ABC News blog repeats lie created by right-wing wackos, but has since corrected the report when confronted with facts:
It was meant as a sign of respect, but now conservatives are saying
Sen. Barack Obama's invocation of his "hero bracelet" bearing the name
of a fallen soldier is being done against the family's wishes.
Based on comments the mother of the family gave to the Associated Press today, however, that does not appear to be true. [. . . .]
Conservatives are now criticizing Obama for exploiting a fallen
soldier whose mother has asked him to stop wearing the bracelet or
mentioning her son's name.
I wasn't able to get through to Tracy Jopek, but she spoke to a reporter at the Associated Press
today. She confirmed her ex-husband's recollection that she'd emailed
the campaign to ask them to request that the senator not mention her
son on the stump.
But she said she was "ecstatic" that Obama mentioned her son's hero
bracelet during Friday's debate. That's because he was responding to
McCain citing a different griveing mother's hero bracelet as a way to
back his political views of the war in Iraq and citing the bracelet
she'd given Obama was a good and appropriate way to remind people there
are different views on this issue.
You're much more likely to get it if Barack Obama is elected, according to this article from the Washington Post:
New studies from the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center and the policy
journal Health Affairs suggest that Obama's proposal would eventually
cover more than 34 million of the roughly 47 million Americans
currently without insurance, while McCain's would cover at best 5
million uninsured.
And in case you haven't realized it yet, McCain wants to tax your health insurance benefits.
McCain would tax health benefits while creating a $5,000 tax credit --
$5,000 for families or $2,500 for individuals -- to subscribe for
insurance coverage.
Personally, I want universal health care and I want it now . . . but compared to McCain's pathetically skimpy proposal (combined with the unprecedented, repulsive notion of taxing employee health benefits), Obama's plan is waaay preferable.
I love Anne Lamott. She's one of my favorite authors. Top 5 at least, maybe even top 3.
That said, I'm positively delighted to link to her latest piece, "A Call To Arms". (Hey, if you're laughing at my choice of words: when's the last time YOU were positively delighted about something? You oughta be jealous.)
Read it.
Here's an excerpt:
I had to leave church Sunday morning when it turned out that the
sermon was not about bearing up under desperate circumstances, when you
feel like you're going crazy because something is being perpetrated
upon you and your country that is so obscene that it simply cannot be
happening.
I sat outside a 7-Eleven and had a sacramental Dove chocolate bar. Jeez: Here we are again.
A man and a woman whose values we loathe and despise -- lying, rageful
and incompetent, so dangerous to children and old people, to innocent
people in every part of the world -- are being worshiped, exalted by
the media, in a position to take a swing at all that is loveliest about
this earth and what's left of our precious freedoms.
[. . . .]
I hate to criticize. And I love to kill wolves as much as the next
person does. But this woman takes such pride in her ignorance, doesn't
have a doubt in the world about her messianic calling, that it makes
anyone of decency feel nauseated -- spiritually, emotionally and
physically ill.
I say that with love. As we say in Texas. (Also, we say, "Bless her heart.")
Anne Lamott has some practical advice for us, too:
Figure out one thing you can do every single day to be a part of the
solution, concentrating on swing states. Money, walking precincts,
registering voters, whatever. This is the only way miracles ever happen
-- left foot, right foot, left foot, breathe. Right foot, left foot,
right foot, breathe. The great novelist E.L. Doctorow once said that
writing a novel is like driving at night with the headlights on: You
can only see a little ways in front of you, but you can make the whole
journey this way. It is the truest of all things; the only way to write
a book, raise a child, save the world.
Just as Obama starts to gain some ground, Dems are going to shoot themselves in the foot (as always, it seems).
Why don't Dems get it? Terry McAuliffe is BAD LUCK. He's a penny on the ground tails-up. He's an umbrella that accidentally discharged indoors. He's a broken mirror. Hiring him is like stepping on a crack no matter where you put your feet -- it's just not going to work out well for you, no matter what.
GET HIM AWAY FROM THIS CAMPAIGN.
(If I hear that Bob Shrum has anything to do with the Obama campaign, I will officially begin preparing for the apocalypse.)
Obama: "But now suddenly, John McCain says he is about change, too. He even started using some of my lines. Suddenly he says he wants 'to turn the page.' He had an ad today that he started running that he and Gov. Palin would bring the change that we need. He had this in an advertisement.
Sound familiar? Let me tell you something, instead of borrowing my lines he needs to borrow our ideas. [. . . .]
If you think those lobbyists are working day and night for John McCain just to put themselves out of business, well, then, I've got a bridge to sell you up in Alaska."
Barack: I'm Barack Obama and I approved this message.
