The Latest on Air America

Barack Obama on David Letterman this Wednesday

thePoliticalCarnival — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 22:28:00 -0400

By GottaLaff

GObama!
Wednesday, September 10
Democratic Presidential Nominee Sen. Barack Obama I hope he doesn't forget to wear his Palin glasses.

VIDEO: Palin's Prayer Policy

thePoliticalCarnival — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 22:02:00 -0400

By GottaLaff

Part One:

Part Two:

Palin's Prophetic Declaration

"Pray for our military men and women who are striving to do what is right. Also, for this country, that our leaders, our national leaders, are sending [U.S. soldiers] out on a task that is from God," she exhorted the congregants. "That's what we have to make sure that we're praying for, that there is a plan and that that plan is God's plan."

Palin's Energy Policy? Pray.

Just prior to discussing Iraq, Alaska's governor asked the audience to pray for another matter -- a $30 billion national gas pipeline project that she wanted built in the state. "I think God's will has to be done in unifying people and companies to get that gas line built, so pray for that," she said.H/t: Chris

Ted Kennedy to return in January

thePoliticalCarnival — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 21:19:00 -0400

By GottaLaff

We hope so:
Sen. Edward Kennedy, who has brain cancer, will not be on Capitol Hill this week when Congress returns from its summer break. He intends to work from his Massachusetts home this fall and return to the Senate in January.

A Kennedy aide said Sunday that the Democratic lawmaker's doctors are pleased with his progress, but want him to keep working from home through the fall.The fact that they're even looking forward to a January return is encouraging.

GOP talking points on Ted Stevens

thePoliticalCarnival — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 21:03:00 -0400

By GottaLaff

Via Jed:

From the Anchorage Daily News, here are some of the talking points about Ted Stevens given to Alaska delegates at the GOP convention:

On Stevens being electable:

-- Ted Stevens is our guy.

-- He is the only person, except Governor Palin, who can beat Mark Begich in November.

-- As long as he does not receive jail time he is legally capable of serving.

Of course. Anyone who is anyone is following those very same talking points:
Sarah first looked at [my wife] said hello, and I shook her hand. I asked, "Are supporting Ted Stevens this year?" She replied, "He's under indictment you know...his trial is in September." I replied, "But are you voting for him?" She walked away without answering.I knew it all sounded too familiar.

College Republicans director resigns over racial post about Obama, the graphic sequel

thePoliticalCarnival — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 19:51:00 -0400

By GottaLaff

More information about this pathetic excuse for a college student:

Via:
Here are some of the statements made by Adam LaDuca, posted on his Facebook page (unavailable except to his friends), and his blog, where most have since been purged: From Facebook: Sunday, July 27, 2008 at 6:41pm
Obama and McCain, what a wonderful matchup for this November, right? Wrong. On the contrary, it features one man of honor and intellect, someone who doesn't care WHAT people think of him (that would be McCain) against a man with nothing more than a dumbass with a pair of lips so large he could float half of Cuba to the shores of Miami (and probably would.)

4:25pm on August 1st, 2008
I'm sure his penis is bigger than mine too? Want to discredit the biological fact that blacks have larger lips than a white boy like me, might as well discredit all of them! :) See, now watch. You will say I am discussing such obscene things (blah blah blah)...it's all in humor

August 1st, 2008
Biologially speaking, the larger set of lips can be traced to a few different areas. First of all, it is to be noted that not ALL blacks have larger lips than whites (just like there are some white who actually have quite large lips.)

So here goes: one is that poorer Africans generally have been found to breastfeed. The placement of the lips on the mother's breast creates a larger lip that separates from the gum more clearly than a white's.

Another thought is that, since thick lips are a dominant phenotype to thin lips and that this genetic trait is found more often in blacks/African Americans.

No-Talk Express: ABlog reader gets nowhere with McCain/Palin

thePoliticalCarnival — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 19:36:00 -0400

By GottaLaff

The author of the letter, Jim Corrales, snapped these photos

An AMERICABlog reader had a chance encounter at a McCain/Palin campaign photo-op in New Mexico. He tried to get some quick answers from John Sidney and Sarah Louise, but wouldn't you know it? They weren't as forthcoming as you'd expect for two people who promise change from those non-communicators in Washington. How mavericky of them.

A few excerpts:
McCain worked his way up to me and Cat and as I shook his hand, I asked, "Sir, I respect your service but, why were you against the GI bill?" Senator McCain, paused, he looked a bit surprised at the question and then he said, "Nice to meet you." I repeated the question and he repeated his non-answer. He quickly worked his way down the line. So much for straight-talk! [...]

