Friday, October 03, 2008

Gwen Ifill: The Moderator That Wasn't


Leading up to and immediately following the vice presidential debate Thursday night between Sen. Joe Biden and Gov. Sarah Palin the burning question was, who'd win and who'd lose. But there were really no major surprises. Biden sounded like the knowledgeable and experienced six-term Senator he is and Palin sounded like the colossal airhead she is. So, the biggest loser of all? Moderator Gwen Ifill. She was there occupying space and her lips moved, but she was virtually invisible the entire evening.

It's unfortunate, but the American media is neutered. For eight years it's given the Bush administration a free pass to invade Iraq on lies and faulty intelligence and conflate that war with the 9-11 attacks; to torture and spy on whoever the hell it wants; and generally govern in the most reckless manner through cronyism and corruption, trampling all over the Constitution. And now when the nation is at a critical crossroads with the upcoming presidential election, journalists like Ifill are simply asleep at the wheel yet again.

Case in point: when Biden challenged Palin to answer the question about Sen. John McCain's role in deregulating Wall Street and the banking industry, which led to the current financial meltdown, the plucky little hockey mom thumbed her nose at both her opponent and Ifill:

"Well I'm still on the tax thing because I want to correct ya on that again...and I want to let ya know what I did as a mayor and as a governor. And I may not answer the questions the way that either the moderator or you wanna hear but I'm gonna talk straight to the American people and let 'em know my track-record also."

Ifill sat there motionless and silent as Palin essentially rewrote the debate rules and said, "fuck you all, gosh-darnit! I'll answer whatever I want, whenever I want. And when I don't have the answer to one of your "gotcha" questions, I'll just fill air with my usual inane, disjointed, incoherent gibberish about shout-outs, Joe Sixpack, soccer games, mavericks, reforms, energy independence, and greed and corruption...all the while givin' y'all a flash of my pearly whites and my cutesy lil wink. It'll drive the boys crazy and make the girls all want to be my friend!"

How come Ifill didn't come back at Palin with : "With all due respect Governor, the economy is in crisis and Congress is being asked to pass a $700-billion bailout bill funded with taxpayers' money. Voters want to know what you be believe was Sen. McCain's role in deregulating banks and Wall Street."

Would this sort of aggressive moderating have been out of line? Would it have been condescending? Sexist? Or unfair on any level? Of course not. It would've been exactly what Ifill was supposed to do

And while she was at it, Ifill could've nailed the spunky igloo-dwelling, Putin-watching BluffQueen on her convoluted mumbo-jumbo about the "Constitutional" role of the VP; the Founding Fathers; her lies about Obama's tax plan and troop funding; her Afghanistan war "Gen. McLellan" mix-up; and any other of her many embarrassing gaffes. I suppose that would've been too much to ask for.

75 comments:

Anonymous said...

Superb commentary! This was in no way a debate at all, - but a platform for Sarah Palin's recital of memorized talking points that were spewed with robot-like precision and rapidity. It was also a forum for Joe Biden to play nice and prove he was not a gaffe-prone bully who would dare challenge the non-sequiturs and folksy winks of his stage companion. There was not a single hard ball question, not a follow-up to some of Palin's outrageous responses, and nothing remotely resembling a debate. Gwen Ifill was an embarrassment.

Athena Smith said...

The moderator was pathetic! She was like a robot, unable to react, unwilling to say "You are not answering the question."

Jesus... what kind of people reach those positions?

Anonymous said...

Geez and Ifill loves Obama. Do you see any similarities to Obots there?


LOL!!! Obama et al sucks!!

Anonymous said...

The lady should have the lead role in "Uncle Tom's Cabin."

Anonymous said...

great article----hey Andy, Id like you to personally respond to this---didnt Palin look as if she was READING a teleprompter??? Therse NO FUCKING WAY she spoke that fluently. Her words were all talking point garbage like you said, but she spoke fluently like she was reading it off something. What do you think?

And that bitch had ZERO compassion for Biden's mention of his family when he choked up. She just continued with the talking points like the cold-hearted BITCH she is. Can you believe that?

Anonymous said...

Good article Andrew. Well put.

Anonymous said...

Well,Palin received a 20% rating for her phoniness at that debate as she followed orders to smile,act sweet, speak very softly and ignore any questions that she could not answer and just change the subject to something that she was more aware of.
(and wink a lot)
Moderator might as well not have even been there since she did nothing to force Palin to answer questions!

Anonymous said...

How pathetic you all are.....

I have been watching these debates since they became a regular feature of presidential races and I have ALWAYS noted that those debating have pre-scripting talking points that they make sure they get out REGARDLESS of the question. Both of them did it that night and to focus on Palin is little more than a testament to your own biases.

Neutered media? Are you kidding me? The left wing has had the media in its pockets for YEARS. Look at MSNBC where they had to change their anchors because one got tingles in his leg listening to one candidate and the other was simply spewing.

