Rick Davis on the Sunday shows!

That's the actual photo thay have at ABC's This Week page.

Davis will also be on Fox News Sunday.

It might be fun to watch this guy for a change. He's usually quite arrogant, but with a pending loss, hearing him "make the case" for a McCain win would be amusing.


posted by Quiddity at 11/01/2008 03:02:00 PM

And never the twain shall meet:

Another sign that the right-wing is detaching itself from the rest of society.

If you've ever listened to Hugh Hewitt, you'll quickly discover that he's a total shill for the Republicans. No different than a car salesman, in fact. His "brand" is always the best, and no matter what the news is, he'll spin it his way.


posted by Quiddity at 11/01/2008 02:48:00 PM

You know it's bad when:

You see a story teaser like this at the Huffington Post

You note the claim that the "latest attack" is a "vile smear", but you're not sure which one they are referring to.


UPDATE: The Washington Post editorial was saying that likening Rashid Khalidi to neo-Nazis was the "vile smear", not that McCain has leveled a smear against Obama - at least within the scope of this editorial. The Huffington Post teaser is misleading. Still, the point stands. You read about a McCain charge that's over the top - or worse - but you're not sure which of the three you've learned about recently is being discussed.


posted by Quiddity at 10/30/2008 11:24:00 PM

Extended David Broder:

"[McCain's] vice presidential choice, his best opportunity to put his stamp on the future, was made, typically, more on instinct than careful appraisal. McCain saw Sarah Palin as reinforcing his own reformist credentials. The convention embraced her, not as a reformer but as the embodiment of beliefs precious to the religious right. And the mass of voters questioned her credentials for national leadership." But I won't.

posted by Quiddity at 10/30/2008 03:38:00 AM

Is today's right wing crazy more crazy than that of a decade ago?

It sure seems like it. For instance, there is a syndicated radio program Midnight Radio Network, directed at truckers - and heard in Los Angeles on KABC-AM from midnight to three o'clock in the morning. It's more extreme than Limbaugh, if that's possible. The very pugnacious hosts, Eric Harley and Gary McNamara, say thinks like Obama is a Marxist and that if he gets into power we will all be "enslaved" (presumably economically). Of course, it's always Barack Hussein Obama, and the callers into the show are similarly very, very opposed to him and any other Democrat.

Interestingly, for a show that is supposed to be on the side of truckers, the hosts were defending oil companies earlier this year, saying that they deserved the huge profits they were racking up when commodity prices were soaring.

In any event, it appears that the right wing is set to be kind of what it was like during the Clinton years when Bill and Hillary were accused of murders, drug smuggling, and hanging crack pipes on the White House Christmas tree. But those attacks took time go get momentum and weren't part of the mix when Clinton first assumed office.

Will we see an endless stream of charges that Obama is a secret traitor ready to hand over the country to terrorists? Like the way McCarthy attacked George C. Marshall:

On June 14, 1951, as the Korean war stalemated in heavy fighting between American and Chinese forces, Republican Senator Joe McCarthy attacked. He charged that Marshall was directly responsible for the "loss of China," as China turned from friend to foe. McCarthy said the only way to explain why the U.S. "fell from our position as the most powerful Nation on earth at the end of World War II to a position of declared weakness by our leadership" was because of "a conspiracy so immense and an infamy so black as to dwarf any previous such venture in the history of man." McCarthy said that "If Marshall were merely stupid, the laws of probability would dictate that part of his decisions would serve this country's interest." McCarthy argued that General Albert Coady Wedemeyer had prepared a wise plan that would keep China a valued ally, but that it had been sabotaged; "only in treason can we find why evil genius thwarted and frustrated it." McCarthy suggested that Marshall was old and feeble and easily duped; he did not charge Marshall with treason. Specifically McCarthy alleged:

"When Marshall was sent to China with secret State Department orders, the Communists at that time were bottled up in two areas and were fighting a losing battle, but that because of those orders the situation was radically changed in favor of the Communists. Under those orders, as we know, Marshall embargoed all arms and ammunition to our allies in China. He forced the opening of the Nationalist-held Kalgan Mountain pass into Manchuria, to the end that the Chinese Communists gained access to the mountains of captured Japanese equipment. No need to tell the country about how Marshall tried to force Chiang Kai-shek to form a partnership government with the Communists."

Given what's been said recently by NRO luminaries Stanley Kurtz, Andy McCarthy, Victor David Hansen, et al, maybe we're headed to a level of crazy that prevailed in the 1950's.


posted by Quiddity at 10/30/2008 01:52:00 AM

100 years ago: Teddy Roosevelt is a socialist!

Acording to a letter sent to the New York Times.

His crimes?

• Public works programs
• Land management
• National forests and parks
• Inheritance tax
• Income tax

posted by Quiddity at 10/29/2008 08:53:00 AM

Two things that never got much coverage:

I'm surprised that the following items didn't become big factors in the presidential race:

• McCain saying folks won't do hard work for $50 an hour
  
  
• Palin approving charging for rape kits once she became mayor or Wasilla

These are easy to understand and could have been politically potent, but they never seemed to get into the mix of the political discussion.


posted by Quiddity at 10/29/2008 08:28:00 AM

Flaming idiots:

Effigy of Sarah Palin hanging by a noose creates uproar in West Hollywood

A West Hollywood Halloween display showing a likeness of Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin hanging by a noose has caused a furor among some residents who reported it as a hate crime, authorities said Monday.

