Category: Politics

Topic Header

Powell Backing McCain

Trish

No one ever accused Gen. Colin Powell, head of the joint chiefs under Bush 41 and secretary of state under Bush 43, of picking the right horse. So why start now? Houston Chronicle:

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell has time for any presidential candidate who wants to chat about foreign policy. He has money, though, only for John McCain.

Powell has shared his expertise in meetings with Democrat Barack Obama and Republican Rudy Giuliani, his spokeswoman, Peggy Cifrino, said Tuesday. But when it comes to sharing his money, Powell chose McCain, the Republican senator from Arizona. Powell’s $2,300 contribution last week gave a bit of needed cachet to McCain’s struggling campaign.

McCain and Powell share several bonds, not the least of which is they both actually fought on the front lines for their country, making them anomalies among the chickenhawks of their party. They also have both been willing, far too often, to serve as apologists for the Iraq invasion and occupation.

Republican Florida Lawmaker Bob “Blow Job” Allen Being Squeezed Out by GOP

Trish

For Florida State Rep. Bob Allen (R-Merritt Island), denial is not just a river in Egypt. Allen is out on bail on charges that he offered a male undercover officer $20 for oral sex. He has spent this time offering explanations for his behavior as varied as “just checking the bathroom three times because I helped secure funding for the park” to “I was afraid of the guy because he’s black and everyone knows black people are dangerous.”

Well, poor Bob has come up with another totally ridiculous explanation, this one for why he is being stripped of all his committee assignments in the upcoming legislative session.

…because [House Speaker Marco] Rubio wants to give younger lawmakers the chance at leadership positions.

Allen…said he was told that House leaders “wouldn’t do anything to hurt my defense.” “I know the Speaker has talked about giving other younger legislators a chance,” Allen said. “It’s tough to gain experience in the eight years before term limits, and some senior members might serve in another position.”

Riiiight. But others in the Republican wing of the Florida State House wish Allen would not only show up missing from committees, but go away altogether.

Meanwhile, [GOP Chairman Jim] Greer told reporters Tuesday that Allen should consider the best interests of the GOP, as well as his family and constituents, in deciding whether to resign.

“I’m not going to say what’s in the best interest of the party or ask him to step down or resign,” Greer said. “I’m just asking him, as of today, to consider the best interest of the party.”

So far Allen hasn’t considered the best interests of anyone but himself in obtaining homosexual sex, so why would the GOP expect him to consider the best interests of his party? Not only is Allen not leaving quietly, he’s attempting to call in a few political IOUs. After all, one thing all Republicans have on another in abundance is dirt.

When told of Greer’s comments, Allen said he stood by Greer during the “innuendos and nasty politics” hurled during Greer’s campaign for the party chairmanship. “I know Jim appreciated that and I hope he hasn’t lost that memory,” Allen said…

“I intend to show up at the session as a man who is free of this charge and all of this ridiculous politics and be able to get back to what they want me doing during the session,” Allen said. “I don’t think I’ll be bogged down with this during the session.”

We presume that none of those Nile River crocodiles will be shedding any of their famous tears if it doesn’t work out quite that way.

‘Brain’-Less White House Falls for Clinton Trap, Over-Reacts to Ad, Gives Her Campaign Millions in Free Media Exposure

Jon Ponder

Hillary Clinton lambasted Pres. George W. Bush in her first Iowa campaign ad, saying he didn’t care about working class Americans or even returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan. The White House walked right into the trap, calling it “outrageous,” “absurd” and “unconscionable” — and thus giving the story legs in the corporate media, which has led to hundreds of free airings of the spot and its exposure to millions of voters outside its paid run in Iowa.

Americans from all walks of life across our country may be invisible to this President, but they’re not invisible to me and they won’t be invisible to the next President of the United States

It also gave Clinton an opening to keep the story alive into another news cycle:

“Apparently I’ve struck a nerve,” Clinton said in response to the White House attack. “I will keep saying it because I believe it.”

