Sunday Roundup

Increasingly desperate, John McCain and the GOP are throwing the kitchen sink at Barack Obama. No wonder they called Joe the Plumber. So this week brought racist mailers, a tidal wave of robocalls, more Bill Ayers, Sarah Palin's love of the "pro-American areas of this great nation," and McCain's outlandish claim that ACORN is "destroying the fabric of democracy." Not unwarranted wiretapping, waterboarding, extraordinary rendition, or the denial of habeas corpus. ACORN. Bringing this toxic collection together in one despicable no-goodie bag was Rush Limbaugh, who charged that Obama -- aided and abetted by Ayers and ACORN -- is "smack dab in the middle" of a 30-year plot to teach black children to "hate, hate, hate" America. It's going to take more than a plumber to pull McCain's -- and his party's -- reputation out of the sewer.

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Comments

[rohansjaya]

1.John McCain's big idea is to deregulate health insurance and he hopes this will reduce costs. Unfortunately no one in the Obama campaign has used this to challenge McCain on very relevant issue. The financial crisis is a result of careless deregulation and deregulating health insurance will destroy that as well as it has done the banks and financial companies.
We have to connect this to McCain’s long history of deregulating (from which he is now backing away) and his proposal on health care and show the public that this another disaster in the making.

2.Mccain in his second debate said he would have to cut entitlements programs. He did not elaborate on this. Nobody asked him for details either. Will he cut Medicare, social security, Medicaid or any other major programs? I think we need to challenge him on this and get specifics on what he proposes to do because this could be big issue for voters.
rohansjaya

[racetoinfinity]

McCain is bandying around the scare word "socialism", which amounts to a new McCarthyism. Obama is about as socialist as Bill Clinton was. (Why did Obama have to use the phrase "spread the wealth" to that phony "Joe the Plumber"??!). That's red meat to the far right, and to an uninformed public who listens to hate, false-information, I mean, AM talk radio.

Still I don't think McCain's false charges and smear tactics will work.

[aussiechick]

The only thing the GOP has been spreading around the past 8 years is a pile of manure!!

Spreading wealth would be a welcome change!!

[StPeteDoc]

Great comment! Now that's having your finger on the pulse...

[racetoinfinity]

The last eight years has seen the largest concentration of wealth at the top 5% since Hoover's administration (or perhaps, even, The Gilded Age.,) and the stagnation of living standards and even drop in them for 95% of Americans. Of course I agree with you; it's just that is a scare word for uninformed people. By the way manure is "filthy lucre". Bushco has been spreading it UPWARDS to the very rich and away from the rest of the public for 8 years.

[omop]

Put bluntly the choice Americans have this election year is to either continue living in a biazzaro world of delusion and bankruptcies in more ways than just money or to at least put the breaks to the neocons influenced if not directed national dementia.

Given the characters and background of individuals [mis] managing the affairs of a one time respected and honored republic it is sad to say fitting and appropriate that the party responsible for the drama the US is in at the moment end along the lines reflective of the baseness of those who have brought us to the present level.

[suzifla]

I would never abridge anyone's free speech, and I doubt very much that Obama would either. That's what Republicans want to do.

[bbbbmer]

The un-American tactics employed by McCain and the RNC, including calling into question the patriotism of those who find the past eight years of war for oil, abysmal corporatist economics, and the gutting of our Constitution, is revolting and hypocritical, especially because of the Republican tendency to wrap themselves in the flag while denigrating anything the flag remotely represents. This moribund political apparatus, so willing to go to any lengths to justify their duplicitous national loyalty as long as they can maintain their stranglehold on our nation's wealth, is frightening, and flies in the face of anything remotely akin to the principles embedded in the founding of this nation and its institutions. I am PROFOUNDLY glad to see that the Obama General Counsel fighting back against insidious press leaks about specious charges of 'voter fraud' by demanding that the issue be transferred from RNC-loyalist AGMukasey to Special Prosecutor Dennehy already charged with investigating US Atty firings for not coopting to Bush/Cheney/Rove demands to prosecute such specious cases, and to add the cause of voter suppression efforts by the RNC, the McCain campaign, and the Bush DOJ and White House themselves. I *PRAY* the press pressures the DOJ to do this, for they certainly won't do so of their accord, and that GOD WILLING Obama prevails in November, so that such abuses of power NEVER AGAIN permeate our liberties and the precious democratic right of the vote which the Republicans seek to take from us.

[Antifascist-08]

All Obama has to say is that "the wealth has already been redistribu­ted." Never have so few had possession of so much money in this country.

The only comparable year was, you guessed it, 1929.

[politicalgal1]

McCain it is over.
Read what the media does NOT say about the financial crisis:

http://www.vaboomer.com/the_portal_to_boomeranger/2008/10/mortgage-crisis-the-history.html

[castlerider]

Amazing how the right wingers are scared to death.
Newt Gingrich on ABC this morning voiced this fear of -how was it he put it- "They know Obama will take away the FREE SPEECH of the rightwing radio of Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity!!!"

I cracked up!! They know in their hearts they have been working so hard to destroy our system of fairness by manipulating the airwaves with their formenting HATE, and they know they're going to have to face the music, so they already have their lines drawn trying to stake their territories as FREE SPEECH.

No way Dems will merely stand by and let this hate fester any more... I can't wait till Dems rightly make the call to re-instate the FAIRNESS DOCTRINE. A day I am absolutely living to see!!!

