Paul Krugman wins the Nobel Prize in Economics.
Relax, rightwingers, there’s also a prize for guys like you.
by Tim F| 43 Comments
This post is in: Humorous, Politics, Science & Technology
Paul Krugman wins the Nobel Prize in Economics.
Relax, rightwingers, there’s also a prize for guys like you.
This post is in: Election 2008
A pretty full-throated endorsement of Obama in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette with a strong finish:
That the argument about issues has been essentially won by Sen. Obama is plain from the scurrilous attacks now being launched against his character — increasingly by Ms. Palin — alleging guilt by association, unpatriotic behavior and worse.
This closing blizzard of slime is another attempt to spread the wizard’s curtain further: Don’t look at how the economy has impoverished you while a Republican has been in the White House, look at Mr. Obama’s passing acquaintance with an old radical who did bad deeds almost 40 years ago, because that is more important.
Yes, they apparently do think the American people are that stupid.
On Nov. 4, we believe Americans will heed the better angels of their nature and recognize that the election of the eloquent Barack Obama — whose story is a quintessentially American one of impossible odds overcome — will best answer the pressing call of history.
Good for them.
Despite the polls and the trends, I still think it is 50/50 that Obama wins. I wish I could be more optimistic, but I can’t right now.
This post is in: Lies, Damned Lies, and Sarah Palin, Clown Shoes
Even after the last eight years, this stands out as brazen:
Despite the finding of a legislative report that she had broken the state’s ethics law in the scandal dubbed Troopergate, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin said Saturday that the report actually cleared her of any “legal wrongdoing or unethical activity.”
***The investigation said she violated Alaska Statute 39.52.110(a) of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act, which states, “… each public officer holds office as a public trust, and any effort to benefit a personal or financial interest through official action is a violation of that trust.”
Palin said she’s happy the report affirmed her right to fire Monegan. But she said she still doesn’t think she abused her power like the report says she did. In fact, she said she considered herself vindicated.
In a brief conference call with press reported by the Anchorage Daily News, Palin said, “I’m very, very pleased to be cleared of any legal wrongdoing … any hint of any kind of unethical activity there. Very pleased to be cleared of any of that.”
Maverick!
I don’t know how to react to this. I really just don’t. When someone is that willing to look at you and just flat out make shit up and reject facts, there really is nothing you can do without driving yourself insane. I would just love to see a press conference with her, but the McCain campaign knows better than to let that happen.
*** Update ***
Heh:
McCain campaign spokeswoman Meg Stapleton dismissed the report as the product of “a partisan-led inquiry run by Obama supporters.” But there could be more land mines ahead. Some weeks ago, the McCain team devised a plan to have Palin file an ethics complaint against herself with the State Personnel Board, arguing that it alone was capable of conducting a fair, nonpartisan inquiry into whether she fired Monegan because he refused to fire Wooten, who had been involved in a messy custody battle with her sister. Some Democrats ridiculed the move, noting that the personnel board answered to Palin. But the board ended up hiring an aggressive Anchorage trial lawyer, Timothy Petumenos, as an independent counsel. McCain aides were chagrined to discover that Petumenos was a Democrat who had contributed to Palin’s 2006 opponent for governor, Tony Knowles. Palin is now scheduled to be questioned next week, and the counsel’s report could be released soon after. “We took a gamble when we went to the personnel board,” said a McCain aide who asked not to be identified discussing strategy. While the McCain camp still insists Palin “has nothing to hide,” it acknowledges a critical finding by Petumenos would be even harder to dismiss.
Indeed. Maybe what she could do is just release another report from the McCain campaign clearing herself right before the State Personnel Board report is released. Because having her release a report clearing herself as a rebuttal to the State Personnel Board report that was completed because she filed an ethics complaint against herself would be a superb ending to this.
by John Cole| 55 Comments
This post is in: Election 2008, Clown Shoes
A very wise man said the following all the way back in February:
So here is why they are sabotaging McCain- they want him to lose, or at the very least are hedging their bets. They want and need to paint him as not conservative, not pure enough to really represent the wildly successful (in their minds) conservatism that makes up the Bush dead-enders. That way, when they are blown out of the water in 2008, they don’t have to do any reflection, they don’t have to assess, re-prioritize, or re-think their policies. They can simply pin it all on McCain, claim he lost because he didn’t offer the voters a “real” conservative alternative, and get back to championing the end of the “death tax” and other important issues without skipping a beat.
