[Ninong]

John McCain - Hero de la France!

John McCain made a stop in Paris to accept the thanks of a grateful nation for his help in landing the $35 billion Air Force Fuel Tanker contract for Airbus over their American rival, Boeing. For a while there the Airbus folks were worried that the Bush Administration might give this huge contract to Boeing just because Boeing is an American company and it would mean thousands of jobs, but John McCain saw to it that the necessary legislation was in place to assist Airbus in their quest for this really, really big deal.

Merci, Jean McCain - a grateful nation salutes you.

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John McCain, Hero de la France (Cont'd.):

WASHINGTON — As a reliably red state, Kansas has backed a Republican in each of the last 10 presidential elections. But Democrats say things could be different in 2008.

With their economy strongly tied to aviation and defense jobs, Kansans are riled over the Air Force's decision Feb. 29 to give a $35 billion aerial-tanker contract to a partnership with ties to France, rejecting a bid by Boeing, which would have done final assembly and testing of the planes in Wichita.

As the anger builds, Democrats are reminding voters that Arizona Sen. John McCain, this year's presumed Republican presidential nominee, has a history of sparring with Boeing, which promised to bring 3,800 jobs to Wichita if it won the contract.

"He has made it abundantly clear that, if president, he would be indifferent to the outsourcing of American jobs, even at a time when our families and our nation's economy are hurting the most," said Larry Gates, the chairman of the Kansas Democratic Party.

At a presidential debate in Florida two months ago, McCain boasted that he "saved the taxpayers $6 billion in a bogus tanker deal," a reference to his leading role in stopping a contract between Boeing and the Air Force in 2004 in the face of a procurement scandal that eventually sent Boeing's chief financial officer and a top Air Force acquisitions officer to prison. And in his run for the White House, McCain hired a finance director and several top advisers who'd lobbied on behalf of the European Aeronautics Defense and Space Co., the parent company of Boeing's rival, Airbus.

McCain has come under relentless attack since the Air Force awarded the contract, the second largest in Pentagon history.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California said the tanker work would be "outsourced" largely because of McCain's opposition. Democratic Rep. Rahm Emanuel of Illinois said the jobs were going overseas "all because John McCain demanded it."

Even Republicans are jumping in.

"Americans are outraged by the Air Force's decision to outsource American jobs," Kansas Republican Rep. Todd Tiahrt said. "As our presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Americans look forward to hearing from him. The more Senator McCain learns about this unfair tanker competition, the more I think he will identify with the outrage Kansans feel."

McCain also is getting plenty of criticism in the state of Washington, which expected to get 9,000 jobs if Boeing won the contract.

"I hope the voters of this state remember what John McCain has done to them and their jobs," said Democratic Rep. Norm Dicks of Washington state.
McCain's campaign declined to comment. But on the campaign trail, he's denied any role in getting the Air Force to award the contract to EADS, which teamed up with a U.S.-based partner, Northrop Grumman.

McCain's opponents said he laid the groundwork for Airbus in 2003, when Congress approved his amendment allowing the Pentagon to buy American military equipment from foreign companies. In 2006, McCain wrote letters to the Defense Department regarding the tanker project. Opponents said the senator was lobbying on Airbus' behalf, but McCain said he was merely calling for an open process that wouldn't exclude Airbus from bidding.

"All the senator advocated for was 100 percent full competition, and that's it," said Keith Ashdown, chief investigator with Taxpayers for Common Sense, a Washington watchdog group.

He applauded McCain's efforts.

"It was always about making sure the taxpayer was getting the best value for their dollar for new weapon systems," Ashdown said. "Politics is politics, and people are looking for ways — fairly and unfairly — to target each presidential candidate. And in the case of Senator McCain, I would argue that the Boeing episode is probably one of the reasons why he should be president, contrary to what Democrats claim."

Sensing a winning issue, Democrats and labor leaders are ready to go national with the brouhaha, hoping that it will cost McCain votes.

As Pennsylvania voters prepare for their primary April 22, their governor, Democrat Ed Rendell, went on national television to tell voters that the Air Force's decision to reject Boeing was wrong and "really unspeakable."

