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Selected News For Week Oct 4 - Oct 10

This thread is for the busy bees of S&L to post news items themselves.

In order to make the articles as readable as possible, please try to stick to the format described in the first of these weekly editions here.

Of course articles that fit under the topic of a recent thread should be posted there. As always, remember to excerpt heavily and to provide a link to the original source.

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This article was posted by Steve Gilbert on Saturday, October 4th, 2008 at 12:00 am. You can leave a response.

89 Responses to “Selected News For Week Oct 4 - Oct 10”

  1. texaspsue
    October 4, 2008 at 12:33 am

    I was feeling cynical about the Election all day, (thanks to the MSM), and then……….. I listened to “Mark Levin’s pep talk”………..

    http://marklevinshow.com/wp-co.....012008.mp3

    Thanks Mark! Now I’m all fired up again and optimistic :-) about the future of America again. (Think I go volunteer to help with the McCain/Palin 08 campaign also.)

    Reply
  2. BillK
    October 4, 2008 at 1:15 am

    They never disappoint.

    From the AP:

    Madison group files federal lawsuit over National Day of Prayer

    By Scott Bauer

    An anti-religion group based in Wisconsin is suing President Bush and others over the federal law designating a National Day of Prayer.

    The Madison-based Freedom From Religion Foundation filed the lawsuit Friday in U.S. District Court.

    The lawsuit argues that the president’s mandated proclamations requiring prayer violates a constitutional ban on government officials endorsing religion. The day creates a “hostile environment for nonbelievers, who are made to feel as if they are political outsiders,” according to the lawsuit.

    Designating the day has the “intent and effect of giving official recognition to the endorsement of religion,” the lawsuit said.

    Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle is being sued because he is one of 50 governors who issued proclamations calling for the day of prayer held the first Thursday of May each year.

    The national proclamation issued this year asked God’s blessings on our country and called for Americans to observe the day with appropriate programs, ceremonies and activities.

    Doyle spokesman Lee Sensenbrenner had no comment on the lawsuit.

    Also named as defendants was Shirley Dobson, chairwoman of the National Day of Prayer Task Force. A spokesman for the task force did not immediately return a message left late on Friday afternoon by The Associated Press.

    Bush’s working together with the task force created the “intended impression” that the two are working “hand-in-glove” in organizing the National Day of Prayer, the lawsuit said.

    The lawsuit also points out that the task force has close ties to the religious organization Focus on the Family, which is headed by Shirley Dobson’s husband James Dobson.

    Also named in the lawsuit was White House press secretary Dana Perino because she executes the proclamation issued by Bush. …

    http://www.madison.com/tct/mad/topstories/307821

    “God’s blessings on our country?”

    No! How offensive!!!

    Reply
  3. Liberals Make Great Speedbumps
    October 4, 2008 at 1:16 am

    The U.S. Navy has confirmed that the WWII sub USS Grunion has been found.

    http://tinyurl.com/4nzy83

    70 lost heroes have finally been found.

    Reply
  4. BillK
    October 4, 2008 at 1:23 am

    From the AP:

    Newspapers get complaints for DVD ad on Muslims

    NEW YORK (AP) — Newspapers that carried an advertising supplement in recent weeks containing a DVD critical of radical Muslims have faced complaints from readers and questions about whether newspapers should offer a platform to everyone willing to pay for distribution.

    Although a few papers refused to carry the DVD, about 70 including The New York Times distributed it on the grounds that rejecting it would violate the sponsor’s right to free speech. The decision generated letters, cancellations and even a protest.

    The Clarion Fund, a nonprofit founded in 2006 to address “the most urgent threat of radical Islam,” spent millions of dollars distributing the DVDs mostly in battleground election states. That targeting led to further outcry about the group’s motives.

    “This is definitely the most feedback that I’ve gotten to an ad,” said Ted Vaden, public editor for The News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C. “It’s among the heaviest reaction I’ve gotten to anything. The great majority of the reaction was negative.”

    Vaden said the paper received about 500 e-mail and phone messages and had some 50 cancellations. He said the paper may have sparked some of the complaints by writing a front-page story calling attention to “Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West,” the DVD insert that critics have denounced as anti-Muslim propaganda.

    The decision over running the ad was similar to what online services like Google Inc.’s YouTube and Yahoo Inc.’s Flickr face when they let users freely share provocative video or photos. They get complaints of promoting unpopular viewpoints when they try to uphold free-speech principles; they get complaints of censorship when they don’t.

    Newspapers generally insist on giving a platform to a variety of viewpoints, but readers who complained were largely critical.

    “I cannot believe that I was sent the hate-inflaming, fear-mongering video disk `Obsession’ in my newspaper!” Margaret Lewis of Durham, N.C., wrote to The News & Observer. “What will you enclose next? KKK robes?”

    Kelly McBride, head of the ethics faculty at the journalism think tank Poynter Institute, said papers generally reject ads only if they promote illegal activity or might incite violence. The “Obsession” DVD, at most, makes people angry, she said.

    “It’s pretty hard to make an argument to reject it,” she said. “It’s hard to articulate a standard that would give you the opportunity to reject something like the `Obsession’ DVD but allow other types of political, religious or anti-religious speech.”

    The Clarion Fund, which has declined to identify all of its board members or the sources of its funding, is working with the Endowment for Middle East Truth on “The Obsession Project,” which is to include research publications and issue forums.

    Clarion Fund spokesman Gregory Ross said the group spent several million dollars in donations from individuals he would not name, and he said running the ad in swing states was a means of drawing media attention and not meant to influence the election’s result, a move barred by federal tax law covering nonprofits.

    “We found (newspapers were) the most economical and best way to get it out there,” Ross said.

    Dozens of people protested outside The Oregonian’s offices on Monday, the morning after the Portland, Ore., newspaper carried the DVD. One said he canceled his subscription. Mayor Tom Potter had tried to persuade the paper not to run the ad.

    Publisher Fred Stickel, who did not return phone calls from The Associated Press for comment, has said The Oregonian tries to keep its advertising channels open, regardless of whether the paper agrees with the sponsor’s message.

    But Elizabeth Brenner, the publisher of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, told reporters at the Milwaukee Press Club that based on complaints from its readers, the paper likely would not carry it again if faced with the same decision. She declined further comment to the AP, saying she didn’t want to re-ignite the issue.

    “Obsession,” an hour-long movie that features graphic images of terrorism, video of anti-American speeches from Mideast television and comparisons with Nazi Germany, has been sent to about 28 million households through newspapers and direct mail.

    Ross questioned whether many of the video’s critics actually had seen it, and he noted that it carried a disclaimer saying it was not about the majority of Muslims, who are peaceful.

    Some readers expressed support.

