Great Comment on Palin

I love this from Josh Marshall:

MEDITATION FOR THE DAY

John McCain and his shrewd judge of character.

I also love how Sarah (Worthless) Palin referred to the troops, how they never give up, as she was quitting her job.

By the way, was she using a teleprompter?

And a second "by the way," nice vetting, Senator McCain! LOL!

Six Months or Last Minute

This blog post raises an excellent point regarding McCain's vetting process for a vice presidential running mate.

John McCain clinched his party's nomination all the way back on March 4. He's had six months to carefully select and vet a running mate, and what did he do? He waited until the absolute last moment - until Obama made his move - and then acted in a purely reactionary fashion. He made his selection rashly, on a whim.

The man had six months to get the job done. And he waited until the absolute last minute to throw something together.

The blog post quoted was written by someone called "EarlG." EarlG states the case perfectly: McCain "made his selection rashly, on a whim."

John McCain has very bad judgment and is not fit to be President of the United States.

Gitmo: Nice Play to Live

Senility Alert #7452:

During a question-and-answer session with Walter Isaacson today, Sen. John McCain said Guantanamo Bay is “one of the nicest places in the world to live in.”

Let's see, a detention camp, barbed wire, a little cell, no way out... Yes, that sounds most pleasant.

Horray for Mike Myers!

McCain featured Dana Carvey and Mike Myers in a scene from Wayne's World ("We're not worthy") in one of his scurvy ads.

Myers' people called and threatened McCain with legal action unless they took it down. They did, and released an edited version.

What really is wrong with this twerp, McCain? Can't he be a serious candidate, and let us know his serious plans for the country? What positive reason would anyone have to vote for him? He's simply worthless in every way.

Horray for Mike Myers! Except if I have the bucks these guys have, I don't threaten, know what I mean?

McCain AWOL Since April, Wants Congress to "Work"

Let's see, if you're a senator who hasn't been at your job in Congress literally since last April, and it's now August, maybe you're the last guy who should be insisting that Congress get back to work!

The Next Cheney

The Democratic party is getting ready for John McCain's veep pick. There's a website in advance of the announcement, called "The Next Cheney."

Included there is a rogue's gallery of some of the possibilities. Whether any of them would ever live down to Dick Cheney's abysmal standards, I hope we never have to find out. It's a scary prospect, though, something best left to stories told around the bonfire at Halloween.

And speaking of Halloween, there's an interesting quote over there that really just about puts the last nail in the coffin of whatever was left alive of McCain's judgment. "With a little more luck, I might have been able to ask you to be my Vice-President." — John McCain to Dick Cheney, 10/23/01.

Please join me in a horrified cry: "God forbid that John McCain ever becomes president!"

Is This Old Dweeb Even Trying?

Hey, I know what it is to have trouble with short term memory. The other day I fed my cats, got distracted and did it wrong. We have their dry food in a plastic container. But I somehow put the plastic container itself where their food goes and the food wasn't there for them to eat. I quickly caught the error before the cats starved, thank goodness.

But even I wouldn't forget having used the word "timetable" just the day before if I happened to be a candidate for President of the United States and that was a particularly big issue, as it is this year. I want to be gracious and not call McCain a liar (at this minute anyway). So what is the problem? Just confused? Or something worse? An old man with no memory?

McCain Tackled on Football Story

It's nice to see this guy get busted on something...

Here's McCain, traveling around, telling the same story about his POW days, and substituting whatever the local football team happens to be for the benefit he can get by buttering up the local folks.

Here's one story on all this phoniness. McCain's telling a moving story about his time as a POW: "When I was first interrogated and really had to give some information because of the pressures, physical pressures on me, I named the starting lineup, defensive line of the Pittsburgh Steelers as my squadron mates." (My emphasis.) OK, that's definite, the Pittsburgh Steelers. That would be in Pennsylvania, as I understand it, not Wisconsin. A team that is called the Steelers, if my ability to see is working, and not the Packers of Green Bay. One starts with an S and the other with a P. There would appear to be no confusing the various distinctions here.

