Whatever Means Necessary....

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I remember reading about Cindy McCain telling her adopted daughter, Bridget, who was deeply hurt by the slurs of South Carolina 2000 that it was politics. Nasty business, but politics.

Maybe that level of tolerance of vile tactics, the "good man" rationalizing using any means necessary just to survive, is what informs the current strategery of the McCain campaign.

Maybe he tells himself it's like back in the years in 'Nam, when yes, he did sign papers against America while a POW. You do anything necessary just to survive.

Unless you don't.

Joe Klein's commentary on John McCain's friendship with David Ifshin, an anti-Vietnam war protestor, "McCain's Radical Pal," is telling. That friendship was far closer than any serving-on-a-board-together collegiality by Obama and William Ayers. But what if it were an identical level of friendship.

Like the dark characters of the Bush Administration, notably Dick Cheney, and the callow, unethical charlatans of Republican consultancy, notably Karl Rove and his acolytes, there is evident in McCain these days a willingness to rationalize that anything goes.

That dishonor--breaking the Honor Conduct code of the Naval Academy and the naval tradition of the McCain family--is situational and acceptable in furtherance of the goal...survival.

Survival of a campaign mired in sleaze and smear. But the McCains' self-denial tells them that's okay. It can be washed off. It can be made right...once the election is over.

After all, it's just politics.
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Hate Talk Express

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We've been hearing little belches of bile of late from the McCain team of desperation. You know, that anti-Muslim DVD that's been tidily tucked into midsized newspapers around the country. The one I will give no further press by naming or linking. You know it's out there.

Speaking of out there, since the veep debate something else has been "out there"--the hate talk machine is starting to ratchet up. Oh, my yes. Sarah Palin's leadin' the charge, callin' Obama unAmerican and unpatriotic, and associatin' with characters like William Ayers.

Interesting, coming from a woman who's in bed--literally and figuratively--with Alaska-firsters, who want to separate that state from the rest of the Union.

Not to be outdone, Senator Joe Lieberlouse, CT for Joe, this morning on Faux "News" carried the baton a little further forward about Obama's "questionable associations." Hmmmm, Joe, seems to me you were one of those questionable associations, y'know, bein' his Senate mentor and all.

Say it ain't so, Joe.

Gee, that sounds familiar. Now where have I heard that before?

Now lots of folks aren't taking kindly to this "guilt by association" stuff. Like Paul Begala, this morning on Meet the Press, pointing out that John McCain has his own "questionable associations"--with the extremist, racist, anti-Semitic U.S. Council for World Freedom.

John McCain sat on the board of a very right-wing organization. It was the U.S. Council for World Freedom. It was chaired by a guy named John Singlaub, who wound up involved in the Iran-Contra scandal. It was an ultraconservative right-wing group. The Anti-Defamation League, in 1981, when McCain was on the board, said this about this organization. It was affiliated with the World Anti-Communist League, the parent organization, which ADL said, “has increasingly become a gathering place, a forum, a point of contact for extremists, racists and Anti-Semites.”

Which I suppose you could dismiss as so much ancient history. Except that right now the McCain camp is having to do damage control for John's own brother Joe likening Northern Virginia to a hotbed of commies.

So when Sarah Palin used that "say it ain't so, Joe" line the other night...do you suppose she was maybe mixin' up her Joes?
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Prairie's Readin': Alter on the "smear gap"

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The case that McCain lied about his intentions to run a civil campaign, seems to me, is readily apparent by his strategy hires and the cronies he's brought into his campaign...the same lowlifes responsible for labelling his adopted Bangladeshi daughter the family bastard in 2000.

Jonathan Alter minces no words in discussing the "smear gap" of the McCain campaign and lays blame on two fronts...McCain himself—and the media who enable him.

But the fault, notes Alter, lies in candidate McCain, who has compromised all the principles he's professed to uphold in order to win the White House. Like me, Alter wants to see the much-vaunted McCain honor instead of the sleaze.

