Dick Cheney Gives Obama an Early Christmas Gift

To the delight of Barack Obama, Dick Cheney has endorsed John McCain. 

"In three days we'll choose a new steward for the presidency and begin a new chapter in our history," the Vice President said Saturday morning. "It's the biggest decision that we make together as Americans. A lot turns on the outcome. I believe the right leader for this moment in history is Senator John McCain."

 

Now why would Dick Cheney endorse McCain so close to election day? I don't see how this helps McCain, especially since he has tried so hard to differentiate himself from President George W. Bush. 

Obama was all over this endorsement.

According to prepared remarks for a rally in Pueblo, Colorado:

I'd like to congratulate Senator McCain on this endorsement because he really earned it. That endorsement didn't come easy. Senator McCain had to vote 90 percent of the time with George Bush and Dick Cheney to get it. He served as Washington's biggest cheerleader for going to war in Iraq, and supports economic policies that are no different from the last eight years. So Senator McCain worked hard to get Dick Cheney's support.

But here's my question for you, Colorado: do you think Dick Cheney is delighted to support John McCain because he thinks John McCain's going to bring change? Do you think John McCain and Dick Cheney have been talking about how to shake things up, and get rid of the lobbyists and the old boys club in Washington?

This Has Got To Hurt

John McCain has always said that one of his heroes is President Ronald Reagan. Unfortunately, a former Reagan adviser has endorsed Barack Obama.

From CNN.com:

Former Reagan chief of staff Ken Duberstein told CNN's Fareed Zakaria this week he intends to vote for Democrat Barack Obama on Tuesday.

Duberstein said he was influenced by another prominent Reagan official - Colin Powell - in his decision.

"Well let's put it this way - I think Colin Powell's decision is in fact the good housekeeping seal of approval on Barack Obama."

Powell served as national security advisor to Reagan during Duberstein's tenure as chief of staff.


To put more salt in the wound, Reagan's son Ron has also endorsed Barack Obama.

Another Bad Day for McCain

It looks like today was a bust for McCain. Not only did McCain's camp bus in 4,000 kids to fill his rally, but Joe the Plumber also stood him up.

MSNBC reported:

A local school district official confirmed after the event that of the 6,000 people estimated by the fire marshal to be in attendance this morning, more than 4,000 were bused in from schools in the area. The entire 2,500-student Defiance School District was in attendance, the official said, in addition to at least three other schools from neighboring districts, one of which sent 14 buses.

On top of that, McCain couldn't find Joe the Plumber.

While riffing on a common line from his stump speech about Obama's desire to "spread the wealth," McCain confidently proclaimed, "Joe's with us today. Joe where are ya? Where is Joe? Is Joe here with us today? Joe, I thought you were here today."

Then the senator covered up for Joe's absence by saying, "All right, well you're all Joe the Plumber. So all of ya stand up ,and say I thank you." McCain went on to say that he had seen Joe on TV this morning, and he asked the crowd to "give him a round of applause for what he's done for America.

McCain Grumpy with a 13-yr-old Reporter

The Concord Reporter recently interviewed an eighth-grader about her experiences covering the presidential candidates in New Hampshire for Scholastic News.

Which candidates have you met? I've spoken with John McCain four, five or six times. During the primary I met Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney . . . I met John Edwards, and most recently (Joe) Biden. I saw Obama in Manchester in September. I worked so hard, begged and begged the staff people and ended up getting a one-on-one, awesome sit-down interview with Obama.

Whom do you like most? It was exciting to meet Obama and McCain, though I interviewed McCain so many times he starts to notice my red shirt, because I have a uniform, and says "I've answered her questions before." It's almost like he's a little grumpy with me now.

What did you ask Obama? I said, "You're a tough guy, I'm a tough girl living in a tough world. What advice do you have for tough people like me to make a difference in the world?" I also created five fun facts where I give two choices and he picks one. . . . For Red Sox or Cubs, he goes "neither." All his staff people cracked up laughing.

"McCannibals" First Victim

Jake Tapper of ABC News reports that allies of Sarah Palin are now trying to throw McCain aide Nicolle Wallace under the proverbial bus.

Palin is blaming the $1500,000 clothes incident on her “handlers,” presumably meaning McCain's senior advisor Nicole Wallace

McCain allies say that Palin allies talked to Fox News' Fred Barnes to further throw Wallace under the bus. Barnes yesterday said, “the person who went and bought the clothes and, as I understand it put the clothes on her credit card, went to Saks and Neiman Marcus...the staffer who did that has been a coward” for not coming forward and accepting the blame for the $150,000 shopping spree. Barnes clarified that he was talking about Wallace.



According to Politico.com Wallace fired back:

There's obviously an organized campaign to lay blame for things at my feet and I’m not going to engage before the campaign ends. I have a very long relationship with Fox News and the notion that someone would call me a coward on the air and accuse me of putting $150,000 on my credit card without a single person calling and checking with me suggests that something is going on.