Also, I was surprised at myself as I as I almost involuntarily prefaced my question with, "Sir, I respect your service but..." No wonder he's gotten a free ride by the press, I think this reaction is not unique and the press must feel the same pressure that I felt. Perhaps that explains why his poor support for veteran issues isn't well known. [...]

Sarah first looked at [my wife] said hello, and I shook her hand. I asked, "Are supporting Ted Stevens this year?" She replied, "He's under indictment you know...his trial is in September." I replied, "But are you voting for him?" She walked away without answering.

All we need to know about Sarah Louise Palin

thePoliticalCarnival — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 19:24:00 -0400

By GottaLaff

Josh Marshall sums up perfectly what we've been saying in posts and Comments for days:

Sarah Palin could be the President of the United States in four and a half months. We tend to think of this as an abstraction; but it's true. And yet today she's so unprepared and knows so little about the challenges and tasks facing the country that she can't even give a softball interview.

That's really all we need to know. Yes, she's off being prepped at some undisclosed location. And I've little doubt that by the time her debate rolls around she'll be sufficiently pumped full of slogans and bromides to make a show of it. But now, this moment, is the one that tells us all we need to know.

Bullseye.

College Republicans director resigns over racial post about Obama

thePoliticalCarnival — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 18:50:00 -0400

By GottaLaff

Will McCain/Palin denounce and renounce this?
A Kutztown University student who once begged fellow students to forgive the campus president of the College Republicans for making racially insensitive remarks has resigned as the head of the statewide GOP group after posting comments on Facebook about Barack Obama's lips.

Adam LaDuca, 21, of Allentown said he was only trying to spark debate among friends when he wrote on his Facebook page that the Democratic presidential candidate has ''a pair of lips so large he could float half of Cuba to the shores of Miami.''

He also called the late Martin Luther King Jr. a hypocrite.Now there's an educated university student if I ever saw one.
LaDuca, who is white, resigned last week as executive director of the Pennsylvania Federation of College Republicans after excerpts of his Facebook page were reposted on the PA Progressive blog, written by John Morgan, a Democratic committeeman in Berks County.So he resigned because he was caught. We see.
''We do not accept racism,'' said [the college group's state chairman, Anthony Pugliese], a senior at West Chester University. ''The Republican party at times gets a bad rap for condoning racism, and that's 100 percent false.''Let's give ol' LaDuca the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he was drunk. Maybe he didn't mean it. I'm sure he feels some sense of remorse:
After posting the comment about Obama's lips on his Facebook page July 27, LaDuca followed up on the page with the remark ''if sayin' someone has large lips is a racial slur, then we're ALL in trouble.''
Or not. Whaddya want to bet he says some of his best friends are black:
LaDuca admits the comments Morgan reposted were his, but denies that he is racist. He says economist Thomas Sowell, who is black, is one of his heroes.

September 7th, 2008: Kenny Laguna and Farron Cousins

David Fazekas — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 18:31:42 -0400

This week we'll be talking about the upcoming presidential elections, Obama, McCain and Palin, with musician, producer and activist Kenny Laguna; Farron Cousins; and you, call us at 866-710-6883.

WE HAVE YET ANOTHER CACOEPIST IN THE RANKS: THE DREADED METATHESIS STRIKES AGAIN

Lionel — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 18:30:44 -0400

That’s right, Sarah Louise Heath Palin pronounces nuclear as “nucular.”

Nearly 600,000 Subject to Possible Caging in Ohio

thePoliticalCarnival — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 18:27:00 -0400

By GottaLaff

Unsettling, to say the least:
Ohio election officials are sending out a mass mailer stamped “do not forward” to all registered voters today (Sept. 5) with an absentee ballot application and other important notices for Nov. 4.

What’s important here is not so much what’s going out as what’s being returned to sender.

Unbeknownst to the would-be recipients, the same mailer — just 60 days before the election — has the potential to determine their eligibility to vote, challenged not by election officials but by partisan opposition.

A similar mailer in March netted nondeliverable mail from almost 600,000 registered voters in just five Ohio counties who could now have their ballots thrown out for voting under the wrong address.

The National Voter Registration Act prohibits any state from purging names from the voting rolls within 90 days of an election.

The law doesn’t, however, preclude mass partisan challenges on or shortly before Election Day — known as voter caging — based on the same returned envelopes from state-sponsored mailers like the ones in Ohio and others going out across the country.