The Times, the Washington Post, the LA Times - CNN (the Clinton News Network) and other electronic media are deep in the tank. Cycle after cycle, you get blind poll results that indiacte that 90% or so of the Washington Press corps backs the Democrat candidate. And you all really think it doesn't affect their reportage?

Spare me - anyone who desires to be taken seriously can't deny the human element.

Look at today's Times. They did today what they did for Clinton in 1992.

They couldn't NOT report on Whitewater. So what did they do? They waited till towards the end and then pushed it out on a Saturday, the least read paper of the week. And only after they felt comfortable that he had a good enough lead.

Now with Obama cresting at his high, they finally get around to the fact that this wingnut has questionable associations to terrorists and subversives. Oh, and it gets reported on a Saturday again. This time, they didn't have a principled guy like Jeff Gersh, so the article leads off with the defense rather than the allegation, a very strange way to report on allegations.

The Press is deep in the tank.

To the extent that Ifill was neutered it was only because she put herself in an impossible position - writing a pro-Obama book timed to come out on innauguration day without disclosing it in advance. That's the kind of thing that leftist journalists skate away with but conservatives get skewered for.

So after it got attention, she had little choice but to play it up the middle. Which is what irks you guys so much - you are so used to having the media in the bag for you that when someone plays it up the middle, it offends you.

I feel really sorry for you all....

Anonymous said...

1:05 PM

back to clinton again...amazing

and what new stories on obama associations? ayers again??

whitewater was nothing...ayers is nothing

and i feel sad for you...must be hard walking around with your head so deep inside your ass

andy, dont be upset with ifill...obama accepted the rules of this debate...rules which allowed palin to spew her bs without real challenge....didnt work though

now mccain is readying the scorched earth policy

howieroll said...

they had to change their anchors because one got tingles in his leg...


Another Greet American synchophant blathers away.

Anonymous said...

The important issue is that Obama LIED. He said that he knew the guy because their kids went to school together. Turns out he hosted his first fundraiser for him, sat on boards together and on 9/11/01 was quoted in the NY Times as saying he only wished he threw more bombs.

And then there is the Reverend Wright - again he lies. This is a guy who has been a nutjob for ever. He was his pastor for 25 years, went to more than 500 services and never even had a clue that the guy was off the hook? Even as he walked past the recordings of his most interesting sermons in the lobby of the church?

The guy lies about his connections. How about Tony Rezko? The guy gave him his very first political contribution and then happened to pay full price for an empty lot adjacent to a house that Obama bought at a deep discount from a seller who insisted on selling both at once?

This guy is an empty suit which makes his associations all the more important.

Bury your head in the sand all you like - you guys would vote for Attilla the Hun if he were a Democrat and then use your silly rhetoric to beat back anyone who challenged it.

Sad, very sad.

Anonymous said...

when did obama lie? he has said that they served on commissions together.

i dont even get the point of the times article..."obama has played down their association but they are not close"

so what is the point?

guess what, mccain served for years in the same body that housed ted stevens...does that make mccain a corrupt politician?

mccain is losing...he is watching his career and whatever good will he once had with the american people go down the tubes...so now will come the attack ads...wall to wall ads on wright, ayers and whoever else they can dredge up

well guess what...2 can play the same game....obama doesnt have to...thousands of bloggers will

lets start here...

todd palin was the member of an extremely dangerous seperatist group in alaska...one that calls for the seccession of alaska from the other 49 states...the leaders of that group attended a seccionist conclave last year that was also attended by neo nazis and kkk members

therefore todd palin is a racist nazi....why does sarah continue to be married and sleep with an enemy of the state?

no wonder he daughter turned into a slut and her son had to leave the states in order to escape prosecution for drug use and willfull destruction of property

what a fucked up family they are.

and the fact that mccain picked her shows how much he really hates america...but he has no morals anyway...ask his first wife, who he cheated on repeatedly with hookers and strippers.

Anonymous said...

We Americans over and over again overlook the greed that motivates those with power.

There was talk of Ifill stepping down as moderator because her book favoring Obama will be available on Inauguration Day. It was considered that she had a personal interest in the outcme of the debate -- possible in the millions of dollars should her book be a success. However, if Obama loses he will be "old news" and people will be less likely to buy her book.

She refused to resign as moderator. It was obvious, however, that she could not risk being criticized for favoring Biden hence her poor, self-concerned, motiviated by greed performance.

I KNEW she would be soft on Palin. She had too much to lose if she weren't. Why was that not obvious to everybody?

Κίμων said...

Bacci 40
In other countries seccessionism is punishable by death. It is called high treason.

Anonymous said...

Palin is not running for President. Palin will not be President. Should it eventually turns out that she is, it would not be for the entire four years. Should she try to to something that is "punishable by death" in other countries, she can be impeached, and of course arrested. So it's not to worry.

