So where does McCain really stand? Some bloggers and analysts have suggested that he used the term “future combat systems” generically. Obama’s campaign maintains their candidate was speaking specifically about FCS, in which case McCain may be twisting his rival’s words.
Loren Thompson of the Lexington Institute called it deceitful.
“McCain’s interpretation of Obama’s position is typical of the way in which the Republicans have twisted Democratic views in order to undercut their opponents and at the same time obscure the past positions of the Republicans,” Thompson said. “Future Combat Systems is the centerpiece of Army modernization. However, McCain has been more critical of it than anyone else in the chamber. Obama has been much more detailed and thoughtful in his comments about future military investment than McCain’s very superficial statements.”
Officials with the McCain campaign did not return phone calls and emails requesting clarification.
They manage to point to the reality that McCain had said point blank that he would scrub FCS completely from the military budget in the WaPo and now McCain is twisting himself up like a pretzel trying to distance himself from his own previous official campaign position on FCS.
And to make matters worse for McCain. He is is McLying AND trying to say Obama's policy on FCS is bad because he merely wants to review the program and cut some of the "wasteful spending" - you know? Missile systems and other pork programs that don't work at all or won't provide any more value than a bridge to nowhere would...
The reality of the Future Combat systems is that there is a constant evolution in the list of equipment that is wanted, needed, developed and tested as new wants and needs are pinpointed.
My unit was one of many tasked with testing a lot of the early FCS equipment that is now in use today. On paper a lot of the equipment sounded great. In the field some of these systems might prove to be invaluable while others would be deemed pure junk and useless. Either they couldn't build something rugged enough, or the technology needed to function properly was still out of the engineers' grasp.
There is not an American I know that wants soldiers to have anything less than the best equipment available to them. But neither soldier nor civilian wants to see our government flushing money down the drain on junk or useless programs when there are so many equipment shortcomings on even the basic equipment a soldier needs to function. Except for, apparently, John McCain. Either he wants to scrub the entire FCS program as he has stated earlier... Or he thinks we should be wasting our money on useless programs now.
On this FOX news report their answer at the end of it is even more technology. But this does not - in any way, shape or form - address the reality of an open and verifiable vote in a recount... As Florida has outlawed hand recounts:
This needs to be challenged in the courts immediately so real recounts - including hand recounts - can and will go ahead as needed. Do any of you doubt that hand recounts will be needed? Why else would they be outlawing them now?
The location of a Bush fundraising event in Florida has been changed after event planners realized that the original host is under an IRS investigation. The event was originally scheduled to be at the home of John Boswell, whose Boswell House Ministries is undergoing an IRS probe.
One report said employees were walking out of Lehman today (Sunday) crying, angry, dazed, their jobs and retirement funds vaporized. Would it be that only the fat cats got singed when capitalism has a crisis. But that’s not what happens. Lehman employs janitors, cooks, secretaries, clerks, etc. too.
I’ve been making it a point to post on financial blogs (as well as here) when someone screams that what’s happening is socialism that, no it’s not, it’s plutocracy.
Bob is 100% correct here. This country has gone well beyond normal and healthy capitalism and is now a Plutocratic state. This really isn't any form of socialism. But try explaining that to the average American that has been spoon fed in sound bytes of "liberal," "conservative," "socialism" and "communism." And never mind the fact that they are starved of the big (you could even insert that nasty Global word here!) economic picture by the traditional media because that American story would not be pretty at all.
Unless you live in the top 1% income earners in this nation (maybe even top 5%?) you are living in a completely different world than the people that live in the "richest nation in the world" that some conservatives howl about in lockstep at any mention of the American economic realities.
For the employees this will probably be like Enron all over again - with or without scandals and fraud. All of the workers, the little people, will get shafted but the “fat cats” will jump golden parachutes and all intact.
In cases like these, what is Plutocracy if it isn’t socialism for the rich?
Corporate and Wall Street welfare queens with their limousine lobbyists driving up to get their government handouts.
I know it is framing, and a bit dishonest at that. But it makes a point that Joe and Suzy Sixpack can understand. Everything else goes in one ear and out the other.
Unfortunately, most Americans don’t have a clue as to the meaning of Plutocracy, nor would they ever admit to its existence here if they even cared - "FREEDUMB!" - and some in the conservative spectrum would gladly accept it as long as the Plutocracy were Theocratic in its leanings.
In an honest and open free market - one of the other things conservatives howl about in lockstep whenever it is convenient to their arguments - these failed banks would be left to go under and the fat cats would suffer as well as the little people. And the government wouldn't even be thinking about bailing them out at all. But they will...
And all it is going to accomplish is reward the failure of the corporate elite and punish the taxpayer. Where is the incentive be a fiscally responsible corporation in America today? There is none.
Too many of these corporations have gotten so big in this (insert that nasty Global word again!) economy they can demand the right to be failures. A right for corporate "personhoods" that the average American person - you know? Living, breathing human beings - will never have.
