Year: 2008
You Too Can Help Send Karl Rove to Jail
Although it’s almost too much to hope for, the folks at Brave New Films have put together a petition to the House Judiciary Committee calling on them to indict Karl Rove for any number of high crimes and misdemeanors. Check out the video detailing just the tip of Rove’s criminal iceberg and then sign the petition here.
Florida’s Economy Tanks as Governor and Girlfriend Party in Europe
Photo from the governor’s web site. Caption reads, “Governor Charlie Crist and Carol (sic) Rome with His Royal Highness, Charles Philip Arthur George, The Prince of Wales.”
Floridians who still read a morning newspaper drank their coffee over this bad news.
Florida’s economic slump is worse than state economists had predicted earlier this year, and now they say it’ll last about six months longer than previously expected.
Their February outlook had been for recovery to start about a year from now, but a new update says things probably won’t begin turning around until the end of 2009.
“It’s a bit more bleak than it was originally,” legislative economist Amy Baker said Thursday.
Carole Rome’s engagement ringThe housing market, which boomed bigger in Florida than the rest of the country, went bust-er here as well. Dried-up credit wells mean less businesses willing to take risks in the state. Tourists are staying home because of their own money woes, which leave them unable to afford the gas or airfare to come here, or the prices once they arrive. After all, one-day tickets to Disney’s Magic Kingdom are $71 each for ages 10 and up, and that’s just for park entry. A hamburger and soda will run you at least $10.
So it’s not looking good if you’re a Floridian…unless you’re Charlie Crist or his fiancee, Carole Rome. While we get the bad news back home, they’re whooping it up in Europe, schmoozing with royalty, ambassadors, and the media. In what is billed as an economic development mission, the governor and his intended are having a blast on the taxpayer’s dollar.
Rome’s soon to be ex-husband was said to be divorcing her for her profligate ways and expensive tastes. Charlie Crist, longtime “bachelor” and a lifer on the public dole, doesn’t even own a house. But thanks to people like me — and her willingness to marry a man long reported to be gay — Carole can live in the governor’s mansion and spend summers in Europe.
Republicans are great at lecturing the rest of us to pull our weight so government won’t have to provide for us. Are they thinking if we did, there would be more there for them?
Gawd Help Us: Bill Clinton Threatening to Campaign for Obama
Good lord. Bill Clinton, whose performance on the campaign trail for the former First Lady was in large part to blame for her missing her party’s nomination, is threatening to “help” Barack Obama.
Former President Bill Clinton said Thursday he’s prepared to hit the campaign trail on behalf of Barack Obama as soon as the presumptive Democratic Presidential nominee asks him to.
“Whenever he asks — that is, we had a good talk, and he said he wanted me to campaign with him, and I said I was eager to do so,” Clinton told reporters in New York Thursday. “He’s busier than I am, with politics anyway, so I just told him that whenever he wanted to do it, I was ready.
“So it’s basically on their timetable, he’s got a lot of things to do between now and the convention,” the former president added. “I’ll do whatever I am asked to do, whenever I can do it.”
Obama will, of course, have to accept the offer. Let’s just hope that Bill sticks close to the program he’s given and doesn’t try to explain possible sniper fire in Bosnia, say.
Jimmy Kimmel With McCain’s Latest “Ad” — Funny!
We told you about John McCain’s latest senior moment on the campaign trail. Jimmy Kimmel’s parody ad takes it to the next level.
Poll: Obama Leads McCain by 24 Points in California – And By a Whopping 46 Points among Independents
Polling before Labor Day in the presidential race is all but useless, still — this is amazing:
These numbers bode well for the defeat of Proposition 8, the homophobe lobby’s attempt to amend the California Constitution to revoke the right to marry for gay couples.
The latest statewide poll, conducted by the Field organization, shows Democrat Barack Obama extending his lead in the state and now trouncing Republican John McCain by 24 points, 54 percent to 30percent. In May, Obama’s lead was a smaller 17 points, and in January, an even slighter 7 points.
The Field poll, conducted July 8-14, also demonstrated an enthusiasm gap in California: 51 percent of Obama’s supporters said they were very enthusiastic about him, whereas only 17 percent of McCain’s made the same claim…
[Among] the nonpartisan voters highly coveted by candidates, Obama led 64 percent to 18 percent.
