More frightening rhetoric

File under "D'OH!!!!!"

McCain Transition Chief Aided Saddam In Lobbying Effort

William Timmons, the Washington lobbyist who John McCain has named to head his presidential transition team, aided an influence effort on behalf of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein to ease international sanctions against his regime.

The two lobbyists who Timmons worked closely with over a five year period on the lobbying campaign later either pleaded guilty to or were convicted of federal criminal charges that they had acted as unregistered agents of Saddam Hussein's government.

During the same period beginning in 1992, Timmons worked closely with the two lobbyists, Samir Vincent and Tongsun Park, on a previously unreported prospective deal with the Iraqis in which they hoped to be awarded a contract to purchase and resell Iraqi oil. Timmons, Vincent, and Park stood to share at least $45 million if the business deal went through.

Timmons' activities occurred in the years following the first Gulf War, when Washington considered Iraq to be a rogue enemy state and a sponsor of terrorism. His dealings on behalf of the deceased Iraqi leader stand in stark contrast to the views his current employer held at the time.

ummmm, yeah. OK

Another debate

I used to have a certain degree of respect for John McCain. That respect had been diminishing as the Presidential campaign went along. Seeing him cozy up to those that he once vehemently criticized in an undisguised orgy of pandering was actually kind of sad. A man who prided himself on his integrity chucked it out the window to get the right wing christian vote. But with that and other moves that I felt to be sellouts of beliefs he had held in the past, I held on to a small bit of respect for the guy. I found myself thinking (hoping) he was a good guy deep down inside.

No more.

With his childish behavior at last night's debate and rhetoric that is bordering on frightening coming from the McCain camp out on the trail, the final nail has been driven into this coffin. This guy, and the campaign he is running are CONTEMPTIBLE.

People at rallies have been shouting "Kill Him!", "Treason" and "Terrorist" when Obama is mentioned. McCain supporters told a black TV crew member to “Sit down, boy.” after Palin tried to blame her miserable performance in interviews on "mainstream media" instead of her OBVIOUS lack of any substantial knowledge. Nice move from the VP candidate representing the party of "personal responsibility". "My piss poor performance isn't my fault! It was those damn commy journalists doing their JOB!!!"

Palin actually complained that Katy Couric's questions did not allow her to use her prepared talking points to bash Obama. Think about that for a minute. This person actually thinks that the press should be acting like a Letterman or Leno and asking prepared "questions" so she can give the answers she wants. THINK ABOUT THAT! Not only is she completely clueless on political matters, she has no FRIGGIN IDEA what the press does! And even more frightening-She has a B.S. in Communications Journalism. I guess she just paid attention to the "BS" part.

Last night McCain was pathetic. He tanked in the debate format that was supposed to be his strong point. McCain's ads have the gall to call Obama dishonorable yet he gets up there on national TV and LIES about Obama's record and fudges his own. Even worse he uses lies that have already been identified as BS in the national media. The Straight Talk Express has blown all of its tires and rolled over in flames in the ditch.

Grandpa Simpson mentioned a $3 million dollar overhead projector a couple of times as an example of pork that Obama supports. Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo looked into that:

Natural Born Fibber

It turns out that that "overhead projector" John McCain claimed Barack Obama tried to get a $3 million earmark for was actually money to rebuild Chicago's Adler Planetarium, the oldest planetarium in the United States.

McCain's "overhead projector" is the apparatus that runs the planetarium, which is a bit like calling the Palomar Observatory a new set of glasses.


It comes down to this-it is now painfully obvious that the McCain campaign knows that have NO hope of winning on issues. They are on the wrong side of virtually every one. All they have left is to smear, smear, smear, smear. Funny thing is-whenever McCain tried his smears during the debate, the CNN tracking graphs headed down. Fast. It isn't working. Has America finaly had it with Rove style campaigns? I sure as hell hope so.


On another note-I saw "Religulous" this weekend. Bill Maher does a great job of skewering religion-ALL religion. Good stuff. Go see it.

Weekend wrap up

Do I have a bad case of the Mondays? Not any more than usual. We had a weekend filled with fun things like eye surgery, vicoden, dog urine, a Presidential debate, and the Vikes and Twins losing. Yippeee!!

