“Pulling the Race Card”
Erick Erickson (among many other right-wingers) is apoplectic over Obama’s response, here, to John McCain’s series of invective-filled, substance-free attacks on him.
Redefining Greed
And who else but an oil company to do such?
Exxon Mobil reported second-quarter earnings of $11.68 billion Thursday, the biggest quarterly profit ever by any U.S. corporation, but the results fell well short of Wall Street expectations and shares fell in premarket trading.
Well, at least those high gas prices we’ve seen lately are now explained. But Exxon’s shares dropped in price after they recorded the biggest quarterly profit ever? The mind reels. Of the stock traders and Exxon, I’m not sure which side is the lesser evil.
How Repulsive Can McCain’s Ads Get?
How many stars are in the sky?
Here is one I didn’t know about until just now:
“What Happened, Cindy?”
John Amato has the Obama campaign’s latest ad, responding to John McCain’s two recent attack ads, here and here.
An Old New Meme
Lately, I’ve been noticing a new meme on the right in general, and in John McCain’s campaign rhetoric in particular, about Barack Obama. He’s not humble enough; he thinks he’s president already; he’s conceited; who does he think he is; he’s presumptuous; he’s arrogant; he’s…. uppity.
Dana Milbank and the Awesome Powers of Selective Quotation
Once again, we see how the responsible, professional journalists in the traditional media operate with respect to context and interpreting the meaning of a quote. Under the title “President Obama continues hectic victory tour,” Dana Milbank writes the following (emphasis mine):
Campaign Ad With a Sense of Humor
A very funny and cute Move On campaign ad for Obama:
Disabled Veterans’ Group Tells Cheney To Shove It
A disabled veterans’ group has cancelled a visit from Dick Cheney because His Royal Highness demanded security arrangements the vets felt were “Draconian and unreasonable“:
Vice President Cheney’s invitation to address wounded combat veterans next month has been yanked because the group felt his security demands were Draconian and unreasonable.
The veep had planned to speak to the Disabled American Veterans at 8:30 a.m. at its August convention in Las Vegas.
His staff insisted the sick vets be sequestered for two hours before Cheney’s arrival and couldn’t leave until he’d finished talking, officials confirmed.
“Word got back to us … that this would be a prerequisite,” said the veterans executive director, David Gorman, who noted the meeting hall doesn’t have any rest rooms. “We told them it just wasn’t acceptable.”
When Cheney spoke to the group in 2004, his handlers imposed the same stringent security lockdown, upsetting members, officials said.
Many of the vets are elderly and left pieces of themselves on foreign battlefields since World War II, and others were crippled by recent service in Iraq and Afghanistan. For health reasons, many can’t be stuck in a room for hours.
“It was a huge imposition on our delegates,” added David Autry, another Disabled American Veterans official.
Autry said vets would’ve had to get up “at Oh-dark-30 and try to get breakfast and showered and get their prosthetics on.”
Once inside, they “could not leave the meeting room, and the bathrooms are outside,” he said.
Cheney’s office acknowledged the security requests, but insisted he is sensitive to combat veterans’ needs.
A Stunningly Dishonest Campaign Ad
Here is John McCain’s campaign ad accusing Barack Obama of blowing off wounded American troops in Germany so he could go to the gym:
U.S. Army Disavows E-mail That Claimed Obama Snubbed Troops in Afghanistan
We already know how easy it is to start a smear campaign via e-mail. Here is another illustration of that fact, but beyond that, this account of an “Obama-snubbed-the-troops” narrative that was untrue from start to finish demonstrates that visual evidence like the much-reviled “campaign op” videos and photographs can actually help to expose a vicious lie. See the last paragraph of this quoted article from Military Times for what I’m talking about.
McCain Denies He Said Obama’s Timetable Looks Good
Two days ago, John McCain told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that the 16-month withdrawal timeline proposed by Barack Obama and endorsed by Nouri al-Maliki “is a pretty good timetable,” adding that it had to be based on conditions on the ground.
AP Analysis: U.S. Is Winning Iraq War
The Associated Press has taken a sharp right turn and swallowed gallons of Kool-aid. I don’t quote from or link to AP articles, so I will list the reporters’ (Robert Burns and Robert H. Reid) arguments and link to commentary.
The Right’s Ahistorical Analysis of the Surge
Bob Herbert in his column today critiques the premise behind the media’s coverage of Barack Obama and John McCain: that the latter’s character and political history are known to all but Obama’s isn’t:
On Misogyny, Racism, and the MSM
PSA: Day of Blogs 2008
Cara of The Curvature and Feministe is participating in today’s Day of Blogs blogathon. RAINN is the very worthy organization that is benefiting from her tireless efforts. Go check it out–Cara will be updating every 30 minutes until 9am EDT Sunday morning.
(Full list of participants here.)
No Charitable Explanations on the Right
See Update at the end of this post.
Yesterday, Ed Morrissey picked up on a news item about Sen. Obama cancelling a planned visit to wounded American soldiers at two U.S. military bases in Germany. Noting that military personnel at the base did not know why the visit had been cancelled, Ed came up with his own explanation… er, make that explanations, plural, via multiple updates:
“We are at the edge of losing an historic opportunity”
Steve Clemons and Mustafa Barghouti analyze Barack Obama’s recent trip to Israel and speech in Berlin and the implications both present regarding his Middle East policy as president.