Politics and Hypocrisy

Post Debate Thoughts

Before the debate, McCain spokesmen tried to spin how, against his own earlier comments about suspending his campaign, McCain could attend the debate despite the fact that the bailout plan hadn’t been worked out.

With that in mind, the first thing I noticed during the debate was how McCain skirted that whole issue. That was his first mistake and it killed any benefits he might have gained with the stunt and then Obama made the mistake of not pressing him on it. Much of the rest of the debate was filled with talking points on both sides along with McCain harping on the perceived lack of experience by Obama followed by answers from Obama that showed that the did have at least some knowledge on the subject and McCain trying to hammer home his less than truthful points on Obama’s tax cuts.

Putting the above standard fare aside, 2 points did stick out to me only because they weren’t the usual campaign talking points. The first affects South Dakota and our burgeoning ethanol industry directly and it didn’t take long for locals to catch an off handed comment by McCain that he would end subsidies for ethanol. Ending subsidies would probably all but kill that otherwise unprofitable industry but yet McCain said he would also work to encourage alternative fuel vehicle production by the US auto makers which is currently dominated by E85 vehicles. How would that work?

The last issue that stuck out to me was McCain again touching on his plan to build 45 new nuclear power plants. I mentioned this a few months back and it seems that while he keeps mentioning the issue, he cannot say how he will get around the fact that a license to build such a plant hasn’t been issued since the 1970’s because of regulatory and waste disposal issues and the fact that no one wants a plant built anywhere near them.

Yucca mountain, our only designated waste facility, is years behind schedule and may never open at all and McCain wants to ad 45 more waste generating plants to the 104 we currently have. So where will we store it? Of course my first reaction was one of McCain’s 7 back yards but I digress.

Overall I thought that both candidates had their high and low points, I could sense Obama having problems from time to time getting his thoughts from his brain to his mouth resulting in a few uh’s and um’s and Senator McCain, would it be asking to much to look your opponent in the eye from time to time when addressing him?

In my opinion Obama showed that he isn’t as clueless on foreign affairs as McCain would like us to believe and considering this debate was all about foreign policy, Obama held his own. Of course what I believe doesn’t mean much but it seems I am not alone if the CNN post debate poll can be believed.

Who did the best job in the debate?

Barack Obama 51
John McCain 38

Who would better handle Iraq?

Barack Obama 52
John McCain 47

Who would better handle the economy?

Barack Obama 58
John McCain 37

Your thoughts?

McCain Drinking Game

Now that John McCain is done saving us from financial ruin and has decided to restart his campaign in time for tonight’s debate, the users of Twitter have come up with a neat little drinking game to play while watching McCain and Barack Obama duke it out.

The game tagged #McCainshot is a drinking game in which the participants take a drink each time Senator McCain says “friends” during the debate. While I am sure folks that play the game will get their fill of their favorite beverage, I hear that those that devised the game originally wanted to use “POW” but had to shelve the idea because no one would be standing by the end of the debate…

Speaking of Twitter, they have set up a subsite that constantly scours their database for all tweets referencing the candidates pretty much in real time. It’s an excellent way to track the pulse of the “Twitter Nation” and should be a lively place to monitor during tonight’s debate (which McCain apparently already won).

UPDATE: They have added a new game so that Barack Obama doesn’t feel left out. #obamashot will have you taking a drink each time Barack Obama says the word “change”.

I would strongly suggest that those playing the game either do it at home or bring along a designated driver because having to drink each time that McCain says “friends” and Obama says “change” will result in you reaching .08 BAC quite early in the evening.

Truth In Advertising

One can question the truthfulness of John McCain and more recently Barack Obama’s campaign and a Canadian electronics retailer does just that with one of their online ads.

Having a couple of HD sets myself I can concur with the gist of the ad but like Wilson over at Gizmodo says, the volume should be turned down for the full effect.

And speaking of being truthful, the link above documents some smoke involving the Obama campaign’s possible involvement in a less than truthful viral ad that is currently all the rage on the right. Stay tuned to see if there is any fire.

I Am Being Out Of Line?

Is it out of line to expect that the bullshit not be so deep that I not need to roll up my pant legs every time a politician opens their mouth? Apparently McCain isn’t the only one that has issues with the truth.

Co-Workers: Obama Inflated His Resume

It has been noted by Charles Krauthammer and others that very few people have stepped forward to vouch for Barack Obama.

Indeed, there would seem to be an especially conspicuous absence of witnesses to the years after graduated from Columbia and before he moved to Chicago to work as a community organizer.

Well, it turns out that one of his co-workers, Dan Armstrong, has in fact written about Mr. Obama during those days. And while he is an admitted fan of Obama’s, he claims that he has inflated his resume considerably.

All That Was Missing Was Aunt Jemima

A vendor at the Values Voter Summit had an idea for a product immortalizing Barack Obama’s position changes on the issues. Pictured is the product they came up with including an interesting caricature of the Illinois Senator.

I am all for a good parody but wouldn’t pancake mix have been a better product? I would think Obama was more of a flip flopper (FISA comes to mind) than a waffler.