The AFL-CIO accuses McCain of having a consistent anti-worker record in the Senate, and it's sending union protesters to spread the word in Pennsylvania and anywhere else McCain goes until Election Day.

With his ties to Airbus lobbyists, McCain will have a harder time making the argument that he's independent of special interests, said Mike Gaughan, the executive director of the Kansas Democratic Party. He said McCain's refusal to question the Air Force's decision "gives us a glimpse into the kind of economic policy we can expect from a McCain presidency."

He noted that McCain already had been hurt by his ties to Airbus, citing as proof his loss in the state's Republican caucuses Feb. 9 to former Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas, who has since left the race.

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New McCain Commercial

Here.

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SF Group Wants to Honor President Bush

If they can just get enough signatures on their petition drive they can get this proposal on the November 2008 ballot. Knowing San Francisco, I'm confident it would pass easily. George W. Bush has a special place in the hearts of San Franciscans who gave him fully 15% of the vote in 2000 and again in 2004. He's almost a favorite son there.

Looking to honor the forty-third President of the United States of America, George W. Bush, the recently formed Presidential Memorial Commission of San Francisco is looking to change the name of the Oceanside Wastewater Treatment Facility. It seems the group would like to rename the SF Zoo adjacent facility to the "George W Bush Sewage Plant."

[Ninong]

McCain needs to appear more often with Pres. Bush

I think it would be a great idea for Sen. McCain to make more joint appearances with our dearly beloved 43rd president. It would help make McCain appear more presidential and remind voters that he intends to continue the policies of the current compassionate conservative president. That should reassure voters.


CBS/NY Times Poll:

Asked to compare the state of the country to how it was five years ago four percent say things are better now.

Asked if the country is heading in the right direction or on the wrong track, fully fourteen percent believe it is heading in the right direction.

Only twenty-one percent of Americans approve of President Bush's handling of the economy but the president's overall job approval rating is a whopping twenty-eight percent.

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No Wonder People Think Things Are Going So Great Right Now

Nonfarm payrolls declinced by 80,000 in March. February's decline was revised upward to 76,000 from 63,000. That makes the third straight month the economy has lost jobs.

The unemployment rate ticked up to 5.1% in March from 4.8%. This is a fictious number anyway but it's moving in the wrong direction. Real unemployment/underemployment is much higher. We have been playing games with this number for decades.

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WALNUTS! McCrazy Still Clueless on Iraq

During an appearance on Fox News Sunday, John McCain again repeated the false claim that Moqtada al-Sadr declared the ceasefire in Basra last week and said he thought the Iraqi army was performing well.

"It was al-Sadr that declared the ceasefire, not Maliki," said McCain. "With respect, I don’t think Sadr would have declared the ceasefire if he thought he was winning. Most times in history, military engagements, the winning side doesn’t declare the ceasefire. The second point is, overall, the Iraqi military performed pretty well. … The military is functioning very effectively."

He said virtually the same thing several days ago. Why haven't his handlers explained this to him yet?

Nouri al-Maliki sent representatives to Iran to ask Iran to please ask Moqtada al-Sadr to agree to a ceasefire. The Iraqi army was losing badly to roque elements of the Mahdi Army, al-Sadr's militia, in Basra. More than 1,000 members of the Iraqi army deserted or refused to fight. U.S. and British air support had to be brought in to support the Iraqi army and prevent them from being wiped out. The Brits even sent in commandos to reinforce the Iraqi units and offer guidance.

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Condi Rice Wants VP Spot

Campbell Brown's husband was on ABC yesterday saying that Condi is "actively campaigning for the VP spot" on the GOP ticket. WALNUTS! refused to comment, saying that he's not ready to discuss who is or is not on his short list.

I think we can add Condi's name to the same list with Charlie Crist. Neither one has a snowball's chance in hell of making it onto the ticket but their mere mention is enough to cause concern in certain quarters. Maybe someone will throw David Dreier's name into the mix?

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Name a word that rhymes with 'hunt' and 'punt' that John McCain used to describe his wife?

In front of at least three witnesses no less! He also called her a trollop.

Temper, temper.

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WALNUTS! McCrazy Still Clueless on Iraq (Cont'd.)

