Friday is Iran's Defining Moment

There is an event this week that could spell the difference between a peaceful settlement of the Israel/Palestine conflict, reduced tensions in the Middle East, and a halt to the threat of nuclear weapons falling into the hands of terrorists; or.....

Escalating the current dangerous Israel/Palestine conflict, increasing tensions in the Middle East, while enabling the unstable ambitions of a nuclear-capable terrorist-funding regime. A regime headed by a holocaust-denying puppet of radical religious leaders.

There is an election scheduled for this Friday in Iran, and much of President Barack Obama's aspirations for Middle East peace, and curbing the bloody mayhem of jihad-inspired terrorism, rest on the outcome.

As reported in the Washington Post, "In Iran, Harsh Talk as Election Nears," by Robert F. Worth, this final week of Iran's presidential campaign, "has reached a level of passion and acrimony almost unheard-of in Iran."

As Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad hurls fantastic accusations at his opponents, he is also ducking incoming fire, impassioned fire, and not from just his rivals, but also from long-suffering Iranians who are mad and not going to take it anymore.

For years Ahmadinejad has resorted to inciteful and false rhetoric.... from a constant refrain of threats against Israel, "to wipe them off of the face of the earth"..... and against any Western power that stands by Israel who "from now on will not see any result but the hatred of the people. You should not claim that we did not give a warning," he saber-rattles, to his oft repeated denial of the horrific WWII Jewish holocaust.

But, he also misled and terrorized his own people. In his last presidential campaign he promised the Iranians relief from poverty and a focus on domestic issues, what they got was a "police state" as one Iranian openly charged, and a foreign policy his leading opponent, reformist Mir Husein Moussavi, calls "adventurism, illusionism, exhibitionism, extremism and superficiality.”

This time, Ahmadinejad's hateful-rhetoric is backfiring.... unofficial polls suggest 54 percent of Iranian voters would support Moussavi, while Ahmadinejad lags at 39 percent.

So much rests on the result of Friday's election, and not just for the Iranian people. By showing Ahmandinejad the door, they can lop off the festering head of a regime bent on taking the people back to the zealous, social-freedom-eviscerating, hard-line piety of the 1979 revolution, and stop the plunge toward a nuclear abyss.

As one Moussavi supporter said, “...at the beginning of the Islamic revolution we were all like Ahmadinejad, but we changed our path and our way. ” Another Iranian added that she was speaking on behalf of her friends, "We love our religion, but they have used it as a tool to take people’s rights.”

The good Iranian people can send a message to a hopeful world.... we're taking our lives and our country back. We chose peace over conflict, hope over fear. We're looking forward.

We wish them Allah's speed.....

Finally.... It's Over!

Last night Bush The Decider wistfully bade farewell (WaPo).... trying to paint a good face on the stinking corpse of his administration with self-serving "I was willing to make tough decisions" legacy-speak.

Excuse me, but isn't the job of the president making tough decisions?

As Georgie piled on the lipstick, we were reminded that he never could color within the lines.... so now we're left to clean up the smeary mess of his eight years of misapplied ideology.

Which brings us to what he did right.

As Robert Creamer so pithily points out (Huffington) .... "History will record that George W. Bush made one critically important contribution to our country -- and to the entire world. He and his administration provided unquestionable proof of the bankruptcy of radical-conservative ideology, and set the stage for a qualitatively different progressive era in American politics.

"By assuring that all of the fruits of the growth of productivity in our economy went to the wealthiest 2% of our population, the Bush administration set the stage for the current economic collapse.

"By actually putting into practice the Neo-Conservative theories of pre-emptive war and unilateralism, George W. Bush demonstrated their failure more persuasively than could the most articulate progressive critic.

"By abandoning our historic commitment to due process and sinking into the dark world of torture, George W. Bush and his partner Dick Cheney isolated themselves from the growing worldwide commitment to human rights."

The last few weeks we have watched Bush and his Rovian enablers relentlessly apply his legacy lipstick. But a suffering nation knows the truth beneath the rosy facade..... "he will be remembered as the man who set the stage. He has played the Hoover to Obama's Roosevelt, the James Buchanan to Obama's Lincoln."

The omens are good.

Yesterday while Bush was trying to prop up the toxic remains of his poor judgment, lousy execution and disastrous outcomes, a skilled pilot guided (WaPo) his crippled passenger jet to a hard, but safe, landing on the Hudson River in New York.

Rescuers rushed in and with "level-headed teamwork" saved all the passengers.... "the weak and infirm, including an infant and an elderly woman in a wheelchair."

It's a good sign as next Tuesday Barack Obama takes over the piloting of our distressed nation that a reckless Bush administration put on course for a crash landing. With Obama's thoughtful leadership and a spirit of teamwork we can all come through.

