Wednesday, July 23, 2008
McCain Cancels Event Aboard Oil Rig Due to Weather
In announcing his newfound support for offshore drilling, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) consistently touts the safety of offshore oil exploration. “[I]t’s safe enough these days that not even Hurricanes Katrina and Rita could cause significant spillage,” he said recently. To make his case, McCain was scheduled to helicopter tomorrow to an oil rig in the Gulf Coast.
But it seems even McCain is fearful of being caught on an offshore oil rig during rough weather.
The weather event that forced McCain to cancel his event is the category 2 storm, Hurricane Dolly that made landfall in South Texas this afternoon.
John McCain, however, is among the many Republicans who continues to push the false talking point that Hurricane Katrina, a category 5 storm, did not cause any oil spills in the Gulf Coast.
As the Wonk Room has reported, the clear satellite evidence of major spills was borne out by final reports. In May 2006, the U.S. Minerals Management Service (MMS) published their offshore damage assessment: “113 platforms totally destroyed, and 457 pipelines damaged, 101 of those major lines with 10″ or larger diameter.” [...]
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita Caused 124 Offshore Spills For A Total Of 743,700 Gallons. 554,400 gallons were crude oil and condensate from platforms, rigs and pipelines, and 189,000 gallons were refined products from platforms and rigs. [MMS, 1/22/07]
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita Caused Six Offshore Spills Of 42,000 Gallons Or Greater. The largest of these was 152,250 gallons, well over the 100,000 gallon threshhold considered a “major spill.” [MMS, 5/1/06]
Yet another case of the John McCain Campaign Playbook -- say and do anything to get elected.
Posted by
Matt Ortega
at 6:34 PM | Comments (0)
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A Visual Aid for John McCain
Below is a helpful visual aid for John McCain on the timeline of the Anbar awakening and the troop surge that followed several months later.
Posted by
Matt Ortega
at 3:13 PM | Comments (0)
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Self-Described Expert McCain Flubs Iraq Facts
MSNBC breaks down the McCain flub on the Anbar awakening.
And this is his supposed strong suit!
Posted by
Matt Ortega
at 2:05 PM | Comments (0)
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Fradulent Investors for McCain
Big-time donor to the GOP and John McCain is in a bit of trouble:
On the day Republican Sen. John McCain surged to victory in Florida's presidential primary, a group of supporters gathered at the elegant Tampa Club for a luncheon held by Gov. Charlie Crist and Sen. Mel Martinez.Mingling with some of the state's business and political elite that January day was a Florida newcomer, an Oregon venture capitalist named Craig Berkman. Unbeknown to the guests, Berkman's life was crashing around him.
For two years, Berkman had been battling his investment partners after admitting that he had lent himself $5 million of their money without telling them. A civil fraud case against him was about to go to trial.
Berkman continued to raise money for McCain. He and his wife have donated $50,000 to Republican candidates and party committees this election cycle, including a $28,500 check to the Republican National Committee's Victory Fund on May 29 to support McCain's bid. Berkman's political generosity has angered his former investors, who prevailed in court but have not seen a penny of the $28 million in civil damages that a jury awarded them.
Posted by Mike Gehrke at 11:00 AM | Comments (0)
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McCain Flubs on Iraq ... Again
In an interview with CBS' Katie Couric last night, John McCain claimed that the surge provided the necessary space for the Anbar awakening to occur, and aided the calming of tensions in the area. Couric asked John McCain to respond to Senator Barack Obama who argued that the security increased even without the surge:
McCain: I don't know how you respond to something that is as-- such a false depiction of what actually happened. Colonel McFarlane [phonetic] was contacted by one of the major Sunni sheiks. Because of the surge we were able to go out and protect that sheik and others. And it began the Anbar awakening. I mean, that's just a matter of history. Thanks to General Petraeus, our leadership, and the sacrifice of brave young Americans. I mean, to deny that their sacrifice didn't make possible the success of the surge in Iraq, I think, does a great disservice to young men and women who are serving and have sacrificed.
But, as Ilan Goldenberg noted, the Anbar awakening began September 2006 -- several months before the surge was even announced the following January.
