Ejector Seat

"To those who still believe in the myth of a maverick instead of the reality of a politician, I say, let’s compare Senator McCain to candidate McCain."

"Candidate McCain now supports the wartime tax cuts that Senator McCain once denounced as immoral. Candidate McCain criticizes Senator McCain’s own climate change bill. Candidate McCain says he would now vote against the immigration bill that Senator McCain wrote."

"...John McCain should finish the debate with himself. And what’s more, Senator McCain, who once railed against the smears of Karl Rove when he was the target, has morphed into candidate McCain who is using the same “Rove” tactics and the same “Rove” staff to repeat the same old politics of fear and smear."

"So, the candidate who once promised a “contest of ideas,” now has nothing left but personal attacks. How insulting to suggest that those who question the mission, question the troops. How pathetic to suggest that those who question a failed policy doubt America itself. How desperate to tell the son of a single mother who chose community service over money and privilege that he doesn’t put America first."

---Senator John Kerry (D-Massachusetts), August 27, 2008, Denver, CO


In 2000, during an interview on The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, John McCain remarked, "I just have to rely on the good judgment of the voters not to buy into these negative attack ads. Sooner or later, people are going to figure out if all you run is negative attack ads you don't have much of a vision for the future or you're not ready to articulate it."

John McCain, one of the finest men ever to serve in the U.S. Senate, has lost his moral bearings.

He lost his faith in the American people's ability to reason, and has transformed into the type of politician he once scorned: One who seeks to win regardless of cost.

The ugly truth is John McCain's presidential campaign is eerily reminiscent of George W. Bush's from 2000.

The same company Bush hired to generate the damaging robocalls that successfully derailed McCain's 2000 presidential campaign (which McCain, himself, denounced as "hate calls") now works on McCain's behalf; to defame Obama's character.

Worse, McCain has employed the services of former Bush administration aides Steve Schmidt, Nicole Wallace, and Randy Scheunemann.

McCain repeatedly asserts that he has long demonstrated he possesses both the experience and judgment required of a potential commander in chief. Yet, his past comments regarding the office of vice-president, along with his appointment of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate, belies this very argument.

When asked by the late Tim Russert during a 2000 interview on NBC's Meet the Press about possibly serving as George Bush's VP, McCain said, "The vice president has two duties. One is to inquire daily as to the health of the president, and the other is to attend the funerals of third world dictators. And neither of those do I find an enjoyable exercise."

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell, during his appearance earlier this month on Meet the Press, said the following about Palin, "She's a very distinguished woman, and she's to be admired. But at the same time, now that we have had a chance to watch her for some seven weeks, I don't believe she's ready to be president of the United States, which is the job of the vice president."

For the past two weeks, the worst transgression of John McCain's presidential campaign has been his decision to elevate Samuel Joseph 'Joe-the-Plumber' Wurzelbacher to national prominence. Since the final presidential debate, both McCain and Palin have invoked Wurzelbacher's name in their every stump speech as if it is some type of battle cry for middle income Americans to rally around.

The ugly American Wurzelbacher said during a CNN interview, "Social Security is a joke. I have parents; I don't need another set of parents called the government. You know, let me take my money and invest it how I please. Social Security I've never believed in, don't like it. I hate that it's forced on me."

After appearing at a McCain rally yesterday, a McCain supporter asked him if he agreed that, "a vote for Obama is a vote for the death of Israel." In response, Wurzelbacher said, "I'll go ahead and agree with you on that."

These are the depths that McCain has sunken to.

Rather than compete with Obama on the issues and wage a battle of ideas, he has chosen to resort to demagoguery to score cheap political points.

In his desperation to win the presidency, one last time; McCain has abandoned his own moral code.

For these reasons, John S. McCain does not deserve to be President of the United States of America.

Tough Interview or GOP Hit Job?

Last Thursday, WFTV-Channel 9 (Orlando, FL) news anchor Barbara West conducted a brief interview with Democratic VP candidate Joe Biden.

During that interview Ms. West asked Biden a series of pointed questions about Barack Obama's ties to ACORN, Marxist tenets, and Biden's own recent comments during a fundraiser about the likelihood of a "generated" international crisis purposely designed to test the resolve of a would-be President Barack Obama.

A clearly flabbergasted Biden asked Ms. West "Are you joking? Is this a real question?" after she compared Obama's remark about spreading the wealth during his conversation with Samuel 'Joe-the-Plumber' Wurzelbacher to the philosophy of Karl Marx.

At the conclusion of the interview the Obama-Biden campaign cancelled the station's previously scheduled interview with Biden's wife, Jill.

