Home » The Watercooler for 09/02/08 5:00 PM
The Watercooler for 09/02/08 5:00 PM
DFA's home for a free form, open-ended discussion of what matters most to committed progressive activists.
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- from the end of the previous thread... Thank you Phil Specht and Monica Smith
By Susan Rowe on Sep 2, 2008 9:16 PM EDT
Phil - I'm sorry for the loss of your uncle(s). Enjoy your family.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/the-uptake/mccain-refuses-to-meet-wi_b_122983.html
Iraq Veterans Against the War marched to the convention center in St. Paul yesterday intending to present Senator John McCain with a list of demands regarding U.S. military actions in Iraq and Afghanistan. The veterans conducted a similar exercise in Denver at the Democratic Convention and delivered their letter to Senator Obama. McCain, however, refused to meet with the group.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/02/mccain-goes-vindictive-on_n_123320.html
Remember how yesterday night, CNN's Campbell Brown asked McCain flack Tucker "Anchorman" Bounds a simple question, then chortled and smiled at the sight of Bounds struggling to not answer her? Well, John McCain remembers! And as punishment for CNN daring to impose some level of journalistic rigor, McCain has abruptly canceled a scheduled appearance on Larry King Live tonight. Via TPM:
Wolf Blitzer just reported that the campaign has canceled a scheduled interview with Larry King due to an unfriendly segment last night on CNN -- the segment we flagged last night where the network's Campbell Brown grilled McCain spokesperson Tucker bounds over Sarah Palin's lack of foreign policy experience....
Blitzer said the McCain campaign complained that Campbell Brown's grilling of Tucker Bounds over Sarah Palin's lack of foreign policy experience was "over the line."
jjem's Mom is having an online auction to raise $$ for her run for VT House.
http://democracyforamerica.com/blog_posts/26557-online-auction-fundraiser
I just suffered through a few wasted minutes watching MSNBC's coverage of the Party of Faux Family Values. Oh my -- Pat Buchanan absolutely euphoric over their saviour, Sarah Palin. Michelle Bernard glowing... I must be living in an alternate universe.
Where is all the news I've been reading about the past few days on the mountain of damning evidence against the governor of Alaska? You'd never know it by watching the convention coverage.
I am going to attempt to watch bits and pieces of the Republican Convention, however, I have no idea if I will be successful.
I told the sweet woman who called that I will renew sending donations when they get all of us out of the water cooler. She asked *what's the water cooler?*. LOL
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Thomas -- You are a brave fellow to be able to stomach the revival meeting. What a circus it must be now that they are bringing in the the daughter's boyfriend from Alaska. Great PR.
...know thine enemies...
impressions so far: pathetically small crowd in a small venue.
bohner blamed this not yet 2 year old congress for everything under the sun.
coleman just said that "mc cain has a face that says yes."
i saw one black guy...
Convention here too. It is dreadful, dreadful, dreadful. Who are these people?
This feels like the land of delusion. As they praise themselves for service, for smaller government, for reform, I think, the government has never been so bloated, so corrupt, so disregarding of people. What reality is this?
Ah, George Orwell, did you even dream how true, more than true, your fiction would become!
I watched a panel of women. What has caused reason, logic, evidence, experience to be so utterly alien to these people?
The audience is composed of mostly white, middle class, fat, people who all look alike. This is a terrible thing to say, but that's my impression. It's as if they haven't changed in a hundred years and the lie has become the delusion, the fantasy they live and believe in.
Awful, awful, and they are using the resentment that Hillary Clinton pandered to to support a woman who is totally opposed to any values that are supportive of women.
told the caller that when the staff becomes democratic by asking for the input and paying attention to its members, I would resume contributing. Right now it is authoritarian and disregardful of the members who participate in the blog
Come to think of it, isn't that what the Republicans do?
it sure as hell isn't 'we' anymore. we aren't asked what we think - we're ignored even when we 'beg'. Howard would be ashamed.
