BN-Politics' administrators respect, but do not necessarily endorse, views expressed by our contributors. Our goal is to get the ideas out there. After that, they're on their own.
by Teh Nutroots | ...because by fulfilling the purpose of the first amendment calling her out on her negative attacks (including the straight-up lies), they are repressing her free speech rights. Who the hell knows what Palin means when she starts blathering about the many, many things she knows nothing about? Forget the Vice Presidency; I'd question, based on this, whether she's qualified to be governor of Alaska.
Can't someone in the McCain campaign please provide Sarah Palin with a pocket copy of the Constitution or something? Or at least access to Wikipedia? Or do John McCain and his campaign care as little about the constitution as George W. Bush, who infamously called it a "goddamned piece of paper"? This is high school civics, people. The Constitution says:
by Bill Kavanagh: Well, ain’t payback a bitch… It seems that Minnesota's Norm Coleman, the man who became a US Senator by riding a last-minute wave of funeral-bashing craziness after the untimely death of Senator Paul Wellstone in 2002, may be in trouble this election season. Not just electoral trouble, but legal trouble too.
After starting off his Senate career in 2003 by declaring, “I am a 99% improvement over Paul Wellstone,” Coleman trashed Wellstone’s legacy of resistance to President Bush’s intervention in Iraq—and helped push the invasion on the American public. Now, not only are the political chickens of Coleman’s tenure coming home to roost— Wellstone’s old friend Al Franken has since made defeating Coleman his mission in life— but it seems Coleman’s re-election campaign may be undone by some other last-minute events—revelations about his financial improprieties.
by Deb Cupples | Some economists anticipate that the number of U.S. jobs lost in October will be around 200,000 -- up from 159,000 jobs lost in September. A recent New York Times article says that major companies have announced intentions to cut workers from the payrolls, including giants like Alcoa, Bank of America, Coca-Cola, General Electric, Goldman Sachs, Merck, and Xerox.
I can't help wondering how many employees' jobs could be saved if those companies' Boards would simply cut executive pay. Let's look at a few executive pay packages, which -- no matter how you slice them -- amount to a redistribution of shareholders' wealth.
Lawrence Eagleburger, one of McCain's prominent supporters, served as Secretary of State under Bush 41. Though McCain and Palin love to drop his name (HuffPost via Memeorandum), apparently Eagleburger's not really down with McCain's veep choice. Like 59% of voters, he has doubts about Palin's preparedness:
"An al Qaeda leader has called for President George W. Bush and the
Republicans to be 'humiliated,' without endorsing a party in the
upcoming U.S. presidential election, according to an Internet video
posting.
"'O God, humiliate Bush and his party, O Lord of the Worlds, degrade
and defy him' Abu Yahya al-Libi said at the end of sermon marking the
Muslim feast of Eid al-Fitr, in a video posted on the Internet."
by Deb Cupples | With just five days to go before THE ELECTION, things aren't looking good for John McCain. The New York Times reports:
"A growing number of voters have concluded that Senator John McCain's running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, is not qualified to be vice president, weighing down the
Republican ticket in the last days of the campaign, according to the
latest New York Times/CBS News poll."
by Cornertard | Oh noes! We just saw how Sarah "the Wealth Spreader" Palin REDISTRIBUTED WEALTH IN ALASKA! Et tu, John McCain?
Forgetting the massive tax cuts he's promised to allow to big corporations, he's now swearing, "When I'm President, we're not gonna let Exxon reap record profits"! Is John McCain's "socialist" tag as applied to Obama a case of "pot meet kettle"? See the video here!!!!!!!!!! (Via Memeorandum, see other bloggers react to this Hallowe'en shock/horror as McCain and Palin RIP OFF THEIR MASKS!!!!)
by Teh Nutroots | She might call Obama a socialist---but it turns out that socialism-hating real Americans who support Palin are in the tank for an ACTUAL wealth-spreading collectivist. From The New Yorker:
For her part, Sarah Palin, who has lately taken to calling Obama
“Barack the Wealth Spreader,” seems to be something of a suspect
character herself. She is, at the very least, a fellow-traveller of
what might be called socialism with an Alaskan face. The state that she
governs has no income or sales tax. Instead, it imposes huge levies on
the oil companies that lease its oil fields.
by Deb Cupples | The $700 billion bailout plan was sold to Congress (and to us taxpayers) as an absolutely necessary means of getting banks to again start lending money to businesses, people, and other banks -- the goal being to unfreeze the credit market.