What's to worry is the President being connected with a convicted criminal; a preacher and a group that hate America, a terrorist who bombed DC, a group that has tried to "fix" this election, Plager who connects with the Black Liberation Thelogy, and numberous relatives who are Muslims and one whom he supported financially in his election bid. Not to mention, Obama has changed his position on key promises that he made during the primary.

Κίμων said...

12:41
Don't insult your intelligence like that. There is no proof that Obama was "palling" with this man. Look up the definition of "pal" if you don't know it. Now if you want to see who was spending his 70th birthday with which infamous Russian underworld figure, check out this

Do yourself a favor man and stay home during election day. Even a cretin can see how dangerous this fluffy bunny is.

Anonymous said...

I could not endure being in the same room with anyone who had BOMBED DC or NY or anywhere else. I couldn't allow such a person to help me or contribute to my political intentions I could not sit in my seat and listen to anyone screaming how rotten America is, and how awful an entire race of people are. It would be an outrage if our President a "pal" of a 9/11 terrorist or a domestic one. It's the old "birds of a feather flock together."

Anonymous said...

Hey -- Jeff. I'll certainly not deprive myself of the privilege of "saving the contry" by voting for McCain on election day. I'm just not afraid of "fluffy bunnies". I'm afraid of terrorists and hate-ridden people.

Anonymous said...

2:27 "country" Enroll in a typing class or hire a typist.

Anonymous said...

6:18 PM,
There is no need to capitalize 'enroll' in your sentence. Enroll in a typing class or hire a typist.

Anonymous said...

i do know for a fact that mccain used to pal around with a greater monster than ayres or wright...one charles keating, who destroyed 20,000 lives and cost the taxpayers 2.1 billion

to me, keating is a greater domestic terrorist than ayres could ever have hoped to be

Anonymous said...

Ifill said that Palin just blew her off and her only option was to whine and plead with Palin: Oh please, answer my questions Remember there were to be no follow-up questions.

I think Ifill did the right thing by letting Palin go on and on. Palin appealed to the right wing base which McCain already has their votes. So what good did Palin do with her ramblings?

Wake up folks! Learn all the facts before you shoot the moderator. Also why is it NOT okay to talk about the past when it comes to Bush and McCain's support for his policies and okay to connect Obama with Ayers when Obama was 8 years old?

Boy is McCain/Palin desperate. I hope Obama comes back in a week with all the crap on both McCain and Palin.

Athena Smith said...

The situation in Florida has changed dramatically in favor of Obama. Last Friday I drove through the main downtown roads in Tampa and every a couple of traffic lights there were a bunch of young people holding Obama signs and waving. Along the same roads I saw only one middle-aged couple having volunteered for the McCain camp. The contrast in number was impressive. Although they had posted signs, there were no other volunteers. One of their signs read: "God, guns and guts is what has made America great."
Trying to attract the undecided?
With that kind of sign? In a city where thousands of students are voting for the first time?
Remember the motto "Target your audience?"
I have come to the conclusion that elections are won not by the best candidate but by the most competent campaign team.

Anonymous said...

Actually, McCain DID NOT pal around with Charles Keating. No less than Bill Bennett - the guy who defended Clinton - was the investigator of the Keating matter and he has gone on the record as saying that McCain did NOTHING wrong and that the only reason he was kept in the group was because the Keating scandal was a Democratic scandal and they needed to have a Republican involved as well.

The real issue with Obama is his abject lack of experience and his heavy reliance upon advisors as a result. That's why he chose Biden, who otherwise can't help him electorally.

The problem with Obama's advisors is he lacks the judgment to wisely choose them.

He was not a Christian until he arrived in Chicago, or so he claims. He chose a church knowingly and fully aware that the church's basic message was a black liberation theology. He HAD to know that this guy Wright was a wingnut and he has consistently lied about it. No one in his right mind (pardon the pun) could really believe his denial that he had no idea that Wright was way way way off the reservation.

Yet, he baptized him and sat in that church at least 500 times during his 25 year memebership. He had him as an advisor to his campaign and only took him down when people began to notice the guy was nuts.

Now there are two ways to look at this - either he, a man who needs to rely heavily on advisors - chose a key advisely poorly, or he knowingly chose a maniac as an advisor. He loses on the judgment issue either way.

Then there is the Tony Rezko relationship.

Rezko gave him his very first campaign contribution and he had a long history of close support. As a State Senator, he wrote official letters urging government loans to Rezko to rehab slums long after it was clear that he was doing a very lousy job of it. He ultimately defaulted on 10s of millions of dollars of loans. Many of the people affected lived in Obama's own district.

But when it came time for Obama to start "moving on up", he let Rezko know he was looking for a mansion.

Turns out good old Tony found a place for sale across the street from his own house in Hyde Park. Problem is it was out of his price range AND the seller insisted on selling the house and an adjacent lot at the same time.

So what happens? Rezko pays full asking price for the lot while Obama gets the house at a deep discount. Later on, Obama buys a piece of that lot for his yard at cost - reducing the buildable area and imparing the value of the lot.