Sarah Louise Palin: Past history she probably won't tell Charles Gibson

thePoliticalCarnival — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 17:17:00 -0400

By GottaLaff

These excerpts are from a long, but enlightening piece about Sarah Louise Palin's rise from small town mayor to vice presidential candidate. I left out a lot of the details, but you should get the gist of it: When Palin ran for mayor in the fall of 1996, she was 32 years old and a four-year veteran of the City Council. Her opponent, John Stein, had been mayor for nine years. [...]

In Alaska, municipal elections are officially nonpartisan. State law tries to distance local government from the machinations of political parties.

A Palin campaign ad displayed the slogan, “Positively Sarah.” “Endorsed by the NRA,” it said. The ad encouraged people to vote for “Conservative, More Efficient Government,” and called Palin “ENERGETIC ... DETERMINED ... POSITIVE.”

The ad pictured Palin with four state lawmakers — all Republicans, pledging their support. More than 100 other supporters were also listed, including the owners of the Mug Shot Saloon and the Wasilla Bar, two taverns that stayed open until 4 or 5 a.m.

To Stein, the three-term mayor, this campaign had unusual overtones, raising issues that had no bearing on local government. He would marvel at how abortion became an issue — he was labeled pro-abortion — and how some people noted that his wife’s last name differed from his. He later noted how Palin’s backers included what he called the “Liquor Cabinet” and Wasilla’s religious conservatives.

Russia and Iran and military maneuvers, oh my!

thePoliticalCarnival — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 16:55:00 -0400

By GottaLaff

Oh. My:
Iran to launch series of military maneuvers Monday.I can already detect McCain's hands rubbing together with glee. With any luck, he'll be able to bring back the draft!
Three-day exercise to include examination of antiaircraft systems, aimed at upgrading army's combat preparedness, deterring US and Israeli from attacking Islamic Republic.
Iran will launch three-day military maneuvers on Monday, which will include the examination of antiaircraft systems, the Iranian Students' News Agency reported Sunday.

According to the report, Iran's regular force and the country's Revolutionary Guards will take part in the exercise. No additional details on the nature of the drill were available.

According to the Tehran-based English-language newspaper Iran Daily, the maneuvers are aimed at "maintaining and upgrading combat preparedness of the relevant units, introducing innovation and capabilities of aircraft defense experts and test new weapons and defense plans." [...]

Monday's exercise is apparently aimed at deterring the United States and Israel from launching a possible attack on Iran's nuclear facilities. Western countries fear that Moscow will provide Tehran with advance Russian S-300 missile system should the US work to include Georgia and Ukraine in NATO.

Bill and Barack have a lunch date

thePoliticalCarnival — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 16:42:00 -0400

By GottaLaff

Gee, I hope they hit it off. They make such a perfect peach of a pair:
Former President Bill Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama will have a private lunch together in New York City on the anniversary of Sept. 11, according to Clinton Foundation spokesman Matt McKenna.

McKenna says Clinton knew Obama would be coming to town to recognize the anniversary with a joint appearance with Sen. John McCain scheduled at Ground Zero. Clinton invited the Democratic candidate to lunch.

Although Clinton has said he will campaign on behalf of Obama, there are no campaign events or public appearances scheduled for the two men as yet.

You two kids behave yourselves! Curfew's at 4 pm sharp!

Update on Sarah Louise Palin's Big Interview

thePoliticalCarnival — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 15:50:00 -0400

By GottaLaff

Newsflash! Breaking! Stop the presses! A vice presidential candidate is going to... speak to the press!
UPDATE.: CNN Correspondent Dana Bash has confirmed additional details about the upcoming interview: According to a McCain aide, the plan is for Gibson to have time with Palin over two days — Thursday and Friday of this coming week. The interview will be part sit-down, part walk-and-talk at various locations in Alaska.Awww, it's like one of those Barbara Walters interviews with Julia Roberts. A pleasant stroll among trees and rivers, laughing, frolicking, reminiscing about AIP days gone by, sharing barbed quips, Sarah Lou teaching Charlie how to shoot a moose, playing What Shade of Lipstick Am I Wearing games, gazing deeply into each other's eyes...

Remember when Joe Biden did that? You don't? There was a good reason. He was professional and had enough common sense, experience, and confidence to appear on Meet the Press without having to be prepped and coddled first.

Stay tuned for more breaking news: Sarah Louise Palin answeres real questions!