At TPM Cafe, M.J. Rosenberg recalls a similar cicrumstance from 40 years ago in which the Lyndon Johnson White House similarly helped boost the campaign of Richard Nixon — whose career appeared to be over after he lost a bid for California governor on the heels of losing the presidency to Kennedy in 1960:

[The] unpopular president from Texas, LBJ, did Nixon a favor. After Nixon criticized Johnson’s war strategy, Johnson, during a televised press conference, lost it.

He blasted Nixon, calling him a “chronic campaigner, whose only concern was picking up a few votes.

The Nixon camp could not believe their luck. They had succeeded in getting under LBJ’s skin. By responding to Nixon’s attack as he did, LBJ elevated Nixon to the Presidential level, right where Nixon needed to be. He was, of course, elected in 1968.

[…]

Bush on Religion: ‘I Am Driven with a Mission from God’ And Other Sayings

Jon Ponder

From the Times Online in the U.K.:

1. I am driven with a mission from God. God would tell me, ‘George go and fight these terrorists in Afghanistan’. And I did. And then God would tell me ‘George, go and end the tyranny in Iraq’. And I did. Sharm el-Sheikh August 2003

2. I trust God speaks through me. Without that, I couldn’t do my job.
Statement made during campaign visit to Amish community, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, Jul. 9, 2004

3. I’m also mindful that man should never try to put words in God’s mouth. I mean, we should never ascribe natural disasters or anything else to God. We are in no way, shape, or form should a human being, play God. Washington, D.C., Jan. 14, 2005

4. God loves you, and I love you. And you can count on both of us as a powerful message that people who wonder about their future can hear. Los Angeles, California, Mar. 3, 2004

5. I tell people all the time, you’re equally American if you’re a Christian, Jew, or Muslim. You’re equally American if you believe in an Almighty or don’t believe in an Almighty. That’s a sacred freedom. Washington, D.C., Mar. 10, 2006

6. Well, first of all, you got to understand some of my view on freedom, it’s not American’s gift to the world. See, freedom is God — is God given. Interview with TVR, Romania, Nov. 23, 2002

7. I’m sure there is some kind of heavy doctrinal difference, which I’m not sophisticated enough to explain to you. Explaining the issues involved in his switching from attending an Episcopal church to attending a Methodist one, (date is approximate:), Jul. 1, 1994

8. I don’t think you order suiciders to kill innocent men, women, and children if you’re a religious person. Fond Du Lac, Wisconsin, Jul. 14, 2004

9. And there’s nothing more powerful in helping change the country than the faith — faith in Dios. National Hispanic Prayer Breakfast, Washington, D.C., May 16, 2002

10. We believe in an Almighty, we believe in the freedom for people to worship that Almighty. They don’t. Martinsburg, West Virginia, Jul. 4, 2007

The Times Online has 40 more quotes.

AFA Wants Your Mom to Cancel Her Redbook Subscription

Buck Banks

American Family Association’s Donald E. “The Wildman” Wildmon is on the warpath again — this time turning his attention from depraved gay people to depraved straight people. Seems he’s out to rid the world of the kind of smut found in Redbook magazine. Yes, Redbook, that venerable bastion of womanly lore and recipes.

Middle age is no time to be running around for 30 seconds with a dollop of whipped cream on one’s chest.

Wildmon quotes Marcia Segelstein, a columnist from one of AFA’s media outlets One News Now:

I’ve referred in the past to modern-day women’s magazines as a bellweather of cultural decline, but I think it’s worth repeating. Sitting in a doctor’s waiting room leafing through magazines, as I was recently, can end up being an eye-opening experience. And even if you can handle it … or just decide to stop reading … imagine your young teenage daughter picking up that innocent-looking women’s magazine. What behavior will she end up believing society condones?

When I was a child, I remember looking through the magazines my mother had around the house. I don’t think she ever gave a second thought to what I might come across, nor should she have. My, how things have changed.

Of course some things never change, like my third-grade sense of potty humor. Segelstein, in her zeal to share the juicy stuff, but not too much of it, just made the excerpts she chose sound, well, funny:

If you’ve got 10 seconds:“Alone? Sneak a peak at yourself!” “Make eye contact with a cute stranger.”