A little while ago Sen. McCain asked Gen. Petraeus about al-Qaida and it is obvious from his statement that McCain still thinks al-Qaida is a Shiite organization. Al-Qaida is a Sunni group. McCain has already forgotten that he screwed this up four times before, including that time in front of the teevee cameras when Sen. Joe Lieberman whispered in his ear that al-Qaida operatives in Iraq were NOT being taken to Iran for training, just Shiite extremists were going to Iran for training but not al-Qaida.

McCain is obviously exhibiting signs of early onset Alzheimer's because he's back to claiming that al-Qaida is a Shiite group.

MCCAIN: Do you still view al Qaeda in Iraq as a major threat?

PETRAEUS: It is still a major threat, though it is certainly not as major a threat as it was say 15 months ago.

MCCAIN: Certainly not an obscure sect of the Shi’ites overall?

My friends, here's the straight talk on Iraq: John McCain has no idea what he's talking about.

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McCain's New Campaign Ad

My friends, here's the straight talk on the economy: The economy is strong. I don't believe we're in a recession.

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McCain Lying His Ass Off Again

My friends, here's the straight talk on John McCain's lies about Barack Obama's position on public campaign financing. McCain just said to Chris Matthews, who still has a mancrush on him, that Barack Obama committed in writing to accept public financing in the general election if the Republican nominee did the same. That is NOT what Barack Obama said in writing in that presidential questionaire from the Midwest Democracy Network that Sen. McCain is referencing.

Here is exactly, verbatim what Obama wrote: "If I am the Democratic nominee, I will aggressively pursue an agreement with the Republican nominee to preserve a publicly financed general election."

Sen. McCain, who was not the sharpest pencil in the box at Annapolis (graduating fifth from last in his class), obviously has a problem with English. A commitment to hold discussions to preserve a publicly financed general election is not a commitment to accept public financing. Obama may yet accept public financing in the general but he did NOT promise to do so if the Republican nominee did the same. He merely promised to hold discussions with the Republican nominee to discuss ways to preserve public financing.

The problem the Republicans have right now is so new to them that they still haven't come to grips with it yet. They are being crushed by the Democrats in the money-raising competition. Barack Obama has 1.3 million individual contributors. He doesn't need money from big corporations and PACs because he has the backing of the common man. Both John McCain and Hillary Clinton have been getting most of their contributions from fatcats and corporations. And most of their contributors have already maxed out. Barack can keep asking his 1.3 million contributors for "another $25" every other week.

McCain did commit officially to accepting public financing in the primaries and he used that guarantee of public money to get on the ballot in several states without having to collect signatures. He also used it to secure a bank loan. Later, after his campaign arose from the dead, McCain tried to withdraw from the public financing commitment he had already made. He was informed, in writing, by the Republican chairmain of the FEC that he cannot lawfully unilaterally withdraw once he had already applied for and was accepted for public financing.

McCain has already violated the provisions of the McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Reform law (a law he wrote) by spending more than the allowable limit in the primaries. He claims the law doesn't apply to him because he changed his mind and wrote a letter to the FEC informing them of his decision to withdraw. He was informed that he doesn't have the right to withdraw without the consent of the commission. Even if he were allowed to withdraw, then what about those state primaries where he gained access to the ballot by virture of qualifying for federal financing instead of having to spend a fortune collecting signatures?

When he was flat broke, McCain was all for federal financing of his campaign but after he raised a few million, he changed his mind. McCain's best month ever was last month, when he raised a whopping $15 million. That's chickenfeed compared to the more than $40 million raised by Obama last month. Even Hillary Clinton, whose campaign has been hopeless for the last two months, raised $20 million last month. McCain's campaign manager, with a straight face, made the hilarious assertion that McCain's campaign is on the rise because he went from $12 million in February to $15 million in March and Obama's campaign is faltering because he raised $15 million less in March than he did in February. Let's see, a slide from $55 million in February to a mere $40 million in March is much, much worse than rasing $12 million in February and $15 million in March. So McCain raised a total of $27 million in the last two months compared to Barack's $95 million and his campaign sees that as a win for their team.