    “It’s refreshing to see something other than the `politically correct’ drivel most Americans seem to accept as fact,” Steven Earle of Clifton, Colo., wrote to The Denver Post, which distributed a half million copies. …

    http://customwire.ap.org/dynam....._ISLAM_DVD

    It wasn’t an ad “on Muslims.”

    It was an ad regarding a film about the dangers of radical Islam.

    Once again, isn’t it amazing how Muslims seem intent on not drawing distinctions between the average Muslim and the guy wearing the suit made of C-4?

    “Readers who complained were largely critical”?

    How does one complain in a complimentary way?

    The Mayor of Portland tried to get the paper not to carry the ad?

    Can you imagine the reaction if a Republican mayor tried to spike say, a pro-gay marriage ad in the local paper?

    Reply
  5. BillK
    October 4, 2008 at 1:30 am

    From the AP, news on just how bad the economy is and why we needed the bailout… right?

    Wells Fargo agrees to buy Wachovia; Citi objects

    By Sara Lepro

    NEW YORK (AP) — A battle broke out Friday for control of Wachovia, as Wells Fargo agreed to pay $14.8 billion for the struggling bank, while Citigroup and federal regulators insisted that Citi’s earlier and lower-priced takeover offer go forward.

    The surprise announcement that Wachovia Corp. agreed to be acquired by San Francisco-based Wells Fargo & Co. in the all-stock deal - without government assistance - upended what had appeared to be a carefully examined arrangement and caught regulators off guard.

    Wells’ original offer totaled about $15.1 billion, but since the value of its shares closed down 60 cents Friday, the deal is now valued at about $14.8 billion.

    Only four days earlier, Citigroup Inc. agreed to pay $2.1 billion for Wachovia’s banking operations in a deal that would have the help of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

    The head of the FDIC said the agency is standing behind the Citigroup agreement, but that it is reviewing all proposals and will work with the banks’ regulators “to pursue a resolution that serves the public interest.”

    Citigroup, which demanded that Wachovia call off its deal with Wells Fargo, said its agreement with Wachovia provides that the bank will not enter into any transaction with any party other than Citi or negotiate with anyone else.

    Barring legal action, the future of Wachovia will be determined by the bank’s shareholders and regulators, which both have to approve a final deal.

    It was clear which they preferred Friday, as Wachovia shares climbed as high as 80 percent.

    The FDIC is talking out of both sides of its mouth, said Roger Cominsky, partner in law firm Hiscock & Barclay’s financial institutions and lending practice. The agency says it stands behind the deal with Citigroup because it hasn’t been nixed yet, he said. “But at the same time, they are saying they are reviewing all proposals.”

    By law, he said the FDIC is required to find the least-costly resolution for taxpayers. The Wells Fargo deal would not rely on any assistance from the government.

    The Federal Reserve, which has regulatory oversight of the three big banks, said it hasn’t had time to review the proposed sale of Wachovia to Wells Fargo but will work to ensure that all creditors and depositors of Wachovia are protected.

    The Fed said regulators will be working with Wachovia and Wells Fargo “to achieve an outcome that protects all Wachovia creditors, including depositors, insured and uninsured, and promotes market stability.”

    Under Wells Fargo’s deal, Wachovia shareholders would receive 0.1991 shares of Wells Fargo for every share of Wachovia stock they own, valuing Wachovia at about $7 per share. This is a nearly 80 percent premium over the stock’s Thursday closing price of $3.91. Shares closed at $10 on Sept. 26, the last trading session before the deal with Citigroup was announced.

    “This deal enables us to keep Wachovia intact and preserve the value of an integrated company, without government support,” Robert Steel, Wachovia’s president and chief executive, said in a statement.

    In its planned takeover of Wachovia, Citigroup said it would assume $53 billion worth of debt and agreed to absorb up to $42 billion of losses from Wachovia’s $312 billion loan portfolio. The FDIC agreed to cover any remaining losses in exchange for $12 billion in Citigroup preferred stock and warrants. …

    http://customwire.ap.org/dynam.....O_WACHOVIA

    We can’t have that!

    Citibank had a deal to buy them with Government loan guarantees! How dare Wells Fargo offer to buy them completely devoid of them!

    That might make people think perhaps, just perhaps, the bailout wasn’t as desperately needed as expressed.

    How dare there be a deal that requires not one penny of taxpayer money and drives the stock price of the bank being purchased up almost 60%!

    Hopefully the Federal Government will act to force Wachovia to accept the taxpayer-backed Citibank purchase.

    Remind me why the public is disenchanted with the banking industry?

    Note the financials of the suiters and target:

    Citigroup has not turned a profit for three straight quarters, and lost a total of $17.4 billion in that period after writing down its assets by about $46 billion. That’s the most write-downs of any U.S. bank.

    While Wells Fargo has logged three straight quarters of profit declines, the bank has been weathering one of the nation’s worst credit crises much better than most of its competitors, in part because it had less exposure to the subprime mortgages whose failure undermined the financial sector.

    Wachovia shares rose $2.30, or 58.8 percent, to close Friday at $6.21. Wells shares slipped 60 cents to $34.56, and Citigroup shares dropped $4.15, or 18.4 percent, to $18.35.

    So the conservative bank that followed sound banking principles shouldn’t be allowed to buy Wachovia, but the bank that’s been hemorrhaging cash and needs a government-backed loan should.

    Got it.

    Reply
  6. BigOil
    October 4, 2008 at 10:13 am

    From You Tube via Breitbart:

    Missouri Middle Schoolers Chant with Military-Like Zeal for Obama

    http://www.breitbart.tv/?p=188153

    Reading, writing and arithmetic has been replaced in our schools with Obamics.

    Reply
  7. 1sttofight
    October 4, 2008 at 10:24 am

    Can you imagine the reaction if a Republican mayor tried to spike say, a pro-gay marriage ad in the local paper?

    Can you imagine the reaction if a candidate for the POTUS tried to strong arm radio stations into not running ads for his opponent? What… that has already happened…. Never mind.

    Reply
  8. texaspsue
    October 4, 2008 at 2:02 pm

    That’s a great story about WWII sub USS Grunion, Liberals Make Great Speedbumps. After 60 years, 70 brave heros have been accounted for. RIP

    Reply
  9. texaspsue
    October 4, 2008 at 2:04 pm

    Video of the day:

    Obama Says Sarah Palin Has Zero Experience. Let’s See…

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Obrd9uHpGRE

    Reply
  10. U NO HOO
    October 4, 2008 at 4:00 pm

    “Missouri Middle Schoolers Chant with Military-Like Zeal for Obama”

    Hitler’s youth corps come(s) to mind.

    Reply
  11. SG
    October 4, 2008 at 4:58 pm

    “Missouri Middle Schoolers Chant with Military-Like Zeal for Obama”

    At our sister site:

    Another Creepy Obama Youth Cult Clip | Get Drunk And Vote 4 McCain
    http://getdrunkandvote4mccain......-cult-clip

    Reply
  12. 1sttofight
    October 4, 2008 at 5:09 pm

    The Barracuda has been set free, bout damn time.