A "Can Do" 2009

The Washington Post looks at 2009 today in "The New Year - There is good reason for trepidation, but also for hope."

Most of us know about the trepidation, so let's focus on the hope.

"A new presidential administration is on the way, full of ideas and vigor."

Ideas, vigor.... YES!

And just to put a fine point on president-elect Obama's resolve to move ahead, another WaPo headline tells us that on Monday "Obama, Pelosi to Discuss Scope of Economic Package."

"Sources said Obama and Pelosi will discuss the scope and timing of the economic recovery package, which Obama has said will be his first priority upon being sworn into office. Pelosi has said her goal is to have the legislation on the new president's desk and ready to be signed on Jan. 20."

Obama's thirst to get things moving with solid policies is more than the empty Texas boast we've come to expect. As WaPo editorializes.... "Policy will matter, and in this regard it is good to know that the president-elect is not given to following the tired formulations of the left, the right and the various shills and operators who dominate so much of what passes for public discussion. He is pragmatic, open-minded and thoughtful. But, as he knows, he will also have to take on some powerful forces, those aligned with his party and those in opposition, and that will take courage.

"And in the end, of course, it will be not just policy that saves us but, as always, the energy, imagination and desire of the people -- people who see opportunity where others do not and who have the freedom to pursue it.

"Some well-known words from Abraham Lincoln, delivered to Congress in December 1862, have been cited often in the past few months. They are worth citing once more on this day: 'The dogmas of the quiet past, are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country.' "

Out with dogma, in with pragmatism... out with division, in with cooperation... out with pandering, in with courage.

Yes we can!

Blag the Extorter

Just follow your nose. It's not like Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich didn't already exude the stink of corruption.

In April of this year, a Chicago Tribune investigation revealed that at least three of every four $25,000 donors to Boss Blag got something from the administration.... including jobs, contracts or favorable regulatory rulings.

A month later Illinois lawmakers passed an ethics reform bill targeted directly at Blagojevich and his record-setting efforts to collect campaign contributions from state contractors.

The effect of this legislation .... it kicked Boss Blag's arm-twisting into high gear.... "with the urgency of a salesman meeting his annual sales target," according to U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald. The end of July The Tribune reported that in the month since lawmakers passed the ethics bill, the governor ramped up his efforts by collecting more than a quarter of a million dollars from those with business before the state.

Besides using his office in an effort to trample the Tribune's editorial voices of criticism, Boss Blag thumbed his nose at the state's attempts to reign him in .... toward the end of August he vetoed the ethics bill saying he wants it to be tougher and to include lawmakers as well as himself.

Undoubtedly Boss Blag knew he was being bugged and taped.... but he must have thought he was the windy city's Tony Soprano..... too smart for the Feds, using his "organization" to make crime pay, big time.

His big take would be the selling of the U.S. Senate seat vacated by president-elect Barack Obama. By Illinois law, as governor, Boss Blag is the only person who can name Obama's replacement.

Note to Illinois lawmakers: You couldn't see this situation developing? You were happy to just let this extortionist name your one of two U.S. Senators for Illinois?

Yesterday.... federal prosecutor Fitzgerald of Scooter Libby investigation fame made Boss Blag and his chief of graft, John Harris, do the perp walk, arresting them on corruption charges.

Yet......

Despite Fitzgerald saying that "the breadth of corruption laid out in these charges is staggering," hours after his arrest Boss Blag was out of jail on his own recognizance.... on a $4,500 bond.... chump change to Boss Blag. (ABC)

Today he's back in the governor's office and as of this writing still has the sole power to appoint Obama's replacement.

Even though according to the Tribune timeline, the "federal criminal investigation" of Boss Blag began in June of 2004, an investigation of what has been labeled as a political crime spree, he was, and still is, allowed to continue to abuse the considerable power of his office.

We need to hear much more.....

Sixty-seven Years After Infamy....

"December 7, 1941.... a date which will live in infamy.... the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan. "

So said President Franklin D. Roosevelt as he asked Congress for a Declaration of War sixty-seven years ago.

On that day Japan also attacked Hong Kong, Guam, the Philippine Islands, Wake Island and Midway Island.

In response to this all-out attack, Roosevelt clearly and forcefully declared.... "As commander in chief of the Army and Navy I have directed that all measures be taken for our defense. But always will our whole nation remember the character of the onslaught against us...."

Today it is much different. Seemingly nationless enemies strike civilian populations.... cloaked suicidal terrorism is the new norm, not declarations of war between nations.

As Richard A. Clarke who was the White House counterterrorism coordinator under presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush explains today in his op-ed "Plans of Attack" (WaPo) .... "Ten young men land a small boat at a quay in a city of 18 million people. Within minutes of setting ashore, they are throwing grenades and raking crowds with automatic weapons fire. Days later, almost 200 people are dead, more are wounded, the financial capital of a nation of a billion people has ground to a halt, and the world is riveted.