Hmm - who would do that for the average guy? And who would ever ASK?

Once Rezko is convicted, he too disappears from the scene.

As to Ayers, they have a long relationship. Obama's first fundraiser was held in Ayers living room.

By then Obama KNEW who Ayers was and it takes a special relationship for a person to open his home to a political candidate in that way. This was no passing acquaintance and Obama HAD to know what Ayers' background was. Why would he have ANYTHING to do with a man who threw real bombs at American targets for political purposes? Who in their right mind, looking for a political career would naively accept support without even questioning the background?

They spent a lot of time together on boards, including one that gave financial support to Islamic groups with an anti-Israel agenda.

And when Obama was asked about the relationship, he simply said that he knew him from the neighborhood because their kids went to school together - a clear LIE.

Once again, it's a question of extremely poor judgement. And Obama's weak effort was to make the Ayers thing go away.

Then there's Franklin Raines - a guy who is at the center of the Fannie Mae implosion. A guy who was involved with cooked books that led to him getting $91 million in pay over 5 years from a failing company. Once Fannie became a problem, all of a sudden, the guy is not an advisor.

That's the pattern with Obama. Heavily dependent upon advisors because of his lack of experience who chooses badly and tries to sweep them under the rug when their flaws become public.

Anonymous said...

I see the McCain supporters are getting more and more desperate....
Obama was baptized late in life... maybe a latent atheist, or even a Muslim...
Obama had beers with a terrorist...
Obama was not toilette trained until he was five....

Keep up the good work.. it might work with the retards.

Anonymous said...

Everything Poster 8:35 writes is true. Obama's assocation with terrorists and radicals was documented and shown Sunday night on TV and it was hard to watdh it was so frightening. The entire long-range relationship with foreign and domestic anti-American people could be interpreted as organized and purposeful. How can we risk having a President with such, to him, amiable connections?

Anonymous said...

It was reported that the Obama campaign will not allow any of his college records to be released to the public for scrutiny. That includes Columbia and Harvard, of course. It was during that time that Obama associated with radicals. It is not clear under what circumstances Obama was acceapted at Harvard.

Anonymous said...

Boy your McCain supporters sound desperate.

My brother had an encounter with a McCain supporter in a bar in northern Michigan. The guy was going on about McCain. My brother asked him if he was a working man. The guy said yes, I'm retired now, but I've been a union man my whole working life. My brother asked him what have the Republicans ever done for the working man? The guy sputtered and came up with the usual raising taxes stuff. My brother then asked him point blank: Harry, are you a racist? Well Harry, turned very red and just stompted out of the bar!!!

So I ask: Why are working folks voting for McCain and the Republicans who are against their own economic interests???????

Come on, gives us your best Repub talking points!

Anonymous said...

What REALLY caused the economic crisis ?

Anonymous said...

Andy
Your blog has been infested with KKKs.
Have a good day!

Anonymous said...

It is not the color of Obama's skin but the make-up of his character. He has broken campaing promies, he has consorted with terorrists and traitors, and he has lied.

9:21

Racists don't get embarrassed. They're convinced their judgment is correct and blame the other race. Like Wrignt and a large number of blacks have done. Wright's racism is "in your face."

Anonymous said...

8:21 a.m. You say that to accuse Obama to be affiliated with Ayers is absurd since he was only eight when Ayers bombed America.

I'm sure he didn't know Michelle at eight years of age either. Does that make his marriage invalid?

No one has accused of Obama of being a Weatherman terrorist. He is accused of, at the least, being friendly with a dangerous traitor.

Anonymous said...

It’s been a bad stretch for Sen. John McCain, but few have been willing to go this far: Former Hillary Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson, now writing for The New Republic, declares flatly “The race is over.” Sen. Barack Obama will win, he says.

“John McCain’s candidacy is as much a casualty of Wall Street as Lehman or Merrill. Like those once vibrant institutions, McCain’s collapse was stunning and quick. One minute you are a well-respected brand. The next you are yelling at the messengers of your demise as all around you the numbers start blinking red and stop adding up.” Before the Wall Street collapse, Wolfson writes, “Senator McCain was ahead.” But today, “an election dominated at its inception by the war in Iraq is now overwhelmingly focused on the economy. More than half of voters in polls say that the economy is their top concern and Senator Obama enjoys double digit leads among voters asked who can better fix our economic mess. Put simply, there is no way Senator McCain can win if he continues to trail Senator Obama by double digits on the top concern of more than half of voters.”

Anonymous said...

Andy
The election has been decided.
Let's change topic, shall we?

Anonymous said...

The economic crisis was caused by the deterioration of lending standards that were initally instituted by Carter and his Community Reinvestment Act which required banks to lend to people who didn't qualify for loans under sound business practices.

This was further exacerbated by Clinton who forced the GSEs to further lower the standards for buying subprime loans so that things like welfare, foodstamps and unemployment insurance counts towards credit standing.