    From the Associated Press:

    Palin says Obama ‘palling around’ with terrorists

    Oct 4
    By JIM KUHNHENN

    ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) - Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin on Saturday accused Democrat Barack Obama of “palling around with terrorists” because of his association with a former 1960s radical, stepping up the campaign’s effort to portray Obama as unacceptable to American voters.
    Palin’s reference was to Bill Ayers, one of the founders of the group the Weather Underground. Its members took credit for bombings, including nonfatal explosions at the Pentagon and U.S. Capitol, during the tumultuous Vietnam War era four decades ago. Obama, who was a child when the group was active, served on a charity board with Ayers several years ago and has denounced his radical views and activities.

    The Republican campaign, falling behind Obama in polls, plans to make attacks on Obama’s character a centerpiece of presidential candidate John McCain’s message with a month remaining before Election Day.

    Palin told a group of donors at a private airport, “Our opponent … is someone who sees America, it seems, as being so imperfect, imperfect enough, that he’s palling around with terrorists who would target their own country.” She also said, “This is not a man who sees America as you see America and as I see America.”

    Palin, Alaska’s governor, said that donors on a greeting line had encouraged her and McCain to get tougher on Obama. She said an aide then advised her, “Sarah, the gloves are off, the heels are on, go get to them.” …

    http://www.breitbart.com/artic....._article=1

    Reply
  13. texaspsue
    October 5, 2008 at 12:49 am

    Baracuda in Carson, Ca.

    From K-ABCTV:

    Palin speaks to thousands in Carson

    Saturday, October 04, 2008

    CARSON (CNS) — Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin praised running mate John McCain and criticized Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama today while spelling out goals of a McCain-Palin administration during a speech at The Home Depot Center.

    A enthusiastic crowd estimated by Home Depot Center officials to be between 15,000 and 20,000 jammed the Carson facility’s tennis stadium — whose capacity is around 8,000 — and an overflow area for a rare general election public appearance in Southern California by a major party presidential or vice presidential candidate.

    In a 25-minute speech, interrupted about 20 times by applause, Palin demonstrated a folksy and feisty manner that seemingly had disappeared during a much-criticized interview with CBS anchor Katie Couric.

    This is where the article gets good:

    Palin was introduced by Shelly Mandell, president of the Los Angeles Chapter of the National Organization for Women, who described herself as a lifelong Democrat.

    In rarity for a Republican event, Mandell bragged about her efforts campaigning for the failed Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s and her support for Geraldine Ferraro, the Democratic vice presidential nominee in 1984.

    “I know Sarah Palin cares about women’s rights,” Mandell said. “As vice president, she will fight for you. She cares about our children and she cares about women’s lives.”

    In another rarity for a major party national candidate, Palin discussed a quotation she found on a cup of coffee from Starbucks Friday by former Secretary of State Madeline Albright, a Democrat who served in the Clinton Administration.

    ” `There’s a place hell reserved for women who don’t support other women,’ ” Palin quoted. “Let’s see how that comment is turned into whatever it’s turned into in tomorrow’s papers.”

    Palin also made reference to a question she received from Couric about what newspapers and magazines she reads.
    “I was reading a copy of The New York Times,” Palin said, with the newspaper’s name drawing boos. “I was really interested to read in there about Barack Obama’s friends in Chicago.”

    Palin was referring to a front-page story on William Ayers, who participated in bombings of New York City Police Headquarters, the U.S. Capitol and the Pentagon in the early 1970s, and later become a college professor who was associated with Obama during a 1990s school reform effort in Chicago.

    “Our opponent is someone who sees America as imperfect enough to pal around with terrorists who targeted their own country,” Palin said amid another chorus of boos.

    http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/st.....id=6431858 (Photos and Video)

    Ace of Spades was live blogging from the event:

    http://minx.cc/?post=274874 & photos: http://minx.cc/?post=274876

    Uh Oh! Something tells me that some of the Liberals and Hillary supporters are starting to enjoy Sarah’s energy and down home truthfulness also. :-)

    Reply
  14. Lipstick on a PIAPS
    October 5, 2008 at 1:25 am

    Yeh, there is something about the used car salesman personality flaws of Congressman that just doesn’t appeal to the masses. I guess that’s why we have so few Presidents from their ranks! LMAO

    Reply
  15. texaspsue
    October 5, 2008 at 1:52 am

    Palin quoting Madeline Albright at Rally - Youtube:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S03ZfFf_gGQ

    and on Obama:

    http://embeds.blogs.foxnews.co.....terroists/

    Reply
  16. Gila Monster
    October 5, 2008 at 3:14 am

    Turn the ‘Cuda’ loose, let ‘er breathe and there’s no tellin’ where she’ll end up…!!!

    If McQueeg had an ounce of sense, he would turn her loose and quit worrying about the PC crappola, he’d win in a landslide ala Reagan vs. Mondale.in 1984.
    Hey, just my two cents. ;o)

    Reply
  17. fluffy
    October 5, 2008 at 8:33 am

    Fun with Numbers! — October edition

    US sheds 159,000 jobs, unemployment rate holds at 6.1%

    A struggling US economy lost 159,000 jobs in September as the weight of the housing collapse and credit crunch hit a broad swath of industries, government data showed Friday.

    The manufacturing sector lost 51,000 jobs over the month, bringing the decline in factory jobs to 442,000 over the past 12 months, the report said. About 18,000 jobs were lost last month in the auto sector, which has been reeling from weak consumer spending and confidence.

    Some 35,000 jobs were lost in construction along with 40,000 in retail trade.

    The troubled financial sector shed 17,000 jobs in September, with nearly half of the decline occurring in securities and investment firms. Overall, the report showed the financial sector has lost 172,000 jobs since December 2006.

    Here’s the nutshell: 159,000 jobs lost = no change
    84,000 jobs lost = increase of 0.4%

    At the beginning of August, unemployment was 5.7%

    At the beginning of September, unemployment rose to 6.1%

    At the beginning of October, we lost nearly twice as many jobs, but unemployment remained steady.

    These arithmetically challenged folks will be ladling out the gravy to ‘correct’ our troubled financial sector.

    Reply
  18. BillK
    October 5, 2008 at 9:59 am

    fluffy, what you site can indeed happen because the unemployment rate numbers are indeed spun.

    Bottom line is that you are not “unemployed” unless you are actively seeking employment.

    Thus workers laid off who either decide not to look for another job or those who “give up” are not counted as unemployed.

    One other big factor is that such news articles also never count jobs that were created.

    So AP among others will gladly report, say, a loss of 20,000 jobs at GM even if all 20,000 find jobs the next day at Ford as “20,000 jobs lost.”