"To most of the world, the Mumbai massacre seems inexplicable and random, like the periodic devastation caused by typhoons or tornadoes, or simply pointless, just killing for killing's sake. But the attack was neither random nor pointless. The carnage in Mumbai was goal-oriented, an attempt to advance an overall strategy that is being ruthlessly pursued by the Islamist radical network."

That is the face of conflict today.

Even Osama bin Laden's dastardly 9/11 attack on the twin towers wasn't a Pearl Harbor.... it wasn't backed by a nation declaring war. The very nationless nature of the attack allowed the Bush presidency to name its own target for retaliation.... Iraq.... leading America down the shadowy path of their selective-intelligence "war on terrorism."

Clarke maps out the terrorism minefield facing the Obama administration.... "Seven years after 9/11, the United States has neither eliminated the threat from al-Qaeda nor secured Afghanistan, where bin Laden's terrorists were once headquartered.

"To accomplish these two tasks, we must now eliminate the new terrorist safe haven in Pakistan. But that will require effective action from a weak and riven Pakistani government. It might also depend upon dealing with the long-standing India-Pakistan rivalry."

In the wake of Pearl Harbor, Roosevelt galvanized the nation through his leadership and call for shared sacrifice as he declared war on Japan. It now falls to Barack Obama to rally the nation, and the world, to a common goal.... the defeat of the hydra-headed terrorist monster.

A Nation of Dolts....

After eight years as the poster boy for gut-decision uninformed leadership by a man who called the Constitution "just a piece of paper,".... the incurious Decider's sorry legacy will be legions of like-minded dummies.

Proof of the decline of an educated U.S. populace was highlighted by Kathleen Parker in "Voters Fail the Test." (WaPo)

As Parker says, "So much for the wisdom of The People.

"A new report from the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) on the nation's civic literacy finds that most Americans are too ignorant to vote.

"Out of 2,500 American quiz-takers, including college students, elected officials and other randomly selected citizens, nearly 1,800 flunked a 33-question test on basic civics."

Here's the scary part.... "In fact, elected officials scored slightly lower than the general public with an average score of 44 percent compared to 49 percent.

"Most bracing: Only 27 percent of elected officeholders in the survey could identify a right or freedom guaranteed by the First Amendment."

That's right, our leaders. You know, the ones deciding all things that affect our daily lives.

Really not surprising since we watched incredulously as John McCain's VP choice, Sarah Palin.... the governor of a state.... didn't know the duties of the next office she sought, the vice presidency of our country. She thought the Vice President "ran" the Senate.

Of those taking the test, "Forty-three percent didn't know what the Electoral College does. And 46 percent didn't know that the Constitution gives Congress power to declare war."

What's behind this dumbing down of America?

"The ISI found that passive activities, such as watching television (including TV news) and talking on the phone, diminish civic literacy."

What increases civic literacy?

"Actively pursuing information through print media and participating in high-level conversations -- even, potentially, blogging -- makes one smarter. "

That's right.... blogging! Bloggers personify the First Amendment.... you know, freedom of speech, freedom of the press.

Only a sorry 0.8 percent of all test-takers scored an 'A.'

Parker points out, "America's report card may come as little surprise to fans of Jay Leno's man-on-the-street interviews, which reveal that most people don't know diddly about doohickey. Still, it's disheartening in the wake of a populist-driven election celebrating joes-of-all-trades to be reminded that the voting public is dumber than ever."

Let's face it.... most of the economic trouble we are in has come about because people didn't understand the loan agreements they were signing, financial institutions didn't understand the far-reaching ramifications of their actions, and our government was unable to anticipate the severity of.... and appropriately regulate.... this financial house of cards.

It's hopeful that an intellectual Barack Obama prevailed over the McCain-Palin hillbilly-pandering roadshow. As The Decider would put it.... "Our children is learning!"

Obama Taking the Wheel

"The first step is half the longest journey."

In this case, the longest journey is back from the rusting gates at the junkyard of our economy if the U.S. automobile industry collapses.

The first small, but significant, step is "Rep. Dingell Loses Energy Post - Waxman to Head Key Panel; Change Is Blow to Automakers." (WaPo)

Why, you may ask, is this change a blow to automakers. Because in Rep. John Dingell (D-MI) they are losing from the House Energy and Commerce Committee chair their premier gas-gussler enabler to no-nonsense Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) fresh from the chairmanship of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

"Waxman's victory signaled the rise of a younger, more environmentally conscious party eager to support the policies of President-elect Barack Obama. Waxman's supporters said his win probably would mean a smoother ride through Congress for Obama's energy agenda, which focuses on spending $150 billion on research for producing renewable fuels and 1 million new plug-in hybrid cars.