If not, win or lose, we'll know who the bastard is.
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UPDATE: Josh over at TPM adds this thought about the company McCain keeps.
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Moral Bankruptcy-Summer Edition

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In a week when we've been treated to the twin spectres of political grandstanding at its most low--McCain slavering over warmongering and Matalin's avatar Corsi sleazing about Obama--the weekend, according to CNN, will put both presidential candidates on view for questioning on their faith and values. The conversations with Rev. Rick Warren are supposed to tell us about the character of each of these two.

I've been seeing more than I want of the character of one of the candidates this week. John McCain's unabashed, craven, covetous rush for the Presidency was on display as he grabbed the microphone to lash out against Russia for the situation in Georgia and for all manner of sins going back to the Cold War.

Maybe nobody's told McReckless that someone else is President. I know it's hard to believe when the playing-boy President is doin' cheers with the flag and Pootie-poot while havoc was erupting in Georgia. But then, that's what happens when you've mortgaged your country and your soul to the Chinese...you must pretend that their games are your life's highest priority.

Or maybe they are.

Meanwhile, if McCain...or his handlers...or his Rovian-schooled advisors think that giving the American people a glimpse of an even more reckless, more bellicose, more opportunistic war-monger than Bush 43 is a smart idea, well...maybe not so much.

And speaking of Rove, in the crucible of the vile Jerome Corsi smear book, has there ever been a female doppelganger more morally bankrupt than Corsi's project manager/editor, Mary "a good piece of scholarship" Matalin? No wonder she scuttled out of Foggy Bottom. But doesn't New Orleans have enough problems already?
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The Surrender of McCain

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The rollout of hate, slime and smear from the McCain camp in recent days proves with clarity this one thing:

John McCain has surrendered his honor, his integrity, his civility—some might say his manhood— to the merchants of hate within the Republican Party. Karl Rove and his succubi, Freedom's Watch, Adelstein. The only one missing is Medusa Matalin.

Maverick? Straight talker? Not so much.

"This is just one example of why John Weaver hasn't been involved in this campaign in over a year." McCain campaign manager, Rick Davis, snapping back to Andrea Mitchell's reading of Weaver's criticism of the "celebrity" ad.

Why? Because he's a decent, honorable human being?

Davis scrambling to defend his boss McCain with Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC. The distinctive stench of desperation oozing out of every pore.
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UPDATE: Ron Brownstein stating the obvious to Mitchell: unsavory elements in the "celebrity" ad, the use of young blonde white women, reminiscent of the ad against Harold Ford. Plus noting McCain's sharper personal attacks and palpable lack of regard against Obama.

Will the McCainiacs pull back from these tactics? Or just go underground?

UPDATE 2: McCain provides an answer. At his town hall today, he says "We're proud of that commercial." Remember that, folks. A race-baiting ad. He's proud of it.

Surrogate Sludge

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McCain surrogate Charlie Crist gettin' his road test for the Veepstakes this morning with JoeScar on MSNBC? [link when and if they post one]

Crist certainly proved he can dodge and duck a straightforward question...repeated multiple times by Scarborough... in the best evasive, subject-changing tradition of the radical 'thugs about whether he agrees with McCain's lowlife statement that Barack Obama would be willing to lose a war to win the election.

Even Scarborough found that smear way beyond stunning.

The Florida Governor did his best to push the positives about his guy Johnny Mac.

But this I'm positive about: the candidate who is so desperate to win he will say anything, do anything [sellout to Big Oil for campaign contributions, anyone?], flip-flop on his promised integrity and honor, and bear false witness is the AWOL-from-the-Senate and AWOL from his honor pledge John McCain.
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At long last...

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At long last, John McCain and your Big Oil-funded radical rightwing smear machine, have you no shame?
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The only thing missing was Depity Dawg doing the delivery...or was it too low even for him?
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Then again, maybe Depity had other priorities at the time...

h/t HuffPo and ThinkProgress via the links

Confidential to Cindy

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Perhaps a step back would be in order for you, Cindy, and the rest of the rightwing smear machine, of which you have now made yourself deliberately, repetitively, a part.