...my impressions also, pat. seems they're also focusing on their worst policy issues.
but not on cspan this time - my mind needs a break from time to time via the little faux intelligence that the pundits offer....
that was weird - it posted itself in mid-thought without touching a key. I came back to edit....
but not on cspan this time - my mind needs a break from the little faux intelligence that the pundits offer....
heh he - weird is right - it posted once mid thought and again a little further into the thought.
the blog ghost is with us tonight my friends...
sure pimping t. roosevelt...don't they realize that, for his time, he was a progressive...worse they're trying to hint that mc cain's comparable to t. roosevelt...
John McCain. You'll have to past it into your browser. But, in essence he says that John McCain is too volatile and bellicose to be president, and now with his pandering, he has lost whatever credibility he had. The speaker is also a decorated Vietnam veteran who went to the Naval Academy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KjsEs46C70
I posted on the 'Cain blog - many moon ago, and under the name Able - "I asked my old man what he thought of McCain, and he said, 'not much.'"
I mean geez, they don't even frequent the front paged threads they control.
Talk about suffocating control freak.
I watched a few minutes btw CNN and PBS and that was all I could take -- guess W is speaking now. I've had 4 or 5 donation requests from DFA and they have all gotten the same answer about the blog. A tip for the ladies: I went to the PA (my doc out of town) to get some antibiotics for my UTI finally today and he told me to take cranberry pills and Vit C twice daily and not dry my undies with fabric softener sheets. Use only white TP. He told me one more thing that would be TMI for the blog -- seems he works in or runs a nursing home and said he has cut down UTI's dramatically by following these steps. So when I went to get the drugs I bought the cranberry pills and Vit C too -- I'll keep you posted :~).
showers, not baths. if you do take a bath, put baking soda in the water - no bubbles and no deodorant-type soap.
was a lt cmdr, how come he only served one nam tour. it takes 10 to 12 years to get that rank. ok, minus 2 to 3 for flight training. and minus another 3 for shore duty. leaves 4 to 6 years of training and deployment, which means 2 to 4 cruises...where else was john during the war...before he got shot down...
btw, i have more combat flight missions than he does...23 to my 29...
CBS reporting that Palin is in virtual seclusion, refusing all interviews and cancelling public appearances before her rollout tomorrow. Some nice fact checking is included in this segment.
If they didn't have war and war mythology to talk about, what would they have?
They would have nothing much to talk about.
Not that only GOP Presidents have used war to their advantage. FDR used war to bring recovery to our economy... BUT... he also had a lot of other ideas.
The GOP HAS TO HAVE WAR AND WAR MYTHOLOGY. Without these, they have not one thing to talk about or offer, and this is why they are dangerous and need to be back-benched.
-- volney
PS To Cindy McCain. It is very bad form, when someone is praising you for your humanitarianism, to cry over your own achievements.
fred thompson!!! what show was he on again...love boat...no that was the other guy...cher's backup...no that was another guy...the gipper guy...no that was someone else...oh well, i give up...
Fred Thompson, "Give me a governor who stood up to.... uhhh, corrupt Republicans...".
And let's cheer because she can kill and butcher God's wild critters. Not enough dead meat at the supermarket to satisfy her, no siree.
-- volney
killing and butchering all by your lonesome is cost effective. It's like havin' a mexican do it f'r yo'.
Bush was the King of the C Students and now we find out Little Johnny McCain was the Leader of the Troublemakers.
Nice one.
And again, more war mythology. Can't be a GOP without crappy war mythology.
Personally, the slogan "country first" scares the crap out of me. Isn't that what they say in Russia? That the state is everything and is more important than the citizens? Weren't we founded on principles that put individual rights first? Or have I forgotten something?
-- volney
General Election: McCain vs. Obama
Polling Data
| Poll | Date | Sample | Obama (D) | McCain (R) | Spread |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RCP Average | 08/29 - 09/01 | -- | 49.2 | 42.8 | Obama +6.4 |
| Gallup Tracking | 08/30 - 09/01 | 2772 RV | 50 | 42 | Obama +8 |
| Rasmussen Tracking | 08/30 - 09/01 | 3000 LV | 51 | 45 | Obama +6 |
| Hotline/FD | 08/29 - 08/31 | 805 RV | 48 | 39 | Obama +9 |
| CNN | 08/29 - 08/31 | 927 RV | 49 | 48 | Obama +1 |
| CBS News | 08/29 - 08/31 | 781 RV | 48 | 40 | Obama +8 |
Laura Bush is the quintessential Stepford wife.