"Dingell, 82, who was first elected to represent his Dearborn-based district in 1954... has been chairman or ranking Democrat of the energy committee since 1981, at times feuding with fellow Democrats, including Waxman, over efforts to impose fuel-efficiency standards on cars."

Dingell kept the better-gas-mileage-brakes on for the the resistant, short-sighted Detroit manufacturers.

For the automakers who jetted into D.C., the hearings before Congress were a car wreck.

Eugene Robinson points out today in "Detroit: Get a Clue".... (WaPo) The Detroit CEOs "could have hitchhiked to Washington to beg for alms and they still would have been raked over the coals. But the fact that they came in their corporate jets was a bit much."

So the CEOs were sent home with a roadmap for reaching their $25 billion bridge.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) demanded of the jetsetters, "Until we can see a plan where the auto industry is held accountable and a plan for viability on how they go into the future... we cannot show them the money." Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid echoed: "We can only help if they (the automakers) are willing to help themselves." (WaPo) The plan is to be submitted to Congress on December 2.

Robinson suggested that "Richard Wagoner of General Motors, Robert Nardelli of Chrysler and Alan Mulally of Ford should begin the inevitable cost-cutting by firing their public relations consultants.

"They left Capitol Hill empty-handed, but they're bound to get some kind of federal help, however grudging. In the end, I don't think either George W. Bush or Barack Obama wants to be remembered as the president who lost the auto industry."

Or needlessly lost millions of jobs in an unforgiving economy.

(It was just announced that GM is selling two of its private jets.)

All of these course corrections are just baby-steps tottering toward an uncertain future for the U.S. auto industry, an industry that is a critical keystone underpinning the rescue of the American economy.

The longest journey can be successful if it travels.... at last.... in the right direction.

Bailing Out the Bailout

Congress gave the Bush administration the power to go to war in Iraq if all else failed.... with a misleading MWD scare. The Bush neocons snatched up that power and ran with it, right into a mismanaged wall.

That was the first "big time" Bush White House policy disaster.

Fast forward to September 2008 and the second "big time" disaster.... the collapse of the U.S. financial and housing markets.

Congress once again trusted the Bush administration with $700 billion plus to "manage" the collapse. The Bush Treasury snatched up that money and ran with it, right into a mismanaged wall.

The headline says it all... "Bailout Lacks Oversight Despite Billions Pledged - Watchdog Panel Is Empty; Report Is Unfinished" (WaPo)

The alarming news is that "In the six weeks since lawmakers approved the Treasury's massive bailout of financial firms, the government has poured money into the country's largest banks, recruited smaller banks into the program and repeatedly widened its scope to cover yet other types of businesses, from insurers to consumer lenders.

"Along the way, the Bush administration has committed $290 billion of the $700 billion rescue package.

"Yet for all this activity, no formal action has been taken to fill the independent oversight posts established by Congress when it approved the bailout to prevent corruption and government waste. Nor has the first monitoring report required by lawmakers been completed, though the initial deadline has passed."

What happened? "In approving the rescue package, lawmakers trumpeted provisions in the legislation that established layers of independent scrutiny, including a special inspector general to be nominated by the White House and a congressional oversight panel to be named by lawmakers themselves."

This rudderless bailout of taxpayer gold is drifting toward the shoals without a captain, or a crew.

Will it help that the bailout legislation provided for a Financial Stability Oversight Board "whose five members include Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke?" Hardly, "it has no staff of its own, and few expect that policymakers can conduct oversight of themselves. 'It's sort of a joke in terms of oversight,' a congressional aide said.

So, where are we? Yesterday a panicky Treasury Secretary Paulson addressed the nation.... "Treasury Redefines Its Rescue Program - Plan to Buy Distressed Assets Is Abandoned In Favor of Aid to Loosen Consumer Credit" (WaPo)

Paulson announced a series of moves that redefine the federal government's $700 billion rescue plan for the financial industry "in order to tackle what he called a dire situation in the consumer credit markets.

"In recasting the program, the Treasury no longer plans to buy troubled assets from financial firms, the idea initially presented to the country, but instead will offer aid to banks and other firms that issue student, auto and credit card loans in part by jump-starting the market that provides financing for these companies."

This latest reversal of Congressional intent evidently took The Hill by surprise.... it's stunning that they still trust, that they can still be surprised by The Decider's maladministration. It's clear that Bush has already mentally moved on to his Texas rocking chair, Paulson is the poster boy for the Peter Principle, and the Obama calvary is charging ahead but they're still in transition limbo-land.

