Clipmarks | masbury's 'obama' clips

McCain: Obama's not an Arab - he's decent!

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 04:34:21 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: You can bet that will be heard around the world. Making peace with Arab nations just became harder. On the other hand, Arab-American voters (in the millions, and in swing states) just moved out of "undecided."

Clip Source: www.juancole.com

The McCain attempt to connect race and terror

in his advertising, while projecting an image of taking the high road

crashed and burned on Friday when he did not notice he was engaging in racist hate speech:

another supporter told McCain, "I don't trust Obama...He's an Arab."

"No, ma'am," he said. "He's a decent, family man, a citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with." '

Arab is a linguistic identity whereas Muslim is a religious one. Not all Arabs are Muslims

only a minority of Muslims is Arab

Worse than the lady's confusion between Arab and Muslim were her further obvious confusion between Muslim and dangerous.

Mr. McCain, Arab-Americans and Muslim-Americans are decent, family-oriented citizens. The only thing wrong with calling Obama by either of these modifiers is that it would be incorrect. He is not an Arab ethnically, but rather northern European and Luo (Nilotic). He is not a Muslim but a Christian

As with his self-professed "hatred" of "gooks," McCain's

attitude

troubling

[Video]

Tags: mccain, arab

Obama under fire for playing T-ball during Vietnam

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 00:02:25 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Who IS Barack Obama? What T-ball players did he pal around with?

Clip Source: www.theonion.com

Obama Under Fire For Playing T-Ball During Vietnam

WASHINGTON—At a press conference on Monday, members of the Vietnam Veterans Alliance blasted Democratic nominee Barack Obama for his failure to serve in the Southeast Asian war that ended 33 years ago, alleging that during the conflict the candidate frequently engaged in games of T-ball. "While our boys were dying in Vietnam, Barack Obama was running around a little league field, laughing and having fun without a care in the world," VVA spokesman James Lowry said. "John McCain left his wife and three children behind and fought bravely, but I guess Sen. Obama decided that practicing cursive and learning how to ride a bike was just more important than defending his country in her hour of need. I bet he wasn't even able to point out Vietnam on a map." Lowry later speculated that if Obama had been sent over to fight in the conflict, he probably would have peed his pants and cried for his mommy as soon as he touched down in Saigon.

Tags: humor, onion, obama

Sen McCain changes strategy again [timeline]

Sun, 12 Oct 2008 22:29:24 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Times of London: recent lurches "have given
the appearance of being desperate, in disarray, or even dangerous."

Clip Source: www.timesonline.co.uk

Twists and turns

— June 4, 2008 Calls for ten town hall meetings with Obama to embrace “the politics of civility”; repeatedly contrasts his “experience and judgment” with Obama's youth

— July 30 Launches advertising campaign portraying Obama as “the biggest celebrity in the world”

— August 29 Picks the inexperienced Sarah Palin as his running mate

— September 24 Announces suspension of campaign and calls for cancellation of first debate so he can return to Washington to resolve financial crisis

— September 26 Leaves Washington, resumes campaign and goes to debate

— October 6 Begins aggresssive attacks on Obama over his links with Bill Ayers, a former terrorist

— October 10 Denounces attacks on Obama's character and calls his rival “a decent family man”

McCain is signalling another abrupt change of course for

the campaign

his haphazard response to the financial crisis and faltering attacks on Barack Obama's character have given

the appearance of being desperate, in disarray, or even dangerous.

Tags: mccain, campaign

Sinister hums; washed-out colors; It's a McCain ad

Sun, 12 Oct 2008 22:04:34 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Designed to stir up anti-Obama emotions, rather than thought, they supply little information and lots of horror-flick effects.

Clip Source: www.fivethirtyeight.com

take a look at "Dangerous" -- the most recent spot put together by the McCain campaign:

This is a much darker ad. The viewer is caught in a matrix-like web of television screens. The colors are washed out. There a sinister (although barely audible) low-pitched hum in the background. The female narrator is humorless, scolding.

It is an ad, in short, designed to engage the viewer on an emotional rather than intellectual level, to play to the subconscious mind.

the tagline -- "Who is Barack Obama?"