The GSEs replenished the cash spent on these loans by selling them on Wall Streets as collatarlized debt instruments and Wall St bought them based on the implicit US Government guarantees.

Bush sought to add more oversight in 01 and was rebuffed by people like Dodd, Frank, Schumer and Bennett Johnson. He ratcheted up the alarm later on but faced the same roadblocks. With terrorism, the war and other issues on the plate, it didn't hit the headlines and didn't get adequate followup.

Beyond that Greenspan rang the bells too, only to be told to go fly a kite.

Greenspan owns some of this because of the long period he held rates low. That increased the pool of 5 year low rate arms which touched off this mess when their re-sets started and defaults started to cascade.

The real problem here is the govt social plan to expand housing to people who couldn't afford it, primarily a Democratic issue, but one that Bush trumpeted as well. Nonetheless, only Republicans sought to rein it in and Democrats stopped them at every effort.

The sick thing here is that Dems started the fire, and Obama benefits.

Talk about irony.

Anonymous said...

To add more irony, Obama, as President will continue the policy of helping/subsidizing the poor with even more expensive programs. The Democratic Party will continue facilitating home ownership for people who cannot afford them. Our standard of living for all will be lower, we will struggle; and, then all will say "our chickens have come home to roost" because we were so mean to poor people.

I am your average "man on the street" but even I by watching Greenspan on TV knew he was making a huge mistake. He said that all was well and we were going in the right direction.

Anonymous said...

There will be "more of the same" if Obama is President and we will soonbe a THird World Country.

To add to 11:17 a.m., ACORN pushed and pressured the loans, too. Obama was an ACORN advocate.

Anonymous said...

Obama's relationship with ACORN really needs attention.

ACORN is clearly an organization that has huge corrution going on in its past regarding election fraud. And in several states too.

Not only was he their lawyer at one time and assisted regarding the laws they've been regularly violating, it appears that he has paid them $800,000 this election which he tried to disclose in a misleading way.

The guy is bad news. Period.

And it should have been the issue from the jump, because he's simply unfit.

Anonymous said...

"FANNIE MAE EASES CREDIT TO AID MORTGAGE LENDING" NEW YORK TIMES, sEPTEMBER 30, 1999

BY Steven A. Holme
"In a move that could help increase home ownership rates among minorities and low-income consumers, the Fannie Mae Corporation is easing the credit requirements on loans that it will purchase from banks and other lenders."

"The action, which will begin as a pilot program involving 24 banks in 15 markets - including the New York metropolitan region - will encourage those banks to extend home mortgages to individuals whose credit is GENERALL NOT GOOD ENOUGH TO QUALIFY FOR CONVENTIONAL LOANS. Fannie May officials say they hope to make it a nationwide program by next spring."

"Fannie Mae, the nation's biggest underwriter of home mortgages, has been under increasing pressure from the CLINTON Administration to expand Mortgage loans among low and moderate income people and felt pressure from stock holders to maintain its phenomenal growth in profits."

" . . . Demographic information on these borrowers is sketchy. But at least one study indicates that 18 percent of the loans in the subprime market went to black borrowers, compared to 5 percent of loans in the conventional loan market."

"In moving, even tentatively, into this new area of lending, FannieMae is taking on significantly more risk, which may not pose any difficulty during flush economic times. But the government-subsidized corporation may run into trouble in an economic downturn, prompting a government rescue similar to that of the savings and loan industry in the 1980's."

THE QUOTES ARE EXERPTS FROM A MUCH LONGER ARTICLE

Κίμων said...

I know Ol' John is pretty vague on how to use this Internet thing, so I took the liberty of Googling +McCain +deregulation

The tope three entries are:

http://alittlereality.blogspot.com/2008/09/mccain-deregulation-hawk.html

http://progressiveaccountability.org/2008/09/17/john-mccain-the-deregulator/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUJ_Qn0AHTU - CBS 60 Minutes interview with - URK! John McCain

No time or space to list the other 962,000.

So, either McCain loves regulation now because he was born yesterday, or he thinks we were.

Anonymous said...

I thought you Obama supporters were pleased when a candidate reversed a position. Obama was against spying before he was for it; OBama was against a connection between chruch and state before he was for it; Obama was against drilling before he was for it; and so many other changes of his mind. I guess that's why you're for him, 8:02 He changes his postion more than McCain.

Anonymous said...

It seems, now that it's all coming out, that Clinton and his administration laid the groundwork for our financial disaster when he forced Fannie Mae to grant loans to people who did not qualify. So what wotries me now is OBama has surrounded himself with the same financial advisors who were in Clinton's administration. They are telling Obama what to do. We'll have the same financial philosophy -- social reformation trumps the welfare of most Americans and the countr.

Anonymous said...

Oh if Obama and Ayers weren't palling around - how come Obama is mentioned on page 82 of Ayers latest book?

That's right...google it and find out for yourselves.