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Sorta, Kinda Related to McCain's Campaign

Karl Rove, currently employed by Newsweek, the Wall Street Journal and FOX News, is also an unpaid senior adviser to the McCain Campaign. One of Karl's buddies was recently in the news for typical Republican family values shenanigans. It seems a 20-year-old man had accused him of rape.



Smile, You're On Candid Camera: The good news is that the cops found videotaped evidence that the sex was consensual. The young man is now facing charges of filing a false accusation.

The bad news is that the cops also found lots and lots of other videotapes. Karl's buddy had rigged hidden high-tech cameras all around his house and his business office. Hundreds and hundreds of videotapes of Karl's buddy engaging in consensual sex with up to 500 young men, most of whom were apparently associated with a local male escort service.

Karl's buddy, Bruce Barclay, is off the hook on the rape accusation but he's in hot water for videotaping these sexual encounters without permission of the other parties.

He has resigned his position as Republican commissioner of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania.

Here.

Additional coverage here.

P.S. -- It won't be long now before Joe Francis comes out with a segment called "Republicans Gone Wild."

Bend over and vote Republican!

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Washington Post Has Lengthy Article On McCain's Temper

I'm surprised this got past Donald Graham. Since the death of his mother, the paper has become nothing more than a shill for the Republican party, especially the Bush administration.

A few selected excerpts:

Former senator Bob Smith, a New Hampshire Republican, expresses worries about McCain: "His temper would place this country at risk in international affairs, and the world perhaps in danger. In my mind, it should disqualify him."

He defied authority, ridiculed other students, sometimes fought. The nicknames hung on him at Episcopal mocked his hair-trigger feistiness: "Punk" and "McNasty."

McCain made a stop at his alma mater, Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Virginia, last week on his bio tour. Just for the record, the annual tuition at that high school is $38,000. That doesn't make him an elitist like Barack Obama but it's noteworthy nonetheless.

... he went on to the Naval Academy, where his pattern of unruliness and defiance continued, landing him near the bottom of his class. "I acted like a jerk," McCain wrote of the period before he righted himself to become a naval aviator, a Vietnam POW and eventually a career politician.

Any other midshipman would have been expelled for the things McCain did at the Naval Academy. "Near the bottom of his class" means he finished fifth from the bottom in a class of 899. If McCain does manage to succeed George W. Bush in the White House it would not only be a continuation of the Bush administration, it would also be two C- students in a row being elected president.

The article relates various incidents when McCain "shouted a profanity" at fellow Republican senators. That's code for dropped an f-bomb on them. Similar to what Vice President Dick Cheney said to Sen. Patrick Leahy on the floor of the Senate.

[Sen. Thad] Cochran [R-MS] landed in newspapers early during the campaign after declaring that the thought of McCain in the Oval Office "sends a cold chill down my spine."

Early during their days together in the Senate, Smith [former senator Bob Smith, a New Hampshire Republican] came to believe that McCain often used his temper as a strategic weapon, that if he "couldn't persuade you, he was going at least to needle you or [sometimes] belittle you or blow up into trying to have you believe you were beneath him, so that you'd be less likely to challenge him. He needed to be the top guy."

Smith admits to not liking McCain, a point he has often made over the years to reporters. "I've witnessed a lot of his temper and outbursts," Smith said. "For me, some of this stuff is relevant. It raises questions about stability. . . . It's more than just temper. It's this need of his to show you that he's above you -- a sneering, condescending attitude. It's hurt his relationships in Congress. . . . I've seen it up-close."

Smith, whose service in the Navy included a tour on the waters in and around Vietnam, said he stood stunned one day when McCain declared around several of their colleagues that Smith wasn't a real Vietnam War veteran. "I was in the combat zone, off the Mekong River, for 10 months," Smith said. "He went on to insult me several times. I wasn't on the land; I guess that was his reasoning. . . . He suggested I was masquerading about my Vietnam service. It was very hurtful. He's gotten to a lot of people [that way]."

While in the course of a policy disagreement at a luncheon meeting of Republican senators, McCain reportedly insulted Pete V. Domenici of New Mexico with an earthy expletive. Domenici demanded an apology. "Okay, I'll apologize," McCain said, before referring to an infuriated Domenici with the same expletive.