The tourniquet needed to stop the financial hemorrhaging is public confidence in government and jobs. The administration's entire unaccountable bungling approach has made the situation worse.... consumer confidence is in the dumper.

Now it's a race to see if the economy can be kept on life support until it reaches the Obama emergency room on January 20.

Solid First Steps....

This is change we can believe in.... "Obama Transition Announces Rules for Lobbyists in Transition" (change.com)

On Tuesday Barack Obama Transition Co-Chair John Podesta announced the strictest, and most far reaching ethics rules of any transition team in history.

The rules include the policy that if someone has lobbied in the last 12 months, they are prohibited from working in the fields of policy on which they lobbied.

Even after the transition.... if someone becomes a lobbyist they are prohibited from lobbying the administration for 12 months on matters on which they worked.

And, a gift ban that is aggressive in reducing the influence of special interests.

Thomas Mann of the Brookings Institution said of Obama's lobbyist rules, "The ethical guidelines released today for the Obama transition are tough and unequivocal. They will prevent some honorable people with rich experience from serving in the transition. That is a real cost but it is more than balanced by the strong signal sent by the President-elect. He aspires to attract to government able individuals whose highest priority is to serve the public interest. This is a very constructive step in that direction."

As part of the transition, "Agency Reviews Start Monday." (WaPo) Monday Obama transition team members will start arriving at offices to start reviewing over 100 departments, agencies and commissions of the United States according to Podesta.

The former White House chief of staff said the agency review teams "will ensure that senior appointees have the information necessary to complete their confirmation process, lead their departments and begin implementing signature policy initiatives immediately after they're sworn in.”

In a demonstration of unprecedented transition transparency, Podesta said his team will publicly release the names of every person on the agency review teams and those that will enter the agencies for review.

This, fellow Americans, is what it means to "hit the ground running" next January 20. Aren't you feeling better by the moment....

It's Not the Impossible Dream!

The people of the United States have spoken, and with their election of Barack Obama as their next president have renewed the world's faith in the American ideal.

What is it that the world is hoping will be the first things that Barack Obama does?.... close Guantanamo Bay prison, fix the domestic economy (a tall order), and "approach the world with respect." (WaPo)

A New Spirit.....

"This is a defining moment.... change has come to America." President-elect Barack Obama, November 4, 2008.

A change away from a divisive, oppressive trickle-down government to inclusive leadership that will strive to fulfill Lincoln's promise.... "of the people, by the people and for the people."

And the walls came tumbling down.... the dismantling of that wall started in Iowa.

It's possible that without Iowa, where Obama won the first-in-the-nation caucus last January, the moment might have been missed, and the country would have continued down the "bring it on" path instead of leading the way to "Yes We Can."

The election of Obama shows that, in his own words.... "the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope."

Yesterday "we the people" chose Obama, a uniquely gifted man of vision, intellect, will and judgment, to lead us out of our national nightmare, newborn into a world of possibilities where we'll no longer need to bemoan..... "What happened to my country?"

The Last Dance.... Vote!

"It began in Iowa.... Now, U.S. decides." (DMRegister)

It was a whirlwind of anticipation, excitement and finally exhaustion for Iowans.... their 2008 first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses.

John McCain treated the Iowa caucuses like the wallflower at the nominating prom, and saved his dances for the flashier primaries.

More than a year ago, McCain slashed his Iowa caucus campaign staff and blew off the Ames Republican straw poll in August. He finished fourth in the Iowa caucuses this January.... but cornered the GOP nomination.

When he returned to Iowa, McCain bragged about voting against the farm bill, and he never warmed to ethanol.

But now McCain is courting his Iowa wallflower.... he needs Iowa's electoral college delegates.

"I'm going to give you a little straight talk today and one of them is, as you know, we need to win Iowa," McCain said in Cedar Falls last week.

But McCain's wooing seems too little too late. Iowa voters know that it was Barack Obama who courted Iowa, built a strong organization, inspired first-time voters, reached across lines of division and won the caucuses.... eclipsing the preordained prom Queen, Hillary Clinton.

And Obama returned to Iowa to thank the voters when he secured the nomination.

Obama's win in Iowa not only put him on the road to the Democratic nomination, but as he told Iowans at a rally in Des Moines this week, "it vindicated my faith in the American people".... a faith that looked past the color of his skin to measure the content of his character.

Eugene Robinson, a black columnist for the Washington Post, said it best today in "A New Kind of Pride" .... "an amazing thing happened. In the Iowa caucuses, white Americans voted for the black guy. That's the moment Obama was referring to when he said his faith in the American people was vindicated....

"Even if John McCain somehow prevails, that won't change the fact that Obama won all those primaries, or that he won the Democratic Party nomination, or that he raised more money than any candidate in history, or that he rewrote the book on how to run a presidential campaign. Nothing can change the fact that so many white Americans entrusted a black American with their hopes and dreams.

