Month: August 2008
Gay Scientists Isolate Christian Gene
H/t: Thanks to Buck for forwarding this before he headed out to his hurricane bunker
Cheating at Saddleback: McCain Appparently Knew Question About Supreme Court in Advance
MCCAIN: Could I — are we going to get back to the importance of Supreme Court Justices or should I mention —
WARREN: We will get to that.
MCCAIN: OK. All right. OK.
WARREN: You’re jumping ahead…
The McCain campaign is fighting hard against charges that McCain cheated on the rules of debate at a rightwing evangelical forum in a California megachurch over the weekend by cribbing the questions in advance. They are so desperate, apparently, that a McCain operative even played the POW card, citing McCain’s imprisonment by the Vietnamese 40 years ago as evidence somehow that he did not cheat Saturday night.
What’s suspicious here is that the topic of the Supreme Court had not come up in McCain’s interview, so it was not a topic to go “back” to.
Even “Pastor Rick” Warren, the multimillionaire evangelist who hosted the event — and who clearly favored McCain in the questioning — has admitted that McCain was not sequestered during the live session with Obama.
Warren told the live audience in the hall and on CNN that McCain was in a “cone of silence” to prevent him from having the advantage of hearing the questions in advance. In fact, McCain was in his car during much of Obama’s session, where he certainly could have listened to the interview.
And this exchange from the forum appears to indicate that McCain knew that Warren was going to ask him a very specific question about the Supreme Court. Notice how McCain asks if he can go “back” to a question about the court:
WARREN: Let’s deal with abortion. I, as a pastor, have to deal with this all the time, every different angle, every different pain, all of the decisions and all of that. Forty million abortions since Roe v. Wade. Some people, people who believe that life begins at conception, believe that’s a holocaust for many people. What point is a baby entitled to human rights?
MCCAIN: At the moment of conception. (APPLAUSE). I have a 25- year pro-life record in the Congress, in the Senate. And as president of the United States, I will be a pro-life president. And this presidency will have pro-life policies. That’s my commitment. That’s my commitment to you.
WARREN: OK, we don’t have to beleaguer on that one. Define marriage.
MCCAIN: A union — a union between man and woman, between one man and one woman. That’s my definition of marriage.
Could I — are we going to get back to the importance of Supreme Court Justices or should I mention —
WARREN: We will get to that.
MCCAIN: OK. All right. OK.
WARREN: You’re jumping ahead…
(CROSSTALK)
MCCAIN: When we speak of the issue of the rights to the unborn, we need to talk about judges. But, anyway, go ahead.
What’s suspicious here is that the topic of the Supreme Court had not come up in McCain’s interview, so it was not a topic to go “back” to. On the other hand, Obama had been asked a question about the Supreme Court during his earlier session, which McCain supposedly had not heard:
In My Business We Call Them ‘Twinkies’
Twinkies are young, gung-ho communications practitioners who sometimes take it inappropriately over the top when it comes to dealing with the press. In this case, John McCain’s twinkie brigade gets all up in the face of a Fox Channel video crew, creating some tense and awkward moments for everyone involved. Maybe “Tense and Awkward” should be McCain’s new campaign slogan ….
McCain Cites POW Status in Denying He Cheated at Evangelical Forum
Did John McCain cheat by cribbing questions in advance at the rightwing megachurch forum Saturday night?
McCain operative Nicole Wallace vehemently denied claims that McCain heard Barack Obama being questioned, even though McCain was not sequestered in a “cone of silence,” as Rick Warren, the multimillionaire evangelist and moderator of the forum, had asserted to the live audience.
What’s bizarre here is that Wallace cited McCain’s status as POW 40 years ago as evidence that he did not cheat Saturday night:
“The insinuation from the Obama campaign that John McCain, a former prisoner of war, cheated is outrageous,†Ms. Wallace said. [Emphasis added.]
Here’s how Warren described the “rules” he established for the forum in his introductory remarks to the audience Saturday night:
RICK WARREN, PASTOR, SADDLEBACK CHURCH: Now, what I decided is to allow for proper comparison, I’m going to ask identical questions to each of these candidates. So you can compare apples to apples. Now, Senator Obama is going to go first. We flipped a coin, and we have safely placed Senator McCain in a cone of silence.
During his session, Obama gave what post-game analysts have called “thoughtful” and “nuanced” answers, which is a coded way to say he overthought the questions and his answers were too wordy.