Oh and then there is that stereotypical picture thing…but who is surprised? I would bet most attending the so called “Values Voter Summit” are all about stereotypes and many I would guess still strongly believe that Obama is a Muslim.

UPDATE 1:45pm: LGF thinks the waffle mix might have something to do with Obama’s “Why can’t I just eat my waffle” comment so I guess the waffle product is fitting though I still would have gone with pancake/flip flop metaphor, minus the caricature, myself.

Is McCain Setting Up Obama?

I discussed yesterday how the latest Obama ad criticizing McCain for his perceived email/internet ignorance would probably backfire. Besides allowing McCain surrogates to again bring up his POW days because of the injuries he received causing problems for him using a keyboard, it appears that it is also not correct.

More proof that Obama needs some more talented internet researchers on his staff. Forbes from May of 2000:

In certain ways, McCain was a natural Web candidate. Chairman of the Senate Telecommunications Subcommittee and regarded as the U.S. Senate’s savviest technologist, McCain is an inveterate devotee of email. His nightly ritual is to read his email together with his wife, Cindy. The injuries he incurred as a Vietnam POW make it painful for McCain to type. Instead, he dictates responses that his wife types on a laptop. “She’s a whiz on the keyboard, and I’m so laborious,” McCain admits.

If wasn’t for the fact that I believe that McCain is no where near smart enough to pull it off, I might believe that his whole internet dumbness meme was nothing more than an elaborate setup that Obama fell for hook line and sinker.

Incompetence Continues

You have one of the most unpopular outgoing Presidents in history. You are facing a candidate that promises pretty much 4 more years of the policies of that unpopular President. Your opponent choses the mayor of B.F.E. as his running mate whose only foreign policy experience is the proximity of her state to Russia. So why are you behind in the polls and in real danger of losing?

Well this might have something to do with it. From Obama’s spokesman Dan Pfeiffer on his latest ad slamming McCain’s internet skills

“Our economy wouldn’t survive without the Internet, and cyber-security continues to represent one our most serious national security threats,” [Obama spokesman Dan] Pfeiffer said. “It’s extraordinary that someone who wants to be our president and our commander in chief doesn’t know how to send an e-mail.” (emphasis mine)

The only problem?

McCain gets emotional at the mention of military families needing food stamps or veterans lacking health care. The outrage comes from inside: McCain’s severe war injuries prevent him from combing his hair, typing on a keyboard, or tying his shoes.

Put aside for the moment that being able to use a keyboard is not a deal breaker if one desires to send an email, does Obama really want McCain’s POW card being used again, this time in the proper “noun verb POW” context? Yes McCain could send an email if he really wanted to learn even with his war inflicted injuries, but is the shi*storm that will likely ensue really worth it? (Can you say lipstick on a pig?)

Newsflash to Obama and his surrogates. Before criticizing your opponent for his lack of internet skills, maybe consider hiring someone that knows how to use the internet, you know like maybe Google, so that they can research your attacks before you make them. There is so many other things that you could slam McCain on, why choose this one?

UPDATE 9/13: If the point was whether or not McCain could actually use a keyboard or type, this Huffington Post story might have been damaging. Unfortunately the issue is providing the McCain spin machine with another opportunity to throw the victim card back in Obama’s face and no facts to the contrary seem to matter.

Pot Meet Darker Pot, Lipstick Edition

You can debate the intelligence of Barack Obama mentioning pig and lipstick in the same sentence after all the publicity garnered by Sarah Palin’s lipstick quote all you want. But before you get to caught up in trying to connect the dots and feigning outrage, you might want to refresh your memory of John McCain’s pig with lipstick quote when talking about Hillary Clinton and her healthcare plan.

Spoke Too Soon?

Daily KOS

This has been the best veep rollout EVER. But alas, all good things must come to an end.

Not being one to drink to KOS Kool Aid all that often, does a middle of Friday night leaked announcement in time for the almost non-existent Saturday morning news cycle really qualify as the best VP rollout ever?

That also doesn’t take into account the fact that the “letting supporters know first” technology blitz included a text message I never got and an email that finally arrived at 9:20am. If it wasn’t for the somewhat unreliable Twitter, I would have had to find out just like Americans have for the past 50 years, by watching TV.

Obama Picks Running Mate

The message that liberals and bloggers have been waiting for with baited breath for days has finally come, at 3:22 this morning?. According to sources close to me (Twitter/TweetDeck) Barack Obama has chosen Joe Biden to be the 2nd line on the ticket in November.

More to come for sure but what is your initial reaction? Why the middle of the night annoucement?

UPDATE: By the way, I never got the text message or the email announcing the choice, at least not yet. I guess the new technology thing that Obama has embraced still has a few bugs to be worked out.

Also, after a few minutes thinking this over I am not sure this choice does much for me. Does Obama, the so called candidate of change, need a 30 year Washington insider with a penchant for saying stupid things as a running mate?. Don’t we already have that on the Republican ticket?

At least now Obama can probably put Delaware in the win column…