Epic Stock Footage Fail

Remember that giant mansion looking place behind McSame's speech last night? It wasn't a mansion. It was Walter Reed. No, not Walter Reed Army Medical Hospital, Walter Reed MIDDLE SCHOOL.

A lot of people were asking tonight: what the hell was that mansion up behind John McCain tonight during the first part of the speech? As I noted below, the TV close-ups only showed McCain's head against the grass in the picture, which made it look like he was reprising his famed green screen performance. And when they panned out, it looked like McCain was showing off one of his mansions.

Well, several readers have written in to tell me that the building is actually the main building on the campus of the Walter Reed Middle School in North Hollywood, California. And sure enough, this page on the school's website makes it pretty clear that they're correct.

You can compare below ...

So it's not a mansion, but a middle school. But that still doesn't answer the question of why they picked this picture to have him standing in front of -- when I would imagine that 99.9% of the US population would have no idea what they were looking at.

(ed.note: Thanks to TPM Readers JR and EK for cluing us in.)

Late Update: I'm surprised this hadn't occurred to me. But several readers have suggested that perhaps one of the tech geeks charged with setting up the audio/visual bells and whistles for the evening was tasked with getting pictures of Walter Reed Army Medical Center but goofed and got this instead. At first I thought, No, that's ridiculous. This is a major political party with big time professionals putting this together. Nothing is left to chance. I mean, is this the RNC or a scene out Spinal Tap or Waiting for Guffman? I still have a bit of a hard time believing they're quite that incompetent. But when you figure in what appears to be the utter lack of any logic for this school being behind McCain and the fact that it has 'Walter Reed' in its name, I'm really not sure you can discount this possibility.

(ed.note: Special bonus snark: That's not stock photo keyword searching we can believe in.)

In other words, that photo used as propaganda for McSame's speech last night was THE WRONG WALTER REED BUILDING. Walter Reed Middle School officials were not happy.

Okay, the McCain-Walter Reed Middle School backdrop debacle is getting weirder by the second. Now the principal of the school is hammering McCain for using footage of the school during his convention speech without seeking the school's permission.

Here's the statement from Donna Tobin, the principal...

"It has been brought to the school's attention that a picture of the front of our school, Walter Reed Middle School, was used as a backdrop at the Republican National Convention. Permission to use the front of our school for the Republican National Convention was not given by our school nor is the use of our school's picture an endorsement of any political party or view."

One other interesting development: The California Democratic Party is actually holding a press conference in front of the school within minutes, where Dems will hit McCain for not knowing the difference between the school and Walter Reed Medical Center, which is believed to be the backdrop the McCain campaign really wanted.

Oh yes kids, this is EPIC FAIL. If this isn't symbolic of how the GOP is a bunch of political hacks that aren't even competent enough to get their own political hackery right, I dunno what is. It's totally appropriate symbology for the idiocy from the top the GOP has brought us, and is such a really lame ass failure I don't know where to begin.

Honestly, we have the McSame people obviously trying to use the Walter Reed Medical Center, where injured war veterans like McSame himself received such dismal coverage that Walter Reed itself became the symbol of the broken medical health care system that McSame's Republicans provided for our supposedly honored warriors, and they compounded the sin of using that symbol to represent McSame's OWN efforts to capitalize on his war injuries for the thousandth time by not even getting the damn picture correct.

If I am a veteran, I am steaming fucking mad at McSame for this. There is dishonor on top of dishonor on top of dishonor here for a man who has exploited his tragic story for political gain for the last 30 years. The very thought of Walter Reed -- and what the Republican Party did to our military forces, burdening them with two wars so that Walter Reed failed our men and women in uniform and their families after they fought and were maimed and crippled and injured for assholes like George W Bush -- should be enough to drive any military veteran straight to the boiling point.

This is such a perfect example of the GOP in 2008 that it's actually quite sad and bile-inducingly maddening at the same time.

Our country deserves better than these morons.

EPIC. FAIL.