If you’ve got 30 seconds: “Clench your g___ muscles.” “Spray a dollop of whipped cream on your chest and ….”

Got 10 minutes? “Swap your coffee break for a visit with your v______r.”

What? Clench your giggle muscles? Visit with your vaporizer? I don’t get it. At my age, even a 10-second sneak peak at myself is way too long. And middle age is no time to be running around for 30 seconds with a dollop of whipped cream on one’s chest.

Wildmon, as usual, goes off into his private rhetorical swamp in the letter he asks readers to write to the president of Hearst Corp., publishers of Redbook:

Dear President Ganzi,

I am greatly disappointed that Redbook would give such pagan, hedonistic advice concerning sex.

Our society is suffering from a decaying moral structure, and Redbook endorses such sewage.

For the sake of our children, I ask that you reconsider your endorsement of such hedonistic pagan sexual practices.

Wow, hedonistic and pagan sexual practices! Sounds kinky, don’t it? Bring on the whipped cream! I, of course, changed the wording a little to reflect my belief that it’s the Donster who is a practicer of sexual acts both hedonistic and pagan.

Point is, last time I checked, we still have a little something called free speech in this country. If Marcia Segelstein doesn’t want to read advice for a woman dating a married man, then she can flip through to the recipe section or the interior design section of the book reviews and health advice, all of which can be found in Redbook magazine. She doesn’t have to read the advice for the woman whose sex drive dropped off after she had her baby. For that matter, she could take her Bible with her to the doctor’s office and avoid those trashy women’s magazines and instead read up on some of the Jehovah-sanctioned sex and violence of the Old Testament.

The problem with the Wildmons and Segelsteins of the world is they want to impose their beliefs on the rest of us, they want to legislate what we can read or watch or who we give money to and how many rights some of us get and others don’t. But these babble-thumpers are so far out on the fringe that the only way they can exert any power is to band together in pitchfork and torch-carrying mobs and boycott that which they don’t understand.

Don, Marcia, good luck with your Redbook boycott. I predict it will be at least as successful as AFA’s Ford Motor boycott.

Rove/Bush Timeline, THE Math, and Fond Memories

Trish

The Chicago Tribune put together this handy timeline of the golden years of Karl Rove with the Bushes.

Rover two weeks before the 2006 midterms: “I add up to a Republican Senate and Republican House. You may end up with a different math but you are entitled to your math and I’m entitled to THE math.”
  • 1973 — Rove became chairman of the College Republicans. During his time in Washington, D.C., he became a special assistant to Republican National Committee Chairman George H.W. Bush and met George W. Bush.
  • 1977 — Worked for a political action committee dedicated to making the elder Bush president in 1980.
  • 1978 — Advised younger Bush during his unsuccessful Texas congressional campaign.
  • 1980 — Assisted George H.W. Bush’s unsuccessful presidential campaign.
  • 1994 — Adviser for George W. Bush’s successful Texas gubernatorial campaign.
  • 1998 — Adviser for Gov. Bush’s successful re-election campaign.
  • 2000 — Chief strategist for Bush’s presidential campaign.
  • 2004 — Chief strategist for re-election campaign.
  • 2005 — Currently assistant to the president, deputy chief of staff and senior adviser to President George W. Bush.

Individual dates are missing here, such as the dates Rove called Judy Miller with bogus Iraq weapons of mass destruction intelligence, and when he called Bob Novak, Tim Russert, and whoever else with Valerie Plame’s identity, as well as the date he dissed Sheryl Crow over global warming. My favorite is the date Bush got snitty about Turd Blossom after the disastrous 2006 midterm elections.

“I obviously was working harder in the campaign than he was,” said Bush.

Good times.

But Bush couldn’t be blamed for being pissed at Rover, whose inability to tell which way the wind was blowing led directly to the “good thumpin'” Bush had to take.

Two weeks before the election, Rove showed the world how he reacts when someone disagrees with his interpretation of the facts, and why he is so detested by nice people everywhere. His interview with the polite Robert Seigel on NPR, when it was really looking good for the Democrats, said it all.