Markets sank in Europe and Asia today, stock index futures slipped sharply on Wall Street, and the dollar plunged as two giant investment banks, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch, collapsed over the weekend. Compounding the financial uncertainty, insurance giant A.I.G. “sought a $40 billion lifeline from the Federal Reserve, without which the company may have only days to survive.”
Former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan said the U.S. credit squeeze has brought on a “once-in-a-century” financial crisis that is likely to claim more big firms before it eases. “Indeed, it will continue to be a corrosive force until the price of homes in the United States stabilizes,” Greenspan said.
Speaking in Florida this morning — the very day that two of Wall Street’s major banking institutions collapsed — Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) declared he “still” believes “the fundamentals of our economy are strong.” Watch it:
The location of a Bush fundraising event in Florida has been changed after event planners realized that the original host is under an IRS investigation. The event was originally scheduled to be at the home of John Boswell, whose Boswell House Ministries is undergoing an IRS probe.
The financial markets are collapsing and it’s because of conservatism. McCain’s policies are the same as Bush and when McCain says that he is a reformer has no bearing on fixing the failing financials. Republicans do not want regulations. Period. McCain will not fundamentally change anything regarding our economy.
Obama’s camp:
Today of all days, John McCain’s stubborn insistence that the ‘fundamentals of the economy are strong’ shows that he is disturbingly out of touch with what’s going in the lives of ordinary Americans. Even as his own ads try to convince him that the economy is in crisis, apparently his 26 years in Washington have left him incapable of understanding that the policies he supports have created an historic economic crisis,” said Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton.
They need to immediately produce a series of ads attacking McCain on conservatism and that puts the blame squarely on his shoulders for this latest Wall St. meltdown.
It's the economy, stupid! A freakin' no brainer that anyone with dwindling purchasing power (about 95 to 99% of America) can understand.
One ad after another from the McCain campaign and they just can't quit lying. America can do better than repeats of the failure of the Bush administration. America can do better than the lying John McCain:
Prepare yourself for the greatest ideological match-up of the century! No, it's not Obama versus McCain, it's McCain versus Palin. Let's get ready to ruuummmbbbllle...
This was John McCain, late last year on why he was qualified to be the president:
I am prepared. I need no on-the-job training. I wasn't a mayor for a short period of time. I wasn't a governor for a short period of time.
And here is Sarah Palin last night on why she is ready to be a 72-year old heartbeat away from the presidency:
Charlie, again, we've got to remember what the desire is in this nation at this time. It is for no more politics as usual and somebody's big, fat resume maybe that shows decades and decades in that Washington establishment, where, yes, they've had opportunities to meet heads of state.
So there you have it. The ultimate he said, she said. John McCain explained why Sarah Palin isn't qualified to be a heartbeat away from the presidency, and Sarah Palin explained why John McCain doesn't represent change, just more of the same old politics as usual.
On the morning of the 9/11, just moments after the World Trade Center collapsed from the terrorist strikes, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) went on television and immediately began focusing the nation’s attention on Iraq. In an interview with CBS’ Dan Rather on 9/11, McCain said:
To be honest with you, Dan, I never thought that an operation of this sophistication and size would take place. I just never did. But I don’t think there’s any doubt that there are countries — Iraq, Iran, Libya, North Korea and others — who we know engage in proliferation of — of capabilities and, from time to time, involve themselves in state-sponsored terrorism. But never did we imagine on a scale such as this.
The next day, on 9/12, McCain reiterated the point in an interview with Chris Matthews. “It isn’t just Afghanistan,” he said, “we’re talking about Syria, Iraq, Iran, perhaps North Korea, Libya and others.”
Just a few weeks later — on Oct. 9, 2001 — McCain narrowed his focus, arguing that Iraq was “obviously” next:
PAULA ZAHN: And as you know, Senator, the U.S. and Great Britain notified the U.N. Security Council yesterday that they reserve the right to strike against other countries in this campaign. What countries are we looking at?
MCCAIN: Well, I think very obviously Iraq is the first country, but there are others — Syria, Iran, the Sudan, who have continued to harbor terrorist organizations and actually assist them.
On Oct. 18, 2001, McCain told David Letterman, “the second phase is Iraq” while linking Iraq to the anthrax attacks.
I'll remember the dead and their surviving family and friends in a quiet and respectful manner that they deserve. I'll never forget the Middle Eastern Terrorists that did this, neither will I forget the foreign policy failures that created the hate in those countries. Policies like pimping illegal invasions and occupations. And I will NEVER EVER forget the kind of people, people like John McCain and other Bush administration neonconservative minions, that are still pushing for more of this kind of foreign policy failure.
Here is a message to Barack Obama: You need to spend more time fighting back against the lies and smears of a Swift Boat campaign more ugly than the campaign against John Kerry, and less time having sweet-talk meetings with Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes followed by professorial discourse with Bill O'Reilly. This is war, Barack, and you had better fight back.