Laura K. McGinnis, Central Florida Communications Director for the Obama campaign, wrote a letter to WFTV stating that their access to the campaign would be denied for its duration.

In response, WFTV news director Bob Jordan said, "Mr. Biden didn't like the questions. We choose not to ask softball questions."

In a Friday evening telephone interview with the Orlando Sentinel, Ms. West said, "I have a great deal of respect for him [Biden]. I have a great deal of respect for Sen. Obama. We are given four minutes of a satellite window for these interviews. Four precious minutes. I got right down to it and, yes, I think I asked him some pointed questions. These are questions that are rolling about right now and questions that need to be asked. I don't think I was rude or inconsiderate to him. I think I was probing and maybe tough."

If you had seen only the Biden interview, then you would probably be inclined to take the arguments of both Ms. West and Mr. Jordan at face value.

However, if you were to juxtapose that interview with this previous interview Ms. West conducted with Republican presidential candidate John McCain, you might feel differently about the objectivity of the Biden interview.

Do you notice how most of the questions that she poses to McCain concern Obama's campaign, and not his own?

I don't quite agree with the Obama campaign's decision to excommunicate WFTV. The sanction should be limited to Ms. West, if no one else.

In any case, it's worth noting that Ms. West's husband is Wade West; a Republican media consultant.

Just the facts.

Opinion: Colin Powell's Endorsement of Barack Obama

I think that it is presumptuous for anyone to explain Powell's rationale for endorsing Barack Obama simply as either racial bias, or the settling a political score with the Bush Administration.

Taking great care to stress his admiration for John McCain, Powell trained the focus of his criticism of McCain's candidacy chiefly on the divisive tactics employed by his campaign, and his choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate.

As Powell stated yesterday, if the counter-argument is that he chose to endorse Obama solely because of race, then he had no reason to wait for as long as he did before announcing his decision.

Furthermore, I trust Powell when he said that he initially believed Iraq was a threat.

That is not to suggest he advocated for going to war with the same zeal as Vice President Cheney and Defense Secretary Rumsfeld.

By all accounts, Powell strongly favored diplomacy as a means to address the perceived dangers that Iraq posed.

Colin Powell has a long and distinguished career of public service. As grave an error as it proved to be, he should neither be branded as deceitful nor disloyal to the American people for lending his support to President Bush as Secretary of State.

Robin Cook he is not, but certainly he is deserving of the respect amongst the public that he commands.

See It Now

I just watched Representative Michele Bachmann (R - Minnesota) on MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews, and she expressed fear of a Barack Obama presidency because she believes he is anti-American.

Additionally, she considers House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D - California) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D - Nevada) to be extreme leftists.

Obviously, her conclusion is based on his past-associations with former Weather Underground member Bill Ayers, and former Trinity United Church of Christ pastor, Jeremiah Wright.

Now, before you argue the merits of Obama's explanation for his connections to these figures, pay attention to the label that Senator Bachmann slapped on him: anti-American.

Now, focus on the tags that she placed on Pelosi and Reid: extreme-leftists.

The charges that Bachmann leveled against Obama, Pelosi, and Reid echo the vicious smears made against numerous American citizens during the McCarthy era.

Then, to be labeled as anti-American meant that you were a communist.

What does it mean to be anti-American, today, in the age of terrorism?

This is the propaganda that John McCain and his supporters are disseminating throughout the country in their ongoing effort to demonize Barack Obama.

In so many words, they have characterized his core principals as an amalgam of radicalism, communism, and pacifism.

So, as our nation's roiling economy - complete with soaring deficits, enormous debt, and high unemployment rates - continues to founder, John McCain and his surrogates respond to the crisis by instilling xenophobic fears into America's collective psyche.

Remember the words of Edward R. Murrow when he spoke out against the actions of Joseph McCarthy:

"We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We must remember always that accusation is not proof and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law. We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason, if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine, and remember that we are not descended from fearful men. We proclaim ourselves, as indeed we are, the defenders of freedom, wherever it continues to exist in the world, but we cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home."

A Hussein By Any Other Name

Barack Hussein Obama! Barack Hussein Obama!

There is a patently false smear, long discredited, that has been circulating across the Internet; claiming Barack Obama is a Muslim.

Ask yourselves these questions: If Barack Obama was a Muslim-American, would I vote against him because he worships Allah as opposed to Jesus Christ? If so, then what does that make me?

Think about that.

Shut Up and Blog

Hip-hip hooray! My days writing long-winded missives are over!

The need for me to actually blog on this blog has been long overdue.

I'm pleased to announce that, as of today, real blogging will begin.

So, I hope you enjoy my pithy comments.