The election, according to Dominoes

I ordered dinner from Dominoes online tonight. Pretty slick set up they have there. Anyway, they ask questions after your answer to keep you on their site, and their questions were about the election. According to Dominoes Pizza unofficial survey, here's the results of today:


Overwhelming victory to the Senator from Illinois.

High fives to Shep Smith

I know, I know...high fives to a Fox Newsy from me, but bear with me, and to the end of this video:



It fills me with some optimism to see someone from Fox News who is articulate and intelligent. Some of the things that have been said in this campaign, on both sides, are truly scary.

Are we not intelligent and grown-up enough to move past these pathetic straw men we build up?

Six days and counting....

It's like Pretty Woman...

....like when a girl is pulled up from obscurity and is given lots of attention and gifts, even though she makes some faux pas and is often shown to be lacking the necessary intelligence for the social position, she makes up for those short comings with street attitude and know-how. Except she's not that pretty.

It seems that, according to Politico, that VP candidate and self-proclaimed fiscal conservative Sarah Palin has received over $150,000 worth of clothes from the Republican National Convention.

According to financial disclosure records, the accessorizing began in early September and included bills from Saks Fifth Avenue in St. Louis and New York for a combined $49,425.74.

The records also document a couple of big-time shopping trips to Neiman Marcus in Minneapolis, including one $75,062.63 spree in early September.

The RNC also spent $4,716.49 on hair and makeup through September after reporting no such costs in August.

Awesome. That's more than the median family income in America. But wait! There's more!

The cash expenditures immediately raised questions among campaign finance experts about their legality under the Federal Election Commission's long-standing advisory opinions on using campaign cash to purchase items for personal use.

Not really that surprising I guess. I'm glad though that this stuff is being picked up. It really shows that the reason she was picked was that she'd rally the base and maybe pick up some men who care more about the appearance of a woman than her abilities.

Way to chatter that glass ceiling.

One of the reasons Christianism is killing this country

I have never really expressed my view on religion on this blog. The short version: it's unnecessary and poisonous in a modern world.

Here's an example (and sadly, people believe this stuff):

Two days ago, I listened to a 9-6-08 message by Bree Keyton, a young woman evangelist who had just traveled to Kenya and visited Obama's home village and what she found out about his relations with his tribal people was chilling. And his "cousin" Odinga was dreadful. She said the witches, warlocks and those involved in satanism and the occult get up daily at 3 a.m. to release curses against McCain and Palin so B. Hussein Obama is elected....

Bree Keyton went and visited Obama's tribal people and she found out Obama is 75% Arab and his family are Muslims. Odinga [ed: Obama's cousin according to this...] is strill trying to become the President of Kenya. If he does, he will make a law forbidding all public preaching and institute Sharia Law. Bree K. said Odinga has made a pact with satan.

Sweet. Witches are ruining it for McCain/Palin (and she has a kid named after a witch from that shitty Shannon Douherty show).

Ha.

You have to be kidding me....

From a CBS blog:

"Palin Becomes Increasingly Accessible to the National Media"

It was less than two weeks ago when Sarah Palin astonished her traveling press corps by lifting the curtain (literally) and journeying to the back of her campaign plane to answer reporters’ questions for the first time after 40 days on the campaign trail. But the candidate who has been criticized for having a bunker mentality when it came to the national media can now lay legitimate claim to being more accessible than either Joe Biden or Barack Obama.

Huh? Just because enough people started bitching about Palin not holding a press conference (where the press are able to ask follow up questions) she starts talking to the journalist folks following her (who her secret service guys are blocking). This is a substitute for a proper conference I suppose. But really? Is this guy serious?

GTFO Scott Conroy. By straight definition, sure that statement is true. But put into the bigger context of this election, this is small potatoes. She should hold a proper press conference, release her medical records, and actually embody the transparency she says that government should have.

Joe the Plumber

Overnight, Joe became a very famous plumber (perhaps second to the Mario Brothers?). But it turns out that he isn't a plumber. At least not a registered one. Which the city in which his business is located requires.

