Friday, September 5, 2008

Evening Open Thread

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Governor Dean on MSNBC

Governor Howard Dean was on MSNBC with Tom Brokaw at the Republican National Convention last night. Watch Howard hand it to the Republicans at their own convention.

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Jobless Rate Hits Five-Year High

Remember, John McCain says the "fundamentals of our economy are strong." Tell that to 84,000 people who lost their job this past month.

The nation's unemployment rate zoomed to a five-year high of 6.1 percent in August as employers slashed 84,000 jobs, dramatic proof of the mounting damage a deeply troubled economy is inflicting on workers and businesses alike.

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Morning Open Thread

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Thursday, September 4, 2008

Fired Up or Ready to Go?

New York Times notes a few in the crowd during John McCain's acceptance speech:

10:39 p.m. | Sleepy? Our colleague Patrick Healy reports from the floor: There is a delegate in the Utah section and a delegate in Puerto Rico who are both drooping, eyes closed - look asleep - both are men.

This is an Open Thread. Chat away...

Posted by Matt Ortega at 11:14 PM | Comments (120) | Digg This!

Earmarks

John McCain has made earmarks a central theme of his campaign this election but it is just more of the same empty rhetoric.

Nevermind that he can't name any specific earmarks he would nix, and even admitted he wouldn't cut off aid to Israel, which is done through earmarks.

So when the McCain campaign introduced Sarah Palin to the ticket, it was no surprise that she attempted to portray herself as an ardent foe of earmarks. She continued to push the false claim last night, but too bad for her and the campaign that her record simply doesn't match the rhetoric.

Seattle Times: "Palin's earmark requests: more per person than any other state."

Just this year, she sent to Sen. Ted. Stevens, R-Alaska, a proposal for 31 earmarks totaling $197 million — more, per person, than any other state.

In fact, Palin supported the "Bridge to Nowhere" during her campaign for governor.

During her first speech after being named as McCain's surprise pick as a running mate, Palin said she had told Congress "'thanks but no thanks' on that bridge to nowhere."

In the city Ketchikan, the planned site of the so-called "Bridge to Nowhere," political leaders of both parties said the claim was false and a betrayal of their community, because she had supported the bridge and the earmark for it secured by Alaska's Congressional delegation during her run for governor.

The bridge, a span from the city to Gravina Island, home to only a few dozen people, secured a $223 million earmark in 2005. The pricey designation raised a furor and critics, including McCain, used the bridge as an example of wasteful federal spending on politicians' pet projects. [emphasis added]

Update: More pork! Palin also supported the "Road to Nowhere."

The "Road To Nowhere" is a $375 million "mega-project" designed to connect Juneau to the towns of Haines and Skagway via 50 miles of new road along the steep slopes of an avalanche-battered canal, ending at a ferry terminal at the Haines river.

As of 2005, Haines had a population of 2,400, while Skagway had 870 residents.

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Open Thread

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Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Evening Open Thread

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Posted by Matt Ortega at 6:43 PM | Comments (458) | Digg This!

90% Bush

What does 90 percent of George W. Bush look like?

Learn more at www.JustMoreOfTheSame.com.

Posted by Matt Ortega at 6:00 PM | Comments (1) | Digg This!

Another McCain Attack Ad Debunked in Record Time

MSNBC political reporter Mark Murray on the latest dishonest attack ad from the McCain campaign. In fact, every assertion against Senator Barack Obama is just flat false.

It's important to note that there are a few misleading assertions in the ad. For one, the "Journal" that's cited is the conservative and partisan Wall Street Journal editorial page. Two, to call Obama the Senate's most liberal senator is dubious. (The charge comes from the National Journal ranking Obama as having the most liberal Senate voting record of 2007, but he was nowhere near the top in 2005 and 2006; it's also worth noting that Obama missed many Senate votes in 2007, so that ranking is a bit skewed.) And three, the charge that Obama "gave big oil billions in subsidies and giveaways" is misleading. (According to nonpartisan fact-checkers, the 2005 energy bill the McCain camp is referring to actual resulted in a net tax INCREASE on oil companies.)

Posted by Matt Ortega at 2:22 PM | Comments (29) | Digg This!

Democratic Convention versus Republican Convention

Here's one perspective on the differences between the Democratic National Convention and this week's Republican convention.

Posted by Matt Ortega at 2:17 PM | Comments (14) | Digg This!

Afternoon Open Thread

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Posted by Matt Ortega at 1:49 PM | Comments (130) | Digg This!

Par for the Course

New York Times:

Former Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales mishandled highly classified information relating to the National Security Agency’s wiretapping program and the administration’s prisoner interrogation program, an internal report concluded Tuesday.
The Justice Department inspector general, who investigated Mr. Gonzales’s handling of the documents, said he kept classified material at his home and in an office safe in violation of security procedures. The inspector general referred the matter to the national security division of the Justice Department for possible criminal action, but officials there declined to prosecute Mr. Gonzales.