Day: September 22, 2010

Verbatim

Trish

As president, I have said we’re going to reverse it. I got the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and I got the secretary of defense to say that we’re going to reverse it. Think about what happened in Congress two days ago where you got 56 Democrats voting to debate this issue and zero Republicans. And as a consequence, some of those signs should be going up at the other folks’ events. And folks should be hollering at the other folks’ events because the choice in November could not be clearer.

— Pres. Obama, answering protesters who want to overturn the Clinton-era Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy for gays serving in the military.

Christine O’Donnell Says Govt ‘Czars’ Are Unconstitutional – Is She Really That Stupid?

Jon Ponder

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“Article 1, Section 9 says no title of nobility should granted by the United States, there you go. I would say to President Obama that czar is a title of nobility and therefore unconstitutional.”

– Delaware GOP-tea party candidate Christine O’Donnnell, who appears not to know that “czar” is not an official title or that Reagan had a “drug czar” to oversee Nancy’s pet project, the “war on drugs,” or that George W. Bush had 32 czars on his staff.

Verbatim

Buck Banks

Who didn’t do some questionable things in high school, and who doesn’t regret the ’80s, to some extent? I certainly do, and I most certainly regret bringing it up to Bill Maher.

— Delaware U.S. Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell (R), in an interview with Fox News, on “dabbling” in witchcraft when she was younger.

CA Gov: Whitman’s Ex-Boss, eBay Founder, Declines to Endorse Her

Jon Ponder

Now I have not endorsed her because we have some differences on some of the political issues … I was disappointed in her not-correct decision, in my view, to support Proposition 8 in California. I was disappointed in her alignment with former Gov. Pete Wilson on immigration issues, who I think took some very extreme views years ago about denying benefits to illegal immigrants. And so because of those types of issues, I think we are a little bit apart, and I can’t quite support her because of that.

– Pierre Omidyar, founder of eBay, declining to endorse Meg Whitman, whom he hired as the company’s chief operating officer.

In Interview After Killing DADT Repeal, McCain Proves Again He’s Not Fit for National Leadership

Jon Ponder

After leading the effort to stop the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” in the Senate yesterday — a repeal he supported in 2006 — Sen. John McCain had a temper tantrum during an interview with reporters Kerry Eleveld from the Advocate and Chris Geidner of Metro Weekly, who dared confront him with facts about DADT that were counter to the false narrative he’d been promoting.

“It is not the policy, it is not the policy, it is not the policy You can say that it is the policy, sir, if you choose to. It is not the policy.”
– McCain

“I don’t care what you say! And I don’t care what others say,” he barked, when reporters pointed out that, contrary to DADT policy, service personnel had been sought out for dismissal because they were gay. When the reporters continued to press him, he went into a juvenile rant, railing, “It is not the policy, it is not the policy, it is not the policy You can say that it is the policy, sir, if you choose to. It is not the policy.”

Under DADT, the military is not supposed to investigate personnel who are merely suspected of being gay — that’s the “don’t ask” part. But it does happen — and John McCain knows it does.

In an interview with Rachel Maddow on MSBNC last night, Major Mike Almy, who was dismissed after his personal emails were hacked by the military, called McCain on his B.S.:

[…]

CA Gov: Brown Gives Voters a Dose of Reality, Contrasts Whitman’s Platinum Plated Bombast

Jon Ponder

It’s probably because I’m numb from the constant barrage of Meg Whitman ads — and I don’t mean to oversell it — but this new ad from Jerry Brown is, I have to say it, refreshing. Here’s the transcript:

Our state is in a real mess. And I’m not going to give you any phony plans or snappy slogans that don’t go anywhere. We have to make some tough decisions. We have to live within our means, we’ve got to take the power from the state capital and move it down to the local level, closer to the people. And no new taxes without voter approval. We’ve got to pull together not as Republicans or as Democrats, but as Californians first. And at this stage in my life, I’m prepared to do exactly that.