Year: 2008

McCain’s Problem: He IS the Problem

Trish

Today’s humorous in a wry, mocking way web site is Lobbyists for McCain. The group made a splash in suits and alleged Ferragamos during protests at the Republican National Convention but continues to sock it to McCain on a range of issues. Of course, as the Washington Post pointed out in light of McCain’s statement that “the fundamentals of the economy are strong,” this is not hard to do.

Were McCain known as a student of the economy, this instance of a badly delivered statement would matter little. Because he is known as someone who is not, it matters plenty. McCain has responded by ratcheting up his rhetoric about cracking down on Wall Street and its regulators in Washington.

Plus they have this great yard sign

And yet the problem for McCain is that he IS the problem. The Keating Five scandal, in which McCain was No. Four, involved McCain and four other senators trying to prevent regulators from doing their jobs in overseeing risky real estate loans by Lincoln Savings and Loan, chaired by Charles Keating. The later collapse of the savings and loans industry, of which the Lincoln mess was an integral part, cost us taxpayers $125 billion.

Cindy Hensley’s son and McCain’s adopted son, Andrew McCain, resigned from the board of Silver State Bank in July. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) shut down the bank and its parent company six weeks later. Guess who’s on the hook for all those assets now?

Which is precisely the kind of thing Lobbyists for McCain would like us to remember. Barbara Walters asked the 40-year Washington insider on The View, “Who are you going to change in Washington? You?” To which we can only add, “Who are you going to change on Wall St.? You?”

Find Lobbyists for McCain on our blog roll under “Campaign Sites.”

McCain, Obama Waging Rumor War Inside The Google

Buck Banks

If you think what you read in the paper, see on the TV or hear on the radio is bad, wait until you see what comes up on the most popular search engine when you type in “Obama Muslim.” On the left under results you get links to Urban Legends and Snopes that debunk the Internet rumor.
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But on the right, where the sponsored links are, the first link says, “Searching for Experience/Instead of Researching Obama/
Learn More About John McCain.” The next three links are “Christians for Obama,” “Jews for Obama” and “Barak Obama Facts.”

If you search “Obama Biden,” the top sponsored result is owned by MoveOn.org, followed by McCain and then three sticker/button sites.

Score two for McCain who, according to U.S. News & World Report, is winning the bidding war on sponsored links:

Overall, the McCain campaign has been more aggressive in bidding on Google search terms. In August, McCain’s site managed 21.6 million sponsored search-link impressions (the number of times users click on a particular sponsored link), compared with less than 1 million for Obama’s site, according to Nielson Online, another Internet monitoring firm.

The way this works is, the campaigns enter online auctions and bid on search terms. The higher the bid, the higher the placement in the ranking of sponsored links. The real winner here is The Google, but that’s another story. Apparently, the bidding/search war is heating up:

Specifically, Obama’s campaign has waded into online auctions for Google search terms to snap up not only obvious phrases like “Barack Obama” but also potentially negative ones like “Barack Obama birth certificate” or “Barack Obama as a Muslim,” according to Hitwise, an Internet audience monitoring firm.

This means that, as of Wednesday morning, Google searches for Obama being a Muslim (a false but pervasive Web rumor) often turn up a prominent “sponsored” link at the top of the results page that connects to a page on Obama’s campaign website that debunks the myth and details his Christian faith. Searches for Obama’s birth certificate produce a link to a page showing the official document.

How effective has the rumor war been? According to Hitwise, the number of click-throughs from the sponsored links have been low. Is it worth the money and effort for the campaigns? Probably not, but in the age of Web 2.0, The Google provides just another battle front in a campaign that seems to have no bounds.

Quote du Jour

Buck Banks

The first time I saw this particular fashion, I disliked it, and then I realized I’m getting old.

— Palm Beach, Fla., public defender Carol Bickerstaff after a judge says Riviera Beach’s “saggy pants” law is unconstitutional in the case of a 17-year-old who spent a night in jail for having his underwear showing. Bickerstaff said her office wants to get the law tossed altogether.

Poll: Obama-Biden Up 16 Points Over McCain-Palin in California

Jon Ponder

It’s another beautiful day in California:
Democratic women are now 83-9 percent in support of Obama.

The survey shows that the Democratic ticket of Barack Obama and Joe Biden leads the Republican ticket of John McCain and Sarah Palin by a 52 percent to 36 percent margin. The 16 percent point lead remains significant but is down from the 24 point lead the Democratic team enjoyed in July. An aggregate 3 percent of voters prefer other candidates, while 9 percent remain undecided.

Palin has not helped McCain among California independents, who represent one-fifth of the state’s electorate:

[McCain’s] choice of Palin has not helped him get to “stage two … broadening the (GOP) base to include the nonpartisans,” said DiCamillo. “He’s made very little headway in that regard.”

The independent and decline-to-state Californians – a rapidly growing number who represent 1 in 5 state voters and are increasingly younger and ethnic – are “still with Obama,” he said. Those voters are “what elected Arnold Schwarzenegger,” another star candidate who portrayed himself a as a maverick outsider, [said Field Poll Director Mark DiCamillo].