OK, being as bright as I am, I realize I learned more...
We're labeled repeatedly as the "angry left". Gee, no kidding. I don't need any Republican telling me that I'm angry.
Fred Thompson loves that Palin comes from "small town family values."
The screaming of "USA! USA!" The closest analogy I can think of is the Germans yelling "Seig Heil". Unseemly in the extreme, for citizens of a major power. We already have the power, we don't need the iill-bred chanting.
Pork barrel = projects that help people where they live, vs. military expeditures which only help people too die sooner and in far-off lands.
Ooh, "intensifying competition from China"!!!! And WHOSE FAULT IS THAT????
-- volney
They're shouting like it's the Second Coming even though Thompson flubbed the line, should have been "below" not "above" his pay grade.
-- volney
Yikes....just heard a woman at RNC interviewed on PBS saying that Palin has "energized the values voters."
Joementum.
Has to prod them to applaud the idea of the larger American family and helping people in need.
I gotta shut this thing off. Negative karma.
-- volney
couldn't help but point out looserman's absolute expulsion from the party coinsides with his speech tonight. what a traitor. he even got them to applaude bill clinton as if clinton was a neocon and not a dlc'er. he's worse than zell miller. what a putz...
Well, I had to skip the Fuller Brush Convention. No thanks. Apparently the wingnut part of the Republican crowd is ecstatic to have one of their very own (Palin) on the ticket. Just a guess but from all the comments here and at Daily Kos - the Rep's aren't looking for any moderate votes. Good luck to them. zzzzzzz.
Nomentum praising Bill Clinton...priceless.
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h/t Beeton (from his diary)
Update [2008-9-2 22:32:59 by Todd Beeton]:Best (and by 'best' I mean fucked up) pundit line of the night: Tom Brokaw on NBC tonight said "I would not like to be Joe Buden debating Sarah Palin because she is going to have a lot of momentum by the time she gets to that debate if things go as well as the Republicans hope they will." Totally.
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OMG - I'm so glad I *missed* all of this. Brokaw needs to head back to Montana STAT. What a windbag.
With Palin in seclusion, I'm wondering if, when she takes the stage, she'll NOT accept the VP nomination??
that's all they've got. they actually end with a rabbi. they didn't let jews in their ranks until their think tanks were manned by a few. hippocrates...liars...scandals...fools...
will still be the VP at this point. McCain is like Bush in that he cannot admit to being wrong. Palin is the darling of the fringe right. They'll try to make her speech mainstream and warm. LOL. And hey Republican family values will be on display with the whole family there - including Levi. I don't get the PR of that move quite frankly.
the "go shopping crowd" after 9/11, and just as an aside, 9/11 occurred because the Bush Administration ignored the warnings, dismissed the White House memo that an attack was immanent, are we the commercial believing, sound byte spewing, low information, non reading supposed citizens or are we a forum of intelligent, creative, inclusive, and committed citizens who want judgment, intelligence, character, and integrity in our representatives?
I don't know who we are at this point, and I'm scared that we may just be the former group I've characterized.
Well, good night folks, this has been an ordeal.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/03/opinion/03wed1.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
The NY Times isn't happy with the pick of Palin. My apologies if you've already read this today.
- Thanks again Monica you made my day sharing that video on HEP
By Phil Specht on Sep 2, 2008 5:01 PM EDTI'm headed up north for some fishing and family.
I just lost a second Uncle in less than two months who survived the Depression and defeated the Nazis and will be gone up north to pay my respects.
I get the sense with the young generation behind Obama this country hasn't seen anything yet, in America the Greatest Generation is yet to come.
But the one fading from the scene did their part.