    Reply
  19. 1sttofight
    October 5, 2008 at 10:38 am

    A Great way to start off a Sunday morning. Some of yall may have already seen it but I never get tired of watching it. The music is from the movie “Rudy”, a fine American film that shows hard work will pay off.

    America’s Future: Sarah Palin

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quvBbcFDPI0

    Reply
  20. sheehanjihad
    October 5, 2008 at 3:54 pm

    as if to vindicate my post earlier where I said al qaida doesnt need to attack the US anymore because the true domestic terrorists the democrat party are destroying us wholesale for them…..check this out:

    http://www.comcast.net/article.....can.Video/

    This is what they think of how good the democrats are doing their work for them. There are Senators and Representatives who need to be imprisoned for outright treason.

    Reply
  21. BillK
    October 5, 2008 at 11:35 pm

    Don’t even bother voting; NBC News’ expert says the election is over.

    Even though this is datelined self-admittedly liberal MSNBC, it was reported on NBC’s Meet the Press:

    Dramatic shifts in electoral map favor Obama

    Changed electorate and economy helping Obama, says NBC’s Chuck Todd

    By Christine Schomer

    After two weeks of unprecedented fiscal turmoil, latest election polls show that voters care more about the economy than the so-called culture wars. Advantage: Barack Obama.

    On Sunday’s Meet the Press, NBC Political Director Chuck Todd rolled out his Electoral College map and showed that polling in the past two weeks has tipped some battleground states like Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, and New Mexico toward the Democratic nominee.

    “If the election were held today, I would say that Obama is up five or more points in enough states with about 264 electoral votes,” said Todd. Candidates need 270 electoral votes to win.
    “It’s the economy,” Todd said, citing the national credit crunch and a sinking housing market as major concerns for voters in swing states like Florida, where Obama is showing a slight lead. Todd explained Florida has been hit doubly hard with the downturn in both real estate and tourism.

    “It may explain the Michigan decision,” said Todd of the McCain campaign pulling out of the state. “Florida is all of a sudden, a very economically-sensitive state.”

    Battleground states that voted for President Bush in 2004 — Virginia, North Carolina, Florida, Ohio, Indiana, Nevada, and Colorado — remain toss-ups, with polls showing an even race or a slight advantage toward Obama.

    Todd also credited Obama’s gains to a changed electorate. “If 10 to 15 percent of the electorate is new voters nationwide, it could be up to 20 percent in places like Virginia and North Carolina where Obama has registered hundreds of thousands of voters.” Todd says Obama got a headstart when he was trying to beat Hillary Clinton in the primaries. “All of that has now catapulted these two states from lean Republican states into, frankly, pure toss-up states.” …

    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27035006/

    Might as well just save time and gas now that it’s a near mathematical impossibility for McCain to win.

    Reply
  22. BillK
    October 5, 2008 at 11:40 pm

    From an overjoyed AP:

    Obama accuses McCain of smear tactics

    Democrat calls his rival ‘erratic’ as both sides step up attacks

    WASHINGTON - Democrat Barack Obama accused Republican opponent John McCain of launching a smear campaign to reverse his slide in the polls and cover up his “erratic” behavior in the face of America’s financial crisis.

    With four weeks left until Election Day, the 2008 U.S. presidential campaign took a particularly nasty turn Sunday as charges flew between the campaigns. The fierce skirmishing broke out after McCain’s running mate Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin claimed in three separate appearances Saturday that Obama sees America as so imperfect “that he’s palling around with terrorists who would target their own country.”

    The incendiary remarks referred to Obama’s association with 1960s radical Bill Ayers, a founder of the Weather Underground whose members were blamed for several bombings when Obama was a child. Obama has denounced Ayers’ radical views and activities, and there is no evidence they have palled around.

    As if expecting the attack, Obama’s campaign quickly fired back with a television ad that charged McCain, a 72-year-old four-term senator from Arizona, was “Erratic in a crisis. Out of touch on the economy.”

    The commercial, which starts playing nationally on cable television Monday, played upon McCain’s stumbling response to America’s brewing financial difficulties and shifting positions as Congress and the White House hammered out a $700 billion rescue plan.

    Several Obama surrogates said Sunday that his supporters may reopen the issue of McCain’s ties to Charles Keating, a convicted savings and loan owner whose actions two decades ago triggered a Senate ethics investigation that involved McCain as one of the “Keating Five.”

    Rep. Rahm Emanuel, a Chicago Democrat and Obama supporter, warned against McCain’s strategy of attacking the Illinois senator’s character.

    “If we are going to go down this road, you know, Barack Obama was eight years old, somehow responsible for Bill Ayers,” he said. “At 58, John McCain was associating with Charles Keating.”

    “If we really want to talk who is associating with who, we will,” Emanuel said. “The American people will lose in that transaction.” …

    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27034817/

    How appropriate that MSNBC refers to the remarks as “incindiary” given who they conern.

    Meanwhile, how did we know the “Keating Five” allegations would be floated out there again as has been occurring in the last few days.

    The hell with being acquitted, not even having charges filed against you is not sufficient to prove innocence when a Republican involved.

    But having a mad bomber as your mentor - well that’s just a sign of a good liberal background.

    Reply
  23. PoliticalJules
    October 6, 2008 at 1:03 am

    Hmmmmm bill, commanding voters not to get out and vote. Very socialist statement comrad.

    I will never give up my right to vote. That is until some socialist prys it from my cold dead hand.

    I guess you are afraid the voter fraud might just be exposed.

    About the Keating scandal. So if any of that is even partially true, who has the more shady past? Most of Obama’s connections have not been given the light of a trial or investigation, McCain’s have. We are all aware of what happened.

    Obama, on the other hand, has hidden or dismissed the truth. Even his supporters turn a blind eye. Let’s put these two experiences of a shady past and see who the evedince weighs heavier beyond a reasonable doubt their ties to terrorism and radical group involvement. My choice is clear.

    We Can Make a Bigger Difference. Please be sure to get out and vote. McCain/Palin gets my vote. God Bless America.

    Reply
  24. BillK
    October 6, 2008 at 4:20 am

    PoliticalJules, you missed the inherent sarcasm in my reporting NBC News (tag line: “We’re separate from MSNBC, really!”) is telling people the election is all but over and that Obama won.

    Reply
  25. BillK
    October 6, 2008 at 5:49 am

    Thought the campaign dirt was flying?

    Nope - now the LA Times is attacking McCain’s military record.

    Mishaps mark John McCain’s record as naval aviator

    hree crashes early in his career led Navy officials to question or fault his judgment.

    By Ralph Vartabedian and Richard A. Serrano

    John McCain was training in his AD-6 Skyraider on an overcast Texas morning in 1960 when he slammed into Corpus Christi Bay and sheared the skin off his plane’s wings.