But wait, what is this? McCain is recycling a story already published in a book? Maybe a book like J. Peterman's, with some great stories he bought from Kramer? And in his book, he's recounting the story of his interrogators in Vietnam: "Pressed for more useful information, I gave the names of the Green Bay Packers offensive line, and said they were members of my squadron." (My emphasis.) Is this sinking in? The Green Bay Packers offensive line, not the Pittsburgh Steelers defensive line. Two teams, two different lines, one with an O and one best represented with a D and a Fence.

Ha ha ha.

ABC News now has an update, as McCain has slithered out of whatever hole he lives in to correct the record: "And the McCain campaign just told ABC News that the senator made a mistake -- it was, indeed, the Packers." The senator made a mistake. Writing over there, Jake Tapper says, "McCain's valor as a P.O.W. is beyond admirable, but this business of substituting the Steelers for the Packers is odd, though as I said, the McCain campaign says this was an honest mistake."

Honest mistake, that's funny. Too bad the media didn't bend over backwards for Kerry like this!

It's obvious that he figured he could go to various towns and just substitute whatever team in the story. If this would have gone unchecked, there's no doubt he would've soon been here locally, praising every team, even our local junior varsity team, saying back in Vietnam when interrogated he claimed their members as his "squadron." "Yes, as I recall, there was little Jimmy Smith at tackle, Bobby Hagen the kicker, and Craig Swartz quarterback. And Mr. Anderson from the locker was their coach. That was a big year. I believe they scored that year, an accidental safety."

McCain Wants to Kill Iranians -- He's Joking

I'm interested in humor, as in those times when you're "joking" and you say what you really mean to say. In this case -- with John McCain -- someone mentions cigarettes and Iranians and his first thought is "Maybe this is a way of killing them." It sounds like what he actually would like to do.

Lay Off The Nigerians!

In the article about John McCain still hating the "gooks" of Vietnam, even 40 years later, there's this question by someone: "If Sen. McCain had been captured by Nigerians, could he call those people 'niggers' and think he wasn't going to offend everyone who is black?" That question is asked by Guy Aoki, president of the Media Action Network for Asian Americans, an anti-defamation group.

To which I say, hey, Mr. Aoki, lay off the Nigerians. The Nigerians have been very very good to me. In fact just the other day a wealthy chieftain died, leaving his fortune to someone who happened to have my email address. Even now we're in communications -- the Nigerian beneficiary, myself, and my bank -- to forward a sizable handling fee overseas so that I can receive some of the inheritance, a pretty hefty payoff, I might add. It's in the high seven figures, meaning millions.

Does McCain Have Issues?

McCain is still calling the North Vietnamese "gooks"?

"I hate the gooks," McCain said. "I will hate them as long as I live."

The article I linked to says "gook" was first used in 1899 by American soldiers fighting Filipino insurgents. In the Korean War, it was aimed at Koreans and Chinese. Then against the Vietnamese during the Vietnam War. Now it's seen as a slur toward any Asian or Pacific Islander.

McCain was tortured in Vietnam.

Now, 40 years later, he still hates "gooks." Which might bring up the question of what people around the world think of America when we torture others. But, hey, forgive me for bringing up the obvious.

Crazy Grandpa McCain Sees Conspiracy

Put away the blunderbuss, ma, Grandpa's on the warpath!

Of course we're referring to everyone's crazy Grandpa this year, John McCain. You know, he served in the military. Of course you know. There's no family mealtime that can go by without Grandpa McCain boring us kids with all his escapades. He fought the Vietnamese single-handed. He personally killed Hitler. He was there at Versailles. And he not only shot the first shot in the Civil War but the last one!

Ma looks over at us kids and gives us a dirty look. That means we sit up extra straight and look at Grandpa McCain while he's talking. But even he has his limits, and eventually he can tell we're not that into it. We want to go out to play, and he says, "Oh, go on, get out of here, you little rascals!" He fought the war for the likes of us, and this is the thanks he gets. We don't want to hear about carpet bombing villages while we're trying to eat. I can look down at my mashed potatoes and gravy and see a little lake, even an ocean, and I can see Grandpa going down, his plane demolished, him climbing up the hill, standing there at the top -- it's mashed potatoes, go on, eat them!