However, when it was McCain’s turn, he gave very short answers — you know, like bumperstickers — and often interrupted Warren to start answering before the question was complete.
Was McCain in the “cone of silence” while Obama was questioned? According to Rick Warren, in an interview on CNN on Sunday, he was not:
The No Nukes Guy Sues the Pro Nukes Guy
By now everyone’s heard that Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Jackson Browne is suing John McCain and the Republican Party for using his song, “Running on Empty” without permission. The song appeared in an ad produced by the Republican Party of Ohio on McCain’s behalf, deriding Barack Obama for urging conservation as part of an American energy policy.
McCain supports nuclear power and advocates rapid build-up of nuclear reactors on American soil despite the fact that no system exists for safe disposal of nuclear waste
Most news stories about the lawsuit note that Browne is a lifelong activist for liberal causes, and therefore does not support McCain. What they miss is a profound divergence over nuclear power. Browne was one of the leaders of the anti-nuclear movement in the late ’70s and early ’80s that came about in the wake of the Chernobyl and Three Mile Island reactor accidents and was dramatized by movies like the China Syndrome. No cool record collection was complete without the album shown.
McCain supports nuclear power, and advocates rapid build-up of nuclear reactors on American soil despite the fact that no system exists for safe disposal of nuclear waste. From the McCain web site:
John McCain will put his administration on track to construct 45 new nuclear power plants by 2030 with the ultimate goal of eventually constructing 100 new plants.
Sane people agree 45 new plants by 2030 is simply wacked. Nuclear plants, though better left unbuilt, must be constructed with painstaking care. Here’s one sample of the problems the McCain energy plan does not address, from the TimeForChange web site.
Disadvantages of nuclear power generation:
Florida’s Turkey Point Reactor
- The problem of radioactive waste is still an unsolved one. The waste from nuclear energy is extremely dangerous and it has to be carefully looked after for several thousand years (10,000 years according to United States Environmental Protection Agency standards).
- High risks:…It is technically impossible to build a plant with 100% security…The consequences of an accident would be absolutely devastating both for human beings [and] for nature. The more nuclear power plants (and nuclear waste storage shelters) are built, the higher is the probability of a disastrous failure somewhere in the world.
- Nuclear power plants as well as nuclear waste could be preferred targets for terrorist attacks. No atomic energy plant in the world could withstand an attack similar to 9/11 in Yew York. Such a terrorist act would have catastrophic effects for the whole world.
- During the operation of nuclear power plants, radioactive waste is produced, which in turn can be used for the production of nuclear weapons. In addition, the same know-how used to design nuclear power plants can to a certain extent be used to build nuclear weapons (nuclear proliferation).
- The energy source for nuclear energy is Uranium. Uranium is a scarce resource, its supply is estimated to last only for the next 30 to 60 years depending on the actual demand.
- The time frame needed for formalities, planning and building of a new nuclear power generation plant is in the range of 20 to 30 years in the western democracies. In other words: It is an illusion to build new nuclear power plants in a short time.
A shut-down at Florida Power & Light’s Turkey Point nuclear facility in February left people without power from Daytona to Key West. To this day, the reason for the shut-down, which crippled hospitals and snarled rush hour traffic, has never been lucidly explained, but officials swear it was necessary because nuclear reactors are at such great risk.
McCain’s plan would put America in greater danger of terrorist attack, while providing energy for only about 60 years in a best-case scenario. The volatile waste would be around forever. Seventy-two-year-old McCain likely will not be here in 2030 when those 45 new plants are online. God willing, I will be, and so will my niece, and the children of my friends who are expecting now. They, and we, are the best argument against nuclear power.
I hope Jackson Browne wins his lawsuit.
Bush’s Pastor Questions McCain’s Christian Devotion
Rev. Kirbyjon Caudwell marries Jenna Bush and Henry Hager
It’s probably statistically impossible to be wrong all the time, and the Rev. Kirbyjon Caudwell is living proof. The good pastor is known as George Bush’s spiritual adviser, and recently officiated at Jenna Bush’s wedding. He has also led a ministry for recovering homosexuals and wannabe recovering homosexuals at his 14,000-member Windsor Village (mega)Church in Houston. Oddly, he has come out (so to speak) in support of Barack Obama.
