Odds and ends

1. In a chilling reminder of Joe McCarthy's worst guilt-by-association tactics, a wild-eyed Minnesota Rep. Michelle Bachmann on Hardball TV with Chris Mathews claimed that Barack Obama and his wife Michelle hold anti-American views and can't be trusted in the White House. She even called for the major newspapers of the country to investigate other members of Congress to "find out if they are pro-America or anti-America." And she implied that holding liberal views is anti-American.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/17/gop-rep-channels-mccarthy_n_135735.html

2. You've heard about the massive robocall campaign across the country put out by the McCain campaign to smear Obama. Apparently it hasn't hurt him in Missouri, one of the most important tossup states. Today 100,000 people came out to hear him speak at a rally in St. Louis.

3. I just saw the new Oliver Stone film, "W." Pretty devastating just by presenting a more or less straight-forward portrayal of what we already know. Still, it has the effect of an "inside" view as it's all happening. It's not a hatchet job, nor a whitewash. I came away feeling slightly less contemptuous of Dubya, because it does try to provide some psychological context for his strivings (to gain Poppy's respect and love, as well as to succeed where his father failed).

But it does nothing to mitigate the effect of Dubya's failure on our country and the world; and, if the therapist in me felt a twinge of compassion for George the crippled man, the rest of me still feels appalled and enraged that this limited man was given such power to do harm. It was utterly predictable that he would.

Extraordinary portrayal of Cheney by Richard Dreyfus. Worth the ticket price for that alone.

Ralph

Who is the real Bill Ayers?

Let's cut the McCain BS and see what someone who knows Bill Ayers has to say about him.

Friends--

I know Bill Ayers. He lives about the same distance from me as he does from Barack Obama. He was my son's Little League coach; he was on the Local School Council of one of our schools; he and his wife Bernadine have parties at each of my college reunions (Bernadine was in my class) and everyone comes to them from community organizers to neocons. They make it comfortable for us all.

I know Bill and Bernadine's lovely children. One played ball with my son. Another is a foster child who came to them with many problems but who grew up to become a Rhodes Scholar. It took a lot of good parenting to go from there to here.

I know Bill as a serious educational leader. He is a professor of education at the University of Illinois and he writes almost as much (and as fast) as I read. It's no secret that he wants change in our schools; who doesn't. When I was a school principal, I went to him for advice many times and got a lot from his suggestions. If you want to know where Bill stands on education, read Teaching Toward Freedom, A Kind and Just Parent or To Teach: The Journey of a Teacher.

Hundreds of people in my neighborhood know Bill the way I do. We have talked with him on the street, in the gym, at PTA meetings, on committees, at parties and in the grocery store. We know what he was 35 years ago -- more than half a life ago. Today he is a good neighbor, a good parent and a friend.

John McCain makes Bill Ayers out to be a demon and those who associate with him hardly any better. I'll tell you that in our neighborhood -- my neighborhood, Barack's neighborhood and Bill Ayer's neighborhood -- that would demonize an awful lot of people. Many are very fine people and at least one would make a great president!

Best wishes,

Jay Mulberry

P.S.: I urge you to pass this to others to help clarify the matter.

The message is entirely my doing. Neither Bill Ayers nor the Obama campaign had anything to do with it.

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Robocalls from "McNasty"

McCain's campaign has now become as mean, nasty, and sleazy as Karl Rove ever conducted against him in 2000. There are no excuses. Don't try to defend Hero John by saying it's his Rovian campaign managers, not really him. He chose them, he is responsible, he could tell them to stop.

In May 2006, John McCain was asked whether he was bending his principles for the sake of winning, when he courted Jerry Falwell in an effort to get the conservative base. He replied:

"I don't want it that badly. . . . I will continue to do what is right. . . . If that means I can't get the Republican nomination, fine. I've had a happy life. The worst thing I can do is sell my soul to the devil."

As Richard Nixon's spokesman used to say, when confronted with his contradictions: "That statement is no longer operable."

If it ever was. Or maybe in 2006 McCain was just saying what he knew would sound good. As Peggy Noonan recently said about Sarah Pallin: "She doesn't even think out loud. She just says things."

It's time for other Republican senators and party leaders to step in and denounce these latest McCain tactics. It will only damange them. It won't win the election. And it is not right, John, and you know it.

Ralph

P.S. "McNasty" was McCain's nickname at the Naval Academy.

Conservatives for Obama

The Chicago Tribune, a newspaper that has not endorsed a Democrat for president since it was founded in 1847, today endorsed Barak Obama. This venerable newspaper pointed out their previous endorsement of an Illinois son, Abraham Lincoln.

Conservative talk radio host Michael Smerconish, who is apparently very big in the Philadelphia area, said: "For the first time since registering as a Republican 28 years ago, I'm voting for a Democrat for president."

And New York Times conservative columnist, David Brooks, did not endorse him but praised his qualities and said "It is easy to sketch out a scenario in which he could be a great president" -- echoing what the Washington Post said about him yesterday.

Yes, We Can

Ralph

Joe The Liar, McCain the Liar, and the Pro-America America

So Joe the plumber is NOT a plumber.
He does NOT own a business.
He does NOT make $250,000 a year.

Hmmm. That makes him a, what is that called? Oh yeah, a LIAR!

McCain mentions 'Joe the Plumber 21 times during the debate, implicitly fomenting lies about Joe's status.
McCain accuses Obama of smearing 'Joe the Plumber'(who is not a plumber, so McCain repeats that falsehood again), even though Obama never smeared Joe
McCain implies that Biden referencing the truth that McCain's Joe didn't have a license was a smear.

Let me see if I have this right - claiming, repeatedly, that someone is something they are not, accusing someone(Obama) for 'smearing' someone by a) not saying anything, and accusing another person(Biden) of 'smearing' Joe for b) pointing out the truth, that Joe isn't a plumber...


Hmmm. That makes McCain a, what is that called? Oh yeah, a LIAR!

But what do you call someone, like Palin, who dismisses millions of Americans as not being 'Pro-America' merely because they don't agree with her narrow, narrow, narrow, and uninformed view of the world?

Demagogue? Fascist? Idiot? I don't know, you tell me.

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