And, he owes in back taxes.

And, his question is not a valid one as economists point out (see above article).

Once again: Fuck Joe the Plumber.

"Zero"

The first half minute or so of this is the moment of the debate. John McCain's jaw drops when he realizes that his main argument against Obama's healthcare plan (that he would levy a fine if you didn't provide the government health package) was misstated from the get go. Eleven seconds of a stunned, blank face. The wheels are obviously turning, but my guess is that he knows then, absolute certain knowledge, that he will lose this election and now surpass his father's and grandfather's amount of power.

On last night

A very interesting piece from hilzoy's crew at Obsidian Wings:

I think that — deep inside — McCain thinks of himself as a deeply substantive “great man.” In his heart, he views himself as above all this Ayers-ACORN-infant nonsense. His closest supporters tend to share this view — Kristol, for instance, has complained that the campaign isn’t commensurate with “the man.”

And so tonight, the great man — having run a small and misguided campaign — was forced to scrape the absolute bottom. Tonight, the great man not only brought up the Ayers nonsense (see Pajamas Media point above), but he actually accused Obama and Ayers of being part of some grand conspiracy to subsidize ACORN. I would call it jumping the shark, but the Fonzie-derived phrase doesn’t do justice to the sheer tragic magnitude of the farce we saw tonight.

The truth is that the great man has nothing to say. It was a campaign constructed upon his own perceived greatness. The issues he noted — earmarks, the surge — had less to do with helping the American people than about illustrating his own morality and greatness.

Well said.

And fuck Joe the Plumber.

Live blogging Debate (third time's a charm!)

7:53 - I'm just getting settled in here. I have my cat next to me, CSPAN's coverage of an empty stage, and a brew in the other hand.

Get it on!

7:56 - Creepy quiet in the debate hall. That is until the cardboard cut out of the Executive Director of the Commission on Presidential Debates came on stage to talk. Yikes.

Bob Schieffer is creepy looking too. Maybe he's wearing a Crypt Keeper costume...maybe not.

I can't help but think that the seated format will benefit McCain. He's shorter (very short for a politician), and this will put him on somewhat of a more even keel with Obama. I'd laugh if one of their chairs broke during the debate, and the candidate dropped down 6 inches all of a sudden. Good times.

8:02 - Follow up questions?! In a debate?! The nerve!

First question dealing with the economy. Thank Jeebus. -770something today...

8:04 - We're not innocent. At least not everyone. We are a country that lives on credit outside of our means. But they can't say that.

McCain's plan is to keep people in their homes by buying home mortgages. At what rate? Would there be a return? Would other tax payers profit off of these, or would the mortgages be bought at a loss?

Obama emphasizes that taxpayers would get money back from the bailout bill, but doesn't say how. Proposals: 1. Focus on keeping jobs state-side through business tax credits 2. Provide middle class (<$250 million) tax cuts 3. Renegotiate home mortgages 4. Deal with energy, healthcare, education.

McCain wants to keep small business tax rates low to create jobs. Claims that Obama will increase taxes on small businesses.

Obama says McCain will provide tax breaks to biggest companies, and that he wants to cut taxes for everyone (95%) below the 250 mill mark. Says that indie studies say support his plan for the majority of people.

8:11 - We need a tax increase because we're in huge debt, John.

8:13 - McCain seems to adhere in part to the trickle down theory that Regan made so famous. That has not been working.

8:14 - Schieffer says that both plans will add a lot of money to the deficit. "What will they cut back?"

Obama states the obvious that we're living beyond our means. Dur. Says that he wants to go through budget and cut what's wasteful. Everyone says that. I'd be REAL surprised if that actually happens.

McCain looks uncomfortable. Home ownership? That's not the question bud. He's taking his notes from Palin. If the question isn't what you expect, change the question.

Points for Schieffer for getting him on track. McCain - Spending freeze first, claims that he can save billions, and gives examples! Holy cow! Is this really happening?

