mrneoluddite/election

From the page: "A Ticket We'd Vote For In a Heartbeat
By Dave Sikula
Tue, November 4, 2008

Today is Election Day (as you just might have heard somewhere). While the snarky thing might be to write about election screw-ups of the past, we couldn't help but notice that it's also the birthday of two of the most influential voices of the 20th century on American politics: Will Rogers and Walter Cronkite.

From our 21st century vantage point, it may be hard to remember just how important these men were in their heydays. Rogers was born in 1879, and by 1902 had begun a show business career, which took him from rodeos to vaudeville to starring in the Ziegfeld Follies, From there, he branched into Hollywood (becoming the country's number-one box office draw), the most popular newspaper column in America, and radio, where his weekly show was the nation's top-rated program. Rogers's act consisted mostly of ad-libbed comments about the day's political events, and led to his 1928 mock campaign for president (though he might well have won a serious race). In 1935, at the peak of his popularity, he was killed in a plane crash, throwing the world into mourning.

Cronkite may not have been as beloved as Rogers, but for decades, he was considered the "most trusted man in America." He closed his newscasts with "And that's the way it is ...," a statement that might have seemed presumptuous coming from another reporter, but given his background, avuncularity, and nonpartisanship, was the opposite of hyperbole. He led America through some of its greatest crises and triumphs, and through it all, his calm authority was so powerful that Lyndon Johnson declared that if he had "lost Cronkite" on Vietnam, he had lost middle America.

So on this day that celebrates democracy, we salute two men who represent the best of what Americans can be."

From the page: "Who You Callin' a Maverick?

By JOHN SCHWARTZ
Published: October 4, 2008

There's that word again: maverick. In Thursday's vice-presidential debate, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, the Republican candidate, used it to describe herself and her running mate, Senator John McCain, no fewer than six times, at one point calling him the consummate maverick.

But to those who know the history of the word, applying it to Mr. McCain is a bit of a stretch" and to one Texas family in particular it is even a bit offensive.

I'm just enraged that McCain calls himself a maverick, said Terrellita Maverick, 82, a San Antonio native who proudly carries the name of a family that has been known for its progressive politics since the 1600s, when an early ancestor in Boston got into trouble with the law over his agitation for the rights of indentured servants.

In the 1800s, Samuel Augustus Maverick went to Texas and became known for not branding his cattle. He was more interested in keeping track of the land he owned than the livestock on it, Ms. Maverick said; unbranded cattle, then, were called Maverick's. The name came to mean anyone who didn't bear another's brand.

Sam Maverick's grandson, Fontaine Maury Maverick, was a two-term congressman and a mayor of San Antonio who lost his mayoral re-election bid when conservatives labeled him a Communist. He served in the Roosevelt administration on the Smaller War Plants Corporation and is best known for another coinage. He came up with the term 'gobbledygook' in frustration at the convoluted language of bureaucrats.

This Maverick's son, Maury Jr., was a firebrand civil libertarian and lawyer who defended draft resisters, atheists and others scorned by society. He served in the Texas Legislature during the McCarthy era and wrote fiery columns for The San Antonio Express-News. His final column, published on Feb. 2, 2003, just after he died at 82, was an attack on the coming war in Iraq.

Terrellita Maverick, sister of Maury Jr., is a member emeritus of the board of the San Antonio chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas.

Considering the family's long history of association with liberalism and progressive ideals, it should come as no surprise that Ms. Maverick insists that John McCain, who has voted so often with his party, is in no way a maverick, in uppercase or lowercase.

"It's just incredible the nerve! to suggest that he's not part of that Republican herd. Every time we hear it, all my children and I and all my family shrink a little and say, "Oh, my God, he said it again.""

"He's a Republican," she said. "He's branded.""

From the page: "CNN Poll results - Sorry Caribou Barbie, you lose
After Debate, 53% Still Believe Palin Unqualified

Who Did the Best Job In the Debate?
Biden 51%
Palin 36%

Biden did better or worse than expected?
64% better
14% worse
20% same

Palin did better or worse than expected?
84% better - duh the bar was set horribly low for her.
7% worse
8% same

Palin qualified to serve as President?

Before debate:
42% yes- who the f*ck says this?
54% no - this would be us!

After debate
46% yes
53% no- this number should be higher"

Speaks for itself...

From the page: "McCain Grilled On "The View": Sarah Palin, His Abortion Stance, His Obama Attack Ads, And More

The ladies of "The View" confronted John McCain today for lying in recent attack ads, pressed him on abortion and questioned his choice of Sarah Palin.

In arguably his toughest interview yet, co-host Joy Behar asked McCain, "There are ads running from your campaign... Now we know that those two ads are untrue, they are lies. And yet, you at the end of it say you approve these messages. Do you really approve these?"

Barbara Walters then threw in her condemnation, telling McCain: "You, yourself, said the same thing about putting lipstick on a pig..."

Watch McCain try and explain the lies:

McCain was also pushed on his stance on abortion, saying he thought Roe v. Wade was a bad decision. Saying he'd nominate justices who strictly interpret the constitution, Whoopi asked if that meant she'd be returned to slavery:


Whoopi also pushed McCain on the separation of church and state, saying that if he believes in it, "did it not give [him] a moment of pause" to choose Sarah Palin as his running mate. He responded in part, "God has a plan for the world and that we should do what we can to lead as good a lives as we can...":


McCain was asked how Palin will "reform" Washington and the government. Barbara Walters continually pushed on just who and what she was going to reform. His answer, which he was forced to elaborate on, was "all of Washington":

McCain also claimed that Palin has never asked for money for pet projects as Alaska governor -- when in fact she has sought nearly $200 million in earmarks this year."

From the page: "McCain and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin have put attacks on what they call excessive spending at the heart of this year�s Republican presidential campaign. But when Palin served as mayor of her hometown of Wasilla, outside Anchorage, she obtained about $27 million in federal �oeearmarks” during her last four years in office, according to the watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense."

Go figure, more bushies involved


With Sarah Palin facing unrelenting press scrutiny and enjoying off-the-charts excitement from voters, John McCain's campaign is quickly moving to augment her staff and put in place an infrastructure that can address the unexpected wave of interest.

This team of aides and advisers is tasked with preparing Palin for media appearances, including her first on ABC later this week, her debate against Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden early next month, pushing back against near-daily accusations from liberal activists as well as inquiries from mainstream journalists. They are also offering the sort of support provided to any vice presidential pick.

Since McCain made his pick in the final days before announcing it to the public -- and since many aides were not told until the night before or morning of the rollout -- the campaign has been forced to hire and hastily put in place a cadre of staff to deal with the unprecedented onslaught of questions from reporters, requests from Republicans and viral Internet attacks from the left. And McCain's campaign is not done hiring staffers to respond to the Palin deluge. Even more will be brought on in the days ahead, say aides, to respond to the flood.

This new team of aides and advisers brings years of experience in Republican politics, and includes many who worked for President Bush in the White House and on his two campaigns. They will bring a similarly aggressive mindset as campaign chief Steve Schmidt, also a veteran of the disciplined Bush-Cheney effort. In this, they'll move to get off defense, a position Palin has been in since her unexpected announcement, and try to keep her on the offensive, using her to launch ever-more sharp attacks against Barack Obama and Biden--attacks that will present the challenge of responding without being labeled sexist."