    McCain recounted the accident decades later in his autobiography. “The engine quit while I was practicing landings,” he wrote. But an investigation board at the Naval Aviation Safety Center found no evidence of engine failure.

    The 23-year-old junior lieutenant wasn’t paying attention and erred in using “a power setting too low to maintain level flight in a turn,” investigators concluded.

    The crash was one of three early in McCain’s aviation career in which his flying skills and judgment were faulted or questioned by Navy officials.

    In his most serious lapse, McCain was “clowning” around in a Skyraider over southern Spain about December 1961 and flew into electrical wires, causing a blackout, according to McCain’s own account as well as those of naval officers and enlistees aboard the carrier Intrepid. In another incident, in 1965, McCain crashed a T-2 trainer jet in Virginia.

    After McCain was sent to Vietnam, his plane was destroyed in an explosion on the deck of an aircraft carrier in 1967. Three months later, he was shot down during a bombing mission over Hanoi and taken prisoner. He was not faulted in either of those cases and was later lauded for his heroism as a prisoner of war.

    As a presidential candidate, McCain has cited his military service — particularly his 5 1/2 years as a POW. But he has been less forthcoming about his mistakes in the cockpit.

    The Times interviewed men who served with McCain and located once-confidential 1960s-era accident reports and formerly classified evaluations of his squadrons during the Vietnam War. This examination of his record revealed a pilot who early in his career was cocky, occasionally cavalier and prone to testing limits.

    In today’s military, a lapse in judgment that causes a crash can end a pilot’s career. Though standards were looser and crashes more frequent in the 1960s, McCain’s record stands out.

    “Three mishaps are unusual,” said Michael L. Barr, a former Air Force pilot with 137 combat missions in Vietnam and an internationally known aviation safety expert who teaches in USC’s Aviation Safety and Security Program. “After the third accident, you would say: Is there a trend here in terms of his flying skills and his judgment?”

    Jeremiah Pearson, a Navy officer who flew 400 missions over Vietnam without a mishap and later became the head of human spaceflight at NASA, said: “That’s a lot. You don’t want any. Maybe he was just unlucky.” …

    http://www.latimes.com/news/po.....3315.story

    See? How could anyone dare electing such a dangerous man with no judgement President?

    Reply
  26. BillK
    October 6, 2008 at 5:54 am

    Yet another “Republicans: Just Stay Home” story from the Los Angeles Times:

    Voter registration trends appear to favor Democrats

    Today is the deadline for new voters to get on the rolls in several key states. Some elections offices are overwhelmed.

    By Peter Nicholas

    WASHINGTON — For months, Barack Obama’s presidential campaign said it would capture traditionally Republican states this fall by registering more African Americans, younger Americans and other voters, in essence reshaping the electorate. Now, the results of that ambitious effort are coming into view.

    Today is the deadline for new voters to register in many of the battleground states that will probably decide the election, including Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Florida, Indiana and Colorado. In some of these states, Obama and his allies have added substantial numbers of Democrats to the voting rolls.

    As the balloting approaches, voter interest has reached a level that is leaving some state elections offices strained. Nancy Rodrigues, chief elections officer for Virginia, said she had recruited scores of volunteers just to answer phones. One day last week, her office was inundated with 8,000 calls.

    “We’re feeling a little overwhelmed. Thirty people divided into 8,000 calls — do the math,” she said.

    Leading up to today’s deadlines, Obama and Republican John McCain have been using celebrity supporters to entice people to register. Two former members of the Cincinnati Bengals, Coach Sam Wyche and offensive lineman Anthony Munoz, stumped for McCain last week in Ohio.

    Not to be outdone, Obama trotted out the Boss. Bruce Springsteen gave concerts over the weekend in the electoral-vote-rich states of Pennsylvania and Ohio.

    “We need somebody to lead us in an American reclamation project,” Springsteen told the tens of thousands of people who came out for the concert Saturday in Philadelphia, amid renditions of “Thunder Road” and “The Rising.”

    Some states allow new voters to register until late October; California’s deadline is Oct. 20.

    A look at the voter registration numbers in some battleground states suggests trends that appear to favor Obama.

    Virginia, for example, has logged more than 300,000 new voters since the year began. The state does not record party affiliation, but it says that 41% of the new registrants are under the age of 25, and an additional 20% are between the ages of 25 and 34.

    The influx of young voters, a core part of Obama’s voting coalition, is an encouraging sign for the Democratic nominee in a state that has not picked a Democrat for president in more than 40 years.

    “This is exactly what we needed to do to change the electorate in Virginia in order to put Sen. Obama in a position where he could win the state,” said Steve Hildebrand, Obama’s deputy campaign manager.

    In Nevada, another Republican state that Obama is trying to move into the Democratic column, Democrats outnumber Republicans by more than 80,000, according to figures posted by the state in September, before the voter registration deadline last Saturday. Four years ago, Republicans held a registration edge of 4,431.

    Democratic registration has ballooned in Pennsylvania, presenting a challenge to Republicans who hoped to swing the state to their column. Obama’s party now outnumbers Republicans by nearly 1.15 million registered voters. In the 2004 election, the margin was about 580,000; in 2000, it was 486,000. …

    http://www.latimes.com/news/po.....8014.story

    Reply
  27. BillK
    October 6, 2008 at 6:11 am

    Coming up next, Barack will be stamping his feet and pouting.

    From the Los Angeles Times:

    Barack Obama accuses Republicans of distracting voters from the economy

    John McCain wants to ‘distract you with smears rather than talk to you about substance,’ the Democrat says in Asheville, N.C., a day after Sarah Palin claims Obama would ‘pal around with terrorists.’

    By Maeve Reston and Seema Mehta

    ASHEVILLE, N.C. — One day after John McCain’s running mate escalated the vitriol of the presidential campaign by invoking a 1960s radical, Barack Obama accused Republicans of trying to distract voters from the sagging economy with “smears.”

    Speaking to thousands of voters Sunday afternoon at Asheville High School, the Democratic nominee argued that McCain shares President Bush’s economic philosophy.

    “Sen. McCain and his operatives are gambling that they can distract you with smears rather than talk to you about substance,” Obama said. “They’d rather try to tear our campaign down than lift this country up. That’s what you do when you’re out of touch, out of ideas and running out of time.”

    The dust-up comes as Obama’s poll numbers have risen in recent weeks, even in some traditionally Republican states, as Wall Street’s woes dominate the news. According to several polls, more voters see Obama as better able to handle the economy than McCain.

    Last week, senior McCain advisor Greg Strimple telegraphed the strategy, telling reporters that the campaign would be aggressive during the final 30 days before the election. He said they would be “looking to turning the page on this financial crisis and getting back to discussing Mr. Obama’s liberal, aggressively liberal, record and how he will be too risky for the Americans.”