The New York Times points out that some bailout-fund recipients aren't planning to use a large portion of our tax dollars to start lending again:
by Teh Nutroots | So ol' Joe the Plumber has got himself a manager and a pending record deal and is being held out as the poor man's GoP pundit, you say? And he's stumping with Ted Stevens' Pal, Palin?
That's good. That's very good news. Maybe he and Palin can form a joint ticket for 2012. I'd like that. The inevitable ignominious defeat of the Clown CarTicket would put paid to the political ambitions of the rabid right for a long, long time to come.
Meanwhile, one cartoon endorsement deserves another.
"CBS News has obtained a copy of the complaint that Frank
Gwartney, a retired lineman in Anchorage filed last Friday, with
Alaska’s Attorney General, Talis Colber in Juneau. “Palin ran on the
platform of ethics, transparency and anti-corruption. I’m tired of the
hypocrisy that exists in Government and people need to know the truth,”
said Gwartney....
"Bristol, Piper and Willow, Palin’s daughters, accrued $32,629 in travel
expenses while Palin’s husband Todd raked up $22,174 - all billed to
the state for a total of $54,803.00."
"We have been talking about the same problems for decades---and nothing is ever done....The final verdict on eight years of failed policies." Amen. Well done, Barry O.
Some three dozen workers at a telemarketing call center in Indiana
walked off the job rather than read an incendiary McCain campaign
script attacking Barack Obama, according to two workers at the center
and one of their parents.
Nina Williams, a stay-at-home mom in Lake County, Indiana, tells us
that her daughter recently called her from her job at the center, upset
that she had been asked to read a script attacking Obama for being
"dangerously weak on crime," "coddling criminals," and for voting
against "protecting children from danger...
by Damozel | Here is what the McCain camp says he said:
In a previously uncovered interview from September 6, 2001, Barack
Obama expressed his regret that the Supreme Court hadn't been more
'radical' and described as a 'tragedy' the Court's refusal to take up
'the issues of redistribution of wealth.' No wonder he wants to appoint
judges that legislate from the bench."
--McCain economics adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin (WaPo)
by Teh Nutroots | We'll let Fox News tell the tale.
Federal agents have disrupted a plot to assassinate Barack Obama and shoot or decapitate dozens of black students in Tennessee, the ATF said Monday....[T]hey broke up plans
to rob a gun store and target a predominantly African-American high
school by two neo-Nazi skinheads. Agents said the skinheads did not
identify the school by name.
Remember those Budweiser "Whasssssssssupppppppppppp!!!" ads, that made you want
to crush and kill everyone in your path? Yes, well someone has put the idea to
use for the sake of good.
By Damozel | There's a reason he's served for 40 years as Alaska's senator.
A legendary figure in Alaska politics since joining the U.S.
Senate in 1968, Stevens has steered billions of dollars to the
state from his seat on the Senate Appropriations Committee.(Bloomberg)
Can you say "earmarks"?
Sadly--the man is 84 years old--Stevens is yet another Republican thought the laws don't apply to him. Amazingly, it turns out that they do.
by Teh Nutroots | ...because by fulfilling the purpose of the first amendment calling her out on her negative attacks (including the straight-up lies), they are repressing her free speech rights. Who the hell knows what Palin means when she starts blathering about the many, many things she knows nothing about? Forget the Vice Presidency; I'd question, based on this, whether she's qualified to be governor of Alaska.
by Teh Nutroots | Read here about Eagleburger's 
by Teh Nutroots | She might call Obama a socialist---but it turns out that socialism-hating real Americans who support Palin are in the tank for an ACTUAL wealth-spreading collectivist. From 
by Damozel | Here is what the McCain camp says he said:
by Teh Nutroots | We'll let 
By Damozel | There's a reason he's served for 40 years as Alaska's senator.