Words on screen: John McCain, then
Video clip of McCain: "I will not take the low road to the highest office in this land."
Announcer: What's happened to John McCain?
He's running "the sleaziest ads ever." "Truly vile." "Dishonest smears." That he repeats even after its been "exposed as a lie". "Truth be damned." A "disgraceful, dishonorable campaign."
After voting with Bush 90% of the time . . . proposing the same disastrous economic policies . . .
I was hopeful when I heard that the Obama campaign pledged last week to unveil a new, aggressive, hard-hitting tone against McCain's disgraceful attacks. However, I was skeptical because I didn't think Obama would really be effective with the counter-punches. (I have long believed that Obama's strength in governing is being unflappable, cool-headed, and willing to listen to all sides of an issue, but thought that this attribute was more of a liability in campaigning because it probably prevented him from being an attack dog.)
I am happy to say that I was wrong. Break out the old-school Batman sound effects, because Obama's fighin' back!
"THE SAME" (This one is a couple of weeks old, but it's still good!)
Announcer: "They share the same out of touch attitude. The same failure to understand the economy. The same tax cuts for huge corporations and the wealthiest one percent. The same questionable ties to lobbyists. The same plan to spend ten billion a month in Iraq when we should be rebuilding America.
Mr. McCain: "I voted with the president over 90 percent of the time, higher than a lot of my even Republican colleagues."
Announcer: "We just can’t afford more of the same."
"STILL"
Announcer: 1982. John McCain goes to Washington. Things have changed in the last 26 years. But McCain hasn’t.
Source: New York Times, 7/13/08
He admits he still doesn’t know how to use a computer, can’t send an email.
Boston Globe, 12/18/07
Still doesn’t understand the economy.
Tax Policy Center, Analysis of Candidates' Tax Plans, 8/15/08
And favors two hundred billion in new tax cuts for corporations, but almost nothing for the Middle Class.
After one President who was out of touch... We just can’t afford more of the same.
Barack: I’m Barack Obama and I approved this message.
"IT'S OVER"
McCain: It's over! It's over for the special interests!
Announcer: Wait a second. John McCain’s chief adviser lobbies for oil companies even from Russia and China.
His campaign manager lobbies for corporations outsourcing American jobs.
The campaign chairman he picked last year — a bank lobbyist.
If seven of McCain’s top advisers are lobbyists, who do you think will run his White House?
John McCain. We just can’t afford more of the same.
Barack: I’m Barack Obama and I approved this message.
Announcer: His campaign is run by lobbyists.
Now we find out McCain’s White House will be lobbyist-run too.
McCain just picked a Washington super lobbyist to plan his administration.
A "consummate insider" who lobbies for oil companies. The credit card industry.
Corporate special interests rigging the system against hard working Americans...pushing failed Bush economics. Does that sound like change to you?
We just can’t afford more of the same.
"REAL CHANGE"
Barack: We've heard a lot of talk about change this election. The question is..change to what? To me, change is a government that doesn't let banks and oil companies rip off the American people. Change is when we finally fix healthcare, instead of just talking about it. Change is giving tax breaks to middle class families, instead of companies that send jobs overseas. Change is a president who brings people together. I'm Barack Obama, and I approve this message, because this year, change has to be more than a slogan.
And my favorite, from a statement released by the campaign this weekend:
"We will take no lectures from John McCain who is cynically running the sleaziest and least honorable campaign in modern Presidential campaign history. His discredited ads with disgusting lies are running all over the country today. He runs a campaign not worthy of the office he is seeking."
BAM! ZING! POW! SNAP!
UPDATE: In response to Karl Rove's comments about the McCain campaign using ads that don't pass the "100% truth test", the Obama campaign released this statement:
In case anyone was still wondering whether John McCain is running the sleaziest, most dishonest campaign in history, today Karl Rove - the man who held the previous record - said McCain's ads have gone too far.
UPDATE: Another statement from the Obama campaign:
"The McCain campaign said Governor Palin opposed the Bridge to Nowhere, but now we know she supported it. They said she didn't seek earmarks, but now we know she hired a lobbyist to get millions in pork for her town and her state. They said she visited Iraq, but today we learned that she only stopped at the border. Americans are starting to wonder, is there anything the McCain campaign isn't lying about?"
Paul Reiser frames this absurd election perfectly:
"I think the tone of this whole campaign would have been very different if Senator Obama had accepted my request for us to appear in town hall meetings all over America," the Senator from Arizona tells us.
Am I just losing my friggin' mind? Seriously. I keep looking around the room to see if I'm living in some suddenly altered state where everything we know is now called the opposite, and nobody notices. Or can stop it.