‘The Senator made a comment regarding his wife entering some Buffalo Chips contest which is this topless deal and my personal opinion, that’s not not, N-O-T, not the type of expression that a presidential candidate, or anyone who is a follower of the Christian faith, ought to make.’
But Obama is not the only thing he’s right about. He’s also appalled, as was I, that John McCain recently stood in front of a mob of drunken bikers in Sturgis, S.D. and offered his wife up as a contestant in the Miss Buffalo Chip contest. The pageant consists of egging nearly-nude women into becoming as close to fully nude as they will go in order to earn the colorful title. The disrespect shown to the potential First Lady by her husband boggled my mind, and evidently Rev. Caudwell’s.
“Well, I don’t know a lot about John McCain’s family history, I do know, however, that as recently as last week I think it was, the Senator made a comment in South Dakota regarding his wife entering some Buffalo Chips contest which is this topless deal and if she were to enter she would probably win it and my personal opinion and based on my understanding of the Christian faith, that’s not not, N-O-T, not the type of expression that a presidential candidate, or anyone for that matter who is a follower of the Christian faith, ought to make,” said the Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell.
The fun part of all this is hearing the response from the McCain team. A reporter offered them a gaping out by asking if McCain realized the contest was so explicit. Hell yes, his campaign answered. But they added McCain was only kidding.
Asked if McCain was unaware that the Buffalo Chips contest often features contestants topless, a McCain aide told ABC News that he believes the senator was aware but emphasized that the presumptive GOP nominee was joking and would not want his wife to participate in such a contest.
That was their initial response. Later, they added some blustering umbrage as well.
McCain spokesman Brian Rogers has responded to Caldwell’s criticism by saying: “These people are Obama campaign surrogates. These kinds of personal attacks are disgraceful. This absolutely exposes the hypocrisy of Obama’s claim to represent a ‘new kind of politics.'”
Another McCain-ite, this one anonymous, threatened the Obama campaign with opening a big ol’ can of scandal on their asses. Which is hilarious, because if they had anything, they a) would have used it long before now, and b) would use it no matter whether the Obama campaign talked bad about McCain or not.
“My advice to the Obama people: ‘proceed with extreme caution.’ They don’t want to get into a discussion of character and background. They are opening a door that they will not be able to close. They are putting on the table issues and personalities that they do not want to discuss.”
Sounds juicy!
Asked which personalities? The GOP strategist cited the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Tony Rezko, and former Obama law partners.
Oh. Whatever.
For their part, Obama’s folks are staying out of it.
The Obama campaign had no immediate reaction to Caldwell’s comments or the McCain campaign response.
The Reason for the Season: Tropical Cyclones
We here on the tip of the dangling peninsula have been pretty lucky for the past two hurricane seasons, and we’ve done well so far in this one. But it looks like there’s a good chance that could change this weekend.
The inside dope I’ve gotten from the hurricane guys is, we can expect to get something — either heavy rains and winds — up to a strong Category 1 or a weak Category 2 storm. If the system does get organized enough to have a name, it will be Fay.
Now, where did I put those batteries and the emergency scotch …
Limbaugh: Edwards Sought ‘Woman Whose Mouth Did Something Other Than Talk’
Sometimes what comes out of the rightwing is so outrageous and disgusting that even their enemies feel something akin to embarrassment for them. When I first heard the audio of Rush Limbaugh’s latest and maybe vilest smear yet, I was too repulsed to write about it. But this one needs to be aired, in the sense of “vented.”
“Rush Limbaugh is a hole.”
– Keith Olbermann
Keith Olbermann covered the story on MSNBC’s “Countdown” on Tuesday. See video above, and here is a transcript of the highlights:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUSH LIMBAUGH, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: We‘ve been told that Elizabeth Edwards is smarter than John Edwards. That‘s part of the puff pieces on them that we‘ve seen. Ergo, if Elizabeth Edwards is smarter than John Edwards, is it likely that she thinks she knows better than he does what his speeches ought to contain? And what kind of things he ought to be doing strategy wise in a campaign? If she is smarter than he is, could it have been her decision to keep going with the campaign?
In other words, could it be that she doesn‘t shut up? Now, that‘s as far as I‘m going to go.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
OLBERMANN: Actually, it wasn‘t. Never is. A minute later—
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LIMBAUGH: It just seems to me that Edwards might be attracted to a woman whose mouth did something other than talk.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