8:20 - Time to get the laundry!

8:41 - I think that the last exchange about the individual's campaigns was very telling. While McCain seemed to have a biting or snarky desire to expose Obama and paint him into a corner, Obama remained cool and calm while reflecting attacks and being quite frank. Obama seemed more presidential and McCain seemed desperate.

8:44 - McCain's schpeel about Palin is just dribble. It's complete kak. And the throw in about special needs kids? What work has she done? She's had an autistic kid for a few months and she knows more about that than any other person, like McCain implied? GTFO

Transparency and accountability in government? In a McCain/Palin administration? Yeah right. She used private email accounts (numbering between 10 and 15!) to conduct state business. Why? Hmm....

8:47 - We get most of our oil from Canada...

Obama is an extreme environmentalist?

FlexFuel has ethanol in it, John. Something that you don't support.

8:49 - Neither candidate answered the question about how much foreign oil we can reduce. Although, once again, Obama gives specific policy ideas (not taking into account how feasible/plausible the ideas are (although I think they're pretty good...)) and McCain just spouts generic talking points.

8:55 - I'm sorry, but this debate is boring. But, boring is good for Obama.

And once again, Obama offers specifics about the issues. McCain is just rhetoric.

McCain's little segway into Obama wanting to sit down with foreign leaders just smacks of desperation, and having nothing to say.

8:57 - Gotta love Sullivan:

9.53 pm. "Maybe you ought to travel down there." C'mon, McCain, this is weeeaaak. And petty. And incoherent. McCain's veep only got a passport last year and McCain is attacking Obama for not visiting Colombia. He needs to look like a big man to become an independent president. Instead this campaign has made him look very, very small. Even against a freshman senator.

I don't know how much more clearly Obama needs to lay out his healthcare plan. He's done this in every other debate. It's almost a carbon copy each time, yet it still gets misconstrued. Come on America! Pay attention!

8:59 - McCain lists what we need to do. But how? McCain's tax credit for $5000 for healthcare is confusing. I bet the average family spends more than that per year for healthcare. So what's the point?

9:01 - McCain looks like he's been hit by a truck with that "Zero, John" line. Embarrassing.

9:03 - Obama just pwned McCain's healthcare plan. He has done his homework.

9:06 - TPM points out that 100% of McCain's ads have been negative. http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/mccain_campaigns_ad_spending_n.php

9:14 - Everything that McCain throws at Obama, he deflects, he confronts, and he gives details. Once again: Which candidate seems more Presidential?

All McCain can do is repeat what we must do, and what we have to do. But he never, never, gives specifics.

9:20 - I missed this, but Sullivan points out that Obama called sexuality "sacred". I love it.

9:24 - McCain is a federalist. But likes NCLB. Is anyone else as confused as I am?

Did you know that Sarah Palin has a special needs kid?

And why does McCain keep bringing up autism...when Trig has Downs...WTF?

9:28 - Closing statements. Thank the Devil.

McCain's: He still hammers the point that he's an agent of change. Mmkay.

Obama: Change. "Did you know that he's pro-change?" "By George! I was not aware! Thank you good sir!"

Null ARCs FTW

Penny Arcade shows how awesome/frustrating it's going to be when I become a father:



The sad/awesome thing is, I knew exactly what he was talking about.

ARC troopers in action (mute the video when the crappy Linkin Park song starts):

Keith Olbermann grows a pair

Awesomeness:

McCain Losing It

He lets his contempt seep through.

McCain's Earmark Charade

McCain wants to pay for a bunch of stuff he wants to do, and fix the economy!, by eliminating earmarks. Check out this chart:

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/2008/09/27/earmarks_6.gif


In a budget of $3 trillion, $18 billion is a drop in the water.


EDIT: Fucking shitty imbed...just click on the link

Live blogging Debate v2.0

8:59 - Here we go...

"Did we hear the fine? Hehehehehe" Knob.