[majorhoople]

i dont know what the FAIRNESS DOCTRINE is......if it limits the rights of rush limbaugh or sean hannity or anyone else to express what they want (well virtually) than it doesnt sound right to me.....
let it flow......­.obama (the real deal) wins in a walk......­.(hopefull­y)........­.

[Cinnamonape]

The Fairness Doctrine allowed the "right of reply" to personal attacks...­if Limbaugh, Hannity and their ilk had to do this after all their frivolous attacks 90% of their show would have to given over to opponents.­..expressi­ng THEIR freedom of speech. There would be greater debate and discussion.

[HallStyle]

The NeoCON, Right Wing, Fascist AGENDA HAS FAILED. The NeoCONs have pushed the Moderate Republicans in a corner. Gen. Powell, like the solider he is came out of that corner Fighting against the NeoCON campaign of hate and division. I encourage MORE MODERATE REPUBLICANS to break with their NeoCON Leadership and support Barack Obama, for the Good of the Country and to save what is left of their careers.

http://www.hallstyle.blogspot.com

[gadjitfreek]

McCain and Palin are trying to sell you on their candidacy in the same way sub-prime mortgage companies duped their victims. The difference is that this time, it’s the whole country that will be in danger of foreclosure.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-QCgZ0d-MM

Don’t make the mistake that Obama has this election won. The people must vote on November 4th. No complacency, my fellow Americans. We can’t afford it. The only way we give ourselves a chance to claw our way back to greatness is to make sure you get up, get out and vote. If you registered recently, just take some time to verify that you are still registered. We can start down the road to healing the wounds of the last eight years. It starts with sweeping clean the debris of failed ideals and poisoned policies, and you, my friends, are the broom. Let's start sweeping.

[Spesabsquemetu]

FANTASTIC POST.

[aussiechick]

Touche!!

[Spesabsquemetu]

Look. It's all very simple using the McME FIRST tax plan language:

Top 1% of income earners deserve MORE.
Bottom 80% of income earners deserve LESS.
This is promoted as being "pro-American" values.

Top 1% of income earners SAVE 600 BILLION DOLLARS EVERY YEAR.
Bottom 80% LOSE 600 BILLION DOLLARS EVERY YEAR.
This is known as: "the American way" and "pro-America".

Exxon Mobile deserves BILLIONS in TAX relief.
This is known as "good business".
Bottom 80% want the wall street BAIL OUT money to be put back into THEIR hands, not the unscrupulous banks and lenders hands. This is not possible because such conduct would be "bad" for the ECONOMY!

Bottom 80% does an "Oliver" and says: Please sir, may I have some more ( tax cut relief)?
To which - John McCain and a few of his top 1% pals cry: SOCIALISM!!! COMMUNISM!!!

BAIL OUT THE BANKS AND UNSCRUPULOUS LENDERS WITH US TAX PAYERS DOLLARS = a RECOVERY PACKAGE.

GIVE TAX PAYERS TAX CUT RELIEF = WELFARE, SOCIALISM, ANTI-AMERICAN, and COMMUNISM.

Provide HEALTH CARE for ALL Americans = SOCIALISM, COMMUNISM, ANTI-AMERICAN.

[KyleKeleher]

The only "ACORN's" Americans care about are the ones falling on their parked cars in the shade of an old Florida oak tree!

[VetKor51]

What kind of man would allow his reputation to be shredded in order to fuel his selfish ambition? McCain has done that. So sad. So dishonorable.

[pissmist]

What else is new from these neocons. All they did last 8 yrs, destroyed economy, they lied about WMD
1000000 Iraqis and 4800 of bright young men and women our nation died so far and the people around the world hate us. Now these neocons and their pundists trying hard to stop the dirction of history. I am confident that we are going to move foreward no matter wether they like it or not.

[elizlucinda]

Hi JustLynn..­.you sound like a Canadian and in my book...as a proud Canadian..­.. that isn't all bad. Our banking system has recently been rated the best in the world. The Banking system here is highly regulated and the Bank of Canada is truly independent from Government.

We also have those "socialist" things like Universal health care and we spend less of out G.N.P. on health care than the U.S. So what can I say...some­times its good to be a little "socialist"!

[paixa3]

I have to say the same about France. Your banks are probably tighter controlled than ours here.

[floib]

Tell us the good and the bad of universal health care. Do Canadians have to lose their homes due to medical bills like Americans do? What percentage of your income do you pay into your system?

[JustLynn]

No ElizLucind­a...I am a born and bred American. I just happen to believe in truth and fairness, all those things the Repubs seem to think dont apply anymore... I am tired of the divisiveness and ignorance that the Repubs are propagating with the use of tired,catch phrases like terro*rist, left*ist, social*ism, etc. We have reached a point in this country that screams for a movement BACK to the time when we knew our neighbors and cared about them and fed and clothed them when they hit bottom...

It borders on fasc*ism when 1% of ANY citizenry owns the vast majority of the wealth and uses that wealth as a weapon to beat down the remainder of the citizens..­.and also turns and yells SOCIAL*ISM when someone suggests lifting the weight off the backs of the workers and making life a little easier for them...

I am grateful every day for the fact that I was born in this country, but I no longer hold my head up as proudly as I used to when I was a child and knew no better...

[Sammy00400]

I'm waiting for some far right conservative to say ACORN is funded my muslims. Then again, maybe they have.

[DoTheMath]

It must be so liberating to have no regard for the truth. They're just saying whatever they want now.