But Los Angeles County sheriff's officials said the mannequin sporting a beehive hairdo, glasses and a red coat does not rise to the level of a hate crime because it was part of a Halloween display.

This kind of crap should be denounced by those on the left.

The fellow who did this moronic stunt is also trying to get people to vote against Prop 8 (which would invalidate this year's pro gay-marriage court ruling). Good luck with that.


posted by Quiddity at 10/28/2008 08:20:00 AM

If Obama wins in November, we're all doomed:

According to Sean Hannity.

We'll be bowing down to the anti-American United Nations. Nanny state nazis will be in charge (Pelosi, Reid). It'll be the end of freedom and liberty. The country will be bullied by big labor. Stuff like that.

Great fun listening to right-wing radio these days.


posted by Quiddity at 10/27/2008 12:27:00 PM

President Bush is a Marxist:

Barbara West, WFTV anchor, asking Joe Biden a question:

You may recognize this famous quote: “from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs” That’s from Karl Marx. How is Senator Obama not being a Marxist if he intends to spread the wealth around?

President Bush in a speech at United Nations Financing for Development Conference (22 March 2002):

Developed nations have a duty not only to share our wealth, but also to encourage sources that produce wealth: economic freedom, political liberty, the rule of law and human rights.

posted by Quiddity at 10/27/2008 02:21:00 AM

Hilarious advice from Bill Kristol:

[It's] time for McCain to ... finally to make his case.

... McCain and Palin can spend the final week speaking for themselves. They should throw themselves open full time to the media.

Next Sunday, McCain and Palin could divide up the talk shows. Sarah Palin live! Lots of people would tune in.

Obama has bought a half-hour of television in prime time Wednesday. McCain and Palin could buy time Thursday night — giving voters some incentive to keep an open mind at least until McCain and Palin get to make their case.

... McCain ... needs to speak about America’s greatness and its future; about how the ingenuity and toughness of the American people will turn around this financial crisis ...

McCain has a chance to close this election in a big and positive way.

Would this turn things around? Unlikely. But why not take a shot?

Unquoted (above) were several references by Kristol about "war", "Iraq", and of course, "Petraeus".


posted by Quiddity at 10/27/2008 01:55:00 AM

Extortion!

For those with long memories, back in the 1970's conservatives would bristle at arguments that there should be support for the poor because otherwise the sick/unemployed/disenchanted would make life miserable for the rest of us. They would say that's "extortion" and not a legitimate argument (by their lights).

Well, look what they are saying now. John McCain on MTP:

MR. BROKAW: Let me ask you quickly about your $300 billion bailout of, of mortgages.

SEN. McCAIN: Hm.

MR. BROKAW: Some people have said, look, if there's a homeowner out there who's done the irresponsible thing...

SEN. McCAIN: Mm-hmm.

MR. BROKAW: ...and a bank is looking at that foreclosure and saying, "Hey, I don't have to work this out. I can just get the government to pick it up," why should a taxpayer in Waterloo, Iowa, or in Akron, Ohio, have to subsidize somebody who has done the dumb, wrong thing?

SEN. McCAIN: Well, in simplest terms, if their neighbor next door throws the keys in the living room floor and leaves, then the value of their home is going to dramatically decrease as well.

A Washington Post editorial this Sunday:

... there are legitimate social and economic reasons to limit foreclosures. Foreclosures not only cost families their homes, they drive down the property values of whole neighborhoods.

A broad [foreclosure rescue] plan might prop up house prices generally, at the cost, financial and moral, of putting taxpayers on the hook for borrowers who could make it on their own. A narrow plan would be fairer to taxpayers but lift home prices only modestly.

The Hope for Homeownership program, which went into effect Oct. 1, was also probably oversold. It offered $300 billion worth of federally guaranteed refinancings for borrowers who met certain eligibility criteria. But since it also required both borrowers and lenders to take a financial "haircut" in return for the help, there may not be many takers.

Which brings us to the notion sketched by Sheila C. Bair, chairwoman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. She suggested last week that the government set out a standardized loan modification package for loan servicers to follow, enabling them to do workouts faster. In return for their picking up the pace, the government would guarantee some or all of the newly modified loans. By offering a strong material incentive to lenders, Ms. Bair's concept addresses one of the weaknesses of previous proposals.

posted by Quiddity at 10/26/2008 05:54:00 PM

Today's conservative spin:

Hitler raised campaign funds from anonymous donations at beer halls, and gave speeches in Berlin to huge crowds.

At the same time, FDR was doing all sorts of bad things like creating the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Tennessee Valley Authority, and the Social Security program - all which could have been stopped if we had a divided government.

Back then, voters ignored warning signs and made a tragic mistake. Let's not make a similar one this year!

posted by Quiddity at 10/26/2008 11:27:00 AM