The article relates two separate incidents when McCain called fellow Republican politicians to demand the firing of two female employees because he had had personal run-ins with them. In both instances, his fellow Republicans told him "to go to hell." McCain's campaign says he has no recollection of these two incidents. One involved a U.S. senator and the other an Arizona state senator. Both recall the incidents in detail.

Apparently Sen. McCain suffers from a Napoleon complex:

Woods helped orchestrate McCain's first House campaign in 1982 and worked to get him elected to the Senate in 1986. That year the Arizona Republican Party held its Election Night celebration for all its candidates at a Phoenix hotel, where the triumphant basked in the cheers of their supporters and delivered victory statements on television.

After McCain finished his speech, he returned to a suite in the hotel, sat down in front of a TV and viewed a replay of his remarks, angry to discover that the speaking platform had not been erected high enough for television cameras to capture all of his face -- he seemed to have been cut off somewhere between his nose and mouth.

A platform that had been adequate for taller candidates had not taken into account the needs of the 5-foot-9 McCain, who left the suite and went looking for a man in his early 20s named Robert Wexler, the head of Arizona's Young Republicans, which had helped make arrangements for the evening's celebration. Confronting Wexler in a hotel ballroom, McCain exploded, according to witnesses who included Jon Hinz, then executive director of the Arizona Republican Party. McCain jabbed an index finger in Wexler's chest.

"I told you we needed a stage," he screamed, according to Hinz. "You incompetent little [expletive]. When I tell you to do something, you do it."

Hinz recalls intervening, placing his 6-foot-6 frame between the senator-elect and the young volunteer. "John, this is not the time or place for this," Hinz remembers saying to McCain, who fumed that he hadn't been seen clearly by television viewers. Hinz recollects finally telling McCain: "John, look, I'll follow you out on stage myself next time. I'll make sure everywhere you go there is a milk crate for you to stand on. But this is enough."

McCain spun around on his heels and left. He did not talk to Hinz again for several years. In 2000, as Hinz recalls, he appeared briefly on the Christian Broadcasting Network to voice his worries about McCain's temperament on televangelist Pat Robertson's show, "The 700 Club." Hinz's concerns have since grown with reports of incidents in and out of Arizona.

In 1994, McCain tried to stop a primary challenge to the state's Republican governor, J. Fife Symington III, by telephoning his opponent, Barbara Barrett, the well-heeled spouse of a telecommunications executive, and warning of unspecified "consequences" should she reject his advice to drop out of the race. Barrett stayed in. At that year's state Republican convention, McCain confronted Sandra Dowling, the Maricopa County school superintendent and, according to witnesses, angrily accused her of helping to persuade Barrett to enter the race.

"You better get [Barrett] out or I'll destroy you," a witness claims that McCain shouted at her. Dowling responded that if McCain couldn't respect her right to support whomever she chose, that he "should get the hell out of the Senate." McCain shouted an obscenity at her, and Dowling howled one back.

McCain has a long history of losing his temper in public and screaming at fellow legislators. He's also known for berating subordinates. Katherine Harris would make an excellent running mate.

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Better Off?

New McCain ad.

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Originally Posted by Ninong

Sorta, Kinda Related to McCain's Campaign

Karl Rove, currently employed by Newsweek, the Wall Street Journal and FOX News, is also an unpaid senior adviser to the McCain Campaign. One of Karl's buddies was recently in the news for typical Republican family values shenanigans. It seems a 20-year-old man had accused him of rape.



Smile, You're On Candid Camera: The good news is that the cops found videotaped evidence that the sex was consensual. The young man is now facing charges of filing a false accusation.

The bad news is that the cops also found lots and lots of other videotapes. Karl's buddy had rigged hidden high-tech cameras all around his house and his business office. Hundreds and hundreds of videotapes of Karl's buddy engaging in consensual sex with up to 500 young men, most of whom were apparently associated with a local male escort service.

Karl's buddy, Bruce Barclay, is off the hook on the rape accusation but he's in hot water for videotaping these sexual encounters without permission of the other parties.

He has resigned his position as Republican commissioner of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania.

Here.

Additional coverage here.

P.S. -- It won't be long now before Joe Francis comes out with a segment called "Republicans Gone Wild."

Bend over and vote Republican!

