Doocy Slings a Doozie!

Hey, did you know that according to dimwit right wing commentator Steve Doocy, McSames's VP pick Sarah Palin does have foreign policy experience after all?

DOOCY: But the other thing about her, she does know about international relations because she is right up there in Alaska right next door to Russia

I briefly listened to right wing radio today, too, and a similar statement was made, but it was even more ridiculous because it ended with the commentator (don't know who it was) saying "...and Russia hasn't invaded Alaska, have they?"

It was so stupid I went limp... and then when I realized the guy was serious I laughed so hard snot bubbles came out my nose. If this is the best they can do to prop up this poor choice, the next coupla months are gonna be interesting indeed!

Defenders of Wildlife Response to Palin Selection

Rodger Schlickeisen, president of Defenders of Wildlife made the following statement about Sarah Palin being tabbed to run with John McCain:

“Senator McCain’s choice for a running mate is beyond belief. By choosing Sarah Palin, McCain has clearly made a decision to continue the Bush legacy of destructive environmental policies.

“Sarah Palin, whose husband works for BP (formerly British Petroleum), has repeatedly put special interests first when it comes to the environment. In her scant two years as governor, she has lobbied aggressively to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling, pushed for more drilling off of Alaska’s coasts, and put special interests above science. Ms. Palin has made it clear through her actions that she is unwilling to do even as much as the Bush administration to address the impacts of global warming. Her most recent effort has been to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to remove the polar bear from the endangered species list, putting Big Oil before sound science. As unbelievable as this may sound, this actually puts her to the right of the Bush administration.

“This is Senator McCain’s first significant choice in building his executive team and it’s a bad one. It has to raise serious doubts in the minds of voters about John McCain’s commitment to conservation, to addressing the impacts of global warming and to ensuring our country ends its dependency on oil.”

McCain Shows Bad Judgement Again

Today John McCain announced that his choice for VP running mate would be first term Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, who is currently under investigation for abuse of her office. At the end of July 2008, KTVA reported Lawmakers will hire someone within a week to investigate whether Governor Sarah Palin abused her power in firing Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan. The legislative council approved 100,000 dollars for the investigation that will find out whether Palin was angry at Monegan for not firing an Alaska State Trooper who went through a messy divorce with Palin's sister.

On Monday afternoon, the Joint Legislative Council, filled with Republicans and Democrats, voted 12 to 0 to formally call for an investigation against Governor Palin in a manner—that they are stressing—will be unbiased and done in a timely fashion.

Legislators approved hiring a special investigator to look into the controversial firing of former Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan. Monegan was fired two weeks ago without explanation and has said he was pressured by the governor and her staff to fire a trooper who was once married to Palin's sister.

Accusations have risen that Monegan was fired for his refusal to fire trooper Michael Wooten. The council's intent is to investigate the circumstances and events surrounding the termination of Monegan and potential abuses of power and improper action by the Governor and her administration.

That is the kind of stench that a presidential campaign should try to avoid.

Furthermore, the McSame camp constantly tries to paint Obama as unqualified. Then he goes out and chooses a former Miss Alaska runner-up who has been governor of Alaska for eighteen months, and before that she was the mayor of a town of 8,000 people. And if McSame were to win, she would be a heartbeat away from the presidency in the administration of the oldest man ever elected.

That is supremely bad judgement!

John Kerry : Before McCain Debates Obama He Should Debate Himself!

John Kerry's speech to the Democratic convention is worth reading:

Thank you so much. Four years ago, you gave me the honor of fighting our fight. I was proud to stand with you then, and I am proud to stand with you now, to help elect Barack Obama as President of the United States.

In 2004, we came so close to victory. We are even closer now, and let me tell you, this time we're going to win. Today, the call for change is more powerful than ever, and with more seats in Congress, with more people with more passion engaged in our politics, and with a President Obama, we stand on the brink of the greatest opportunity of our generation to move this country forward.

The stakes could not be higher, because we do know what a McCain administration would look like: just like the past, just like George Bush. And this country can't afford a third Bush term. Just think: John McCain voted with George Bush 90 percent of the time. Ninety percent of George Bush is just more than we can take.

Never in modern history has an administration squandered American power so recklessly. Never has strategy been so replaced by ideology. Never has extremism so crowded out common sense and fundamental American values. Never has short-term partisan politics so depleted the strength of America's bipartisan foreign policy.