    The new strategy was evident this weekend when Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin said Obama is “palling around with terrorists who would target their own country.” Campaigning in California, Texas and Nebraska, the Alaska governor said she was referring to Obama’s acquaintance with William Ayers, who helped found the radical Weather Underground in the 1960s. The group planned a series of bombings targeting the Capitol and the Pentagon. Ayers acknowledged involvement in bombings but was not convicted of terrorist acts.

    Obama, who was born in 1961, has denounced Ayers’ conduct and has pointed out that he was a child during Ayers’ radical years. He and Ayers met decades later, when they were working on education issues in Chicago. Ayers, now an education professor, hosted a coffee for Obama in the mid-1990s.

    Palin noted that the New York Times had written about the Ayers-Obama link. The article concluded, however, that the men were not close.

    In North Carolina, Obama warned that his opponents wanted to change the subject.

    “His campaign has announced that they plan to, and I quote, turn the page on the discussion about our economy and spend the final weeks of this campaign launching Swift Boat-style attacks on me,” he said, referring to a group known as the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. In 2004, the group attacked Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kerry’s war record, to devastating effect.

    “The American people are too smart for that,” Obama said Sunday. “On Nov. 4 you and I are going to turn the page, not on talking about the economy; we’re going to the turn the page on the disastrous economic policies of George W. Bush and John McCain.” …

    http://www.latimes.com/news/po.....0347.story

    First of all, I think it’s important to mention once again that not one claim Swift Boat Veterans for Truth made has been disproven.

    Then of course, this argument is like saying if an 18 year-old befriended Bin Laden today, it would be OK because they were only 11 when Bin Laden planned 9/11.

    It doesn’t matter how old Obama was when Ayers planned his bombings, as while Obama “denounced” his actions, Ayers never has.

    As alluded to in another article above:

    Meantime, the Obama campaign launched the last of four ads criticizing McCain’s healthcare plan, which will run in battleground states starting today. And late Sunday, the Associated Press reported, Obama invoked a specter of his own: Charles Keating, owner of the defunct thrift Lincoln Savings & Loan and a former McCain donor. The campaign said it would e-mail supporters a video detailing McCain’s ties to Keating, whose thrift collapse in the 1980s cost taxpayers $2.6 billion.

    Is there any doubt that the “supporter” video will be aired ad nauseum on the MSM news shows without even a mention that there wasn’t evidence showing McCain to be guilty of anything?

    Nope, the majority of American people will likely take the MSM’s reports at face value, per usual, and McCain’s numbers will drop further.

    I’m not even upset with McCain’s camp any more, but rather the American electorate.

    Were Hitler and Tojo were right about Americans, just about 67 years too early in their analysis?

    All I know is that a visit to the Reagan library would bring anyone here to tears - because of the realization that everything the man stood for has now been relegated to the trash bin of history, and a majority of Americans are fine with that.

    Reply
  28. artboyusa
    October 6, 2008 at 7:23 am

    Did anyone else see Liz Trotta on Fox yesterday telling Eric Shawn how “some people” are unhappy with Palin because she had her youngest child onstage with her at the convention? She referred to the baby as “it”.

    But maybe Liz is right. How dare Sarah Palin show her Down’s child (”it”) to the world and make some of us feel unconfortable? How dare she act as if she loved “it”? How dare she seem to imply that her other children should treat “it” as a full member of their family? Doesn’t Palin know that she should feel ashamed of “it” and wish she’d never had “it”? Why couldn’t she do the proper, Kennedyesque thing and have “it” lobotomized and locked up in some nunnery until “it” dies?

    Seriously, I’ve worked with Downs people and they are usually the nicest, most gentle folks you could ever want to meet - a lot nicer than this shrivelled, vindictive, bigoted crone, that’s for sure.

    Reply
  29. RightWinger
    October 6, 2008 at 9:37 am

    Billk you are so dead on…..

    “First of all, I think it’s important to mention once again that not one claim Swift Boat Veterans for Truth made has been disproven.”

    Even if one can say that Kerry’s claims to medals are subject to debate (his word against mine), the more important thing is what Kerry did when he got back to America and started lying and making statements about the troops that surely inspired John Murtha to open up his fat pie hole. I’m sure had Kerry come back from Vietnam and kept his mouth shut, there would never have been a “Swift Boat Veterans for Truth”.

    As it says on the Swift Boat site….

    “Swift Vets and POWs for Truth has been formed to counter the false “war crimes” charges John Kerry repeatedly made against Vietnam veterans who served in our units and elsewhere….

    That’s where the anger lies from, not that Kerry managed to get himself highly decorated medals in his short span of duty. A few weeks ago I saw an old episode of M*A*S*H*, where Frank Burns got himself a Purple Heart by claiming in a medical report he took a shell fragment during a sniper attack. Except that he failed to mention in the report that it was an egg shell and he got a piece in his eye.

    First person that came to mind when that episode was Kerry. I could have seen him doing that. LOL

    Reply
  30. BillK
    October 6, 2008 at 6:39 pm

    The latest “McCain/Palin are done for” story from the AP:

    Palin expands criticism of Obama to include Rev. Wright; tones down description of Ayers

    By Beth Fouhy

    CLEARWATER, Fla. (AP) — Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin expanded her attack on Democrat Barack Obama’s character Monday to include his relationship with an incendiary former pastor as well as his ties to 1960s-era radical Bill Ayers.

    In the process, Palin toned down her description of the Obama-Ayers relationship after her weekend remarks were criticized as exaggerated, but at the same time she embarked on a discussion of Obama’s relationship with his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., which Republican presidential candidate John McCain had signaled he did not want to be a part of his campaign.

    Meantime, a new poll showed that Palin’s image has changed little with the public since last week’s vice presidential debate, but views of her Democratic rival, Joe Biden, have improved.

    In an interview with conservative The New York Times columnist William Kristol published Monday, the Alaska governor said there should be more discussion about Wright, Obama’s pastor of 20 years at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. The Democratic candidate denounced Wright and severed ties with the church last spring after videotapes surfaced showing Wright making anti-American and anti-Semitic comments from the pulpit.

    Wright had appeared to be off limits for the McCain campaign ever since McCain himself condemned the North Carolina Republican Party in April for an ad that called Obama “too extreme” because Wright was his pastor. He asked the party to take down the ad and said, “I’m making it very clear, as I have a couple of times in the past, that there’s no place for that kind of campaigning, and the American people don’t want it.”

    When Kristol pressed Palin about Wright, she replied, “I don’t know why that association isn’t discussed more, because those were appalling things that that pastor had said about our great country.”

    She continued, “To me, that does say something about character. But, you know, I guess that would be a John McCain call on whether he wants to bring that up.”