9:01 - McCain's record of foreign intervention as a positive? Are you kidding? Sept. 12, 2001: McCain says we need to go to Iraq. Good one, buddy.

Good job on this one Obama! Point out his shit. (For more info: click)

9:04 - Brokaw is sooooo annoying.

9:06 - Obama's notion of international cooperation? Way to logical! Rabble, rabble, rabble!

McCain: "Al Qaeda would have increased influence" b/c Obama would have set a time table? Are you kidding me?

McCain as a cool hand? Ha. That is so pathetic and laughable at the same time. He's a hot head (see that Rolling Stones article above)

9:10 - Obama kind of dodges the question about entering Pakistan, but does a good job of answering his own question, maybe?

McCain's answer? CNN's flat line seems to tell the story.... Afghan freedom fighters==Muslim jihadists (just so you know John!)

9:13 - Brokaw is such a tool

9:14 - Obama's mentioning of "Bomb bomb bomb Iran"!! Moar pleaze! McCain's smile went away faster than deep fried food at the State Fair...

9:18 - Obama's Pakistan/Afghanistan plan a year ago, A YEAR AGO, is the plan being espoused by Bush and Co. right now! Talk about foresight!

9:22 - I can't say I'm a fan of Obama's "Russia plan" because there doesn't really seem to be one. But his thought process seems to fit into his overall general rhetoric and foreign policy plan, so I guess I'll grudgingly give him the benefit of the doubt

9:24 - McCain does seem to do well with the Russia question, but that's been his big point of reference for foreign policy for his life.

9:25 - If Iran attacked Israel, the UN would shit its pants. Iran, I think, will not openly attack Israel outright because it would be an incredibly stupid thing to do.

THE IRANIAN PRESIDENT IS NOT THE HEAD OF THE IRANIAN GOVERNMENT POLICY! SCIENCE-F'ING-CHRIST!

And a "League of Democracies" is a terrible idea. No one would join it because it would just be an extension of American idealism and would be American-run and anyone who falls out of line could geeeet out

9:28 - This Obama fella with his preventive diplomacy and foresight! Whooee! What a sucker!

A simple question: Which candidate has looked Presidential so far in this, and the previous, debate?

9:31 - This last question is just offensive on a lot of philosophical and epistemological levels. Patty from NH should quit life, because the question is a non-question. "What don't you know and how will you learn it?" Answer: "I don't know, and with pop-up books?"

9:34 - Brokaw sucks SO hard.

9:35 - My reaction: Obama did indeed seem much more presidential and offered (from what I saw) much more cogent and thought out answers than McCain. He seemed to be a Palin v2.0 (spouting off talking points, but doing it well)

Biden's home run

In last night's debate, Joe Biden sputtered at the start, but got up to steam about half way through. This, his brightest moment, is in that latter half:

Vice President Cheney has been the most dangerous vice president we've had probably in American history. The idea he doesn't realize that Article I of the Constitution defines the role of the vice president of the United States, that's the Executive Branch. He works in the Executive Branch. He should understand that. Everyone should understand that.

And the primary role of the vice president of the United States of America is to support the president of the United States of America, give that president his or her best judgment when sought, and as vice president, to preside over the Senate, only in a time when in fact there's a tie vote. The Constitution is explicit.

The only authority the vice president has from the legislative standpoint is the vote, only when there is a tie vote. He has no authority relative to the Congress. The idea he's part of the Legislative Branch is a bizarre notion invented by Cheney to aggrandize the power of a unitary executive and look where it has gotten us. It has been very dangerous.

Here's Palin weighing in on the same subject, but in the Couric interview, answering the question "best and worst thing Cheney has done as VP":

Worst thing I guess that would have been the duck hunting accident--where you know, that was an accident. And I think that was made into a caricature of him. And that was kind of unfortunate. So the best thing though, he's shown support, along with George W. Bush, of our troops. And I've been there when George Bush has spoken to families of those who have suffered greatly, those who are serving in the military. I've been there when President Bush has embraced those families and expressed the concern and the sympathy speaking for all of America in those times. And for Dick Cheney to have supported that effort of George Bush's, I respect that.