George Bush, with John McCain at his side, promised to spread freedom but delivered the wrong war in the wrong place at the wrong time. They misread the threat and misled the country. Instead of freedom, it's Hamas, Hezbollah, the Taliban and dictators everywhere that are on the march. North Korea has more bombs, and Iran is defiantly chasing one.

Our mission is to restore America's influence and position in the world. We must use all the weapons in our arsenal, above all, our values. President Obama and Vice President Biden will shut down Guantanamo, respect the Constitution, and make clear once and for all, the United States of America does not torture, not now, not ever.

We must listen and lead by example because even a nation as powerful as the United States needs some friends in this world. We need a leader who understands all our security challenges, not just bombs and guns, but global warming, global terror and global AIDS. And Barack Obama understands there is no way for America to be secure until we create clean energy here at home, not with a little more oil in five, 10 or 20 years, but with an energy revolution starting right now.

I have known and been friends with John McCain for almost 22 years. But every day now I learn something new about candidate McCain. To those who still believe in the myth of a maverick instead of the reality of a politician, I say, let's compare Senator McCain to candidate McCain.

Candidate McCain now supports the wartime tax cuts that Senator McCain once denounced as immoral. Candidate McCain criticizes Senator McCain's own climate change bill. Candidate McCain says he would now vote against the immigration bill that Senator McCain wrote. Are you kidding? Talk about being for it before you're against it.

Let me tell you, before he ever debates Barack Obama, John McCain should finish the debate with himself. And what's more, Senator McCain, who once railed against the smears of Karl Rove when he was the target, has morphed into candidate McCain who is using the same "Rove" tactics and the same "Rove" staff to repeat the same old politics of fear and smear. Well, not this year, not this time. The Rove-McCain tactics are old and outworn, and America will reject them in 2008.

So remember, when we choose a commander-in-chief this November, we are electing judgment and character, not years in the Senate or years on this earth. Time and again, Barack Obama has seen farther, thought harder, and listened better. And time and again, Barack Obama has been proven right.

When John McCain stood on the deck of an aircraft carrier just three months after 9/11 and proclaimed, "Next up, Baghdad!", Barack Obama saw, even then, "an occupation of "undetermined length, undetermined cost, undetermined consequences" that would "only fan the flames of the Middle East." Well, guess what? Mission accomplished.

So who can we trust to keep America safe? When Barack Obama promised to honor the best traditions of both parties and talk to our enemies, John McCain scoffed. George Bush called it "the soft comfort of appeasement." But today, Bush's diplomats are doing exactly what Obama said: talking with Iran.

So who can we trust to keep America safe? When democracy rolled out of Russia, and the tanks rolled into Georgia, we saw John McCain respond immediately with the outdated thinking of the Cold War. Barack Obama responded like a statesman of the 21st century.

So who can we trust to keep America safe? When we called for a timetable to make Iraqis stand up for Iraq and bring our heroes home, John McCain called it "cut and run." But today, even President Bush has seen the light. He and Prime Minister Maliki agree on - guess what? - a timetable.

So who can we trust to keep America safe? The McCain-Bush Republicans have been wrong again and again and again. And they know they will lose on the issues. So, the candidate who once promised a "contest of ideas," now has nothing left but personal attacks. How insulting to suggest that those who question the mission, question the troops. How pathetic to suggest that those who question a failed policy doubt America itself. How desperate to tell the son of a single mother who chose community service over money and privilege that he doesn't put America first.

No one can question Barack Obama's patriotism. Like all of us, he was taught what it means to be an American by his family: his grandmother who worked on a bomber assembly line in World War II, his grandfather who marched in Patton's army, and his great uncle who enlisted in the army right out of high school at the height of the war. And on a spring day in 1945, he helped liberate one of the concentration camps at Buchenwald.

Ladies and gentlemen, Barack Obama's uncle is here with us tonight. Please join me in saluting this American hero, Charlie Payne. Charlie, your nephew, Barack Obama, will end this politics of distortion and division. He will be a president who seeks not to perfect the lies of Swift boating, but to end them once and for all.

This election is a chance for America to tell the merchants of fear and division: you don't decide who loves this country; you don't decide who is a patriot; you don't decide whose service counts and whose doesn't.

