCain. Having someone that well-regarded and respected say out loud what so many have been privately thinking -- that's devastating to McCain's rapidly imploding candidacy.

Oh, and the nasty comments from right-wing pundits directed at Powell -- no surprise there of course. These people reveal their true nature on a daily basis.

The GOP -- Not Bottom Yet, But Getting There

I said quite some time ago that one of the reasons McCain needs to lose is that this is the only way there is a chance of the Republican Party returning to its roots of real conservatism instead of neo-con warmongering and religious social activism. Not that I was the first to say this, of course, but I do see more of the same theme appearing as McCain's campaign continues to flounder and to mire itself in the ugly much of divisiveness and hate.

The water carriers of the Right--particularly Fox News, bloggers on townhall.com, and the dozens of talk radio hosts who call themselves Conservative--have always been biased. But as McCain has fallen farther behind in the polls their shows and blogs have become cesspools of hatred, anger, lies, distortion and vitriol which are liberally spewed on Democrats, Obama, and anyone who would vote for either.

In their passionate determination to vilify Obama and the Left, they have ignored the fact that the most devastating critiques of McCain and Palin have come from their own ranks. Conservatives and Republicans such as Charles Krauthammer, David Brooks, Kathleen Parker, George Will, and Christopher Buckley have all expressed their disgust with McCain's selection of Palin, his gutter campaign tactics, and his lack of the temperament, judgment, and ability to be president.

...

This is not just about politics or an election. This has become a Holy War with these guys. My longtime friend Dennis Prager told me last year that unless I had learned to loathe the Left, then I had learned nothing from him in the 20 years I have regarded him as a teacher. He recently wrote a column on townhall.com in which he explains the difference between people on the Left and people on the Right. Apparently being a pluralist or an independent--trying to learn from all people--is no longer an option.

This latest descent completes the utter destruction of the Republican party as a force for good in this country. Until eight years ago, Republicans had a deserved reputation for being more socially and fiscally conservative and responsible. When the party culture became infected with the Bush/Rove/Cheney virus, it began to morph into a divisive force that possessed none of those qualities.

Now the mass exodus is underway. Anyone who is fiscally conservative can't call himself a Republican anymore. Anyone who is a religious Christian can't honestly be part of this since Jesus preached about caring for the sick and the poor--not about eliminating reproductive choice or issues related to same-sex marriage. There's nothing Christian about the agenda of the Religious Right--it's a totally political movement focused on issues that Jesus never mentioned and they ignore the issues about which Jesus preached constantly.

...

I hope the recent meltdown will set the stage for a revival of something we all need now more than ever--a viable intelligent alternative to complete control by the Democrats. As much as I like Obama, the thought of either party having that much power still scares me. Reed and Pelosi scare me much more than Obama does. I think Obama is smart, presidential, and will surround himself with smart, good people.

It's time for a change.

Can't say it better than that. We need two good parties to choose from.

I'm Back

I'm not sure how many folks are still even following this blog.. but just so you know, I was away on a trip for a week and before that had family over for the holiday weekend.. so that's where I've been. :)

Ct. Supreme Court Overturns Gay Marriage Ban

Three down, 47 to go.

Not Just a Warmonger -- A Hatemonger

John McCain has descended fully from someone who was once better than the average politician in terms of character, to arguably the most dangerous major party candidate in history.

His campaign is, tragically, becoming all too reminiscent of how fascist dictators have gained power
in decades past.

Conservative blogger Andrew Sullivan echoes the disgust being felt by everyone but McCain's fellow mobsters:

There was always going to be a point of revolt and panic for a core group of Americans who believe that Obama simply cannot be president - because he's black or liberal or young or relatively new. This is that point. As the polls suggest a strong victory, the Hannity-Limbaugh-Steyn-O'Reilly base are going into shock and extreme rage. McCain and Palin have decided to stoke this rage, to foment it, to encourage paranoid notions that somehow Obama is a "secret" terrorist or Islamist or foreigner. These are base emotions in both sense of the word.

But they are also very very dangerous. This is a moment of maximal physical danger for the young Democratic nominee. And McCain is playing with fire. If he really wants to put country first, he will attack Obama on his policies - not on these inflammatory, personal, creepy grounds. This is getting close to the atmosphere stoked by the Israeli far right before the assassination of Rabin.

For God's sake, McCain, stop it. For once in this campaign, put your country first.

Irony Meter Mass Extinction Event

Sarah Palin actually has the unmitigated gall to say this about Obama?!

"Some in the mainstream media are saying that well we're taking the gloves off unfairly. No. You know there are only, what, 26 days to go. We gotta start getting answers to these questions that are paramount here so that voters have a choice in front of them that is based on truthfulness and candor. They deserve it."

When's your first press conference, you snarky, hypocritical bitch?

The Stones Begin to Pound Sarah Palin's Glass House

You want guilt by association, Sarah? You got it.

Thoughts on the Second Debate

I decided to just watch last night rather than blogging. (I don't think many people read my blog during live events anyway -- there are many more reputable people live blogging. :) )

Anyway, after watching and thinking on it, a few random thoughts:

1. The town hall format sucked. This wasn't a debate, it was like two separate but interwoven press conferences. The lack of interaction between the candidates made this a complete bore, even worse than their first debate. And of the 60,000 or millions or whatever of questions that were supposedly asked, Brokaw (or whoever) chose some rather remarkably unremarkable ones.