Reports the AP:
In March 2007, before the first of the additional troops began arriving in Iraq, Col. John W. Charlton, the American commander responsible for Ramadi, a city in Anbar province, said the newly friendly sheiks, combined with an aggressive counterinsurgency strategy and the presence of thousands of new Sunni police on the streets, had helped cut attacks in the city by half in recent months.
John McCain, the self-described foreign policy expert. Can you imagine how bad he would be on something he admits he doesn't know what he's talking about, say, the economy?
Posted by
Matt Ortega
at 9:21 AM | Comments (0)
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Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Women Hit Hard by Economic Downturn
According to statistics provided by the Bureau of Labor, the percentage of working women declined for the first time since the dawn of the women's movement, reported the New York Times.
Indeed, for the first time since the women’s movement came to life, an economic recovery has come and gone, and the percentage of women at work has fallen, not risen, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports. Each of the seven previous recoveries since 1960 ended with a greater percentage of women at work than when it began. [...]After moving into virtually every occupation, women are being afflicted on a large scale by the same troubles as men: downturns, layoffs, outsourcing, stagnant wages or the discouraging prospect of an outright pay cut. And they are responding as men have, by dropping out or disappearing for a while.
If you like the Bush economy, hire John McCain. Senator Barack Obama, however, will lead the nation into a 21st century economy and stop rewarding companies that ship jobs overseas with tax credits. Instead, as President, Barack Obama will offer incentives for companies who stay. Read more about Senator Obama's plans for revitalizing the American economy and strengthening workers.
Posted by
Matt Ortega
at 3:14 PM | Comments (0)
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The Lobbyist Web They Weave
A top McCain advisor is connected to an embroiled Bush fundraiser:
A top foreign policy adviser to John McCain has lobbied the National Security Council, Congress and the State Department on behalf of Stephen Payne, the Texas businessman and longtime Republican fundraiser caught up in a controversy over whether he sought to sell access to the Bush White House.According to records on file with Congress, McCain foreign policy adviser Randy Scheunemann lobbied the Senate and House on behalf of Payne's firm, Worldwide Strategic Partners Inc., in 2002.
Scheunemann also lobbied the National Security Council and the State Department regarding energy issues in the Caspian region in 2005 and 2006 on behalf of another Payne firm, Caspian Alliance Inc., according to the records.
Posted by Mike Gehrke at 2:40 PM | Comments (0)
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Steve Forbes: Phil Gramm Will Still Advise McCain
So stop whining.
FORBES: Oh, I think in terms of advice Phil Gramm will be critical, which is good because on things like trade he is absolutely right. I think John McCain has a long friendship with Phil Gramm, so this was something, Phil Gramm said something that you’re not supposed to say these days, and he paid a price for it, but in terms of the relationship, I think it’s as strong as ever, and in the McCain administration, I think Phil Gramm’s advice will be taken to heart.
Posted by
Michael Link at 11:21 AM | Comments (0)
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Panic
Republican Senate handlers inform their caucus to vote as needed to get re-elected this November:
Republican Senate leaders — terrified by the prospect of losing five or more seats in November — have freed their members to vote however they need to vote to get reelected, even if that means bucking the president or the party’s leadership.On at least four votes over the past month — Medicare, housing, the GI Bill and the Farm Bill — Republican leaders haven’t even bothered whipping members to toe the party line or back President Bush’s veto threats. Instead, a GOP leadership aide says leaders have told vulnerable senators that it’s all right to “get well” with voters by siding with Democrats on anything but energy and national security.
It’s unusual for rank-and-file members to get a green light to blow off their party leaders. But these are unusual times for Republicans. They are genuinely worried they could get their clocks cleaned in November. The prevailing attitude: It is better to lose some big votes now than big races in November.
Help make sure that doesn't happen: volunteer in your area!
Posted by
Matt Ortega
at 11:17 AM | Comments (0)
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McCain's Psychology
There's an interesting piece today in the Politico, making several points, but mainly that McCain doesn't really stand for anything on economic issues. Ari Melber cites the repeated references by McCain that this is all just a psychological problem, and then makes the point that "when former Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Texas), McCain’s then-chief economic adviser, chastised Americans for whining about a “mental recession,” he was actually channeling McCain’s psychological view of our economic problems."
