New Obama Ad "Deception"

The Obama campaign has released a new ad to air in the key battleground states and on national cable, via TPM Election Central:



You have to hit him hard on the honor and integrity if he wants to run those type of ads and that is exactly what Barack Obama is doing, finally. McCain now has nowhere to go but to do something stupid in retaliation. And retaliate he will since he has to defend the honor that he, nevertheless, chose to forgo.

This is the only way to beat the Rovian politics. Governor Palin is still, now that she is back in the lower 48, repeating the "Bridge to Nowhere" lies:



As Josh Marshall notes:

You'll note that while Palin is continuing to restate the lie, there's a tone of defensiveness in her voice this morning, since they clearly know they've been caught.

Amazing, isn't it? How they keep repeating and repeating the lies, even after being called on it by a major nightly news anchor?

Obama's camp must do this. They have to show his 'honorable' facade for what it really is: A facade.

People don't hear what McCain's campaign people say. Here's what one said to Politco via MSNBC:

McCain spokesman Brian Rogers said this to the Politico about the increased media scrutiny of the campaign's factual claims: "We’re running a campaign to win. And we’re not too concerned about what the media filter tries to say about it.”

That is what I am talking about. The Brian Rogers and the Rick Davis' aren't even trying to hide this right now. They are sure that the lies will be covered up by the media in the interest of having 'balanced' news coverage. (See TPM here and the LA Times here.)

Heck, Karl Rove thinks they're going too far, (on FOX with Chris Wallace):

WALLACE: All right, and for fair game, what is McCain doing that goes a step too far?

ROVE: Well, McCain has gone in some of his ads — similarly gone one step too far, and sort of attributing to Obama things that are, you know, beyond the 100-percent-truth test.

Wow. Karl Rove thinks they've gone too far!

Still, the only way people will no the extent of the lying, for sure, is if Barack Obama starts attacking on them. Of course, the mainstream fourth estate could grow a pair but that is not necessarily going to happen.

You know, I thought that then Governor George W. Bush had sold his soul to the devil when he ran in 2000 and 2004. Regardless of whether George did it is clear that Senator John S. McCain III has done so. It is sad to see a man who has claimed such pride in his honor just throw it away in such a fashion.

Comments welcome,

Pat McGovern

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Perhaps He's an Animatronic John McCain

I have come up with this theory. You see, much like Chris Mathews and Andrea Mitchell, I am struggling with the idea that this John McCain is the same guy I remember from before this year.

So my theory isn't just that he doesn't actually know what his campaign is doing, it is that he is a) dead or b) being confined out of public view and, in his place, the Republicans and Karl Rove have an animatronic machine in his place. Almost like the movie Dave but without the real life stand in.

Is that ridiculous? I think so. The events of the last eight years make me less likely to just dismiss it out of hand though.

Reality is, this man has decided that winning is more important than honor. Win or lose, Senator John McCain cannot, with any kind of private introspective honesty, look back on this campaign and say he ran it honorably.

From AP on The View today:

McCain said he had chosen Palin because she would help to reform Washington, specifically cited curbing federal spending for earmarks. When pressed about Palin's record of requesting and accepting such money for Alaska, McCain ignored the record and said, "Not as governor she didn't."

From the Anchorage Daily News, again:

For the 2007 federal budget year, the administration of former Gov. Frank Murkowski submitted 63 earmark requests totaling $350 million, Palin's staff said. That slid to 52 earmarks valued at $256 million in Palin's first year. This year, the governor's office asked the delegation to help them land 31 earmarks valued at $197 million.

Folks, there is a chasm the size of the Grand Canyon between reducing the amount of the earmarks you request for your state and claiming you have been asking for no earmarks. The McCain campaign and, now from his mouth too, John McCain, continue to claim the latter when it is a patently false assertion and has been proven so, demonstrably, repeatedly, over the course of at least a week.

I think my animatronic explanation works best if you don't think that McCain could be consciously doing this.

Andrew Sullivan, also trying to reach on this, has another possible explanation:

There are two possibilities. 1. He's lying, regardless of the consequences. 2. He really hasn't been briefed or cannot retain the briefing or is simply in denial about the facts.

He supports hypothesis #2. I guess we all seem to want to believe in the old John McCain still.