That last number, Obama’s 46 point lead among independents, is significant. This is just a guess but much of the antipathy among independents toward McCain, the self-described “maverick,” likely can be traced to his position in favor of drilling off the coast.
Drilling for oil along the coast may not be the third rail in California politics but it is certainly, you’ll pardon the mangling of metaphors, one of them. There are already dozens of rigs visible along some of the state’s awe-inspiring coastal vistas, especially around Santa Barbara, where there was a catastrophic spill in January 1969.
One reason polling at this early stage is useless is because polls usually tighten closer to elections. But elections in California are decided by independents these days, and McCain’s 46 point deficit will be — I’ll say it — impossible to make up, barring some sort of “macaca” moment for Obama that hobbles his campaign.
If subsequent polls continue to show this sort of disparity in favor of Obama, it will save both campaigns tens of millions of dollars in costs of television advertising in California.
It also bodes well for the defeat of Proposition 8, the homophobe lobby’s attempt to amend the California Constitution to revoke the right to marry for gay couples.
Speaking of Obama, the fact that “only” 51 percent of Dems are enthusiastic about voting for him is interesting. This could be interpreted to mean that, although they plan to vote for him, as many as 49 percent of California Democrats wish the nominee were someone else.
Nine House Republicans Vote for Impeachment Hearings
Passes 238-180, 10 Republicans Abstain
An unidentified government official of a U.S. ally wants to participate if and when Kucinich makes his case to impeach President Bush before the House Judiciary Committee.There will be a hearing related to Rep. Dennis Kucinich’s Article of Impeachment against George Bush in the House Judiciary Committee. That was assured by a vote of 238 to 180 on Tuesday.
But, according to Keith Olbermann on MSNBC’s “Countdown” Wednesday night, Speaker Nancy Pelosi has mandated that questioning in the hearing be relegated to Bush’s abuses of power, not his criminal wrongdoing.
“There’s never been one [hearing] that accumulated all the things that constitute an imperial presidency,†said Judiciary Chairman John Conyers, according to CQ Politics. He indicated topics covered in the hearing would include the firing of U.S. attorneys for political reasons, the betrayal of CIA agent Valerie Plame and Bush’s alleged lying to Congress about the reasons for invading Iraq.
Kucinich’s single Article of Impeachment only deals with Bush’s lies to Congress.
Dr. Ron Paul’s Campaign Manager Dies Uninsured, $400,000 in Debt
As the campaign manager for the presidential bid of Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), Kent Snyder received a lot of credit for raising $35 million from grassroots supporters, a phenomenal accomplishment for an insurgent campaign.
But, like 48 million other Americans, Snyder had no health insurance, and when he died from pneumonia on June 26 after a two-month hospital stay, he left medical bills totaling over $400,000.
It is emblematic of our age that Snyder’s boss, Rep. Paul, is a physician.
The story comes from the Washington Blade [that link is now inactive, here is an excerpt from the story published in the Daily Paul, a Paulestinian propaganda site – Editors, Sept. 14, 2011]:
Gay staffers from the Paul campaign, some speaking on condition that they not be identified, said they learned about Snyder’s unpaid medical bills from a web site created by his friends that calls on Paul supporters to contribute to a special fund to help Snyder’s family pay the bills, which come mostly from a two-month hospitalization. So far, the site (kentsnyder.com) has raised about $32,000.
JibJab ‘Campaignin” Video References Charges That POW ‘Songbird’ McCain Collaborated with His Captors
It never came up in the GOP primaries. The mainstream media won’t dare mention it. Even John McCain’s most liberal opponents won’t go there. But leave it to equal opportunity offenders, brothers Evan and Gregg Spiridellis and their animation team at JibJab, to introduce into the 2008 presidential campaign the allegations that John McCain cooperated with the enemy when he was a prisoner of war in Vietnam.
Not that most people will notice it. The reference comes about one minute into the group’s latest campaign video, “Time for Some Campaignin’,” when the McCain character sings that he “spent years in a rat hole in North Vietnam” over animated graphics showing him swinging in a bird cage — a reference to the fact that McCain’s accusers refer to him as “Songbird.”
A charge as heinous as collaborating with the enemy may sound like liberal revenge for the Swiftboating of John Kerry by Republicans in 2004, but the allegations against McCain come from conservatives, notably including former Rep. Bob Dornan of California and former Sen. Bob Smith of New Hampshire, both of whom are Republicans.