What, precisely, is that supposed to mean? Shouldn't the ad be telling us who Barack Obama is, rather than asking our imaginations to run wild?

the McCain campaign's ads are routinely among the most bizarre that I have ever seen, appearing to originate from a sort of parallel universe in which cartoonish Obama heads float disembodied before sepia-toned backgrounds

the line between imagination and reality is blurred

I find them exceptionally disturbing

surely the reaction they are meant to evoke

[Video]

Tags: mccain, ads

Long-shot races closing the gap as Repubs slip

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 18:38:08 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Surprises in WV GA, KY:
West Virginia - the 2nd closest race in the nation, McCain up only 1.1 points!
Kentucky: incumbent Senate Repub Leader Mitch McConnell now has less than 50% of the vote
Georgia: Repub Saxby Chambliss up by less than two

Clip Source: sage

the data above suggest continued progress for the Obama-Biden ticket following Tuesday night's debate.

Meanwhile, things have shifted a bit in races for the Senate. A series of new surveys released over the last few days confirm a significant narrowing in Georgia, which we now classify as a toss-up. Republican Saxby Chambliss now leads Democratic challenger Jim Martin on our trend estimate by less than two percentage points (45.3% to 43.5%).

And in Kentucky, internal polls released by both campaigns disagree on the margin, but agree that incumbent Republican Mitch McConnell is winning less than 50% of the vote (48% on the poll from the Democrats, 47% on the poll by Republicans). Our trend estimate still gives McConnell enough of a lead (48.2% to 42.6%) to rate "lean" Republican status.

Tags: wv, polls, kentucky, georgia

Another "Pants on Fire" for McCain

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 02:32:02 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: For claiming Obama wants to increase size of government by 23%

Clip Source: www.politifact.com

Obama wants to increase the size of government by 23 percent.

John McCain on Wednesday, August 20th, 2008 in a radio ad called "Millions" >>Details

Tags: mccain, lies, obama

NRA earns "Pants on Fire" Award

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 02:29:05 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: For lying about Obama and guns in a direct-mail piece

Clip Source: www.politifact.com

"Obama's Ten Point Plan to 'Change' the Second Amendment…Ban use of firearms for home defense."

National Rifle Association on Friday, August 1st, 2008 in direct mail piece >>Details

Tags: nra, lies

Politifact: McCain's "pants on fire" about Ayers

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 02:21:59 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: "Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire" award won by McCain

Clip Source: www.politifact.com

John McCain

"(Bill) Ayers and Obama ran a radical education foundation together."

Not a radical group, and Ayers didn't run it

Barack Obama

Tags: mccain, ayers, obama, lies

Factcheck: No lie from Obama about Ayers

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 02:01:13 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: "McCain cranks out some false and misleading attacks" "Never very close," Foundation included prominent Republicans who support McCain, group's work "mainstream."
Detailed documentation at link.

Clip Source: www.factcheck.org

"He Lied" About Bill Ayers?

McCain cranks out some false and misleading attacks on Obama's connection to a 1960s radical.

In a TV ad, McCain says Obama "lied" about his association with William Ayers, a former bomb-setting, anti-war radical from the 1960s and '70s. We find McCain's claim to be groundless. New details have recently come to light, but nothing Obama said previously has been shown to be false.

so far as is known, their relationship was never very close

McCain says

the two "ran a radical 'education' foundation" in Chicago. But the supposedly "radical" group was supported by a Republican governor and included on its board

one former Nixon administration official who has given $1,500 to McCain's campaign

Education Week says the group's work "reflected mainstream thinking" among school reformers

The group was the Chicago Annenberg Challenge

established by the publisher Walter Annenberg, a prominent Republican whose widow, Leonore, is a contributor to the McCain campaign

Tags: ayers, obama

NYT: McCain airs "paint-peeling" anti-Obama ad

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 20:13:39 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: "calls Mr. Obama a liar, blames liberal Democrats for the sub-prime mortgage crisis, and, in giving them a traditionally Republican label, blames them for pushing 'deregulation.'"
Now check out the "evidence" - partially included in the clip - cited in the ad's print. Knock yourself out, Big John - America is smarter than this.