Obama Toughs Out Rain, McCain Cancels

Barack Obama and John McCain were in a rainy and windy Philadelphia today. John McCain canceled his morning rally in the Philly suburb Quakertown due to the rain. The rain, however, did not stop Obama. He appeared at the Philadelphia rally with Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell.

Is this telling of the two campaigns?

An Obama rally attendee said it perfectly:

"Philadelphia Phillies fans waited hours in the rain for the third game of the World Series. McCain either doesn't know much about the people in this area or doesn't have much faith in his supporters."

"The passion and persistence of Obama and the crowd that turned out to hear and see him despite the weather speaks volumes," said McGrady. "It's a telling contrast to the fair-weather attitude of the McCain campaign, which threw in the towel at the first drop of rain." She went on to add that John McCain and Sarah Palin went ahead with an indoor rally today in Hershey, Pennsylvania, which caused McGrady to comment wryly: "$150,000 for clothes and they apparently didn't buy her a raincoat."

McGrady felt the Pennsylvania cancellation was indicative of the entire McCain campaign, adding: "What a washout his campaign has been, in more ways than one."

Hard to Watch: McCain on MTP

John McCain was on Meet the Press yesterday. He was defensive, combative and forgetful. In response to Colin Powell's endorsement, McCain brags that five former Secretaries of State have endorsed him. Unfortunately he has trouble naming them all.

Inconsistincies in McCain Supporter's Claim That She Was Attacked

A Pittsburgh woman has claimed that she was robbed and attacked at an ATM machine because of her political views. According to the woman, a tall black man approached her at an ATM and put a knife to her throat. The attacker took $60 from her and then became angry when he saw a McCain bumper sticker on her car. The attacker then punched and kicked her, before using a dull knife to scratch the letter "B" into her face.


Well it looks like the police have found some inconsistencies in the woman's story.

One red flag: The "B" on her face is backwards, similar to how it would be if someone looked into a mirror and did it to their own face. Did the alleged attacker straddle her upside down while doing it?

*Update- The racist idiot confessed to making up the story.

McCain Hates Rats, Palin Loves Them

Last night on her show, Rachel Maddow discussed the trash talking and backstabbing going on in the McCain/Palin Camp. LAT columnist Rosa Brooks likened the McCain Camp to an episode of survivor. Here's her hilarious take on it:

"The republican ticket is sort of degenerating into a really savage version of a reality tv show. Where everyone pretends they’re on the same team but in fact they’re all trying to undermine each other in these subtle ways that are getting less and less subtle…Sarah Palin is just waiting for McCain to get voted off the island so it’ll be her turn. "

Using the same reality show analogy, Brooks points out that the desperation and craziness coming out of the McCain camp "is equivalent to where everyone starts eating rats to survive and the problem for John McCain is he doesn't actually like to eat rats and it shows. He eats a rat and makes these robocalls, he brings up Bill Ayers during the debate and he looks like he's sick to his stomach because it doesn't come naturally. The problem is Sarah Palin loves to eat rats, she's eating more rats, she's saying 'Here John, have another rat.' He gets queasier and quiser and she gets stronger and stronger..."

Palin Needed Clothes!

Here's another doozy from McCain in response to the RNC spending $150,000 on Palin's clothes...

From The Huffington Post:

"She needed clothes at the time. They'll be donated at end of this campaign. They'll be donated to charity," McCain told reporters on his campaign bus between Florida rallies.

Asked for details on how they'll be donated, McCain said, "It works by her getting some clothes when she was made the nominee of the party and it will be donated back to charity."

Asked if he was surprised at the amount spent, McCain said, "It works that the clothes will be donated to charity. Nothing surprises me."

RNC drops $150,000 on Palin's wardrobe

Politico.com reported that the Republican National Committee has spent over $150,000 on clothes and accessories for Sarah Palin AND her family.

Here is a breakdown in numbers:

$49,425.74 was spent at Saks Fifth Avenue in St.Louis and New York
$75,062.63 was spent at Neiman Marcus in Minneapolis
$4,716.49 was spent on hair and makeup
$789.72 was spent at Barney's New York
$5,102.71 was spent at Bloomingdale's New York
$9,447.71 was spent at Macy's in Minneapolis
$196.00 was spent at Pacifier (a top-notch baby store)
$4,902.45 was spent at Atelier (a high-class store for men)

Check out a slideshow at The Huffington Post. And yes, there is a picture of her 7-yr-old daughter carrying a Louis Vuitton bag.

Now many people are saying that the Liberal media is making a big deal out of nothing and that we need to focus on the economy. Even Campbell Brown, who I admire, is saying that this scrutiny shows a double standard. I do see their point, but this does deserve scrutiny. Why? Because Palin is trying to brand herself as a small town pro-America Hockey Mom/Joe Six-pack/Joe the Plumber. I don't know of any small town hockey mom's shopping at Saks and Neiman Marcus. The McCain/Palin camp has also been attacking Obama for being an elitist. I swear hypocrisy is all I see from the McCain/Palin camp. Isn't it McCain who has 13 cars while Obama has one?! And just last week there was story of how McCain had cell towers put up near one of his EIGHT houses. RNC spending $150,000 on clothing for a vp candidate claiming to be "one of us" is definitely a newsworthy story to me.