More Important Issues

This article from the Jerusalem Post is gaining rapid attention, and for good reason.

The Dutch intelligence service, the AIVD, has called off an operation aimed at infiltrating and sabotaging Iran's weapons industry due to an assessment that a US attack on the Islamic Republic's nuclear program is imminent, according to a report in the country's De Telegraaf newspaper on Friday.

The report claimed that the Dutch operation had been "extremely successful," and had been stopped because the US military was planning to hit targets that were "connected with the Dutch espionage action."

The impending air-strike on Iran was to be carried out by unmanned aircraft "within weeks," the report claimed, quoting "well placed" sources.

The Jerusalem Post could not confirm the De Telegraaf report.

According to the report, information gleaned from the AIVD's operation in Iran has provided several of the targets that are to be attacked in the strike, including "parts for missiles and launching equipment."

"Information from the AIVD operation has been shared in recent years with the CIA," the report said.

On Saturday, Iran's Deputy Chief of Staff General Masoud Jazayeri warned that should the United States or Israel attack Iran, it would be the start of another World War.

On Friday, Ma'ariv reported that Israel had made a strategic decision to deny Iran military nuclear capability and would not hesitate "to take whatever means necessary" to prevent Teheran from achieving its nuclear goals.

According to the report, whether the United States and Western countries succeed in thwarting the Islamic Republic's nuclear ambitions diplomatically, through sanctions, or whether a US strike on Iran is eventually decided upon, Jerusalem has begun preparing for a separate, independent military strike.

Now, this could very well be more Israeli bluster, or it could be the ultimate October Surprise. But with both Obama and McSame kissing AIPAC's ass and promising to "protect and preserve Israel" (show me where in the Constitution that is) the fact of the matter remains Israel attacking Iran is the wild card that could thrust America into yet another shooting war...or a nuclear one.

The Other Side: We Deserve Better Than Obama

As an African-American, I do have one major issue with Barack Obama. He's a great orator and intelligent. He's a good politician. He's a great motivator. But...his record is weak.

There's a theory out there among us that goes something like this: "We really do deserve better than him as far as America's first black president, let's be honest." He's not Jackie Robinson, or the Tuskeegee Airmen, or anything along the caliber of great black history-makers who had to be better than anyone else regardless of race at what they did so that there was no doubt about their bona fides to be first.

Obama does not fall into that category, is the analysis. Not by a long shot. He's middling at best. Now, he might very well be a great President. But there's going to be a pretty large segment of the population that will assume that he's the ultimate endpoint of affirmative action in this country. "If Obama were white, he wouldn't be running for President, he'd be an unknown state senator at best."

It doesn't matter if it's true, but America will believe that about him anyway. They won't vote for him, the theory goes. They'll Bradley Effect him at the polls, he'll lose in a landslide to a hack like McSame, and because he wasn't The Best, he will have set blacks in politics back a generation...ask Geraldine Ferrarro how that works out.

So the question is this: Is Barack Obama worthy of being history's first, or will he go down as a sort of cosmic joke, becoming a code word for the pinnacle of affirmative action and white derision and scorn? Would African-Americans be better off with Obama losing...and losing in a landslide...in order to forge a better black Presidential candidate in the future who really CAN deliver on Obama's promises?

It would be nice. But cold, hard political reality is this: The next four years are going to be a disaster. This country is going to be in very bad shape. Even Obama, as flawed as he is, is better than letting McSame and Palin get their mitts on this country for another four years.

No, he's not Jackie Robinson. He is not the best politician in America. He will have his detractors and may end up failing us all anyway. But the chance for real greatness IS there...and he's the candidate we have. In other words, stopping the GOP at this juncture in history is that important...even to put Obama and Biden in charge.

So yes, I'm voting for him anyway.

And The Sun, Being Fusion Powered, Is Hot

In other pieces of complete obviousness, Steve Benen comes up with the fact that the GOP hasn't run on issues since Nixon and isn't about to start now.