"We can all have a new kind of pride in our country."

Amen.

Vote.

Iowa's Turning Blue!

The headline: "New Iowa Poll: Obama widens lead over McCain." (DMRegister)

The gap: Obama 54% - McCain 37%

The deal breaker: "Best able to fix U.S. economy:" Obama 51% - McCain 39%. And, 58% of likely voters saw this as the most important trait in the candidates.

McCain's strong suit is national security, the question was who "can best keep America secure:" Obama 47% - McCain 45%.

Fair play? Who "has run the least negative campaign:" Obama 57% - McCain 21%.

Looking toward the future, who "will be the most successful in unifying the country:" Obama 59% - McCain 33%.

So.... will McCain's desperate ads drudging up Rev. Wright, or accusing Obama of being a socialist, or the scare-tactic robo calls turn the tide against Obama. Seems like they are having the opposite effect, although the Rovian dirty tricks worked in 2000 and 2004.

But this time, in 2008, looking at the shambles the Bush White House has made of the country's economy and foreign policy.... Fool us once, shame on you. Fool us twice, ouch! Fool us three times, no way!!

Don't let the polls lull you into complacency.... you still must VOTE. It really matters!

We Thought We Knew Him

Just who is Sen. John McCain?

As Maureen Down asks today in "Who's the Question Mark?" (NYTimes).... "In the final moments of the most gripping campaign in modern history, John McCain is still trying to costume Barack Obama as a dangerous enigma.

"But, in an odd and remarkable reversal, it is McCain who is the enigma, even though he entered the race with one of the best brands in American politics."

Dowd notes that "The McCain campaign specializes in erratica, while the Obama campaign continues to avoid any dramatica."

So just how was it that the man who was one of the most knowable politicians in America..... the Straight-Talking maverick Senator who made the press swoon.... morphed into a political alien? A crooked-talking Bushie insider spouting inanities such as "the fundamentals of our economy are strong."?

Dowd says it was when McCain hired replacement campaign manager Steve Schmidt last summer. Schmidt shackled McCain, "turning the vibrant and respected McCain into a shell of his former self.

"Schmidt abruptly cut off the oxygen supply to McCain's brain" and he became the question mark of the campaign, Dowd opines. The social McCain become "whiny, angry, vengeful and bitter."

Campaign tactics became a see-what-sticks-to-the-wall game of murky constantly-shifting policies and Obama character assassination-by-association.

McCain, like W, likes to depend on his gut for decisions, the most rumbling of which was the selection of Palin the Unpalatable.

For Dowd the "ultimate riddle is this: Why doesn't McCain question why he has become a question mark?"

Like much of the press, Dowd may have a McCain blind spot. She may not want to see that McCain allowed himself to be shackled. That he bought into the Rovian spinmeisters schemes.

And that the relentless spotlight of a fiercely-contested long campaign season exposed the very empty character-vessel beneath McCain's well-crafted public facade.

Vote. It really matters!

The Days Dwindle Down....

Imagine Sinatra crooning.... "and the days dwindle down to a precious few.... September, November.... "

Take comfort, it's almost over.

Next Tuesday will end the phony "My friends," the brassy "You betchas" .... and Webster can quit spinning as word-bludgeons such as "elite" and "maverick" recede back to their actual meaning, not gimmicky soundbites.

The Decider governed by soundbites.

He justified his Iraq crusade because of Saddam's "weapons of mass destruction" under the banner of "freedom on the march," and then "Mission Accomplished."

Then, when it wasn't accomplished, those who wanted to end the war wouldn't "stay the course," wanted to "cut and run," wanted to "lose" in Iraq, were unpatriotic, didn't support the troops.... and on and on.

It should have been abundantly clear by 2004 that we were a duped nation being led by a sloganeering unfit dunce of a president. We winced when he fractured the English language.... "Rarely is the questioned asked: Is our children learning?."

But this Freudian slip should have sent cold chills when The Decider uttered during his re-election campaign.... "Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we."

You can't say we weren't warned.

The "new way" was the trickle-down-enabled mushrooming debt and financial meltdown that has brought the country to the brink.

And, now the 72-year-old-Senator McSame, who voted with The Decider over 90 percent of the time, and bragged that he supported Bush on all his major initiatives, is trying his best to extend the Bush years by feeding misinformation and downright lies to the electorate.

Not able to defeat him on the field of ideas, McSame has waged a by-association smear and distortion campaign against Barack Obama.... not stopping at character innuendos implying Obama is unAmerican, a pal of terrorists, a socialist, and not-like-us in "real America."