Clip Source: thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com

In his increasingly slashing campaign against Senator Barack Obama, Senator John McCain this morning released a paint-peeling advertisement

calls Mr. Obama a liar, blames liberal Democrats for the sub-prime mortgage crisis, and, in giving them a traditionally Republican label, blames them for pushing “deregulation

as evidence that “he lied,’

Obama’s

“This is a guy who lives in my neighborhood

who I know and who I have not received some official endorsement from. He’s not somebody who I exchange ideas from on a regular basis.”

In making its case that the liberals caused the housing crisis

the advertising back-up cites a quote

“Subprime lending started off as a good idea - helping Americans buy homes who couldn’t previously afford to.”

What the campaign left out was the rest of the speech, in which Mr. Obama in fact called for greater regulation of the mortgage industry

Tags: mccain, lies, smears, obama

"91% probability" of Obama win

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 17:36:02 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: After 10,000 simulations: 348 electoral votes. That, friends, would be a very big win. (I believe 270 are needed to win). Thanks, dulios, for the tip!

Clip Source: www.fivethirtyeight.com

Tags: polls, election, politics, electoral votes

Country First? Really?

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 04:41:58 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: "Will the disgraceful and desperate attacks hurt Obama? Maybe, maybe not. But one thing is clear: they will hurt our country."

Clip Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

Nothing has proven the utter hollowness of John McCain's "Country First" slogan than Sarah Palin's vile behavior the past few days.

We all know by now that her low-blow, guilt-by-association stump speeches, in part claiming that Obama is "palling around with terrorists" -- called "unsubstantiated," and "racially-tinged" by the Associated Press and "appalling" and "the dark territory of race-baiting and xenophobia" by the New York Times -- are part of a negative attack strategy announced publically by senior Republican operatives on Saturday.

Will the disgraceful and desperate attacks hurt Obama? Maybe, maybe not. But one thing is clear: they will hurt our country.

Barack Obama will most likely be the next President

How is President Obama supposed to lead our country through two wars and the worst economic disaster since the Great Depression when candidates have spent a month trying

through ugly innuendo

to convince

the population that he's an evil, black Muslim terrorist who hates America?

Tags: country first, mccain, obama, palin

Palin revives McCarthyism

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 22:39:56 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: "Today, with Fox News, talk radio and a right-wing blogsphere, there is an atmosphere and core of support for this type of thing. Sarah Palin seems like the missing link"

Clip Source: sage

Like Obama, Sarah Palin missed the 60s and the Vietnam war controversies. She grew up when there was no draft, and when disco was more important than politics. She is discovering now her abilities to engage in the type of character assaults that one associates with Joe McCarthy -- guilt by association. Like McCarthy, she has no real boundaries or shame.

McCarthy and McCarthyism were distant and discredited by the Vietnam era, but support for both never disappeared entirely. There were always elements in society that wanted to bring this back. But few people with stature had the stomach to do so. Today, with Fox News, talk radio and a right-wing blogsphere, there is an atmosphere and core of support for this type of thing. Sarah Palin seems like the missing link. A high level political figure that has been elevated to a Vice-Presidential nomination by one of the two main parties -- McCarthy's old party.

Tags: palin, mccarthyism

Biden: Look him in the eye and say it, John

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 22:15:37 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Or does he want Palin to carry all the water so he stays dry?

Clip Source: sage

"All of the things they said about Barack Obama in the TV, on the TV, at their rallies, and now on Youtube and everything else," Biden said — referring to McCain and Palin tying Obama to Weatherman bomber Bill Ayers and accusing him of "palling around with terrorists."

"John McCain could not bring himself to look Barack Obama in the eye and say the same things to him," he said to cheers. "In my neighborhood, you got something to say to a guy, you look him in the eye and you say it to him."

Tags: biden, mccain

Vilsack: Why doesn't McCain just ask about Ayers?

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 22:11:11 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: He could turn to him in a debate and ask for the facts. He won't do it.

Clip Source: talkingpointsmemo.com

[Video]

Tags: ayers, mccain, obama