"I wish I didn't have to take your lunch money, but you should'nt of hadda brung it."
We're in the 3rd grade again. The skinny, smart kid who just moved in to the neighborhood is getting roughed-up by the asshole bully. The kid who hits you in the head with your hand and says, "Why're you hitting yourself? Why're you hitting yourself?"
"Um, actually I'm not. You're hitting me."
"You calling me a liar?"
"No, I'm just pointing out that..." SMACK!
"Why're you hitting yourself?"
And there seems to be no one to appeal to. There're no grown-ups around when you need 'em. No one to step in and say, "Alright, that's enough now. We don't do that here, fella." And in the absence of any authority, the asshole gets to keep doing it.
"Why're you hitting yourself? SMACK! Why're you hitting yourself?"
[snip]
America: "Well, respectfully, Governor Palin, it could be argued that you are, in fact, relatively inexperienced."
Her: "I know you are but what am I?"
"Hm? No, perhaps you misunderstood. We are talking about you."
"I know you are but what am I."
"Well, Governor, just listening to your speech, you seem awfully caustic."
"You are."
"And, frankly, a little bitter."
"You're bitter."
"I mean, where's your sense of humility?"
"I'm rubber, you're glue. It bounces off me and sticks to you."
"My God - you're... dangerous."
"I know you are, but what am I?"
Maybe that's the problem. Obama treats us like adults, and McCain's team treats us like children.
(DISCLAIMER: I didn't write it, and I don't know who the original author is, but this thing needs to go viral.)
Think about it . . . then pass it along.
If you're a minority and you're selected for a job over more qualified candidates, you're a "token hire."
If you're a conservative and you're selected for a job over more qualified candidates, you're a "game changer."
Black teen pregnancies? A "crisis" in black America.
White teen pregnancies? A "blessed event."
If you grow up in Hawaii, you're "exotic."
Grow up in Alaska eating mooseburgers, you're the quintessential "American story."
If you name your kid Barack, you're "unpatriotic."
Name your kid Track, you're "colorful."
If you're a Democrat and you make a VP pick without fully vetting the individual, you're "reckless."
A Republican who doesn't fully vet their VP pick is a "maverick."
If you spend 3 years as a community organizer growing your organization from a staff of 1 to 13 and your budget from $70,000 to $400,000, then become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drive that registers 150,000 new African American voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor, then spend nearly 8 more years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, becoming chairman of the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, then spend nearly 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of nearly 13 million people, sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you are woefully inexperienced.
If you spend 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people, then spend 20 months as the governor of a state with 650,000 people, then you've got the most executive experience of anyone on either ticket, are the Commander in Chief of the Alaska military and are well qualified to lead the nation should you be called upon to do so because your state is the closest state to Russia.
If you are a Democratic male candidate who is popular with millions of people, you are an "arrogant celebrity".
If you are a popular Republican female candidate, you are "energizing the base".
If you are a younger male candidate who thinks for himself and makes his own decisions, you are "presumptuous".
If you are an older male candidate who makes last minute decisions you refuse to explain, you are a "shoot-from-the-hip maverick".
If you are a candidate with a Harvard law degree, you are "an elitist, out of touch" with the real America.
If you are a legacy graduate of Annapolis (dad and granddad were admirals) with multiple disciplinary infractions, you are a hero.
If you manage a multi-million dollar nationwide campaign, you are an "empty suit".
If you are a part time mayor of a town of 7000 people, you are an "experienced executive".
If you go to a south side Chicago church, your beliefs are "extremist".
If you believe in creationism and don't believe global warming is man-made, you are "strongly principled".
If you cheated on your physically disabled wife with an heiress 18 years your junior, then left your wife and married the heiress the next month, you're a Christian.
If you have been married to the same woman for 16 years, with whom you are raising two beautiful daughters, you're "risky".
If you're a black, pregnant single mother of four who waits for 22 hours after her water breaks to seek medical attention, you're an irresponsible parent who is endangering the life of your unborn child.
But if you're a white, married mother of four who waits 22 hours with a high-risk pregnancy, you're spunky.
If you're a 13-year-old Chelsea Clinton, the right-wing press calls you "First dog."
If you're a 17-year old pregnant unwed daughter of a Republican, the right-wing press calls you "beautiful" and "courageous."
If you kill an endangered species, you're an excellent hunter.
If you have an abortion, you're not a Christian, you're a murderer. (Forget about it if the pregnancy resulted from rape.)
If you teach abstinence only in sex education, you get teen parents.
If you teach responsible, age-appropriate sex education, including the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society.
And finally:
Quiz question for the RNC, specifically those on the Religious Right.
Who is one of the most revered and famous community organizers in history?