McCain's 100% Truth

Politco fills in where my own Des Moines Register fails. In an interview with the newspaper, McCain said, "that he always tells "100 percent absolute truth," even in campaign ads" and calls him out on his blatant and demonstrable lies. Here's the list:

1. On "The View," McCain claimed Sarah Palin did not take or request earmarks as governor of Alaska. "Not as governor, she didn't," McCain said. But in her first year in office, she requested $256 million in earmarks from the federal government.

2. Shortly after announcing Sarah Palin as his running mate, the McCain campaign ran an ad claiming, "She stopped the bridge to nowhere" — perhaps the most thoroughly debunked claim about the Alaska governor, who supported the bridge project before changing her position late in the game. Asked about the bridge during her 2006 gubernatorial bid, Palin replied: "I'm not going to stand in the way of progress."

3. At the Republican National Convention, McCain claimed Obama's national health insurance plan would "force small businesses to cut jobs, reduce wages and force families into a government-run health care system where a bureaucrat stands between you and your doctor." But according to factcheck.org, Obama's plan does not place burdens on small business, and people would have the option of keeping their existing insurance plans.

4. In a campaign ad, "Dome," McCain claimed Obama's election would result in "painful income taxes, skyrocketing taxes on life savings, electricity and home heating oil," the clear implication being that Obama wants to hike these tax rates. But factcheck.org says Obama hasn't proposed a tax on electricity or home heating oil and wouldn't raise taxes on investments for individuals earning less than $200,000 a year.

It's possible Obama's election would result in these tax rates increasing. But this McCain-Palin claim is a little like the Obama camp's misleading attack on McCain's Social Security plan, tagging his opponent with the most undesirable, unintended and far from certain consequences of his policy proposals.

5. McCain has repeatedly accused Obama of supporting higher taxes on people making as little as $42,000 a year. "Two times, on March 14, 2008 and June 4, 2008, in the Democratic budget resolution, he voted to raise taxes on people making just $42,000 per year," McCain said this week. But this is a misleading claim: Obama's votes were for nonbinding resolutions, which supported allowing certain Bush administration tax cuts to expire but didn't actually have the effect of raising taxes.

6. In a July visit to Colorado, McCain told voters: "I want to look you in the eye: I will not raise your taxes nor support a tax increase. I will not do it." Last Sunday, however, McCain acknowledged to ABC's George Stephanopoulos that his health care plan could lead to some people paying taxes on employer-provided health insurance.

"It depends on what plan they have," McCain said. "But that's usually the wealthiest people."

7. McCain's campaign claimed adviser Rick Davis had taken a leave of absence from his firm, Davis Manafort, and vigorously attacked a New York Times story suggesting that Davis had profited from Davis Manafort's relationship with mortgage lender Freddie Mac. "Mr. Davis has seen no income from Davis Manafort since 2006," wrote McCain spokesman Michael Goldfarb, who called the Times story "demonstrably false."

"Mr. Davis has never — never — been a lobbyist for either Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac."

But Davis Manafort was receiving $15,000 monthly payments from Freddie Mac as recently as August, and while the payments didn't go to Davis personally he still stands to gain from the success of his firm.

8. McCain has boasted of never requesting a single earmark, saying in January: "I have never asked for nor received a single earmark or pork-barrel project for my state." But he has requested federal funding for special projects back home, including $10 million for a center at the University of Arizona, $5 million for a home-state water project and spending authority to purchase land around Arizona's Luke Air Force Base.

Politifact says it's a matter of debate whether these projects constitute pork-barrel spending — but clearly McCain has searched for federal help in his own backyard.

9. In last Friday's debate, McCain accused Obama of "voting to cut off funds for the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan." But Obama has consistently voted in favor of war funding bills, including an earlier version of the bill McCain was discussing. The Illinois senator voted against this particular proposal because it did not push the Bush administration toward a timetable for withdrawal. McCain's comment was technically defensible — but rather too sly to be called "absolute truth."