SIEGEL: We are in the home stretch though and many would consider you on the optimistic end of realism about…

ROVE: Not that you would exhibit a bias, you just making a comment.

SIEGEL: I’m looking at all the same polls that you are looking at.

ROVE: No, you are not. I’m looking at 68 polls a week for candidates for the US House and US Senate, and Governor and you may be looking at 4-5 public polls a week that talk attitudes nationally.

SIEGEL: I don’t want to have you to call races…

ROVE: I’m looking at all of these Robert and adding them up. I add up to a Republican Senate and Republican House. You may end up with a different math but you are entitled to your math and I’m entitled to THE math.

SIEGEL: I don’t know if we’re entitled to a different math but your…

ROVE: I said THE math.

What an asswipe.

Megachurch Preacher Who Canceled Gay Vet’s Funeral Is In-Law of Top Evangelist Joel Osteen

Jon Ponder


Many evangelicals consider Pastor Joel Osteen to be a modern-day Billy Graham. Like Graham, Osteen is incredibly popular. He heads the Lakewood Church, the world’s largest megachurch, and is the author of the bestselling power-of-positive-thinking-esque “Your Best Life Now” book series. And like Graham, Osteen tends to focus on positive messages rather than on GOP ideology disguised as theology — particularly the hatred and fear of gay people — that has become an endemic trait of today’s Christian church.

Last week, however, Osteen’s brother-in-law and rival, Rev. Gary Simons, who is head of his own megachurch, the High Point Church in Arlington, Texas, made national news when he abruptly canceled the funeral of a Gulf War veteran after he discovered that the vet was gay:

“We did decline to host the service – not based on hatred, not based on discrimination, but based on principle,” Simons told The Associated Press. “Had we known it on the day they first spoke about it – yes, we would have declined then. It’s not that we didn’t love the family.”

[And…]

“Even though we could not condone that lifestyle, we went above and beyond for the family through many acts of love and kindness,” Simons said.

How did Simons show “love and kindness” to the family of the deceased? By equating their loved one with a murderer:

The pastor said that he could imagine a similar situation involving a different sin. Perhaps a mother who is a member of the church loses a son who is a thief or murderer, Mr. Simons said. The church would surely volunteer to hold a service, he said.

“But I don’t think the mother would submit photos of her son murdering someone,” he said. “That’s a red light going off.”

And then, having proved he is totally unprincipled, at least as it comes to Jesus’ message of love and inclusiveness especially for society’s outcasts, Simons sums up: “Can you hold the event and condone the sin and compromise our principles? We can’t.”

What about the sins of hatred and bigotry, Gary?

[…]

Chicken Dance Time! Rove is Leaving

Trish

As Karl Rove leaves the White House to spend more time with his family and work on his memoir, we can’t help but say, “We knew it!”

The timing is suspect, coming just as the Democrats in Congress are really digging in to how the White House has been run, possibly even finally getting at those deleted emails.

The line that was deleted in later versions: “He’s been talking with the president for a long time, about a year, regarding when might be good to go,” Perino said.

This is the quote you’re seeing in all the stories concerning the “why now” aspect of Rove’s departure:

“I just think it’s time,” Rove told the Wall Street Journal. “There’s always something that can keep you here, and as much as I’d like to be here, I’ve got to do this for the sake of my family.”

But look at how the earlier versions quoted White House deputy spokestool Dana Perino when she made the happy announcement.

“He’s been talking with the president for a long time, about a year, regarding when might be good to go,” Perino said. “But there’s always a big project to work on, and his strategic abilities, and our need for his support, kept him here. He said there’s never a good time to leave, just the ‘right’ time.”

He’s been talking to the president for about a year? My bet is he’s been talking to president about it since last November, when Rove proved dead wrong on the midterm elections. I think he was a hair away from following Donald Rumsfeld out the door back then and has been on thin ice ever since, as Scooter Libby was convicted and as the Alberto Gonzalez scandal continues to grow.

Of course, no matter when Rove leaves, we’re just thanking God and Greyhound that he’s going.