Justice: GOP Commissioner Vindicated After Being Falsely Accused

Josh Marshall has this hilarious video with details of the false accusations against GOP county commissioner Bruce Barclay.

Justice has been served. The police obtained a search warrant to search Barclay's home looking for evidence of rape and instead they found evidence that the sex was consensual. So Mr. Barclay is off the hook and Marshall McCurdy,the 20-year-old professional party boy who accused him of rape, is now facing a potential three years for filing a false report.

It took awhile for the police to find the evidence that the sex was consensual because there were hundreds and hundreds of videotapes of sexual encounters with hundreds of different young men, but the police finally found the one showing Mr. Barclay's accuser apparently participating willingly in the sexual encounter with Mr. Barclay even if he was unaware that the event was being memorialized on videotape.

It's quite possible that some of the hundreds of young men who were videotaped without their consent may have a problem with that and it's still possible that the authorities might decide to charge Mr. Barclay with fostering prostitution but at least he's no longer facing rape charges.

This just proves that we should always keep an open mind. Not all Republicans accused of sexual improprieties are guilty. County commissioner Bruce Barclay was completely innocent of the charges filed against him. No doubt he will receive "a loud, standing ovation" at the next GOP county convention in Cumberland county. What's that? You don't think so?

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Jenna Bush: "I don't know."

In Republican circles, this could constitute a form of sacrilege. Speaking on Larry King Live last night, first daughter Jenna Bush,who appeared alongside first lady Laura Bush, confessed that she's not sure if she'll vote for the presumptive Republican nominee for president, Sen. John McCain, and even left open the possibility that she'd support either Sen. Barack Obama or Sen. Hillary Clinton.

• KING: Do you have a favorite between the two, the two Democrats?
  
  LAURA BUSH: My favorite is the Republican.
  
  KING (pointing to Jenna): Yours too, I would imagine.
  
  JENNA BUSH: I don't know.
  
  KING: A-ha! Are you open to...
  
  JENNA BUSH: Yeah, of course. I mean, who isn't open to learning about the candidates and I'm sure that everybody's like that.

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Is George W. Bush smarter than a fifth grader?

I just caught this hilarious Bushism on MSNBC a couple of minutes ago:

Bush: "There's no doubt in my mind that the people standing behind me are some of the most bravest people in the history of our country."

They should never let him go off-script. They need to write out all of his public comments and make sure he reads them unchanged.

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John McCain, December 1994:

"I think we would be making a terrible mistake to go back to the '80s, where we cut all of those taxes and all of a sudden now we've got a debt that we've got to pay on an annual basis that is bigger than the amount that we spend on defense."

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John McCain in 2001, on ABC's "This Week," just days before Bush's first tax cut passed:

"I'd like to see much more of this tax cut shared by working Americans. . . . I think it still devotes too much of it to the wealthiest Americans."


John McCain in 2003:

Almost exactly two years later, Bush was back for more: $350 billion in tax cuts, which accelerated the first round and added deep cuts to the tax rates on dividends and capital gains.

"Most of the economists view this as primarily benefiting wealthier Americans," McCain said on CNBC at the time. "There's a theory, I think, that's prevalent -- it was true in the 2001 tax cuts -- that if you give it to the wealthy people, then they will then, you know, create jobs, et cetera. The interesting thing to me is that most economists will tell you that it's the middle-income Americans that have been keeping the economy afloat."


John McCain in 2003 explaining why Bush's proposed tax cuts were a bad idea:

"We have enormous defense expenditures. We don't know the cost of the war. We don't know the cost of reconstruction. We know it's in the tens of billions, at least, if not more," McCain said before the 2003 cuts were approved. "Obviously, we're going to be in Iraq a lot longer than many had anticipated."


P.S. -- Only two Republican senators voted against both of Bush's tax cuts: Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island and John McCain of Arizona. McCain said at the time that Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy offended his conscience. He has since resolved that problem but getting rid of his conscience.

P.P.S. -- ‘John Kerry is a close friend of mine. We have been friends for years. Obviously I would entertain it.’

— SEN. JOHN McCAIN, Arizona Republican, on ABC's "Good Morning America" in March 2004 responding to a question about rumors he was interested in the VP spot on the Democratic presidential ticket.