McCain named a journalism-media major, fast-talking Annie Oakley wanna-be as his sidekick. Why? Because Silly Sarah was qualified? Not even close. Because she could deliver the far-right base and the lines fed to her by McSame's hired Rovian guns.

We can shed this shallow, Bush/McCain propagandizing cabal. So, as the days dwindle down to a precious few....

Vote. It really matters!

George Will Skewers McCain

John McCain incessantly attacks Barack Obama over not taking matching campaign funds from the government (taxpayers) as he did. Obama out-raised him many times over through small public donations..... not PAC money, not registered lobbyists.

McCain tries to make a sinister case.... Obama broke his word, where is his money really coming from. Defense of Obama's campaign fund-raising comes from an unlikely source, conservative columnist George Will in "Call Him John the Careless."

Will points out, "McCain has a history of reducing controversies to cartoons. A Republican financial expert recalls attending a dinner with McCain for the purpose of discussing with him domestic and international financial complexities that clearly did not fascinate the senator. As the dinner ended, McCain's question for his briefer was: 'So, who is the villain?'

"McCain revived a familiar villain -- 'huge amounts' of political money -- when Barack Obama announced that he had received contributions of $150 million in September. 'The dam is broken,' said McCain, whose constitutional carelessness involves wanting to multiply impediments to people who want to participate in politics by contributing to candidates -- people such as the 632,000 first-time givers to Obama in September.

"Why is it virtuous to erect a dam of laws to impede the flow of contributions by which citizens exercise their First Amendment right to political expression? 'We're now going to see,' McCain warned, 'huge amounts of money coming into political campaigns, and we know history tells us that always leads to scandal.'

"The supposedly inevitable scandal, which supposedly justifies preemptive government restrictions on Americans' freedom to fund the dissemination of political ideas they favor, presumably is that Obama will be pressured to give favors to his September givers. The contributions by the new givers that month averaged $86."

Will dismisses McCain's tempest-in-a-teapot campaign funding scolds, reasoning that "by Election Day, $2.4 billion will have been spent on presidential campaigns in the two-year election cycle that began in January 2007, and an additional $2.9 billion will have been spent on 435 House and 35 Senate contests. This $5.3 billion is a billion less than Americans will spend this year on potato chips."

And silly Sarah Palin didn't escape Will's pen either. He writes, "From the invasion of Iraq to the selection of Sarah Palin, carelessness has characterized recent episodes of faux conservatism."

Will continues, "Some polls show that Palin has become an even heavier weight in John McCain's saddle than his association with George W. Bush. Did McCain, who seems to think that Palin's never having attended a 'Georgetown cocktail party' is sufficient qualification for the vice presidency, lift an eyebrow when she said that vice presidents 'are in charge of the United States Senate' "?

George Will doesn't suffer fools gladly.

And while he has not endorsed anyone for president, his comments on how McCain handled the financial meltdown almost seemed to, as he wrote in "McCain Loses His Head" (WaPo).... "Under the pressure of the financial crisis, one presidential candidate is behaving like a flustered rookie playing in a league too high. It is not Barack Obama."

Vote. It really matters!

Broder's McCain

Today David Broder wrote a thoughtful op-ed entitled "What We've Learned About McCain." (WaPo)

He reviewed what we already know about John McCain.... his military service and Senate history.... and then he zeroed in on his current performance as wanna-be president.

Broder opines, "We suspected, and soon had confirmed, that he had limited interest in, and capacity for, the organization and management of large enterprises. His first effort at building a structure for the 2008 presidential race collapsed in near-bankruptcy, costing him the service of many longtime aides. From beginning to end, the campaign that followed has been plagued by internal feuds and McCain's inability to resolve them.

"The shortcoming was intellectual as well as bureaucratic. Like Jimmy Carter, the only Naval Academy graduate to reach the Oval Office, McCain had an engineer's approach to policymaking. He had no large principles that he could apply to specific problems; each fresh question set off a search for a 'practical' solution. He instinctively looked back to Theodore Roosevelt and the Progressive era, with its high-mindedness and disdain for the politics of doling out favors to interest groups. But those instincts coexisted uneasily with his adherence to traditional, Reagan-era conservatism -- a muscular foreign policy, a penchant for tax-cutting and a fondness for business."

Considering Broder's long friendship and support of both George W. Bush and his political guru Karl Rove, this is quite a startling analysis. In fact, it reads like The Decider's approach to governing.... McCain has "limited interest in, and capacity for, the organization and management of large enterprises".... McCain's "shortcoming was intellectual as well as bureaucratic." Wow!

And, he truthfully notes, that while McCain's instincts are high-minded, his actions support Reagan-era conservatism including "a fondness for business."

While giving McCain credit for being engaging and a survivor, Broder still worries that with a McCain presidency, "the country will have to hope this campaign has honed his leadership skills."