"Let she who is without sin cast the first stone."

Wise philosophy...wise political strategy, too. Just sayin'.
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FOX = Racist, Misogynistic "News"

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First [in this latest go-round] there was the "terrorist fist jab" courtesy E.D. Hill now being replaced, according to reports, by Laura Ingraham...what? E.D. wasn't coded enough?

In response to Imus' bringing up the incident with Chris Wallace this morning, Wallace's clipped "well, she apologized" begged the question. WTF is Fox News up to?

Quick on the well-rounded heels of that bit of catapulting Rethug slime tactics was the screen text calling Michelle "Obama's baby mama." An insulting derogatory demeaning term for a successful woman who has lived the American dream of going to the highest levels based on hard work, intelligence, dedication, and strong integrity.

Not a wealth-inheriting fortunate son or daughter riding on the laurels of daddy's power and/or wealth.

Let's be blunt. These attacks on Michelle and Barack Obama and their strong marriage and family are attacks on all our families, on all families who are working daily to make better lives for their children and the larger community that is America.

Which pretty much fits in the pattern of the Rethuglican pro-Fatcat, anti-Family Agenda.

Sure, they tout family values...during election season...but then they go back to business as usual...tearing down families with their personal deeds and their legislative agenda.

These misogynistic tactics may be business as usual for a propaganda network where exploitation of women and pushing the lowest sleaze as "entertainment" tabloids with "news" to create the media equivalent of something I'd use to line the bottom of the cat litter box.

FOX "News" and Roger Ailes ['cause you know this stuff doesn't just pop out of the mouths or keyboards of the hired help] and Rupert Murdoch all owe Barack and Michelle Obama—and all of us—an apology.

A real apology this time. One that's coupled with "we get it." Even if "we get it" means they at long last understand we are not going to take this crap any more.

It is racist. It is misogynistic. It is anti-family. It is anti-American. It is anti-democracy.

What Do You Do Now?

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Senator Jim Webb had to answer that question time after time in his service to this country and all of us over the years, but the most poignant moment, the one he himself says stays with him to this day, was during his Marine Corps duty in Viet Nam.

From his new book, A Time to Fight, excerpted Sunday in Parade magazine and at Parade.com:

A gray-haired man in white pajamas, probably a grandfather, was dead, having wrapped himself around a small boy to protect him from the blast. It was clear that his final thoughts were of the boy. His shocked, opaque eyes and his still-curled body were the very definition of love and human sacrifice. The boy was still alive, although barely....

The doc put the boy on a wooden box next to our command post. Over the next half hour, as I spoke on the radio, the boy lay near me quietly, never making a sound, all the while watching me. Nor could I stop watching him. And as we stared at each other, he slowly died.

Webb sees the state of the nation today, but also issues a challenge to each and every one of us.

Our country is in the middle of a profound crisis. This crisis has many causes, but much of it has been brought about by poor leadership decisions at every level of government. In addition, our electoral process is dominated by financial interests that are threatened by the very notion of reform.

Be as shrewd and ruthless in your demands on our leaders as the wizards running campaigns are in their strategies to get your vote.

This past week we saw a ramping-up of the Politics of Smear by George Bush and John McCain in their tag-team attacks on Barack Obama. Attacks that backfired as Democrats justly rallied around the candidate, including his only remaining competitor for the Democratic nomination, Hillary Clinton.

But this was an attack that goes beyond partisan politics. The history of the presidency itself has been smeared by Bush's craven desperation to inject himself into the campaign against Obama with his words to the Knesset. The best disinfectant and clean-up for such dirty politics is a good housecleaning... and that's going to take your vote.

Cheat to Win

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What does it say about a man, a team, that feels it must cheat in order to win?

HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel reported Friday evening on the Bill Belichek-New England Patriots cheating scandal, stealing signals by videotaping in advance, a practice that extended over seasons, not just a single game.

Senator Schumer’s askin’ questions. Punishment’s been doled out, but in light of the full extent of the prolonged cheating over seasons, the fines, the loss of a draft pick hardly seems sufficient.