We didn't hear too much of this from McCain last night in his acceptance speech, which at least tried to strike an above-the-fray tone, but his convention and his campaign has been less than subtle. When talking about McCain, Americans hear amorphous soundbites about patriotism and service. When attacking Obama, we hear character attacks about celebrity, elitism, and presumptuousness.

Rick Davis, McCain's campaign manager, summarized the Republicans' perspective perfectly a couple of days ago: "This election is not about issues." Indeed, it can't be -- McCain is on the wrong side of practically every policy dispute Americans care about.

There are two angles to keep in mind. First, if voters are genuinely desperate for change, playing on their cultural insecurities won't be enough. These guys tried this approach in '92, for example, and came up short. This year, with three-in-four Americans convinced the nation is badly off track, only so many people can be swayed by talk of Paris Hilton, arugula, and Obama being "uppity."

And second, let's also note how entirely unoriginal all of this is. Atwater did it, Rove did it, and now Schmidt is doing. Without these cultural insecurities, Republicans would lose every election.

The LA Times report added that GOP strategists are convinced, probably with good reason, that there are voters "who may be struggling economically, detest President Bush and oppose the Iraq war -- but still may vote based on a visceral sense of which candidate respects their way of life."

With that in mind, watch how both campaigns spend the next 60 days, not arguing over who's right on the issues, but over whether issues matter at all.

I'll go even further. The GOP makes up crazy social conservative bullshit and declares it to not only be the actual issues that supercede the real concerns voters have, but they frame it in such a way that the Democrats are the cause of the problems. It's not "the economy is bad" that's the issue, it's "Democrats spending government money on worthless programs that is causing the economy to be bad" that is the issue, despite Republicans having been in charge and spending trillions to increase the size of government. Anything a Republican does is inherently good, anything a Democrat does is inherently bad, even if they do the same thing. Everything is spun from their own narrow viewpoint, and then that narrow viewpoint is then foisted upon the public through the media.

If you can't win on the issues, change the issues.

It's Nixon(land) All Over Again

Rick Perlstein, author of the book Nixonland, takes a scathing look at how the RNC was boilerplate Nixon and Agnew.

Enormously gratifying to see how many bloggers have found my book NIXONLAND illuminating of Sara Palin's speech last night, and of the Republicans' convention narrative generally. It really is textbook: Rudy Giuliani braying how Sara doesn't wear a mink coat, she wears a respectable Republican cloth parka; Sara herself, with a genial fury that frankly recalled for me Ronald Reagan at his most effective, pulling out all the stops for the pity-party strategy I describe in the book thusly:

[you] jab at a bunch of bastards who were piling on, kicking a man when he was down, a regular guy, just because they could do it and he couldn't fight back.... you inspire a strange sort of protective love among voters whose wounds of resentment grow alongside your performance of being wounded. Your enemies appear to die of their own hand, never of your own. Which makes you stronger.

It was, even more—Sara's the Veep pick, after all—Spiro Agnew: a whimpering foreign policy, a mulish obstructionism in domestic policy, and a pusillanimous pussyfooting on the critical issue of law and order.... The troglodylic leftists who dominate Congress...work themselves into a lather over an alleged shortage of nutriments in a child's box of Wheaties." They "cannot get exercised over that same child's constant exposure to a flood of hard-core pornography that could warp his moral outlook for a lifetime."

I watched the speech couch-bound and spellbound, at the home of a tall and taciturn prominent St. Paul radio personality, his gracious wife, and a staffer from a liberal magazine. I found that watching the speech with fellow liberals turned out to be more useful to me than watching it in the hall, for reasons I hope to explain later. I scribbled the most salient lines madly in my Moleskin. Forthwith, an annotation:

It was just a year ago when all the experts in Washington counted out our nominee because he refused to hedge his commitment to the security of the country he loves. With their usual certitude, they told us that all was lost - there was no hope for this candidate who said that he would rather lose an election than see his country lose a war. But the pollsters and pundits overlooked just one thing when they wrote him off. They overlooked the caliber of the man himself - the determination, resolve, and sheer guts of Senator John McCain. The voters knew better.