But now he's out on the campaign trail. And he's seeing the enemy everywhere. Nothing gets by his eagle eye. Whether it's Barack Obama, Jim Webb, Wesley Clark -- whether they served or not, they're all a bunch of scoundrels -- scalawags, like us kids. That darned eagle eye of his, you can't get away. He'll call you on it! It's all he wants to talk about.

I remember some other family warriors. My uncles -- you couldn't get them to talk about the war. Hardly. They'd rather just let it go. They didn't have much to say. That's probably the way it should be. But this is everything there is to Grandpa's life.

John McCain Didn't Love America

The Daily Snipe

Does it seem that the McCain campaign is doing nothing but sniping at every little thing? Each day when we get the news, it consists of the same thing: Obama has done or said something, and McCain criticizes it, whatever it is.

Whether it's how he finances his campaign, who his advisers are, what he says about terrorism, what he has for lunch -- it's something for McCain to gripe about, whine about, and to act offended over.

As for financing Obama's campaign, McCain's gripe is that Obama made some sort of 'solemn pledge' to tie one hand behind his back. The 'solemn pledge,' of course, was no such thing, and whatever it really was, it was all contingent on negotiations and certain understandings. But throughout the campaign thus far, McCain has mucked around with his financing to the point that whatever integrity it may have started out with (may have started out with), it's long gone, evaporated, floated away...McCain is simply trying to force parity in the money they have to spend. It's transparent and pathetic.

So McCain has to try to score points by acting offended, acting the aggrieved party to a 'solemn pledge,' i.e., just posturing and lying. (Haven't we had enough of liars for the last eight years? I know I have.)

The truth is Obama is going to get more contributions than McCain. But it's a lot of smaller contributions, which as far as I can tell is public financing. Duh.

I can't stand McCain -- that ought to be obvious. But he would be a lot more tolerable if he were running a positive campaign. Stick to the issues and quit the daily carping, the daily sniping.

John and The Amazing Monochromatic Backdrop

As someone who studies and consults on the psychological effects of color for a living -- I consult for big bucks; you know the color of the sky, blue? That was me -- I found the image of John McCain's pale white head against the solid green background last night very nice, very nice indeed.

There's something about the color green that is suggestive. Obviously, we use it as a color suggesting the environment. Some places of course it wouldn't literally pertain, but that's beside the point. Also, green is the color of our money. You can look at the graphic there and if you were to squint at it and picture it a little larger horizontally, you can see John McCain's suggestion. That he's like other great presidents. A presidential head in the center of money. It's a very prosperous color in that regard. Seriously, draw an oval around him, and you've got a rival for Franklin on the hundred.

Now, since the speech, some have made light of the setting. You've got Barack Obama (booo!!!) surrounded by a sea of admiring supporters, full of life, bouncing to the beat, buoyed by their glad spirits, a sea of color in amazing liveliness. Color, all the colors in a rich, glad harmony, a happy profusion that really was kaleidoscopic, memorable, exciting. And not just the people -- blacks, whites, browns, young, old, Orientals -- but their signs, and clothing, all bobbing and waving with high energy, and all the breathtaking flashiness you can imagine. Clearly disgusting. And then you have John McCain (yaaay!!), much more humble than Obama, a man who decided on a color (green) and stuck with it, not trying to be flashy, not trying to show off his supporters, several scattered out in a small hall. Because McCain knows where the focus needs to be, on the man himself running for office. The crowd is anonymous, and should not be part of the equation. No one's voting for them.

Seriously, I was enthusiastic for McCain's presentation, but I had one beef. My biggest criticism is the way McCain was framed during the speech, that they didn't have a tight enough shot of his head. The green was good, but it should have been just at the edges, with his face filling up most of the screen. People like a president who's close, very close to them. But we need to find the positives with what we have. He filled up the screen adequately, he managed a brave smile when it seemed appropriate, his thin, remaining white hair appeared to be nicely in place. He went along with the flow, a comfortable, meandering flow.

