Joe Sixpack Hates Commies

The McCain/Palin campaign is furiously pressing hotbuttons now, trying to get voters to turn off their brains and run to the polls with a fire in their guts.

Last week they hammered on one of mine: "redistribution of wealth". This week they added two more to the stump speeches: "socialism" and "welfare state". They know very well that free market yee-hah John Wayne capitalists like me hate and fear those words and the intrusive and expensively bureaucratic European style government they bring to mind.

But of course that's not what we're talking about. Obama is in favor of rescinding the Bush era tax cuts for the more successful among us, and would in fact give a tax cut to the other ninety five percent. McCain has described this shifting of the tax burden as redistribution of wealth. But neither like to talk about the real point:

We're broke, baby.

It's not about a fair and equitable tax rate that allows all Americans to prosper and does not punish success. We all want that. It's about the fact that the United States of America is mind bogglingly deep in debt and if we can't start paying some of it down China is gonna send someone over to repossess the country.

And the simple truth is the "middle class"-- neck deep in charge card debt, with their retirement suddenly shrunken and kids in college on credit, is pretty well squeezed out. Its not that we wouldn't like to get more out of them. But Joe Sixpack is as broke as the government.

And, I can't help but think that we just bailed out the millionaires when they needed help. The USA needs a bailout now. Maybe if Exxon Mobil and Bill Gates would take a just little less in tax cuts America's stock could rise too.

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/10/18/18545332.php

McCain Can't Catch a Wave, Uncle Ted for President

Did you know that Alaska's Senator Ted Stevens was a pioneering surfer?

Say what you will about Alaska's Senior Sourpuss, the man knows when to sit on his board and when to paddle. Since before statehood he has shown the knack for recognizing a rising groundswell and riding it well. Even now, sitting on his board in federal court with shoals of evidence all around him he is waiting for the right moment to start paddling. Sure enough, his prosecutors have bumbled him up a wave of mistakes. He may ride out of this one yet.

John McCain, on the other hand can't catch a wave. Eight years ago he tried "straight talk" and was obliterated by the Bush sleaze machine. This time he went to the dark side only to be swept off his board by a wave of hope and honesty. Whether its the war in Iraq, the economy, drilling our way to energy independance, or the idiocy of picking Governor Palingate, he always seems a day late, a dollar short.

Is it too late for the Republicans to run Uncle Ted?

Don't Vote While Stupid

The Big Lie:
McCain and Palin tear page out of Hitler’s Notebook
I had an upsetting conversation with a friend yesterday-- a person I like and respect who “voted for Al Gore”. She plans to vote for McCain/Palin this time.
“Why” I asked.
“Because Obama is going to raise our taxes.”
“That’s not true. Most of us will get a tax cut.”
“Not if I make more than $200,000.”
“Do you make more than $200,000?”
“No”
“Then you will get a tax cut.”
“No. He’s going to raise taxes before he lowers them.”
“Now that’s just false.”
“His only experience in government is community service”
“That’s what he did right out of college. He’s been a state and U.S. Senator and is a professor of Constitu…”
Someone a few feet away said “That boy called our Governor a pig.”
My skin prickling I said “No, what he said was…”
But it was too late. My friend and the new entrant were comparing notes noisily.
I looked up at Fox News on the TV monitor and shuddered. We will get what we collectively deserve, I suppose.

For the record:
1. The tax “increases” McCain often references are of course a more complex deal than they let on. Of course they are, just look at your own taxes. It is fair to say, though that they mostly refer to closing tax loopholes used by companies like Exxon to avoid being taxed on real profits, and simply not continuing the Bushcuts-- tax breaks for our most wealthy citizens.
2. If you only watch Fox, or only listen to NPR, or only do as your Minister wills, don’t vote. This election requires us to crosscheck the facts and know your own mind.