Whether it's because he has completely derailed 'The Straight Talk Express,' he doesn't know/understand what it actually happening, or he is really an animatronic stand in, this is really a very sad process to watch.

As an aside, another quick quote from that AP Link:

"My heart sort of runs with McCain and my mind probably tends to run toward Obama." — David Scorup, 58, a county government official in Othello, Wash.

Would that there were more like this man.

Comments welcome,

Pat McGovern

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Lipstick on a pig

Let's get past this. Obviously, Senator John McCain and his campaign are trying to distract by seizing on any little thing throwing it at the wall and seeing if it sticks. You can tell that Karl Rove is involved with this campaign.

I suppose you could accuse the left wing blogosphere for doing the same to Gov. Sarah Palin. But, and this is a big BUT, that is left wing (and even somewhat moderate) bloggers, not a major candidates campaign. Have you seen Obama/Biden throw anything untrue out there themselves? No.

Here is the currently offending quote:

That's not change. That's just calling the same thing something different. You can put lipstick on a pig -- it's still a pig. You can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called change; it's still going to stink after eight years.

What! How is that an insult to Sarah Palin?

That interpretation is the equivalent of saying to someone, "You're an a&%hole!" and then that person turning around and saying, "What did you say about my mother?!" And then the accusation being considered credible by those who heard the entire exchange!

Let's find an example of a person who has used this term. Such as NPR points out:

The expression is a common political cliche; Obama used it in a 2007 in reference to the Iraq war, and during the primaries John McCain himself called Hillary Clinton's health care proposal lipstick on the pig of her failed plan from the 90s. _{(italics mine)}

Oh, you want another example....hmmm...

How about Vice President Dark Lord, uh, I mean, Dick Cheney on Nov. 1, 2004:

THE VICE PRESIDENT: The President and I know better than that. We know that it is not our job to conduct international opinion polls. Our job is to defend America. (Applause.)

Now, in the closing days of this campaign, John Kerry is running around talking tough. He's trying every which way to cover up his record of weakness on national defense. But he can't do it. It won't work. As we like to say in Wyoming, you can put all the lipstick you want on that pig, but at the end of the day it's still a pig. (Applause.) That's my favorite line. (Laughter.) You want to hear it again?

AUDIENCE: Yes!

THE VICE PRESIDENT: As we like to say in Wyoming -- (laughter) -- you can put all the lipstick you want on a pig, but at the end of the day it's still a pig.

So good, he said it TWICE! Was he referring to Teresa Heinz Kerry?! Who the heck did he think he was?! Oh, that's right he is the Dark Lord of the United States.;-)

C'mon people, let it go. I know you are smarter than this. I know you are smarter than a lot of this. Please prove me right.

Comments welcome,

Pat McGovern

Update:

Here is the video of Obama's response earlier today.

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Palin Sex Scandal

No, no, no. Not that one, this one:

In So-Called Sarah Palin Sex Scandal Shocker, National Enquirer Claims Vice Presidential Nominee Had an Affair
The National Enquirer claims Sarah Palin had an affair with her husband's business partner.
View more »

Who knows if there is anything to this one. I didn't really think there was anything to the John Edwards story when they broke it. Mabye they have this one right also. Maybe not.

What amuses me is the whole holier than thou attitude of the McCain camp. Steve Schmidt:

"The smearing of the Palin family must end," he told the press.

Dude! You studied at the knee of Karl Rove! Karl wore out our tolerance for this kind of double standard. Cut it the hell out. For double standard evidence against the right and the McCain campaign see Jon Stewart video I already posted here.

The fun, if that is what you call this, will apparently go on for two more months. Unless, of course, McCain does what McGovern did and wimps out on his backing of her. Doesn't sound like something he'd do, but this is definitely not the John McCain I knew eight or fifteen years ago.

Comments welcome,

Pat McGovern

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Sarah Palin and the Gender Card

Watching the conventions, it can be difficult to watch Jon Stewart and other shows. Apparently, I missed this last night, I strongly encourage you to set aside the 5 and a half minutes to watch this. A masterful showing of the hypocritical double standards of the right and the McCain campaign in the last week:



If you just watched Karl Rove, Dick Morris, Bill O'Reilly, Nancy Pfotenhauer, and, of course, Sarah Palin than you too are saying, "Wow." If you didn't, well, OK, be the sheep the Republican Party thinks you are.

Comments welcome,

Pat McGovern

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