If this is what McCain had in mind with all his whining about Obama wanting to do town halls, I'm glad Obama refused.

2. Like the first debate, there was no clear cut winner here in terms of content. But Obama was far more commanding as a stage presence. This was a gross miscalculation on the part of the McCain camp in their assumption that McCain would beat Obama in a town hall style forum -- his body lanuage compared to Obama's makes him come across as small, frail and impatient. His pacing and wandering also didn't help him.

3. Tie goes to the leader. Obama didn't really hit the ball out of the park but he didn't have to. McCain did, and he wasn't close on anything approaching a knockout punch, just like the first debate.

4. All the people who thought McCain was going to really come out attacking Obama forgot how difficult it is to get away with this when your opponent is sitting right there and there's a live audience. McCain was wise not to try.

5. The "that one" comment was the only faux pas of the evening. And I'm not just reacting to what pundits have said about it -- I was rather surprised at the moment it happened. I don't see any racist undertones to it as some have suggested, rather, it just underscores McCain's lack of respect and consideration for his opponent.

6. McCain wants to let everyone refinance their mortgages? What happened to the party of personal responsibility and fiscal responsibility? Where are the hundreds of billions of dollars needed to do this going to come from?

7. Obama's answer on Russia was his low point of the evening. He was rambly and uninspiring.

8. Asking if something is a "right, a privilege or a responsibility" is nonsensical.

9. Obama should have responded directly to McCain's accusations about the former wanting to "fine" people with respect to his health care plan. I just assumed that was a distortion but Obama didn't clarify it, which left me thinking that McCain must have hit a nerve.

10. Every time McCain says "I know how to get bin Laden", more people ask the obvious question: "If you know, why haven't you helped the current administration get him now?"

British Man Shot for Wearing Obama T-Shirt

This is what McCain and Palin's hate campaign is breeding.

"Dishonorable?" John McCain's Picture Should Be Next to the Word in the Dictionary

John McCain's latest ad contains not just his usual exaggerations but a flat out lie made by chopping a sentence of Obama's in half and making it seem the opposite of what it really is.

The ad has the announcer begin a sentence with a quote from Obama in the middle:

(Announcer) "He says our troops in Afghanistan are..." (Obama) "...just air-raiding villages and killing civilians..."

The announcer then says "How dishonorable" (using the same whiny voice that makes me cringe whenever I hear it).

What did Obama really say? This:

"We've got to get the job done there and that requires us to have enough troops so that we're not just air-raiding villages and killing civilians, which is causing enormous problems there"

He wasn't saying we are JUST air-raiding villages, and he wasn't criticizing the troops at all so much as saying they needed more help.

McCain knows this. He's a liar and the one who really is dishonorable.

McCain is unfit to be president and unfit to even be a U.S. senator. Worse than that, he's a loathesome scum-sucking piece of shit of a human being. And so is anyone who supports or condones his behavior.

I Designate October 2008 as "Adopt Hussein for Your Middle Name Month"

It seems that some of the right-wing knuckledraggers have decided to again start emphasizing Barack Obama's middle name, Hussein, as if this were inherently some type of badge of dishonor. It's simply an appeal to ignorance and xenophobia, of course, and I've had enough of it.

I encourage all right-minded, forward-thinking people to adopt "Hussein" as their middle name for the month of October. Take a stand against stupidity and bigotry.

Sincerely yours,

Charles Hussein Kozierok

Pig Without Lipstick Deported from Kenya

Where's the apple?

The "D" Team

When is Obama going to make a bigger issue of McCain's woeful record on supporting our military men and women?

Independent Vermont Gubernatorial Candidate Tony O'Connor

I listened to an interview with this real "regular guy" (unlike phonies such as Sarah Palin) and was very impressed with his attitude and some of his ideas. All part of why I love the state of Vermont.

The Media Allows Sarah Palin's Propaganda Campaign

When it comes to Sarah Palin, McCain isn't running a presidential campaign, he's running a propaganda campaign. And the media is letting him get away with it. Andrew Sullivan said it best:

Until governor Sarah Palin gives a full press conference, it seems to me that the cable news outlets should stop running her stump speeches in full on television. The deal is: candidates get to broadcast their message if the press get to question them thoroughly. That's how real democracy works - give and take. What the Palin-McCain campaign wants is all give and no take: an indirect propaganda filter and the outrageous precedent of no press conferences in presidential campaigns. This is an assault on democracy. It is closer to Russian or Georgian democracy than American. If cable news continues to enable this chilling process, they will become complicit.

Enough.

I only disagree with his choice of tense: they are already complicit and have been for weeks.

The False Equivalence of Ayers and Keating

The media, in its never-ending quest to appear "balanced" even at the price of doing its job properly, is now mentioning McCain's invoking of Ayers in the same breath as Obama bringing up Keating.

They are not the same.

The Ayers smear is entirely guilt by association. It isn't saying that Obama did anything wrong himself, just that he associated with someone who had an unsavory past.

The Keating affair, in contrast, is not guilt by association -- it is guilt by McCain's own actions, his own often-admitted wrongdoing and poor judgment.

Furthermore, one cannot make a credible argument that Obama's past association with Ayers has any bearing on how he would conduct himself in the future, nor that it has any relevance to critical issues concerning America. The Keating business is a reflection on how McCain conducts himself, and it is entirely relevant to the current situation because deregulation was at the core of both crises.

But hey, we gotta appear "balanced" at all costs, right? Well, except for Fixed News, of course.