The culture of cheating pervades these days.

But as Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia told 60 Minutes when it comes to another case of cheating to win, hey, it’s ancient history, get over it.

Pretty much sums up the sorry state we find ourselves in these days. Where punks with attitude in pinstripes can cheat with impunity and get away with it. Or can they? John Conyers has some thoughts on that in regard to the crafty Karl Rove. [Funny, every time he comes to mind I think of Charles Durning dancin’ through Best Little Whorehouse in Texas… despite that bit o’ dancin’ with David Gregory…]

The controversy over steroids in baseball has waned, never really did get into the role of the Current Occupant, himself a baseball owner back when the steroid usage was rampant. Guess nobody wanted to open that little door.

Interesting that cheating has been the mantle he’s worn all his lifetime. Cheating to get out of Viet Nam. Cheating to get those gentlemanly C’s—how else to explain the abysmal ignorance of the CO?

Even this week, we see the Current Occupant in a foreign country in a cheater’s play of the politics of smear, just before he headed off to ap-pease-please the Saudis like a beggar at the doorstep, with not even that much cred…Ap-pease-please may we have more oil oh you funders of the terrorists who struck us on 9/11.

Not soon enough the book will close on this administration. And we’ll be left to wonder, does cheating go totally unpunished? Does it get a wink and a nod from those it advantaged? Will the tide of history record the truth, or even try? John McCain seems to be trying to rewrite history already as he grasps at falsehoods in a tag team with Bush to try to smear Obama and Democrats.

Will the same old pattern of lies and cheating persist? Or, having placed us on the precipice of permanent third rate status, is the master of the gentlemanly C now simply going to pass the torch to more of the same?

Or will we regain what we once had? Honor. First nation leadership in the world. You can have a voice in changing that...if you choose. If you work for change. If you vote.

Mark of McCain

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Today's blatantly orchestrated Republican scheme of smear against Barack Obama and diplomacy before war now leaves a clear trail in its wake. And it has the stench of a Rovian plan. Like the spoor of warthogs.

Maybe it's because the Republicans see the handwriting on the wall that their usual Southern Strategy ain't gonna work, so they've decided to switch to a tactic even more contemptible.

First Bush--the grandson of Prescott Bush, banker to the Nazis--cravenly uses the speech in the Knesset to attack those who don't go along with his shoot first, shoot style of global relations.

Then McCain--who CNN's Dana Bash described as having a twinkle in his eye as he quickly leaped on news of Bush's statements to assert that Obama is naive.

Then the rest of the Republican minions fall into place, from the White House press secretary to Arizona Senator Kyl.

So far, on CNN at least, it's being portrayed as a partisan Republican vs. Democratic firestorm. But it's so much more. This statement by Bush, in the setting he used, in the words he used, is an insult to all Americans and to his Israeli hosts.

Bush should be ashamed. McCain should be ashamed. Joe Lieberman should be ashamed. The minions who conceived and enable this smear should be ashamed. But they are not.

I am.

This statement by Bush was a giant turd in the celebration of Israel's anniversary. It should be swiftly rebuked, renounced, and tossed into the sewer where it belongs.

Contempt

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In yet another example of George W. Bush's total contempt for this nation and other nations, today he used the moment of an assembly in Israel in honor of that country's 60th anniversary to lash out with a partisan political attack on Barack Obama, calling the Senator's advocacy of diplomacy over guns "appeasement."

According to CNN, the White House has confirmed that even though he didn't name Obama, his "some" is indeed a direct reference to the Senator and likely Democratic presidential nominee.

We've long since learned that this president thinks with something somewhere south of his brain—I believe he took pains to emphasize it on the Mission Accomplished carrier.

We've long since learned that this president is quick to taunt and bluster and bravado with the lives, limbs and spirits of other Americans' sons and daughters...while he "gives up" golf.