It's the central point that all of McCain's economic policies are derived from -- that we're really just in a "mental recession" and therefore don't need real solutions to our economic problems:
His tax cuts ignore middle-class workers — about 100 million households, including 37 million seniors, would get no relief. [...]Then there’s that McCain penchant for scheduling economic help a few years down the road. (Although perhaps the psychological boost is instantaneous.) The only plank of McCain’s tax agenda that is not tailored for the superrich — boosting the exemption for dependents — would not even start until 2010. And it would not take full effect until 2016, according to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, which recently issued a 39-page report on both candidates’ tax plans.
[...]
McCain’s plan is so narrowly focused on the demands of elite activists, even conservative stalwarts are blanching. In a recent editorial, National Review shared its “worries” that McCain’s plan ditched middle-class Americans: “It offers very little in the way of direct benefits to Americans in the middle of the income scale.” And that’s from a magazine enthralled with tax cuts for the rich.
Posted by
Michael Link at 9:15 AM | Comments (0)
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Monday, July 21, 2008
Evening Round-Up
- A good Senate race week in review.
- Bush knows about YouTube. McCain, however, clearly hasn't learned his lesson.
- Speaking of the tubes, Ted Stevens has a blog?
Posted by
Michael Link at 6:19 PM | Comments (0)
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McCain Says He Knows What Iraqis Want More Than Iraqis Know
It was an odd reply by John McCain to a question this morning, which was in reference to the Iraqi government coming out in favor of a timeline:
Q: If the Iraqi government were to say, if you were president, ‘we want a timetable for troops being removed,’ would you agree to that?McCAIN: I’ve been there too many times. I’ve met too many times with him. And I know what they want. They want it based on conditions. And of course they’d like to have us out. That’s what happens when you win wars.
Posted by
Michael Link at 3:59 PM | Comments (0)
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He Must Have Missed The Memo
McCain's Iraq policy is out of touch:
It may not sway many voters, but on Friday, as Barack Obama embarked on an extended trip abroad intended in large part to relieve concerns about his commander in chief bona fides, the terms of debate on Iraq began a dramatic shift that appears to favor his candidacy. [...] Saturday, the shift continued when the German magazine Der Spiegel ran an interview with Maliki in which he called for U.S. troops to withdraw “as soon as possible, as far as we're concerned. U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama talks about 16 months. That, we think, would be the right time frame for a withdrawal, with the possibility of slight changes.” [...] For the first time in the national security debate, Obama’s advisers believe that McCain has been placed on the defensive, since his reluctance to support a “time horizon” now differs not only with the position of his Democratic opponent but also with those of the White House and the Iraqi prime minister.
Posted by Mike Gehrke at 12:23 PM | Comments (0)
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Nevada GOP Cancels State Convention Citing Lack of Interest
Citing a lack of enthusiasm, the Nevada Republican Party scrapped the state convention and will, instead, elect state delegates via private conference call.
The state party broke up its original convention in April when supporters of Ron Paul hijacked the proceedings and tried to elect delegates for their candidate to the national GOP convention in September. Party officials tried to reconvene on July 26, but they needed a quorum of 675 and received only 300 RSVPs, according to local reports.
Posted by
Matt Ortega
at 10:28 AM
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More McCain Gaffes
And it was McCain who owns the first big gaffe of the trip -- appearing to confuse Iraq and Afghanistan.Asked by ABC's Diane Sawyer Monday morning whether the "the situation in Afghanistan in precarious and urgent," McCain responded:
"I think it's serious. . . . It's a serious situation, but there's a lot of things we need to do. We have a lot of work to do and I'm afraid it's a very hard struggle, particularly given the situation on the Iraq/Pakistan border," said McCain, R-Ariz., said on "Good Morning America."
Iraq and Pakistan do not share a border. Afghanistan and Pakistan do.
Posted by
Michael Link at 10:00 AM | Comments (0)
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