As for McCain/Palin: This from the redoubtable Wiki:

The Big Lie
Used in Hitler's psychological profile
The phrase was used in a report prepared during the war by the United States Office of Strategic Services in describing Hitler's psychological profile:[3]
His primary rules were: never allow the public to cool off; never admit a fault or wrong; never concede that there may be some good in your enemy; never leave room for alternatives; never accept blame; concentrate on one enemy at a time and blame him for everything that goes wrong; people will believe a big lie sooner than a little one; and if you repeat it frequently enough people will sooner or later believe it.[4]
The Big Lie in popular culture
George Orwell's novel 1984 refers to the Big Lie theory on several occasions. For example:
“The key-word here is blackwhite. Like so many Newspeak words, this word has two mutually contradictory meanings. Applied to an opponent, it means the habit of impudently claiming that black is white, in contradiction of the plain facts.” [5]
“To tell deliberate lies while genuinely believing in them, to forget any fact that has become inconvenient, and then when it becomes necessary again, to draw it back from oblivion for just so long as it is needed...” [6]

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/17/palin.probe/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEtZlR3zp4c

McCain Flying Blind by the Seat Of His Pants

Mr. McCain wrote in his 2002 book, "Worth the Fighting For."

"Often my haste is a mistake, but I live with the consequences without complaint."

Senator John McCain

Is is OK if we complain?

"She's a partner and a soul-mate," he said of Sarah Palin, whom he had met once, in addition to a single phone call, before making her his VP pick. Hopefully the consequences of this hasty mistake will include the overwhelming victory of Mr. Obama. Because once again McCain shows his style and judgement should disqualify him for the Presidency. Sarah Palin is not ready.

One third of Vice Presidents have wound up serving as President.

Our beloved Governor has, in her twenty short months, flip-flopped on earmarks (she was in favor of the bridge to nowhere before she was against it), frustrated the state legislature with her sphinx-like lack of communication and shown poor control over her own staff. She's only in her very first improper use of power scandal! This would all be fine with us Alaskans: a good lead sled dog must be trained in the traces. But Mr. McCain has taken a promising puppy and put her on an Iditarod team. She will end up hurt, along with the team.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/02/AR2008090203462.html?nav%3Dhcmoduletmv&sub=AR

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/01/AR2008090103127.html

Breaking News! Karl Rove is Vladmir Putin

Wears Sumo Suit When Inside U.S.

I was as disappointed as anyone when Senator John McCain crawled out of the 2000 election as a slithering henchman to the Bush White House.

How had they done it? How did they break him? Was it simply the horrifying realization that the dark side is very effective? In 2000 he bet his political shirt that truth would always conquer lies. His foe Karl Rove, Master of Puppets, had risen to power by using the opposite philosophy: lies work better, they work faster, and can be crafted to acheive the stated goal. Rove made road kill out of the crusading McCain. In the eight years since, The Rove Model: start with the desired conclusion (invade Iraq, subvert the democratic process, etc.) and fill in middle part, (where many of us would foolishly use facts) with juicy delicious half truths and outright lies, to get back to the beginning (where many of us would foolishly start) and pinpoint the problem.

So, we start with the conclusion, let's say "It's Time to Invade Iraq Now", then fill in the middle with yellowcake, unsubstantiated single-source "intelligence" and foam flecked rhetoric, and we get back to the beginning: a braying goat in the desert named Saddam is at the center of world terrorism.

Let's do another. Start with the conclusion, "It's Time to Invade Georgia Now", fill in the middle with paranoia about the west, and false sense of urgency, to get to the beginning: United States proxies in Georgia are killing Russians in South Ocetia. Oh wait a minute, that was Putin.

Hey, hang on! He stepped back from his official position to a more oblique one in which he is still in the spotlight, and still firmly in power. Is it President Putin, or Fox analyst Karl Rove?

Have you ever looked into their beady eyes? They're the same I tell you! They're the same!

And here' why I hope they are not:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/08/31/dissentious-website-owner_n_122819.html