We've long since learned that in the furtherance of Big Oil and the neocons' warmongering agenda this president is willing to wreck the rest of the American economy, our infrastructure, our homes, the food on our table, our healthcare, our "educational" system....

We've long since learned that this president is incapable of truth and feels neither remorse nor shame.

We've long since learned his return to the David Koresh wellspring of rural Waco is a fitting place that he cannot return to soon enough.

Just in case you don't already have it bookmarked: Barack Obama dot com

UPDATE: What about John McCain? At the same time as media are broadcasting Bush's intemperate attack on Barack Obama and diplomacy while outside the country in Israel, McCain is speechifying, decrying the "hyperpartisanship" of Washington.

We know that McCain's campaign staff consults daily with the Bush White House. That McCain had to get pre-approved his harsh words about BushCo's handling post-Katrina. So, did McCain know Bush was going to make these bombastic comments from Israel? Did McCain approve? Will he stop using Karl Rove as a campaign advisor?

Will McCain reject and denounce these remarks by Bush?

And if he does, will it all be part of a carefully orchestrated phony separation from Bush?

After all, "polls say" Bush is even more of an albatross around McCain's neck than you-know-who around Obama's.

UPDATE 2: Don't miss further thoughts from emptywheel, via firedoglake, on the grandson of the Nazi enabler and his intemperate remarks in Israel.

UPDATE 3: And there's this from Logan Murphy at Crooks and Liars.

UPDATE 4: And Atrios links to this article from the Guardian UK: How Bush's Grandfather Helped Hitler's Rise to Power

UPDATE 5: And ThinkProgress gives further info on Bush's historic reference to a Senator who would have talked to Hitler...a Republican senator from Idaho.

So watch your media in the hours to come. There's plenty of information out there. Will the press report? Or steno?

War Games

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The politics of campaigning is getting darker and darker on the Democratic side. And you thought it was bad in the run-up to Pennsylvania.

Thursday morning on the Imus Show, Carl Bernstein, author of the Hillary biography, told Imus that there's talk of Hillary and her campaign engaging in McCarthyism against Obama. And that it was interesting given her own background, which had far more association than Obama with the left. Bernstein added much detail regarding the law firm she worked at after graduating from Yale, and more. You can listen to the interview here. [the meat starts at about 4:15 mins in]

Then there's the swirling rumors of some of Hillary supporters growing increasingly distressed by the tactics her campaign has been and continues to use. Distancing and defections have already begun. There are the big names: Richardson, Reich. Now Joe Andrew, the former DNC chair from Indiana, saying the Clintons are destroying the party.

And Peter Dreier, in a lengthy commentary at Huffington Post, recounts the barrage of emails ongoing for months now from Sidney Blumenthal and the Clinton campaign attacking Obama by associations.

So what's the story? Is a desperate, driven Clinton campaign going to any lengths and beyond for the ultimate "win now, fix it later"? Or is this Hillbillery trying to inoculate herself against similar attacks coming at her if she's in the general election? Or is this Hillbillery setting out once again on a me-first crusade that damns the Democratic party as they did in the '90s? Or being willing to destroy Obama if he's the nominee so she can run again in 2012?

We want answers. And we can handle the truth.

It would be refreshing, in fact, if we'd actually get that truth--instead of smirking, smarmy TweetyKristolRushRoveRussetopolous spin knowingly enabling smear and innuendo in the furtherance of newsertainment.

Instead of the media enabling BushCo going to war on Iraq. Instead of the media enabling the Pentagon with their cozy conversations with propagandizing generals. Instead of the media enabling McCain's campaign with their hands-off "see no nothing" Sgt. Schultz scrutiny of McCain.

The media rushed to embed themselves in BushCo's Iraq war and enable the lies and corruption and torture and all the other horrors this war has inflicted on America. The media rushed to enable whatever the guy you most want to have a beer with had to say. And now, they are enabling Clinton and McCain--birds of a feather in their headlong rush to give us four more years of entitled elitist Bushism.

And a pox on the media.

'cause it sure as hell ain't enabling democracy.


advance preview of Friday 5/2/2008 blogpost