Ayers and Obama only casual acquaintances?

Yeah right, and Obama won the democratic nomination fair and square. Sheesh, what a bunch of tools.

This site used to get hundreds of posts when it was aimed at exposing Bush and Cheney.

Now, it's not so much.

Apparently Obama isn't that hot of a subject.

How did Obama lose a nine point lead in the polls in one week?

Anonymous said...

Rudy Guiliani reported on MSNBC - Morning Joe that Obama distributaed thousands of dollars he got from Ayers to teach radical liberalism to young people. I had heard that in another source.

And why isn't Bill Clinton being blamed more publicly for his part in this crisis? I was for Hillary but now somewhat glad she will not be President.

Anonymous said...

One of the positive things about this blog is that it shows the level of discussion Republicans are holding. No wonder you have lost this election big time. No wonder your leader thinks so little of you that he decided he could get you going with someone like Palin.
I mean... you guys are an embarrassment to this great nation.

Anonymous said...

Who among us has bombed cherished American buildings and a police station? Who among us belongs to a group who's motto is "God Damn America." I find that beyond embarrassing. I find it scary.

Anonymous said...

who among us is hanging out with the 9/11 terrorists? Or are there different degrees of terrorism?

Anonymous said...

WASHINGTON — GOP presidential nominee John McCain has past connections to a private group that supplied aid to guerrillas seeking to overthrow the leftist government of Nicaragua in the Iran-Contra affair.

McCain's ties are facing renewed scrutiny after his campaign criticized Barack Obama for his link to a former radical who engaged in violent acts 40 years ago.

The U.S. Council for World Freedom was part of an international organization linked to former Nazi collaborators and ultra-right-wing death squads in Central America. The group was dedicated to stamping out communism around the globe.

The council's founder, retired Army Maj. Gen. John Singlaub, said McCain became associated with the organization in the early 1980s as McCain was launching his political career in Arizona. Singlaub said McCain was a supporter but not an active member in the group.

"McCain was a new guy on the block learning the ropes," Singlaub told The Associated Press in an interview. "I think I met him in the Washington area when he was just a new congressman. We had McCain on the board to make him feel like he wasn't left out. It looks good to have names on a letterhead who are well-known and appreciated.

"I don't recall talking to McCain at all on the work of the group," Singlaub said.

The renewed attention over McCain's association with Singlaub's group comes as McCain's campaign steps up criticism of Obama's dealings with William Ayers, a college professor who co-founded the Weather Underground and years later worked on education reform in Chicago alongside Obama. Ayers held a meet-the-candidate event at his home when Obama first ran for public office in the mid-1990s.

Anonymous said...

Welcome to the Era of Obama

In an Obama Adminstration, critics of "The Administration" will be characterized as racists. Critics of "The Administration" will be intimidated by law enforcement agencies. Critics of "The Administration" will be detained by third party governments for committing no crimes.

"The Administration" will redefine words like "patriotic" and "neighborliness" to mean paying more taxes. "The Administration" will decide how much of your hard earned money is "fair" for you to keep while seizing the rest for redistribution. "The Administration" will raise taxes on all American businesses that will result in higher unemployment rates and more companies relocating to countries with more favorable tax burdens.

"The Administration" will change America once and for all. Domestic terrorist friends of "The Administration" will finally get their way.

America will get the change that Obama has promised but not defined.

Anonymous said...

Direct quote from the National Review

McCain has suffered from his own manifest lack of interest in economic issues. He was chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee for four years, but you’d never know it. He repeatedly misstates his only real tax proposal for the middle class, an increase in the dependent exemption. Often, he calls it a credit. In the first debate, he called it a dividend. He might as well lurch into Tina Fey territory and call it that “hoozie-what’s-it.” Most voters probably didn’t even know that McCain had a (creative) health-care plan until Obama began lambasting it.

Anonymous said...

12:05,
Both links work. Maybe you have 'no popups' enabled - shithead.

Anonymous said...

Free Jerome Corsi!!!

Do you suppose Obama called his cousin Odinga (the murderer) in Kenya and played a little dictatorship chess?


This is what Obama will do for America???

Sidney Condorcet said...

Ha! I love the crazies coming out of the woodwork warning us all that Obama will deprive people of their civil liberties...

Where are their posts noting that Bush et al IN FACT ALREADY have repeatedly violated civil liberties and human rights?

What they don't realize is that the truth (Obama is a liberal, will spend more on government programs, and is inexperienced) is actually more effective than outlandish claims like him being "pals" with Ayers, this Odinga bullshit,this Corsi crap, the taking out of context pieces of Rev. Wright's sermons. But, please, with all that is wrong in the world today, please keep the nonsense coming. It only ensures that obama will be your President come January.

Anonymous said...

Obama voted to TO ALLOW THE GOVERNMENT TO CONTINUE SPYING ON US.

Anonymous said...