And the Real Sarah Palin Comes Out

ThinkProgress.org is reporting that in an interview with CBN, Palin is in favor of the Federal Marriage Amendment, which is inconsistent with McCain's views.

Palin: [I]n my own, state, I have voted along with the vast majority of Alaskans who had the opportunity to vote to amend our Constitution defining marriage as between one man and one woman. I wish on a federal level that that’s where we would go because I don’t support gay marriage. I’m not going to be out there judging individuals, sitting in a seat of judgment telling what they can and can’t do, should and should not do.

Watch the video here.

According to ABCnews.com, McCain told the Washington Blade, a gay newspaper, that he continues to oppose such an amendment today because he thinks the definition of marriage should be a state matter and not one for the federal government "as long as no state is forced to adopt some other state's standard."

Palin's position also differs from what she told Katie Couric last month. When Palin was asked why she considered Roe v. Wade a bad decision, Palin said she believed states and not the federal government should decide the legality of the issue. She goes on to say, "I'm in that sense, a federalist, where I believe that states should have more say in the laws of their lands and individual areas. And I believe that individual states can best handle what the people within the different constituencies in the 50 states would like to see their will ushered in an issue like that."

How will the McCain/Palin camp spin this? Maybe Palin got confused on the definition of a federalist.

This is Just Wrong

According to Christina Bellantoni of The Washington Times, McCain supporters in North Carolina are heckling early voters and calling them cheaters. Why? Because many of the early voters are for Obama.

Obama's campaign has been reaching out to his supporters encouraging them to vote early. After Obama's rally in North Carolina, his campaign gave supporters lists of early voting sites with the hours and locations. Bellantoni and a photographer went to one of the sites and came across protestors who were mainly in support for McCain. I'm not sure if this matters but Bellantoni pointed out that nearly all the protestors were white and nearly all the voters were black. In the video below, one man explains why he's protesting and accuses the voters of cheating.



This news really angers me. Why can't people vote in peace? Everyone has a right in this country to vote they way they choose and to intimidate people at polling places is just wrong.

Another Glimpse of McCain/Palin Supporters

McCain's Greatest Hits

Gawker has a video of McCain's "greatest hits." Check it out!

Negativity Still a Central Part of McCain's Campaign

The NYT is reporting that "voters in at least 10 swing states are receiving hundreds of thousands of automated telephone calls — uniformly negative and sometimes misleading — that the Republican Party and the McCain campaign are financing." One of the calls brings up Ayers and another claims Obama puts Hollywood above America. McCain has denounced these types of calls in the past. There has even been bipartisan criticism for the calls. According to The Huffington Post, "Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, and Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, made separate appeals to McCain on Friday."

McCain Blaming Obama for Joe the Plumber's Media Attention

John McCain is blaming Barack Obama for all the media attention and scrutiny Joe the Plumber has been getting. McCain is saying that Joe the Plumber didn't ask for Obama to go to his home and didn't ask for all the attacks Obama's camp giving him. Seriously?!?!

1. Barack Obama did NOT go to this home. He went to his street in Ohio and Joe the Plumber went up to HIM.
   
2. John McCain is the one who brought up Joe the Plumber at the last presidential debate. He brought him up more than TWENTY times.
   
3. McCain was the one who admitted and apologized to Joe the Plumber on Letterman for bringing him up at the debate.
   
4. If McCain is blaming Obama for all of Joe the Plumber's unwanted media attention, why continue to reference him NUMEROUS times at McCain's rallies. 

It's pretty sad McCain will knowingly lie to his supporters. What's even sadder is that his supporters don't care.

Third Times the Charm for McCain, Too Bad It's Too Late

My girlfriend and I are listening to the analyses of the third and final presidential debate. I actually thought McCain did better than Obama. Not because he was saying persuasive, truthful things, but because he kept Obama on the defense a majority of the time. I felt as though Obama was a little too laid back. He needed to hit back on several things: the negativity of McCain's campaign, Sarah Palin's qualifications, McCain and Palin's own guilt-by-associations, McCain's own hypocrisy, etc. But as my girlfriend and all the pundits are saying, Obama's plan was to stay calm, cool and collected. He wanted McCain to look like the angry one. And according to a few polls that are out, Obama's plan worked. 

A CBS Poll of 638 uncommitted voters: 53% said Obama won.  22% said it went to McCain. 25% saw the debate as a draw.

According to HuffingtonPost.com, CNN's poll of several hundred debate watchers also has 58 % for Obama and 21% for McCain

Obama Supporters Calling McCain a Terrorist and Traitor???

In an interview with CNN's Dana Bash, Bash brings up McCain supporters screaming "Terrorist," "Traitor," and worse at rallies. McCain claims that he too has been called those words at Obama rallies. Really???

The Worst Hits from McCain/Palin Rallies

The Huffington Post reports:

On Tuesday, Brave New Films and Color of Change (one of the nation's most influential Black American political organizations) put out a veritable greatest (really, worst) hits of the past week in McCain-Palin rallies.