This week, longtime torture foe -- and longtime forced resident of the Hanoi Hilton -- John McCain jettisoned his principles in pursuit of the presidency and voted against a bill banning torture. A day later, Mitt Romney, who famously boasted that he wanted to "double Guantanamo," jettisoned the venom he'd been spewing at McCain for months and offered him his endorsement. Suddenly brothers in broken arms. Romney, who less than three weeks ago was branding McCain "dishonest" and "a liberal Democrat," now hailed him as "a true American hero" and "the next president." It's amazing how fast campaign trail slugs turn into hugs in the name of party unity -- and a prime speaking slot at the national convention. And candidates wonder why voters have grown cynical?
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You use to be a right wing RePig and now your only purpose is to destroy Hillary Clinton with the same right wing smear machine. You make me sick
David Phinney
The ROUGH CUT .... phinneydavid (at) yahoo.com
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January 04, 2007
Arianna's Aggressive Pursuit of (the) Action
Talk about swing voters!
Some readers may take interest in remembering that Arianna Huffington, publisher of the innovative and liberal Huffington Post, first spun into the American political limelight as the GOP diva and head ideological cheerleader when Republicans took control of Congress in 1995.
She could be sighted everywhere flying about town (Washington, DC, that is) in hyperdrive while hosting luncheons in the name of compassionate conservatism and toasts to "Newt's Revolutionaries."*
Commenting to me on the 1995 Republican Tsunami:
"It's about three revolutions, really," she explained. "There's the political revolution that launched the Republican landslide, the cultural revolution without which the political revolution cannot succeed, and the personal revolution in how we see the purpose of our lives."
Romney's about face, was not exactly a surprise if you understand how Conservatives view lying and pandering as part and parcel of being a good Republican.
Mike
http://mtaricani.blogspot.com/
http://www.landoverbaptist.org/news0102/president.html
http://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/2008/01/graydon200801
http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_7936.shtml
And Bush doesn't have a mind of his own. All policy decisions in this administration are made by Cheney. Bush has always been Cheney and Rove's sock puppet.
Is there a hidden message in your post, why would an Independent let a squabble in the Democratic Party make them vote for a Republican? Obama and Clinton are the candidates not the DNC, and the DNC made the ruling about moving the primaries. Oh well this is America and we can use any criteria for picking whom to vote for. Peace.
Mike
http://mtaricani.blogspot.com/
In general, it is hard to know who the hell you're going to get (once in office), or what policies will be pursued when core principles are surrendered for nothing more than political expediency. And yet, his "supporters" seem more than eager to stand by his side. I call that a crap shoot.
The super delegates and the democratic party ought to think long and hard about who they want on the democratic ticket. Hillary, who's going to contnue the democratic experiment that her and Bill started, which has undeniably squandered a lot of the goodwill the democratic party enjoyed particularly in the swing states. Not to mention, a weakened republican party that can be energized by Hillary on the ticket, which will turn out to cause a pain in the fanny for the Democrats running for re-election, particularly in the swing states. Or Obama, who's likely to draw a lot of independents, who are more likely to vote for the democrats on the ballots, does not shakedown or demonize his opponents as evidenced from his time in the Illinios senate and in the national scene and get this, might even convince some aggrieved republicans to vote for the democratic ticket or worse case, sit their behind at home.
The choice is for the super-delegates. The floodgates have been broken and the mass defection is about to start. Al Gore experienced the Clinton's underhandedness first hand, Bill Richardson sees the character flaws of the clinton's big time, John Kerry experienced some of it, with Bill's unwillingness to really throw himself in the race on his behalf, might I even add John Edwards getting thrown under the bus by Hillary, when the mic picked up his conversation with Hillary on willowing down the amount of participants in the debate at the beginning of this process.
Net-net, the Clintons are bad for the party, their defeat in the primaries will curtail their influence in the party and totally diminish it once Obama wins in the general. Here's our opportunity to remake the party, with a new majority. Let's join Obama in this endeavor
Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly? Because her father is Janet Reno.”
– Sen. John McCain, speaking to a Republican dinner, June 1998.
it seems the story was not widely reported - kudos to the press for having some sense of the emotions of a young girl. and fyi - i am no fan of the clintons - but this despicable joke was totally off base and show the character of Mr. McCain. Perhpas another 5 years of imprisonment might help enlighten him and make him a better person...
here's a link for those interested in verifying:
http://www.salon.com/news/1998/06/25newsb.html
As a combat Veteran, just like John McCain, I don't view him or myself as a hero. He always referred to the heroes, as the ones that never returned. He now wants us to believe, that they were tapping Ronald Reagan's win in California, while he was in the Hanoi Hilton. What trite BS. My Dad was a Japanese POW for 3 1/2+ years and was force marched and beaten severely during the Bataan Death March. He never spoke of it, but after he died I was left his diary. Most of which, was written with his own blood. He still defined the heroes, as the ones left behind.
I'm not to pleased with Barack's paraphrasing JFK and MLK, to show the power of words. He hasn't earned the right to make an analogy between himself and them. The media has sold out the Clinton's, for thirty pieces of silver and has already crowned Obama as the heir apparent! I'm probably not going to vote for the first time in my adult life. I'm in a red state, and it hardly matters anyway. In the future, I'm going back to being an Independent again. I'm tired of caucuses and superdelegates and the electoral college system. I want America to be run in the primaries and the general election, as if a popular vote winner!
babble to mention the news that was missed this week:
This week on the Nightly news, no mention was made of the fact that Congress was pursuing contempt charges against two members of the Bush administration. No mention was made of FISA or the fact that the President is willing to sacrifice our security (his own words) for the sake of granting immunity to the telecom giants.No mention was made of the anti-torture amendment, that McCain voted against it, or that the President has promised to veto it.No mention was made of the fact that a US Supreme Court Justice in an interview with British television came out in support of torture.No mention was made of the fact that a Saudi Prince and good friend of the Bush family was accused in British court of threatening to hold back information on terrorists and suicide bombers if investigators kept looking into charges that he took $2 billion in bribes.No mention was made of the fact that the Bush Whitehouse announced that Freedom of Information Act requests will soon be handled by the DOJ instead of the Archives, where there will be NO FUNDING to handle the requests.No mention has been made of 6 million missing e-mails, the CIA destroying evidence, election fraud, war profiteering, signing statements, or undisputed violations of the Hatch and Presidental Records Act.
We now return to the talking heads on the Sunday "News" programs as they debate how well Obama polls with hispanics East of the Mississippi and how many superdelegates have slept in the Lincoln bedroom.
Excellant observations. The Sunday morning news programs said little, today, other than Clinton and/or Obama are trying to beat McCain in November.
I am more interested in what the current crowd of 'Leaders' are doing today. The 'Main' man is finally concerned with Africa and Congress is watching the Datona 500 or looking for a mid-court seat at the NBA All-Star game in New Orleans.
As for the 'Evil Ones' that want to do us harm. Sounds like there are 20,000 or so Gang Bangers in Los Angles County alone. So sleep well.
Nobody is walking the walk . . .