As always Obama hedged and didn't answer questions directly. When asked who he would appoint as Sec. of the Treasury, he rpeated MCCain's Buffet, as he used to repeat Hillary's plans. Obama had no candidate of his own to offer. As always he give a lenthy introduction with repeititve info so little time is left for a full explanation.

And he had the nerve to pull that "I'm from an underpriveleged backgrouns," His grandmother struggled on her salary as a bank Presidnet and couldn't always buy why she needed because she was paying his tuition. Food stamps, too. Ha.

And hesaid he went to the elite schools on scholarships but hiscampagin won't let the info frin Columbia and Harvard be released.

Anonymous said...

Sidney said "Where are their posts noting that Bush et al IN FACT ALREADY have repeatedly violated civil liberties and human rights?"

Conceding that tired dog for the moment, for the sake of argument. If true, the question compare who's civil liberties and human rights would Obama violate compared to those claimed to have been violated by Bush.

At worst, Bush violated human rights of those fighting against us and with those trying to destroy us.

Obama, on the other hand has shown a willingness to target critics and suppress free speech by taking drastic measures to silence them and using law enforcement to intimidate.

So Sidney, whose rights are you most concerned about: foreign radicals or domestic critics?

Somehow in the sick liberal mind there is freedom of expression when it comes to photos of a crucifix submerged in urine, but not when somebody is criticizing your messiah.

Anonymous said...

Thanks LIBS for fighting to free some thugs from Gitmo into the US. One of your liberal judges just freed some into the US yesterday. How long will it be before one of them is caught trying to kill Americans?

Sidney Condorcet said...

"At worst, Bush violated human rights of those fighting against us and with those trying to destroy us."

A) this assumes that everyone tortured, imprisoned for years without hearing or access to counsel, etc.. whether at Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, Bagram air base, any number of black sites around the world, all were "fighting against us." This has been proven many times (and even acknowledged by the federal government) to be demonstratively and patently false.

2) I believe the warrantless wiretapping in contravention of the law did, in fact, involve a great many more people that do not fall under the "fighting against us" rubric. So again, you're full of shit and play fast and loose with the facts.


But Obama did cave on the FISA bill. That is my primary grievance against him. However, many other senators, McCain included, voted for it. This election presents us with a binary choice. You're not going to sway anyone to vote for McCain by arguing that Obama voted for FISA, when McCain did as well. It's not as if anyone other than those two stand a chance to be President. So I must swallow hard when it comes to FISA.

Anonymous said...

11:09 AM...

to me, a good use of freedom of expression, would be to shove your pinhead into a bottle of urine

im truly amazed at the lies spewed from the wingnut visitors to this blog

if the dems had so much power as the minority in congress, why are the repugs so afraid of losing more seats? it doesnt matter...they will be in the minority, which means power

despite all the attempts at connecting obama to acorn, not one person can provide proof of this link...not one

despite the fact that it has been shown time and time again that mccain has gotten more donations from fannie and freddie execs than obama (about 100 to 10) you still continue to lie

despite the fact that your party is bankrupt in both ideas and morality, you continue to come here and profess your superiority to progressives

accept it...the repug party is now the party of the toothless white dude and the old rich white guy...and thats it

your party is doomed...in 25 years, you will all be extinct...like the dinasors that walked with adam

Anonymous said...

Obama and ACORN about to cheat their way into the White House

Does ACORN have an office in Indianapolis? You know they do.

According to STATSIndiana, In 2007, Indianapolis/Marion County had an estimated population of 876,804. Of that number 232,607 were below 18 years of age, for a total of 644,197 people in Marion County/Indianapolis 18 or over and thus eligible to vote. (Indiana allows felons to vote as long as they are not incarcerated).

So we have 644,197 people eligible to be registered in Marion County/Indianapolis, and 677,401 people registered. Congratulations go to Indianapolis for having 105% of its residents registered!

Anonymous said...

ACORN is active and succrssfully organizing and implementing voter fraud in Ohio. They are recruiting the dead, felons, drug addicts and the homeless and paying them for their "vote" for Obama. Obama's "team" has become like Bush's "Team" in participating in voter fraud. What kind of change is that?

Anonymous said...

More Obama ACORN voter fraud discovered in Missouri

"Charlene Davis, co-director of the election board in Jackson County, where Kansas City is, said the fraudulent registration forms came from the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN. She said they were bogging down work Wednesday, the final day Missourians could register to vote."

Anonymous said...

Stealing an election is TREASON and OVERTHROWING a government. GOre should have foght the FL decision and we must not let this happen again.

We cannot tolerate this kind of dishonesty. What kind of administration would accept winning this way. We know the answer don't we. It cannot happen again.

Those who commit this crime should do jail time. Those who recruit and those recruited.

Anonymous said...