But with that critical electorate, “(Palin) is not moving the needle much. … That (independent voter) number would have to get very close or even in McCain’s column for him to be competitive in California,” he said. “And it doesn’t look that way.”

Palin did not help McCain woo California’s Democratic women either:

[…]

Holy Crap! Three-Ply Toilet Paper!

Buck Banks

Trish won’t let me create any new categories, but if she did, I’d make one for Water Closet Innovations. The latest was reported Tuesday by that venerable institution (so you know it’s important stuff), the Associated Press:
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If two-ply toilet paper is good, then three-ply tissue must be better. At least that’s what toilet-paper researchers in northeastern Wisconsin hope.

Yes, there is such a thing as a toilet-paper researcher. And a team of them at Georgia Pacific’s Innovation Institute in Neenah has come up with a three-ply version of its Quilted Northern product.

The new product will be launched Monday. The company touts the toilet tissue as ”ultra-soft” and says it plans to market the product to women 45 and older who view their bathroom as a ”sanctuary for quality time.”

If you go to the Quilted Northern Web site, you can actually interact with a roll of the stuff. There, you’ll find that it has a “thickness you can see and feel,” that it’s “soft and absorbent,” that it provides a “luxurious experience” and that it’s 100 percent biodegradable — because it’s made out of paper.

I’d try the stuff, but it has little hearts and flowery quilts all over it, and I prefer a manly, cheap one-ply. And, while I too would like a “luxurious experience,” my idea of a luxurious experience does not involve poo.

What You Don’t Know About Sarah Palin Can Kill You …If She Doesn’t Get to You First

Trish

We love to pass along funny web sites and even though we don’t find the subject of Sarah Palin that damn funny, we like this site. Yes, it’s mostly selling merch. But still.

Sarah Palin Facts is a collection of little-known “facts” about the wonder woman. Some of our favorites:

  • Sarah Palin wears three quarter length sleeves to keep from getting blood on her clothes when she kills liberals.
  • The diamonds in Sarah Palin’s earrings were crushed with her very hands.
  • Sarah Palin had the original idea to drop the “e” from Flickr
  • Queen Elizabeth II curtsied when she was introduced to Sarah Palin
  • Sarah Palin’s enemies are automatically added to the Endangered Species List
  • Sarah Palin was not flown to Ohio in a charter jet — she ran as part of her morning workout.
  • To prep for her role as Tracy Flick in “Election,” Witherspoon spent the ‘98 seal clubbing season with Palin.

There are lots more, and you are invited to submit your own. Um…Fear of Sarah Palin is why hurricanes don’t hit Alaska?

The Maverick Flip-Flops on AIG Bailout. Looks to Bush and Says, “Whatever He Said”

Trish

What will John McCain do without the Bush administration? After all, to any question on current events, McCain casts his gaze in the direction of Bush and answers, “Whatever he said.”

The AIG bail-out is a perfect example. McCain, on the Today Show Monday:

McCain might have an actual opinion. And just as soon as Bush tells him what it is, we’ll let you know.

McCain: “…No, I do not believe that the American taxpayer should be on the hook for AIG and I’m glad that the Secretary Paulson has apparently taken the same line.”

Q: “So, if we get to the point, in the middle of the week when AIG might have to file for bankruptcy, they’re on their own.”

McCain: “Well, they’re on their own. We cannot have the taxpayers bail out AIG or anybody else, this is something that we’re going to have to work through.”

But then the Bush administration acted, which meant McCain flip-flopped, uh, changed his mind, or um, rather, clarified his position. McCain, on Good Morning America today:

“Now on the bailout itself, I didn’t want to do that. And I don’t think anybody I know wanted to do that. But there are literally millions of people whose retirement, whose investment, whose insurance were at risk here. They were going to have their lives destroyed because of the greed and excess and corruption.”

Somewhere between “They’re on their own” and, “My God, we’ve got to do something!” McCain might have an actual opinion. And just as soon as Bush tells him what it is, we’ll let you know.

Poll: Palin’s Favorable Rating Slips 10 Points in 3 Days

Jon Ponder

More evidence of a slide, cited by Newsweek:
Over the course of a single weekend, Palin went from being the most popular White House hopeful to the least.

Since Sept. 13, Palin’s unfavorables have climbed from 30 percent to 36 percent. Meanwhile, her favorables have slipped from 52 percent to 48 percent. That’s a three-day net swing of -10 points, and it leaves her in the Sept. 15 Diageo/Hotline tracking poll tied for the smallest favorability split (+12) of any of the Final Four. Over the course of a single weekend, in other words, Palin went from being the most popular White House hopeful to the least.

What happened? I’d argue that Palin’s considerable novelty is starting to wear off. In part it’s the result of a steady stream of unhelpful stories: her unfamiliarity with the Bush Doctrine during last Thursday’s interview with Charles Gibson … her refusal to cooperate with the Troopergate investigation; her repeated stretching of the truth on everything from earmarks to the Bridge to Nowhere to the amount of energy her state produces. That stuff has a way of inspiring disapproval and eroding one’s support. (Interestingly, Palin’s preparedness numbers–about 50 percent yes, 45 percent no–haven’t budged.)