    At a morning rally in Florida, Palin kept up her criticism of Obama’s ties to Ayers, a founder of the violent Weather Underground group blamed for several bombings during the Vietnam War era, when Obama was a child.

    The Illinois senator has denounced Ayers’ radical views and activities.

    “This is someone who sees America as ‘imperfect enough’ to work with a former domestic terrorist who targeted his own country,” Palin said of Obama. That was a tamer description than Palin used at rallies in California and Colorado over the weekend.

    In her earlier attacks, Palin had said that Obama “pals around with terrorists.” News reports pointed out that Obama was eight years old at the time of Weather Underground bombings and that the two men do not know each other well although they live in the same Chicago neighborhood, have served on a charity board together and Ayers hosted a meet-the-candidate event when Obama first ran for state office in the mid-1990s.

    Meanwhile, a poll conducted by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center over the weekend found that just over half of registered voters view Palin favorably and about four in 10 think she’s qualified to be president, essentially unchanged from a week earlier, before her debate with Biden. Biden’s positive image improved slightly to 63 percent, and those saying he’s qualified to be president grew to 77 percent, the same poll showed.

    Reporters weren’t permitted to talk to Palin’s audience in a Clearwater park, the St. Petersburg Times reported.

    When reporters tried to leave the designated press area and head to where the crowd was seated, an escort would dart out, confront him or her and turn the person around, Times staff writer Eileen Schulte wrote on the paper’s Web site. One escort, who would not give her name, told a reporter the press couldn’t mingle because negative things had been written in the past, Schulte reported. …

    http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/P/PALIN

    I completely agree with the campaign’s approach to the press; they’re not going to write anything but biased, hateful pieces anyway so why give them access?

    More importantly, the AP is once again going with the myth that the Pew Research Center is “nonpartisan” rather than the far-left group they are.

    I’d complain that you can’t just make a group nonpartisan by calling themselves such, but then again the press considers themselves “unbiased” as well.

    Reply
  31. BillK
    October 6, 2008 at 7:43 pm

    The daily “just stay home, Republicans” article from the AP:

    Obama leads in one national poll, close in another

    THE POLL: CNN-Opinion Research Corp., national presidential race among likely voters

    THE NUMBERS: Barack Obama 53 percent, John McCain 42 percent

    OF INTEREST: Obama’s 11-percentage-point lead over McCain comes when three minor party candidates are included; when Obama and McCain are matched exclusively, Obama leads 53 percent to 45 percent. Either way, Obama’s lead has grown from the narrow advantage he had two weeks ago in this same poll. Forty-three percent say Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is qualified to be president if necessary, while 80 percent say so about her Democratic counterpart, Joe Biden. Six in 10 think Obama will win the election.

    DETAILS: Conducted Oct. 3-5 by telephone with 694 likely voters. Sampling error margin plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

    MORE: http://www.cnn.com

    —————

    THE POLL: CBS News Poll, national presidential race among likely voters

    THE NUMBERS: Barack Obama 48 percent, John McCain 45 percent

    OF INTEREST: This poll, showing the race basically even among likely voters, finds a tighter contest than most other surveys have measured recently. Fifty-seven percent are confident Obama would make the right decisions about the economy; 53 percent say McCain would. Those numbers are about reversed over who would do the right thing on Iraq. More people have favorable than unfavorable views about Obama by 12 percentage points, but are about evenly split on McCain. Almost two-thirds say Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden could be an effective president, while 37 percent say so about Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin.

    DETAILS: Conducted Oct. 3-5 by landline and cell telephones with 875 registered voters, sampling error margin plus or minus 3 percentage points. Poll included 616 likely voters, sampling error margin plus or minus 4 percentage points.

    MORE: http://www.cbsnews.com

    http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_10652408

    Yes, why even mention the name of that other fellow running in the headline.

    Reply
  32. BillK
    October 6, 2008 at 7:50 pm

    No, there’s no bias at the AP. None at all.

    Palin defends comments linking Obama, terrorists

    OMAHA — Sarah Palin defended her claim that Barack Obama “pals around with terrorists,” saying the Democratic presidential nominee’s association with a 1960s radical is an issue that is “fair to talk about.”

    Obama has denounced the radical views and actions of Bill Ayers, a founder of the violent Weather Underground group during the Vietnam era.

    On Sunday, Obama dismissed the criticism from the John McCain campaign, leveled by Palin, as “smears” meant to distract voters from real problems such as the economy.

    Palin launched the attack Saturday and repeated it twice Sunday, signaling a new strategy by McCain’s presidential campaign to go after Obama’s character.

    “The comments are about an association that has been known but hasn’t been talked about,” Palin said as she boarded her plane in Long Beach, Calif.

    Obama and Ayers have served on the same Chicago charity and live near each other. Ayers also held a meet-the-candidate event at his home when Obama first ran for office in the mid-1990s, the event cited by Palin.

    But while Ayers and Obama are acquainted, the charge that they “pal around” is a stretch. And it’s wrong to suggest that they were associated while Ayers was committing terrorist acts. Obama was 8 years old at the time.

    In California, Palin was asked about an Associated Press analysis that said her charge about Ayers was unsubstantiated.

    “The Associated Press is wrong,” Palin said, before arguing that the issue had not been adequately discussed.

    In fact, Obama was questioned about Ayers during a prime-time Democratic debate against Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton prior to April’s Pennsylvania primary.

    And McCain himself raised Ayers as a subject during an interview with ABC News in April.

    Palin is animating the party’s conservative wing with harsh attacks against Obama.

    She was dispatched to Omaha on Sunday. Today she begins a two-day, event-packed tour of Florida. North Carolina and Pennsylvania are next.

    Skilled with a crowd, she is still subject to verbal slips but defends them with humor. On Sunday, she added a new line.

    “I was trying to give Tina Fey more material,” she said at the Omaha rally, which raised $2.5 million. “Job security for ‘Saturday Night Live.’ ”

    http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_10647253

    Let’s see, at least half of the article allegedly about Palin is a defense of Obama.

    I don’t recall Palin ever stating that Obama was in the room when Ayers was building bombs, could just be me, but the AP has latched on the “Obama was eight years old!” line like a mantra.

    Noting of course that Palin can make verbal slips without noting Biden’s slide into being out of touch with reality - unless you too can remember FDR going on television to calm investors on Black Tuesday.

    Nope, Biden gets a free pass, but every detail of the press-avoider from Alaska shall be chronicled for all.

    No bias there.

    Reply
  33. BillK
    October 6, 2008 at 7:59 pm

    Just a reminder of how the left thinks and how they think there’s absolutely nothing wrong with it, from the Denver Post’s latest liberal addition, Susan Greene:

    McCain forum a real bash

    By Susan Greene

    There was a moment during John McCain’s women’s forum Thursday when the crowd went crazy.

