John McCain

This is what I would do if I had several thousand dollars to spare these days :

1. I would have wire clothes hangers, like the ones dry cleaning stores us, and I'd covered them in dark blue rice paper with the blue and logo of the McCain campaign.

2. The tag line under the logo? "I do not support Roe versus Wade. It should be overturned."

3. A second design option would have his fateful words about how he would change the Supreme Court of the United States with the judges like like Roberts and Alito or his dear friend Chief Rhenquist.

4. If I had more money, I'd hang a Supreme Court Justice looking robe from several hundreds of them and deliver them to each and every one of the high-profile Democrats, whereas politicians or funders, who are being assholes about supporting Obama.

Plain and simple message : You support McCain? Kiss equal rights for women away.

As the flood waters recede in the Midwest, it becomes increasingly clear that this was yet ANOTHER preventable disaster that the Republicans let happen. McCain is one of many Republicans who fought tooth and nail to prevent flood control measures in the Midwest.

First, some general background. On June 8th, 2008, NPR ran a report on the decline of America's flood control dams (you can listen with Openplayer, I think). There has been a jump of 33% in the number of dams that are considered unsafe. Consider that as you ponder the impact of these floods.

Now, more specifically, the Des Moines Register carried a piece on how Republicans, despite warnings from 1993 on, refused in 2007 to fund a much-needed upgrade to the levees protecting Des Moines. Many other similar upgrades were part of the same bill. McCain fiercely opposed the bill and Bush eventually vetoed it when Democrats passed it. From the Des Moines Register:

Republican presidential candidate John McCain opposed legislation last year that included money for flood control in Des Moines, which shows he is wrong to push for reforms to the congressional earmark system, a Democratic lawmaker charged Thursday.

The Public Service Administration strikes again with a positively not safe for work (NSFW) video about McCain and his most egregious quote about his wife.

You can find the uncensored video here. The SFW version is here.

Am so ambivalent about the reporting of this incident that, honestly, I won't publish about it here on my blog out of respect for Cindy McCain. I don't see the need to repeat or even make public this incident unless you want to play dirty politics.

I don't care either if you are a so-called progressive like Clift Schechter bringing up the dirt. It's still dirty and still further debases the political process into who gets to digg up and sling more dirt at their contender.

What do you all think?

I have been covering to some degree the terrible flooding in the Midwest and describing how the levees breaking, leading to the flooding of towns and cities in Wisconsin and Iowa, are a direct result of deliberate Republican neglect of America's infrastructure. Republicans prefer giving your tax money to Halliburton, Exxon and Blackwater than using that money to fix our roads, bridges and levees. This morning on NPR I heard as many as two dozen levees are in danger of breaking as flood waters flow downstream along the Mississippi. A huge chunk of the Midwest has been affected. These levees should have been maintained! This began as a natural disaster, but Republican neglect of the levees is responsible for the scale of the disaster...just like in New Orleans.

Democrats vote for funding to maintain our infrastructure. Republicans vote against that funding. That means, when Republicans are in control, our levees, roads and bridges decay, leading to disaster. But the dedication of Democrats and the neglect by Republicans goes deeper than that.

As the floodwaters rose in the Midwst, Barack Obama grabbed a shovel and helped:

Where was McCain? Where was Bush?

The National Jewish Democratic Council has assembled this fact sheet on John McCain's right wing extremism. It is enough to make any moderate shudder:

FORMER MAVERICK
MCCAIN’S EMBRACE OF EXTREMISM

“ … the Christian right has a major role to play in the Republican Party.”
- John McCain [New York Times, 4/3/06]

DESPITE HIS CLAIMS TO BE INDEPENDENT, MCCAIN TAKES EXTREME POSITIONS ON SOCIAL ISSUES; HE SAYS AMERICA IS A “CHRISTIAN NATION”

McCain stated that a candidate’s Christian faith is “an important characteristic”
for a president, that he would prefer a Christian president and that the "Constitution established the United States of America as a Christian nation." Furthermore, despite criticism, a statement from his official campaign spokeswoman defended the comments and said again, "America is a Christian nation, and it is hardly a controversial claim." The New York Sun, October 1, 2007.

McCain has voted two-thirds of the time against bills supported by Americans United for the Separation of Church and State. [Project Vote Smart]

I have already discussed at some length the dismal and DELIBERATE Republican failures to maintain America's infrastructure. The Republican Party has a stated policy of "Drowning American in a Bathtub," essentially reducing government to nothing. This is how Republican guru Grover Norquist put it:

"Cutting the government in half in one generation is both an ambitious and reasonable goal," Norquist stated in May 2000. "If we work hard we will accomplish this and more by 2025. Then the conservative movement can set a new goal. I have a recommendation: To cut government in half again by 2050"

We saw the direct and tragic result of that Republican "Drown America" policy in Louisiana and Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina, in closed and collapsed bridges in Minnesota, and now...floods in Iowa this month (June 7th).

As John McCain is lying to try and get Jews to vote for him, it might be a good idea to review the facts about Obama and McCain from a Jewish perspective. This comes from the National Jewish Democratic Council:

OBAMA STANDS WITH PROGRESSIVE VALUES ON DOMESTIC ISSUES

• He supports reproductive rights and will uphold Roe v. Wade.
• Obama cosponsored the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2007.
• He will provide affordable access to health insurance for every American.
• He has fought for increased investment in renewable fuels.

OBAMA PERFECT PRO-ISRAEL VOTING RECORD

The pro-Israel community has always used voting records to determine whether a candidate is “pro-Israel.”
• He has voted in favor of foreign aid to Israel every time.
• He has signed onto numerous pro-Israel letters and resolutions.
• When in the State Senate, he cosponsored a bill authorizing the state of Illinois to invest in Israel bonds.

OBAMA BELIEVES ISRAEL’S SECURITY IS PARAMOUNT

• Obama said, “Israel’s security is sacrosanct [...] I will also carry with me an unshakable commitment to the security of
Israel and the friendship between the United States and Israel.” – New York Sun, 2/25/2008

WTF!

Now I want to know where McCain stands on the issue of hot water, dehydrated babies and bottle production. STAT!

Last night I attended the annual dinner of the Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats, a local club where my wife is a club officer. I want to share with you a highlight of that evening. Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer spoke to us and his speech was excellent and covered several points that we all should pay attention to.

Now Chuck Schumer is certainly not my favorite Democrat. Too hawkish, somewhat prone to using Bush talking points, and disappointing as my Senator. Joy and I even had a run in with his office when we were part of a MoveOn.org delegation to object to an early funding request from Bush for the Iraq Quagmire. We were basically told to shut up and vote for Chuck anyway.

Chuck Schumer too often has been among the Democrats who has most disappointed me because for someone who is supposed to be such a bulldog, he has too often shown too much of a lack of spine against Bush.

But last night he gave an excellent speech, and one that could be seen as critical of the very weakness that Chuck has sometimes himself displayed under the Bush Administration.

The key message of his speech can be summed up by the quote I used as the title for this piece and one that all Democrats around the nation should be taking up: "I am not afraid of John McCain."