And so, in the the lingering afterglow of a staggeringly intense standing ovation, the keynote is struck: the media hates John McCain. That is because the media hates victory. The media, by association, also hates you. John McCain will protect you from them.

He really is right: Nixon was all about the Damn Dirty Hippies that were assaulting him and America from every avenue, he was the master of playing the victim card at the same time he would attack everybody who looked at him cross-eyed with blistering rancor. McSame is very much the same, especially with the paranoid hypocrisy. Here is a guy who at the same time says he is the only qualified person to be President in a rough world and is ready to do whatever is necessary to defend America, and we're supposed to believe he is qualified because of the sympathy he constantly attempts to provoke with his POW story. He says he is the agent of true change in Washington after having spent the last 8 years voting 90% of the time with Bush. He says his party is inclusive and he'll reach across the aisle, and picks a hard core fundie VP who is the new face of the culture wars.

John McSame is not just Bush, he's Nixon.

Just A Reminder

...About the wonderful GOP economy, and McSame's plan for more tax cuts, more war, and more of the same.

The unemployment rate soared to a nearly five-year high in August, topping 6%, as employers trimmed jobs for the eighth straight month, according to the latest government reading Friday that came in weaker than forecasts.

The big surprise in the report was that the unemployment rate rose to 6.1%, the highest level since September 2003. That's up from the 5.7% rate in July and 4.7% a year ago. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had forecast the rate would remain unchanged.

There was a net loss of 84,000 jobs in August, according to the Labor Department, compared to a revised reading of a 60,000 job loss in July. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had forecast a loss of 75,000 jobs.

With the August report, the U.S. economy has now lost 605,000 jobs so far this year.

And things are only going to get worse. The McSame Economy is the Bush Economy.

Action/Reaction

So what did people who make waaaaaaaaaay more money than I do think of McSame's McSpeech?

Slate's Mickey Kaus:

The Larger Issue: The speech reeked of extra cooks making too many unintegrated additions. What does it say about McCain's management ability if he let the process for this crucial effort get out of control? It's not like he didn't have months to prepare. Or were the months the problem? Palin's Wednesday night text, presumably written in a few days, was much better. Maybe the McCain campaign didn't have time to kill it with improvements. ...

CNN's Bill Schneider:

My view is: It was a simple and sincere speech that gave testimony to his character, avoiding most divisive social issues. But it did not seem to answer the question, "What are you going to do about the nation's terrible economic problems?"

His answers seemed very much part of the past: cut spending, cut taxes. He really needs to find a new and bolder economic plan.

He tried to claim some of Obama's major campaign themes Thursday: unity and change. But when McCain talks about change, he talks about changing Washington. When the Democrats talk about change, they're talking about changing the way things are going in the country.

If voters are choosing between two men, they will probably choose McCain. If they're choosing between two policies, I think Obama has the edge: His are newer, smarter and fresher.

The NY Times goes over the righty blog reactions:

As Rudy Giuliani wasn’t on stage tonight, we actually got to see the movie we were promised — although the Opinionator thinks Glenn Reynolds, the Instapundit, has a point that “it was pretty weak. I can’t believe they didn’t do a better job given what they had to work with” and Megan McCardle of the Atlantic has a good question: “Do we need the tribute videos? There’s something of the whiff of creepy totalitarian propaganda films about them.”

The Power Line guys were...not impressed.

It took a bit of courage to begin by expressing gratitude to President Bush for "leading us in those dark days following the worst attack on American soil in our history, and keeping us safe from another attack many thought was inevitable." While McCain is obviously his own man, I don't think he can run entirely away from the record of the Bush administration, which he supported more often than not.

It was nice, too, to say a few kind words about Barack Obama and his supporters.

So far, the loudest applause has been for his comments about Sarah Palin.

There were two Code Pink protesters who had to be dragged out. They pulled them up the aisle right next to where I'm sitting. I shared some thoughts with them.