Hey John Edwards, Learn to When to Stop Talking

Trish

I know just how Jon feels. He is disenchanted with New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, whose poor showing in the recent “gay debate” left Jon revisiting his early support.

In a job interview you’re not supposed to say that you’re late a lot or call in sick when you’re not. Does anyone really need this explained to them? Apparently Edwards does.

Like Jon I’ve been cringing but over John Edwards, my early favorite. It started with the monumentally idiotic criticism of Hillary Clinton’s jacket during the YouTube debate. For a man trying to shake off the “vain and shallow” characterization by Republicans to cluck his tongue and cock his head over the senator’s suit was dumb, dumb, dumb. Especially after making the case that he could represent women better than a woman can. Way to not get what women are up against, John.

And it’s not like Edwards didn’t have time to prepare his response, waiting as he did for Mike Gravell and Chris Dodd to go first, and following Dodd’s ovation for refusing to say anything negative about Edwards. John started out fine, admiring Clinton’s work as a senator and her husband’s service. No need to go further. But he did.

Does he not get that when you are asked to, “Say what you don’t like about the person to your left,” that’s your cue to say you don’t like how smart they are, or how good they are at golf? It’s like being asked in a job interview to name your flaws. You’re expected to say you work too hard or that you’re too much of a perfectionist. You’re not supposed to say that you’re late a lot or call in sick when you’re not. Does anyone really need this explained to them? Apparently Edwards does.

And now he’s done it again. Edwards was talking about the recent comment by Bush’s new war czar about possibly reinstating the draft.

“Enough is enough,” the Democratic presidential candidate said. “Let there be no doubt that the Bush administration’s new talk of a draft is a profound measure of how much this President has failed our brave men and women in the military, and the American people. This is exactly the wrong way to go.”

If only he had stopped there. But alas, no.

“Our all-volunteer force has helped make America what it is today.”

Yeah, they have. Along with all those who answered the call when they were drafted during World Wars I and II, Korea, Vietnam, and oh yeah, the Civil War. They had a little something to do with making America what it is today also.

There are those who think the reason there aren’t mass street protests ala Vietnam over Iraq is precisely because there is no draft. Edwards is right that for Bush to bring it back would be yet more proof of how badly this invasion was planned, and for five long years, executed. But John, please learn to stop talking while you’re still right.

Poll: Over 90% of Gays Voted in 2004 – Proves Americans Will Vote When Their Rights Are At Stake

Jon Ponder

Could this trend be a harbinger of things to come?

Consider that last statistic for a moment: a turnout rate among gay men more than twice that for the nation’s voters as a whole.

A recent study by San Francisco-based Community Marketing Inc. found an eye-popping 92.5 percent of gay men report they voted in the 2004 presidential race, and almost 84 percent said they cast ballots in the 2006 midterm election. Among lesbians, the results were almost as impressive; nearly 91 percent in 2004 and 78 percent in 2006.

By comparison, the Washington-based Committee for the Study of the American Electorate puts the turnout for all Americans eligible to vote at about 61 percent in 2004 and roughly 40 percent in 2006.

Consider that last statistic for a moment: a turnout rate among gay men more than twice that for the nation’s voters as a whole.

The survey questioned more than 12,000 gay men and more than 10,000 lesbians, giving its results a minuscule error margin of plus or minus 1 percent.

What this shows is that people will vote when they feel like they have something at stake. It speaks to the central point in “Sicko,” Michael Moore’s documentary about the corruption of the American healthcare system. Moore suggests that in Europe, where universal healthcare is, well, universal, voters control the politicians. Governments there are vulnerable to the citizens’ displeasure, both at the ballot box and from civil unrest in the streets.

But in America, says Moore, the politicians control the voters — or rather corporate interests control politicians who run the government to benefit the corporations at the expense of citizens. Voting is considered a waste of time and boring, and protest is only fashionable among scruffy vegan ruffians.

In 2004, Republicans were using gay rights as a wedge issue in the states to gin up the homophobe vote in their base. Feeling under assault, gays answered with the weapon available to all: they voted.

Perhaps the good news here is that we gays are considered to be trendsetters. Who knows, maybe this voting thing could catch on.