I think most of these people mentioned in the article are not trying to commit fraud. I have worked in voters registration for many years and what happens is that many people after realizing they made a mistake or after suspecting they made a mistake, send another application. If an application contains a mistake it is being discarded and if it is submitted twice, the second time is discarded. We never classified such acts as fraud before, these are regular mishaps during registration period. We fix them. If on the final day we still have problems, we give the option of provisional votes until we verify everything.
In Florida the situation was very different. The problem was with the ballots themselves.

Anonymous said...

This is exactly why voters must be forced to show identification. Of course, the Democrats are against identification checks at the polls because they need organizations like ACORN to help them steal elections from the American people.

Anonymous said...

Obama ACORN activists in Cleveland harass Domino's workers to register to vote multiple times

"CLEVELAND - Two Ohio voters, including Domino's pizza worker Christopher Barkley , claimed yesterday that they were hounded by the community-activist group ACORN to register to vote several times, even though they made it clear they'd already signed up."

Anonymous said...

12:50 Are you Little Mary Sunshine? Of course it was fraud in FL. I'm not going to rehash that. And of course the same thing is going on right now mostly by Acorn. I saw one Acorn person said tjat they were going to shelters to get the people to vote and she admitted she was telling them to for for Obama. She may not even know it's illegal since she admitted it on TV. Something has got to be done immediately. This is how governments are overthrown. I'd feel the same if the crimes were committed for McCain. How can it be stopped?????????????????????

Anonymous said...

Demand that Obama be held accountable for all of his evil.

Rezko

Ayers

Acorn

Auchi

No personal history

Socialism/communist ties and mentors

Kahlidi

Farrakhan

Wright

out of country campaign workers and donors

That just scratches the surface.

Fitzgerald and Surrick --you hold the keys to ending Obama's reign of lies and obfuscation!!!!

Anonymous said...

really amazing...acorn is now enemy number one...this small group has not only committed massive voter fraud (amazingly all caught) but also figured out a way to bring down all the financial institutions of america...all under the wingnuts eyes

and still no one can show a direct connection from acorn to obama

and after 20 months on the campaign trail...with fox news doing its best, no one has found anything in obama's past to show that he is a radical anything...my god, he was doing stuff that should make every progressive nuts...he was funneling tax dollars to church based programs...what a fucking commie bastard....oh wait...wasnt that what bush was doing?

and you guys keep throwing out names...but nothing sticks...cuz there is nothing there

but breaking today (well, really it broke months ago, but the msm refused to talk about it) is the story that americans were indeed spied upon...their intimate consversations listened to

but no...you guys would rather refight the 60s

well tell you what...post your addresses and i will be happy to plant bombs in all your toilets

Anonymous said...

Obama works against the Commander-In-Chief for political gain in Iraq

"At the same time the Bush administration was negotiating a still elusive agreement to keep the U.S. military in Iraq, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama tried to convince Iraqi leaders in private conversations that the president shouldn't be allowed to enact the deal without congressional approval."

Anonymous said...

1. Direct connection between Obama and Acorn has been proven.
2. Banks have testified that Acorn reps threatrned them and intimidated them to make the bad loans.
3. The money Obama was pushing through for churches was for Pflager's Churcn and Trinity. Also Acorn.
4. Omaba voted to continue to support spying on Americans. He flipped to Bush's side.

Anonymous said...

Obama's ACORN pays Cleveland man to register 72 times

"CLEVELAND - A man at the center of a voter-registration scandal told The Post yesterday he was given cash and cigarettes by aggressive ACORN activists in exchange for registering an astonishing 72 times, in apparent violation of Ohio laws."

Anonymous said...

One of the reasons I wanted Hillary for President was so Bill could fix the economy. Now, because of the crisis we're in, I've learned that Bill is the one who started the crash by insisting Fannie Mae give loans to people who could not pay back; and, he started what became the rush to send our jobs over seas. Bill Clinton, despite the good times then, started the mess we're in right now.

Anonymous said...

so 2 people say they weree paid to register multiple times...yet the post provides no paper trail...yet their is significant evidence that thousands (not 72) of legal voters have been purged from the voter roles in battleground states

and there you go again, trying to blame poor people for the economic collapse, when it was wall street that ended up doing funny things by repackaging mortgages and gambling on them...and it wasnt first home buyers that caused the crash, it was people who refi'd or got seconds....look it up nimrod


as for the acorn/obama connection..there isnt one...except in the minds of you wingnut idiots

every election cycle you guys go off on acorn...and every election cycle it is proven that acorn has done absolutely nothing

so shove off

im so sick of you evil fucks

why dont you go attend a mccain campaign and bitch and moan about how scared you are about what will happen if obama becomes prez...cuz shoot, things are so great after 8 years of the god bush

Anonymous said...

Prepare for the October Surprise!!

One of Obama's criminal friends is starting to talk...

"CHICAGO (AP) - Jailed political fundraiser Antoin "Tony" Rezko, the Chicago real estate developer who helped launch Barack Obama on his political career, is whispering secrets to federal prosecutors about corruption in Illinois and the political fallout could be explosive."