10. In July, McCain accused Obama of skipping his visit to a military hospital in Germany because he was told he couldn't bring reporters and video cameras. McCain ran an ad saying: "Seems the Pentagon wouldn't allow him to bring cameras." But when pressed to provide evidence that Obama had canceled the visit for this reason, McCain's campaign could not support their claim — and media reports found no evidence that Obama had ever planned to bring media with him.

And here's the link: clicky

Live blooging VP debate

8:56 - Tardy to the party...

All that Palin has so far is talking points. That's it. Nothing coherent, or even beginning to sound like an actual argument.

Biden was doing his best to lose this debate with his style-less and authority-less answers, but seems to be warming up finally...

9:01 - Ifill is out of her league. She's is ineffectual and definitely doing NOTHING to make this a debate

And "Oh your God," Palin says NOOKULAR! Science damnit!

9:06 - Christ, Biden is a douchnozzle.

Palin: John McCain was a POW. He was a soldier. He takes politics out of war issues...Holy crap, his positions have been nothing but politics! I feel like I'm taking crazy pills!

9:07 - Regarding the question: "What would you do if the president dies and your president?" WTF? What kind of question is that? A terrible one that isn't going to produce anything of substance. What a waste of time.

Don't buy Ifill's book. What a useless moderator...

9:09 - "A team of Maverick's" GROOAAANNNN. If there is a God, and McCain wins, McCain should have a perfect bill of health.

Average working class family? Palin's family owns a boat, a plane, a half million dollar house on a lake, and makes more money than anyone else from her town. What a joke.

9:10 - Science damnit, I hate populist pandering. "Walk into Home Depot with me.." STFU. Period.

9:12 - Cesca nails it:

10:05PM
Is anyone with a brain in their head taking her seriously?

And Sullivan too:

The debate feels like a replay of the last five weeks. You begin by being dazzled by the style of this chipper little cheer-leader. But as time goes by, you wonder if there's any wisdom behind the blather.

9:13 - MORE AUTHORITY TO THE VP?!?!?! FUCK THAT NOISE! The executive has WAAAAYYY too much power right now as it is. Get the fuck out.

9:14 - A lot of left behinds there, Joe...

Every civics teacher in this country should have been shaking their heads at the answer that Palin gave about the role of the VP

9:16 - Palin just categorically agreed with Cheney. "I agree with him."

That should be game, set, match.

Way to go, Joe! About fucking time. VP == Executive branch. Finally, Biden is hitting his straps and getting past Palin's rapid fire sound-byte friendly talking points rhetoric. More of this!

9:18 - "How are they going to pay out of pocket for health care?" *cough*Universal health care*cough*

And she completely avoids the question. The question was, "What is your weakest trait?" She's just rambling. That's all she is: a rambler.

9:21 - McCain is only a maverick because his attitude is: fuck everyone who doesn't agree with me. Nothing in his campaign has changed that attitude.

IF EVERYONE SUPPORTS HIM, HE'S NOT A MAVERICK! JEEZUS H CHRIST!

9:24 - Biden has really rallied in the latter parts of this debate. Palin has just rambled

9:26 - Passing a budget is not changing an opinion, Sarah. She's been completely static in her positions? *cough*Bridge to Nowhere...

9:29 - So you like answering tough questions? HOLD A FUCKING PRESS CONFERENCE LIKE EVERY OTHER VP PICK HAS DONE BEFORE YOU (AND USUALLY THE NEXT DAY AFTER BEING NOMINATED)!!!!

I just want to rip my eyes out

9:32 - Wrap it up Joe...

Stop parading your families around like trophies. It makes me sick.

...and the Case of the Stolen Soda

Here's a short story, with a surprising twist!

So, a soda I brought to work was taken out of the fridge today, and it wasn't by me!

The twist was at the end. Bummers all around for the crappy short story and for the crappy theft of my Dr. Pepper