I'm not crazy about the recitation of McCain's sympathy for individuals who live in various swing states. I suppose this is a response to polls that say one area where McCain lags behind Obama is in "understanding the problems of people like me."

Paul Krugman nails the entire theme of the RNC however:

What’s the source of all that anger?

Some of it, of course, is driven by cultural and religious conflict: fundamentalist Christians are sincerely dismayed by Roe v. Wade and evolution in the curriculum. What struck me as I watched the convention speeches, however, is how much of the anger on the right is based not on the claim that Democrats have done bad things, but on the perception — generally based on no evidence whatsoever — that Democrats look down their noses at regular people.

Thus Mr. Giuliani asserted that Wasilla, Alaska, isn’t “flashy enough” for Mr. Obama, who never said any such thing. And Ms. Palin asserted that Democrats “look down” on small-town mayors — again, without any evidence.

What the G.O.P. is selling, in other words, is the pure politics of resentment; you’re supposed to vote Republican to stick it to an elite that thinks it’s better than you. Or to put it another way, the G.O.P. is still the party of Nixon.

And that's pretty much it. With eight weeks and four days to go, the real race begins now.

Strap in. The country's at stake.

StupidiNews!

• Tropical Storm Hanna heads for the Outer Banks, Ike is not too far behind.
• Convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff gets four years in prison for his crimes.
• The rich continue to get richer with the richest 0.001% controlling 21% of the world's wealth.
• We're winning in Iraq...but we can't cut troop levels this year.
• The DVR is shaping up as America's Most Important Gadget.

The Year 2000 Called...

....and they want Bush's speech back, John.

Seriously. McSame's speech was all stolen:

1. Bush's stuff from 2000 was stolen, the teacher's unions to the cut foreign aid to the bi-partisanship crap and breaking the culture of Washington pap.
   
2. Obama's new energy, new job plan was stolen wholesale from the Dems. Nice to know.
   
3. POW! (tm) was stolen from the hagiography from BEFORE HIS OWN SPEECH. Ugh.
   

The GOP's got nothing. It was reheated Bush, only with "POW!(tm)". Hell, his own people almost booed him for the moderate stuff at least 3 different times.

Stick a fork in Mr. Green Screen. Here's the transcript. Lowlights:

"These are tough times for many of you. You're worried about keeping your job or finding a new one, and are struggling to put food on the table and stay in your home. All you ever asked of government is to stand on your side, not in your way. And that's just what I intend to do: stand on your side and fight for your future."

How? Cutting corporate taxes, of course. He's fighting for YOU.

"And I've found just the right partner to help me shake up Washington, Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska. She has executive experience and a real record of accomplishment. She's tackled tough problems like energy independence and corruption. She's balanced a budget, cut taxes, and taken on the special interests. She's reached across the aisle and asked Republicans, Democrats and Independents to serve in her administration. She's the mother of five children. She's helped run a small business, worked with her hands and knows what it's like to worry about mortgage payments and health care and the cost of gasoline and groceries."

Said with a straight face, and coming from the guy who married into $100 million.

I'm not in the habit of breaking promises to my country and neither is Governor Palin. And when we tell you we're going to change Washington, and stop leaving our country's problems for some unluckier generation to fix, you can count on it. We've got a record of doing just that, and the strength, experience, judgment and backbone to keep our word to you.

Like voting against your OWN CAMPAIGN FINANCE BILL, and flipping on global warming, and abortion rights, and taxes, and...

Thanks to the leadership of a brilliant general, David Petreaus, and the brave men and women he has the honor to command, that strategy succeeded and rescued us from a defeat that would have demoralized our military, risked a wider war and threatened the security of all Americans.

Because we put our troops there in the first place...why?

I fight to restore the pride and principles of our party. We were elected to change Washington, and we let Washington change us. We lost the trust of the American people when some Republicans gave in to the temptations of corruption. We lost their trust when rather than reform government, both parties made it bigger. We lost their trust when instead of freeing ourselves from a dangerous dependence on foreign oil, both parties and Senator Obama passed another corporate welfare bill for oil companies. We lost their trust, when we valued our power over our principles.