Four years ago I said, and I say it again tonight, that the flag doesn't belong to any ideology. It doesn't belong to any political party. It is an enduring symbol of our nation, and it belongs to all the American people. After all, patriotism is not love of power or some cheap trick to win votes; patriotism is love of country.

Years ago when we protested a war, people would weigh in against us saying, "My country right or wrong." Our answer? Absolutely, my country right or wrong. When right, keep it right. When wrong, make it right. Sometimes loving your country demands you must tell the truth to power.

This is one of those times, and Barack Obama is telling those truths.

In closing, let me say, I will always remember how we stood together in 2004, not just in a campaign, but for a cause. Now again we stand together in the ranks, ready to fight. The choice is clear; our cause is just; and now is our time to make Barack Obama the next President of the United States.

Have You Heard the Really "Good News"?

Survey results released last Thursday show that a slim majority of Americans, including a surprisingly high number of traditional Christian conservatives, want to keep religion out of politics.

As reported by Reuters, 52 percent of respondents from the Pew Research Center survey thought that churches and other religious institutions should stay out of politics, 8 percent higher than when the same question was asked four years ago. Of those who identified themselves as “conservative,” 50 percent said religion be separate from politics. That’s up from 30 percent in 2004. On the other hand, 45 percent of respondents said that churches and other religious bodies should be involved in politics. [Yuk!]

The Pew Forum has been conducting this survey since the 1996 presidential election cycle, and this is the first time that “keep them separate” has been the majority opinion. [Yeah!]

I like the general trend of these polling numbers away from combining church and state, but 45% is way too high of a number for the opposite view.

Can One Text From the Grave?

It was five years ago when Frank Jones' wife and son died unexpectedly. His son, Steven, died of a brain tumor at an early 32. Three months later, his wife, Sadie died from a heart attack at the age of 69.

Sadie was a cell phone addict. "She always had a mobile with her," Jones told the Blackpool Gazette. So, of course, they buried Sadie with her cell phone.

Now Jones believes Sadie is getting service six feet under, and she has been sending him text messages with words only Sadie would say. Of course, there is no return number on the messages or missed calls, leading Jones to believe the communications are form his deceased wife.

I feel for this guy's losses, but how fucking gullible can people be? I chalk this kind of stupid shit up to the continually declining ability of Home Sapiens to use his brain to reason.

Great Moments in Presidential Speeches

I don't know about you, but I couldn't stomach another 4 years of this. Even McCain's wheezy whining stutter-talk would be a minor improvement...

The Experience of Being Wrong... Ha! I Love It!

From the Raw Story: Democrats plan to take a harsher tone at this year's convention than they did four years ago, not letting Republican attacks go unanswered. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is no exception, criticizing John McCain's "experience of being wrong" while decrying the "silliness" of his campaign.

Asked which celebrity she would compare McCain to -- in response to his campaign's linking Barack Obama to Britney Spears and Paris Hilton -- the San Francisco Democrat demurred.

"I'll leave that to the popular culture folks," Pelosi said during a breakfast discussion sponsored by Yahoo News, Politico and the Denver Post. Later in the panel, she accused McCain of simply trying to distract voters with his celeb campaigns.

"We cannot be diverted to the silliness that the McCain campaign -- of course they want to talk about Paris Hilton," she said. "Would they want to talk about why they have the worst record of job creation in America? Of course they want to talk about something else. ... They don't want to talk about the issues."

But she did not back down from her harsh condemnation of McCain's two decades in Washington, especially over the last few years when he's been closely alligned with the Bush administration on tax cuts, the war in Iraq and spending on social programs.

"I was just speaking truth about his record," she said. "When they talk about John McCain's experience, he has the experience of being wrong."

While she criticized the GOP's presidential nominee, Pelosi also said she hoped an Obama administration could lead to improved relationships with members of the opposite party. She said she hoped the first 100 days of an Obama presidency would be a time of bipartisanship and reaching out to Republicans.

Pelosi also addressed criticisms from members of her own party, especially anti-war activists upset Congress has done little to change course in Iraq and others who would like to see President Bush impeached. She said impeachment shouldn't be used simply to solve political disagreements but accused the president of a litany of abuses.

The House Speaker praised Oversight Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, who has spearheaded several investigations of Bush administration abuses, and said the House would keep up court battles over contempt citations filed against officials who have ignored subpoenas demanding their testimony.

"This isn't over," she said. "We have Karl Rove to deal with."

Bill Maher on Larry King Live: On Religulous and More