The sickness and dementia of a purported news network airing with smug laughs and happy chortles a naked appeal to hatred and bigotry in this attack on "a lesbian Air America host" is a low that even a Republican cable organization like Fox should never stoop to.
Mr. Olbermann, a 49-year-old former sportscaster, has become the face of the more aggressive MSNBC, and the lightning rod for much of the criticism. His program “Countdown,” now a liberal institution, was created by Mr. Olbermann in 2003 but it found its voice in his gnawing dissent regarding the Bush administration, often in the form of “special comment” segments.
As Mr. Olbermann raised his voice, his ratings rose as well, and he now reaches more than one million viewers a night, a higher television rating than any other show in the troubled 12-year history of the network. As a result, his identity largely defines MSNBC. “They have banked the entirety of the network on Keith Olbermann,” one employee said.
On the final night of the Republican convention, after MSNBC televised the party’s video “tribute to the victims of 9/11,” including graphic footage of the World Trade Center attacks, Mr. Olbermann abruptly took off his journalistic hat.
“I’m sorry, it’s necessary to say this,” he began. After saying that the video had exploited the memories of the dead, he directly apologized to viewers who were offended. Then, sounding like a network executive, he said it was “probably not appropriate to be shown.”
Get your fear on little GOPeeons... The desperation suits you well.
Because, unlike KO or Chris Matthews, who are likely nothing more than typical moderate conservatives that lean Democratic in their personal politics, Rachel Maddow is, IMHO, even closer to actually being a full-blown honest-to-God liberal. We know that has you wetting your pants on the spot. That is what the attacks on her are all about.
I watched Rachel's new show last night... And it was good. A few tweaks in time and Rachel Maddow's show could very well surpass all of the other cable news networks shows in ratings because it has been so long since there has been this kind of voice on any of those channels.
The American people are starving for this kind of truth to power editorializing from the failing punditocracy.
And where the Edward R. Murrow award winning - for his work in the aftermath of 911 - Keith Olbermann's ratings successes as MSNBC's flagship show have only scratched the surface of this serious problem, I believe that Rachel Maddow's show will tear a gaping wound open in the fallacy that is force fed like pablum to the brownshirt wingnuts at FOX trying to paint a false picture of Americans being conservative.
American politicians being crammed down the citizens' throats may be more conservative... But American citizens being more liberal than than any of the politicians and most of the TV news available have proven to be fed up with that situation.
The simple fact that Blogosphere is dominated by the left - Yes! COMPLETELY DOMINATED BY THE LEFT as all of the biggest and most popular political Blogs are left leaning.
Very few of the right wingnut Blogs even come close to the top left Blogs - which tells you all you need to know about the leanings of American activists, voters and citizens. Hopefully it will not be long before the true voices of the people are dominating the news cycles again.
This may scare the hell out of the far right wingnuts and many in the media, spurring their vicious attacks and fear mongering on even further with their formulaic poison pill of feeding into the scared and bigoted viewers they rely on.
In the end, and as the failed Traditional Media becomes more and more exposed to the viewers - the citizens that the Media are supposed to speak truth to power for - for what they truly are, we can only hope they will change their ways, hope they will stop flacking for corporations and talking point politicians and hope they will stop working against the real interests of Americans or they will continue to slip into the obscurity of failure and irrelevancy that they have epitomized in their spiraling downfall.
Just a quick note because I am starting to re-re-re-do the look and feel of this Blog a little bit. I am starting over on the sidebar but will be overhauling the entire place bit by bit. If you come here one day and it takes just a bit longer to load this site... It will be because of the changes. As per usual I will adjust it afterwards so it isn't a complete download pig (taking a long time to load for dial-up users) and fine tuning the code a little. I am also fixing links since some Blogs have moved or died. If you should notice that a link to your Blog doesn't make it to the revamped place - since I have that liberal Blogroll linking policy on the sidebar there>>> - please let me know in comments or eMail. :)
The McCain camp has made her signature issue shutting down the Bridge to Nowhere. But as The New Republicput it today that's just "a naked lie." And pretty much the same thing has been written today in Newsweek, the Washington Post, the AP, the Wall Street Journal. Yesterday even Fox's Chris Wallacecalled out Rick Davis on it. (Do send more examples when you find them.)
On earmarks she's an even bigger crock. On the trail with McCain they're telling everyone that she's some kind of earmark slayer when actually, when she was mayor and governor, in both offices, she requested and got more earmarks than virtually any city or state in the country.
Think about that. On the stump, not a single word that comes out of her mouth -- or not a single word that the McCain folks put in her mouth -- is anything but a lie.
McCain's speech writers keep having her saying she said "No thanks!" to the "Bridge to Nowhere" - a straight up lie - and the reality is that she took every single penny of the money and spent it elsewhere.
I'll say one thing about the McCain-Palin Campaign: They are consistent... Liars.
But that is just what we have come to expect from Bush and neocon minions in the GOP. It is all they have left to offer America.