The wife had Lasik surgery a while back. On Friday she had an adjustment to fine tune one of her eyes. I am not sure what is technically involved with this "tweak", but the idea of having one's eyeball sliced open and "adjusted" is enough to send a little chill down my spine. And to think this is the third time she has gone through this-the initial Lasik, then having each eye adjusted. I don't think I could handle that. Especially the aftermath-A few days of stabbing pain in your eye! What a hoot! Fortunately she got a scrip for Vicoden which is extra effective on her. She slept a lot this weekend. If it was me, I would want to sleep the ENTIRE weekend-wake me up when the pain is gone.




Watched the debate on Friday night (surprise). Some thoughts:

Obama held his own on the night's topic (foreign policy) but I don't think he "won". But here is the thing, he didn't need to win this one. He just needed to be standing relatively unscathed at the end of this round, which he did. When the next debates hit on domestic policy Obama will wipe the floor with McCain.

McCain came across as a condescending dick.

I hope this is the last debate that Jim Lehrer moderates. He let McCain interupt Obama more than once and never gave Obama any kind of "make up" time for the interruption.

Where was McCain's flag pin?

Biden and Palin on Thursday. THAT should be entertaining

I went biking at Theodore Wirth for the first time since I crashed about six weeks ago. Took it nice and slow. It is a little disturbing to me how the crash has really robbed me of a lot of confidence on the bike. The second lap was a bit better, but still much slower than my normal lap time. Maybe next time I will push it a little

I found the spot where I crashed and located the branch that reached out and grabbed my handlebar. I think that branch was in "Evil Dead" I swear it moved!

On Sunday I watched the suck ass Vikings game. What a mess!!!! The Vikings did everything in their power to lose that game and the succeeded. One thing, the Titans got a flag for roughing the passer. Gus Frerotte was rolling around on the ground in obvious pain. The replays showed why. I hope I never have to witness another helmet to nuts tackle again. It hurts just thinking about it.

Went for a short ride around the neighborhood after the game. I spent a lot of time going in circles practicing dropping off of a ledge. The people in the park must of thought I was a bit off. During the ride I paused to take a pic of a slightly beat up, but very cool Mustang Mach I.





Well, that about wraps up this post-bored yet?

Random thoughts and observations

All right, its been a while since I posted anything so here we go...

The pup is exhausting. I forgot what a handful a 13lb furball can be. I forgot about the super sharp puppy teeth. Thank god we have Coda to help wear Surly out. They play pretty much constantly from 7ish to 10ish. Tired dogs are good dogs.

The Star Tribune has a nice article on local bike parts powerhouse QBP. Home of Surly and Salsa-so you know they are cool

Fortuitous timing: Last night the wife and I had just finished watching a bad movie so I decided to check the score of the Twins game. I tuned in to see Joe Nathan pitching in the 9th. Twinks up 3-2 with two outs. Always nice to stumble upon the most exciting part of a game. The crowd was on their feet screaming as the Twins tried to take another step in snatching first place away from division rival White Sox. Nathan got the save. Tonight's game decides who is in first.

Politics, politics....

McCain is losing it. The results of rampant deregulation, a Republican linchpin, have come home to roost. McCain went from saying the fundamentals of our economy are strong to suspending his campaign to rush in and save the day from this crisis. Make no mistake, this is nothing but a cynical stunt by a man sinking steadily in the polls. As the results of policies he champions become painfully clear to the American public, his poll numbers have began to nosedive. The man who has missed almost EVERY vote this year is going to rush in and save the day. And the funny thing is-He isn't needed!

“I’m glad the president said what he said,” Frank said. “It’s not that making the speech was going to help, but failure to make a speech was probably hurting. In America, if you don’t hear from the president, it’s not a crisis.”

Frank says that House and Senate Democrats have agreed upon what should be in the Wall Street bailout legislation. This morning Frank, his Senate counterpart -- Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd, D-Conn. -- and top Republicans will meet to try to hammer out a final agreement. He was optimistic.

“All of a sudden, now that we’re on the verge of making a deal, John McCain drops himself in to make a deal," Frank said. "I really worry about this politicization of it."

"Frankly, we’re going to have to interrupt a negotiating session tomorrow between the Democrats and Republicans on a bill, where I think we’re getting pretty close, and troop down to the White House for their photo-op, and then come back and get on to it," Frank said.

“We’re trying to rescue the economy, not the McCain campaign,” he added.

Paraphrase of a quote I liked. "Those who want English as the official language seem to not trust leaders who speak it fluently"

The Original Maverick