Caveats apply, of course. This is one data set, not yet a trend, but it could be a glimpse into future direction, especially if McCain and Palin continue to shred the credibility of their ticket by persistently lying about themselves, each other and their opponents.

There is a precedent for a precipitous slide, however. In 1984, the only other time a woman was named to a major party ticket, Democrats Walter Mondale and Geraldine Ferraro received a nine-point bounce after their convention, but Ronald Reagan, the incumbent, went on to win in a 49-state landslide, receiving 58.8 percent to Mondale-Ferraro’s 40.6 percent in the national popular vote.

Admittedly, any comparison between Republicans McCain-Palin and Democrats Mondale-Ferraro is superficial and, yes, sexist, especially because it is unclear, particularly from this poll, what role, if any, gender may be playing in Palin’s nosedive.

In 1984, Ferraro was undermined by questions about her husband’s business dealings, and her ticket’s opponent, Reagan, was still popular, in part because the economy had weathered the recession in 1982, and his administration’s illegal deals with terrorists in the Iran-Contra affair did not occur until the following year, and weren’t revealed until 1986.

The problems facing McCain and Palin today are primarily of their own making. Both have been caught lying on issues big and small. And there are serious questions even from conservatives about the readiness of Palin — the short-term governor of Alaska, the 47th largest state; a former beauty pageant Miss Congeniality winner; and sportscaster — to become president, if McCain, who is 72 years old, were unable to fulfill his term.

Ht: “Countdown”

John McCain Helped Create the BlackBerry Phone

Buck Banks

The Associated Press is reporting that a McCain adviser said that the candidate was instrumental in the creation of the BlackBerry portable phone/Web browser:

At least that’s the contention of a top McCain policy adviser, Douglas Holtz-Eakin. Waving his BlackBerry personal digital assistant and citing McCain’s work as a senator, he told reporters Tuesday, “You’re looking at the miracle that John McCain helped create.”

McCain has acknowledged that he doesn’t know how to use a computer and can’t send e-mail, one of the BlackBerry’s prime functions.

Holtz-Eakin’s argument is similar to one advanced by [Al] Gore, the Democratic presidential nominee in 2000. Gore once boasted about “taking the initiative to create the Internet” through technological and educational policies. He later was mocked for claiming to have invented the Internet, although he never made such a claim.

Holtz-Eakin, former director of the Congressional Budget Office, said McCain’s service on and leadership of the Senate Commerce Committee put him at the intersection of a number of economic interests, including the telecommunications industry.

But another McCain adviser put Holtz-Eakin’s remarks into the proper context:

“He [McCain] would not claim to be the inventor of anything, much less the BlackBerry. This was obviously a boneheaded joke by a staffer,” adviser Matt McDonald said.

DVD Drop Designed to Spread Fear and Loathing, But Mainly Fear

Buck Banks

obsession.jpg
When I opened my Sunday Miami Herald two days ago, not just Sports Authority and CVS Pharmacy fliers fell out. An 8.5-by-10-inch piece of paper with a DVD affixed to it clunked to the floor. It was “Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West,” a one-hour trailer for a two-hour “documentary.” It’s designed to scare the bejesus out of you and make you decide that John McCain is the only candidate that can save us from waves of Muslim terrorists.

The DVD sports a scary-looking jihadist and an image of the ruins of the World Trade Center with an American flag in the foreground. Of course the timing of the distribution — just a couple of days after the seventh anniversary of the September 11 attacks — was surely not accidental. But it makes it clear that this movie is not about the GOOD Muslims, it’s about the scary radical Islamists who hate you and want to kill you and your entire family.

Twenty-eight million copies of the DVD, which was first released in 2006 during the midterm elections, was distributed through 70 newspapers in battleground states over the past weekend, including Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Nevada, Virginia and Ohio. The highest concentration was in Florida, where no less than 14 newspapers presented subscribers with the thing. And it was only distributed to subscribers because … people who subscribe to the newspaper are residents and therefore are likely voters, whereas people who buy newsstand copies of the Sunday paper just want the comics, right? It also was included in the Wall Street Journal, the World Jewish Digest and the Chronicle of Higher Education.

It is produced and distributed by the Clarion Fund, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that spends a lot of time telling anybody who will listen that it takes no money from the gubmint or special interest groups. It’s a shadowy group that does not list its principals or indeed any information about where its funding comes from.

The DVD is a very slick production, and if you were able to sit through the entire hour, it would no doubt indoctrinate you with the fear and loathing of Muslims that its creators intended. Boosting its credibility are interviews with such luminaries as Alan Dershowitz, who I would imagine had no idea how his interview would be used.

This is propaganda in its most blatant form, and it’s specifically designed to make you terrified of another terrorist attack by maniacal Muslims. It exploits the documentary genre perfectly, blending “facts” delivered in a dead-pan manner with creepy music and outrageous logic to create an atmosphere of lunatic fear. It is so psychologically effective, it’s scary, which is, I suppose, the point. Note that FOX News ran the thing in its entirety in 2006. ‘Nuff said.

If you want to watch it, go here.