The country doesn't have to "hope"..... with Barack Obama in the White House we'll have a president with demonstrated intellectual acuity, and the management and leadership skills necessary for this critical time in the country's history.

Vote. It really matters!

Our Amazing Shrinking Economy

It defies common sense.... as our "Economy Shrinks in Third Quarter," (WaPo) John McCain is still campaigning on a tax platform of tax cuts for the wealthy.

The theory is that giving tax breaks to the top 5% of taxpayers (corporations) will create jobs and benefits that "trickle down" to strengthen the "fundamentals of our economy."

We all know how that turned out... not just once, but time and again.

Ronald Reagan ran the country into deep debt with his "credit card" economy; Bush 41 dug the hole deeper (Clinton got it back on track); and Bush 43's dismal failure of trickle-down, tax-cuts-for-the-wealthy Reaganomics has resulted in bringing the country's economy to its knees.

The news today... the "U.S. economy shrank from July through September, confirming an economic slowdown that was already showing itself through steady job losses and declining consumer sales.

"Gross Domestic Product fell 0.3 percent on an annualized basis for the third quarter of the year, as consumers and businesses both curbed spending."

But it could have been much worse.... if government hadn't "increased their spending by 1.15 percent to GDP."

Yet in the face of this colossal failure, McCain is still pushing voo-doo Reaganomics, calling Barack Obama's tax plan to give tax breaks to the middle class socialism and worse.

McCain the magician wants you to keep your eyes on the pretty lady while presenting his slight-of-hand amazing shrinking economy.

Voters have seen this trick before. Vote. It really matters!

Religious Right.... They're Baaack!

It's downright spooky.

As journalist Christine Wicker exposes today in "Evangelical Leaders Using God Like a Hired Gun" (HuffingtonPost) when the branding of Barack Obama as the anti-Christ, palling around with terrorists, and a secret Muslim didn't work, they started "using God like a hired gun to terrorize the town's people, the evangelical Christian mullahs are declaring that Obamageddon is at hand....

"...using that very word and asking as the Religious Right/Republican Townhall magazine did in a September headline, 'Could We Survive a Barack Presidency?'

"Evangelical publisher James Strang answers the survival question by warning his readers that people who hate Christianity will take over the country once Obama is elected.

"In fact, 'life as we know it will end,' Strang writes."

You can hear the wind howling, sense the ghouls skulking in wait, the Four Horsemen bearing down.....

Wicker continues, "Last week Focus on the Family's James Dobson added his own doomsday predictions with a 16-page rant about evils that will befall the United States by 2012 if Obama is elected."

But young evangelical leaders are resisting using God as their hired gun. Dobson blames misguided young evangelicals for elevating Obama. Wicker points out, "It's them he's hoping to scare most. But they and emergent church leaders such as Brian McLaren, who endorsed Obama, have broken ranks and won't be coming back.

"A great mass of other evangelicals, who never followed the evangelical mullahs and never will, are also going for Obama. Maybe Dobson thinks they'll listen to him."

But that's not likely, they're already off pursuing their own causes, and "won't be convinced by Dobson's scare tactics. They're more likely to agree with a new bumper sticker popular in Colorado, where Focus on the Family is based.

"It reads, 'Focus on your own damn family.' "

Dobson, sure that he could shoo Republican primary voters away from the Senator, said in a Focus on the Family press release that McCain "is being touted by the media as a man of principle, yet he was involved with other women while married to his first wife, and was implicated in the so-called Keating scandal with four other senators.

"He was eventually reprimanded by the Congress for the 'appearance of impropriety.' The Senator reportedly has a violent temper and can be extremely confrontational and profane when angry. These red flags about Senator McCain's character are reminiscent of the man who now occupies the White House."

"The man who now occupies the White House".... oh yes, the last guy the Religious Right elected.

And Dobson didn't leave out of that release McCain's love of alcohol and gambling.

Wicker, shining light in dark places, explains "When Dobson saw that threats to take his toys and go home didn't keep McCain from winning the nomination, he forgot his previous scruples. Now Dobson sees McCain as God's man. It's Obama who's the devil. And under God's direction, as he always is, Dobson is speaking out again...."

In his current sixteen-page delusional tirade against Obama, Dobson channels the things that could happen if Christians don't unite behind McCain.... the same McCain he branded as an adulterous, profane, violent, scandal-tainted, drinker and gambler who he is now anointing to preside over the most powerful elective office in the world.

It almost the bewitching hour. Hopefully the Religious Right's false soothsayers will be defanged and return to being merely pompous pumpkins. God must be so proud....

Vote! It matters.

Obama Returns to Iowa

Iowa's favorite caucus-son will touch base.... "Obama will campaign in Des Moines on Friday." (DMRegister) Stay tuned for where and what time......