    Not about something the candidate said. Rather, it was a question from a high-heeled real estate executive that drove the audience to its feet, roaring:

    “What do we do about the media?” asked Katie Everett of Greenwood Village.

    Attacking the news media is nothing new in politics, especially by those lagging in the polls. Disgraced Nixon VP Spiro Agnew described news gatherers as “nattering nabobs of negativism” and “hopeless, hysterical hypochondriacs of history,” whatever those mean.

    The difference this year is that it’s not just campaigns, but also voters throwing spitballs.

    “Everyone in my peer group is disgusted with the news media,” Everett told me.

    Her own outrage stems from news stories about the sagging housing market that she says have hurt her business. She has pulled hundreds of thousands of dollars in newspaper advertising partly because she says our coverage of declining home values has failed to mention the few neighborhoods that “are doing really great.”

    In the same vein Thursday, others went on to dis journalists for not writing smiley faces into coverage of the Iraq war.

    “The way they were asking questions wasn’t fair to the way the nation believes,” Christine Davis of Centennial said.

    Many in the crowd neared apoplexy about TV interviews of VP pick Gov. Sarah Palin. Apparently it was gotcha journalism to ask the candidate vying for the No. 2 job in America — even one who happens to have studied journalism — where she gets her news, whether she agrees with the Bush Doctrine and what her views are on Supreme Court decisions.

    “Everyone knows they’re just trying to tear this woman apart,” Everett said.

    Thankfully, McCain assured Everett that, no matter how evil, the media didn’t actually cause the economic crisis.

    “I’d love to blame the media,” he told her. “I’ll blame them for a lot of other things. But not this one.”

    My favorite media-basher was a woman identifying herself only as Pat who laid into me for asking whether she had expected McCain to address women’s issues at an event specifically for women. He did not.

    “Didn’t your mother ever teach you that if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say it at all?” she scolded.

    No, Pat, because my mom had no interest in raising a cyborg.</b.

    Skepticism about the media, just like skepticism about politicians and financiers, is necessary, maybe more than ever. But the notion that journalistic questions somehow undermine the national interest scares me, especially when a candidate such as Palin triggers sympathy by not answering.

    Hours after McCain’s forum, Palin upped her contempt for the media — and the debate process itself — when flaunting her refusal to answer moderator Gwen Ifill’s indisputably fair questions. …

    http://www.denverpost.com/greene/ci_10634640

    See, even basic fairness - not all neigborhoods are swaths of foreclosures, or that there are good things happening in Iraq - are mere right-wing fantasies, rose colored glasses adopted by those who are behind in the polls. Poor things.

    I’m not a cyborg, I’m a modern woman! It’s my duty to tear down my country every chance I get, to disparage those who actually achieve rather than criticize them for not being fair.

    Well, a modern woman apparently threatened in some way by women who wear heels, so I’ll feel that I must of course point them out. Because you know, serious political statements don’t come from women in heels. Unless say, they’re Hollywood stars.

    Of course who do they get to analyze “media bias?”

    A college professor (not even of Journalism or Media, but history?!?!), because of course they too are the ultimate in fairness:

    Problem is, observes University of Denver history professor Susan Schulten, “Any attempt we make to analyze anti-media sentiment further fuels the irritation and proves the point that the media has a deaf ear.”

    Drum roll, please:

    Susan Schulten
    History Professor University of Denver
    John Kerry $250 - 2004

    http://fundrace.huffingtonpost.....rch=Search

    Wow, didn’t expect that.

    Reply
  34. Gil
    October 7, 2008 at 1:13 am

    I found this on the net and got ahold of the Martin D. Weiss newsletter quoted.
    Did anyone note this in any MSM article?

    xxxxx

    Knowing this ISN’T a depression in the making… (previous post)
    What do you make of the actions of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid?
    In a recent newsletter I received, Martin D. Weiss noted:
    QUOTE:

    Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid just announced, “One of the individuals in the caucus today talked about a major insurance company. A major insurance company — one with a name that everyone knows that’s on the verge of going bankrupt.”

    Almost immediately, investors slaughtered insurance stocks. Prudential fell 11% … Met Life plunged 14.9% … and Hartford plunged 32%.

    Reid’s office instantly switched into damage control mode, claiming that the Senator really meant that the entire financial sector is on the verge of mass bankruptcy. That wasn’t exactly reassuring to insurance investors either, and their stocks promptly plunged some more.

    ==end quote==

    What could be the possible reason(s) for causing such a selloff in the marketplace?
    Does Obama win more votes as the economy becomes less stable?
    Is the MSM helping the perception that the economy is less stable than it is..
    for political gain?
    Or was it simply more irresponsible behavior we have come to expect from incompetent politicians?

    Giving Reid the benefit of the doubt.. Maybe he “didn’t know” that the first statement would cause mass selloffs?
    So then.. his office then made it more official for the entire sector to get taken down further in the second statement?
    They just.. didn’t anticipate that happening - is that what you would say?
    Hmm.. how come I could see it would happen that way?
    Why is it that I could understand and see..
    That Reid saying the ENTIRE FINANCIAL SECTOR is on the verge of mass bankruptcy.. might precipitate further selloff?
    Could you see that, too?

    So, was it totally innocent.. OR calculated?
    What do you judge about the “good intentions” during a Presidential race by Democrat elites like Reid?
    And with the MSM singing merrily in tune about the damages and playing the crisis up to the skies..
    all the while Obama gains in the polls as the public perception favors Obama to “help” with economics..
    What do you think of the “good intentions” of Obama and Democrat elites like Reid?
    “Scaremongering” ?? For political gain?
    Or mere incompetence and inability to act with statesmanship and wisdom?

    http://truckandbarter.com/mt/a.....tml#137681

    Reply
  35. Gil
    October 7, 2008 at 1:14 am

    I thought this one worth posting for y’alls, too.

    xxxxx

    Hope and change: McCain within three among likely voters in new CBS poll
    October 6, 2008
    by Allahpundit

    Who says I never give you good-ish news, eh?
    QUOTE:

    In a sign that the race for president has returned to about where it was before the first presidential debate, the Obama-Biden ticket leads the McCain-Palin ticket 47 percent to 43 percent among registered voters in a new CBS News poll.

    The Obama-Biden ticket led by a wider margin, nine percentage points, in a CBS News poll released last Wednesday, before Joe Biden and Sarah Palin faced off in the vice presidential debate. Obama-Biden led by five percentage points on Sept. 25.

    In the new poll, the Democratic ticket leads by 3 percentage points, 48 percent to 45 percent, among likely voters.

    ==end quote===

    CBS notes that Obama’s numbers on the economy have dipped slightly, although why that would lead to him shedding Obama voters instead of just pushing indies towards McCain, I’m not sure. All theories welcome.

    http://hotair.com/archives/200.....-cbs-poll/

    Reply
  36. texaspsue