In other words, McCain is the fall guy, and they are just distancing themselves from him.
Today, on Fox News, the finger-pointing begins:
The coming circular firing squad is going to be fun.
*** Update ***
Glenn notes what I missed while watching that clip- it was Bill Kristol who as recently as a few weeks ago was telling the McCain campaign to go negative. Now, here he is today, attacking them for using useless attacks. Bill Kristol- always wrong, never to blame. Nice work, if you can get it.
*** Update #2 ***
Sullivan catches another one:
“The Right can only be depressed as they watch Obama buoyed by a world credit crisis and the deep unpopularity of a president who campaigned but never governed like a conservative,” – David Freddoso, New York Post.
This is the same David Freddoso who, just a few weeks ago, was scandalized that Obama followed the law.
by John Cole| 72 Comments
This post is in: Election 2008, Clown Shoes, I Read These Morons So You Don't Have To
If you look closely at the left hand, you will see him clutching the Kenyan birth certificate of one Barack HUSSEIN Obama and the true story about Vince Foster’s death.
It never, ever, ever ends. The front page at Red State:
Obama still faces a legal challenge to his constitutional eligibility to be president. A lawsuit, Berg v. Obama, brought by Philip J. Berg, a Philadelphia attorney, alleges Obama is not eligible to be president.
Instead of producing records proving Obama is a natural born citizen, Obama and the Democratic National Committee have filed a motion seeking a protective order to block production of documents until a motion to dismiss is the law suit is ruled on by the court. Obama and the Democratic National Committee also claim attorney Berg has no standing – has no right – to bring the lawsuit.
What is it that Obama and the Democratic National Committee are trying to hide? Why not just produce documents that prove Obama’s citizenship and make the lawsuit go away?
Red State, the self-described “leading blog for right of center online activists.”
*** Update ***
Stay classy, Republicans:
With so much at stake, and time running short, Frederick did not feel he had the luxury of subtlety. He climbed atop a folding chair to give 30 campaign volunteers who were about to go canvassing door to door their talking points — for instance, the connection between Barack Obama and Osama bin Laden: “Both have friends that bombed the Pentagon,” he said. “That is scary.” It is also not exactly true — though that distorted reference to Obama’s controversial association with William Ayers, a former 60s radical, was enough to get the volunteers stoked. “And he won’t salute the flag,” one woman added, repeating another myth about Obama. She was quickly topped by a man who called out, “We don’t even know where Senator Obama was really born.” Actually, we do; it’s Hawaii.
That would be Virginia GOP chairman Rick Frederick, thank you very much.
And the Loch Ness Monster Is a Liberal PlotPost + Comments (72)
by John Cole| 40 Comments
This post is in: Cat Blogging, Dog Blogging, Previous Site Maintenance
Another thread since it appears we are now getting Black Screens of Death in the comments earlier and earlier. I have no idea what is going on, and we are still waiting to hear from Mozilla to see if they know. It is just weird, I have never seen anything like it.
Claim your pets.
This post is in: Election 2008, Lies, Damned Lies, and Sarah Palin, Republican Stupidity
I expect you will see more and more of this:
In the end, I couldn’t do it. My California ballot arrived in the mail today, and I opened it fully intending to vote for John McCain. I filled out the state propositions first — yes on 8, no on everything proposing a new bond or new spending — then the local offices, straight Republican excepting Kevin Johnson for (nonpartisan) Sacramento mayor. Finally, the vote for President of the United States: an academic exercise in California, where Barack Obama will surely win by a crushing margin. But good citizenship demands voting as if it matters. Do I believe in John McCain? Not as much as I used to. Do I believe in Sarah Palin? Despite my early enthusiasm for her, now not at all. Do I believe in the national Republican Party? Not in the slightest — even though I see no meaningful alternative to it. So, my choice for President in 2008, scrawled in my ballot as an act of futile protest, is Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana. If nothing else, I am confident this is the first of several votes I will cast for him in years to come.
Josh Trevino, co-founder of Red State.