If I were consulting for the McCain campaign, I'd counsel them to get rid of the crowd all together. Too distracting! With silence, the viewing audience can concentrate more on the content. Keep the single green background -- that's good -- but go in for a very tight shot on his head. Have him pause longer between sentences. It would make the tone seem more serious, which you want in a president. As for the smiles, what he's doing is good. But one suggestion: try for harmony. Such as look left, smile. Speak three sentences. Look right, smile. A pattern like that will keep the audience at home engaged and pleased. He says "my friends" a lot. That's also good. But have him add adjectives to spice it up, such as "my dearest friends," "my treasured friends," and "best friends forever."

As far as further analysis of the color, hmm, what more can I say? Yes, I'm a consultant, but what else is there? I think I mentioned it was green. Let's see, checklist here, green with some white print, white hair, pale skin, and some darkness in his suit. All looks real good, very good.

The Rise and Fall of the Third Term

John McCain Still Young

This year the Democrats have been making "hay" out of John McCain's age. Without exception, they have been saying that he is too old, that he should be younger.

To their objection we chime in: A man has no say-so over when he is born. This is a matter rightly left up to his parents. From time immemorial it has ever been such, and, despite political caviling, we feel that we can state with confidence and clarity it shall ever be!

We wish to state our own opinion today, that there is nothing wrong with John McCain's age. We declare, also with confidence, that he can still be a fine president -- a great president -- no matter when he was born. And history proves our case.

I believe we can all agree on this one fact, that John McCain was born in 1936. In our everyday way of thinking, that's quite a ways back. The car had been invented by then but not much else.

1936! They say, "How in the world can anyone serve as president who was born in 1936?" I've heard it over and over, and as one who is sick and tired of hearing it, I feel I can speak for others who would say they also are sick and tired of hearing it.

Let's turn to the book. What does history teach us? Our first president, George Washington, was born in 1732¹. Our second president, John Adams, was born in 1735². In fact, the first twelve presidents were all born in the 1700s³. Right on the face of it you can see that if they were all born that long ago, there should be no problem with McCain's relatively recent birth year of 1936.

There have been numerous great presidents. Our history is a proud one, whether it has been a time of peace and plenty or of war and bloodshed. Troubles have at time run rampant over our land and the world, but it was at those times that presidents have stood the test and have brought us through. But were they not "too old" to get the job done? Not at all. Abraham Lincoln, one of our better-known presidents, was born in 1809⁴. He wasn't too old, was he?

Lincoln was preceded by Fillmore and Pierce, both born in the 1800s⁵, and they were followed by numerous others, including two born in the same year, Grant and Hayes in 1822⁶. (This coincidence was apparently not a problem.) So, being born in the 1800s was not an automatic disqualifier back then and it should not be now.

When we come to the 20th century, we might assume that every "modern" president was born in the 1900s. But that would be an assumption that should not make rashly, for the very simple reason that it would be wrong. In fact, several of our presidents in the 20th century were also born in the 1800s⁷. These include Theodore Roosevelt, born as far back as 1858⁸! The great Democratic president who led us in World War II, Franklin D. Roosevelt himself, was born in the 1800s, in 1882⁹. To us, that is aged, and factoring in his handicap, he had some strikes against him. But FDR declared his generation the Greatest Generation, then set out to prove it so.

That brings us to the 1900s. We had presidents born in the 1900s starting with John F. Kennedy. He was born in 1917¹⁰. Ronald Reagan in 1911¹¹. Up through President George H.W. Bush (1924¹²), all of our presidents were born before John McCain.

The case has been made. The facts have been gleaned, sorted through, and presented. The year a man was born has never been a disqualifier for the highest office in the land, and it should not be now. John McCain, born as we said in 1936, could still make an excellent president. We say this based primarily on his merits, a matter of opinion. But we say it also based on the inarguable principle of precedent. Others -- many others -- born earlier than John McCain -- have served as president with great distinction. Now -- today -- this is no time to declare it otherwise.

¹ Borgna Brunner, editor-in chief, Time Almanac 2004, Needham, MA, 2003, p. 112.
² Ibid.
³ Ibid.
⁴ Ibid.
⁵ Ibid.
⁶ Ibid.
⁷ Ibid.
⁸ Ibid.
⁹ Ibid.
¹⁰ Ibid.
¹¹ Ibid.
¹² Ibid.