And of course your solution to that is to CUT TAXES ON THE OIL COMPANIES.

My tax cuts will create jobs. His tax increases will eliminate them. My health care plan will make it easier for more Americans to find and keep good health care insurance. His plan will force small businesses to cut jobs, reduce wages, and force families into a government run health care system where a bureaucrat stands between you and your doctor.

Best bullshit of the night, there.

Senator Obama thinks we can achieve energy independence without more drilling and without more nuclear power. But Americans know better than that. We must use all resources and develop all technologies necessary to rescue our economy from the damage caused by rising oil prices and to restore the health of our planet. It's an ambitious plan, but Americans are ambitious by nature, and we have faced greater challenges. It's time for us to show the world again how Americans lead.

Except Obama mentioned...nuclear power and clean coal just, oh, ONE WEEK AGO.

I'm running for President to keep the country I love safe, and prevent other families from risking their loved ones in war as my family has. I will draw on all my experience with the world and its leaders, and all the tools at our disposal -- diplomatic, economic, military and the power of our ideals -- to build the foundations for a stable and enduring peace.

Bush Uber Alles!

On an October morning, in the Gulf of Tonkin, I prepared for my 23rd mission over North Vietnam.

And we skip six paragrahs and five minutes of him talling America, in case you didn't know, HE WAS A POW!

I'm going to fight for my cause every day as your President. I'm going to fight to make sure every American has every reason to thank God, as I thank Him: that I'm an American, a proud citizen of the greatest country on earth, and with hard work, strong faith and a little courage, great things are always within our reach. Fight with me. Fight with me.

I think if this man ends up President, so many of us will be out there, fighting his wars wth him. Well, he'll be there in spirit. He was a POW, did you know?

Remember That Bush Guy?

Yeah, the one the GOP would like you to think isn't President right now. Him. Bob Woodward's new book kinda doesn't have good things to say about him and Iraq.

The Bush administration has conducted an extensive spying operation on Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, his staff and others in the Iraqi government, according to a new book by Bob Woodward.

"We know everything he says," according to one of multiple sources Woodward, a Washington Post assistant managing editor, cites about the practice in "The War Within: A Secret White House History, 2006-2008," scheduled for release Monday.

The book also says that the U.S. troop "surge" of 2007, in which President Bush sent nearly 30,000 additional U.S. combat forces and support troops to Iraq, was not the primary factor behind the steep drop in violence there during the past 16 months.

Yeah, about that....

The book portrays an administration riven by dissension, either unwilling or slow to confront the deterioration of its strategy in Iraq during the summer and early fall of 2006. Publicly, Bush maintained that U.S. forces were "winning"; privately, he came to believe that the military's long-term strategy of training Iraq security forces and handing over responsibility to the new Iraqi government was failing. Eventually, Woodward writes, the president lost confidence in the two military commanders overseeing the war: Gen. George W. Casey Jr., then commander of coalition forces in Iraq, and Gen. John P. Abizaid, then head of U.S. Central Command,

In October 2006, the book says, Bush asked Stephen J. Hadley, his national security adviser, to lead a closely guarded review of the Iraq war. That first assessment did not include anyone from the military, however, and proceeded secretly because of White House fears that news coverage of a review might damage Republican chances in the midterm congressional elections.

"We've got to do it under the radar screen because the electoral season is so hot," Hadley is quoted as telling Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who is described as challenging the president on the wisdom of sending additional troops to Iraq when "we're not getting a clear picture of what's going on on the ground."

The quality and credibility of information about the war's progress became a source of ongoing tension within the administration, according to the book. Rice complained about the Defense Department's "overconfident" briefings during the tenure of Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. Rather than receiving options on the war, Bush would get "a fable, a story . . . that skirted the real problems," Rice is quoted as saying.

According to Woodward, the president maintained an odd detachment from the reviews of war policy during this period, turning much of the process over to Hadley. "Let's cut to the chase," Bush told Woodward. "Hadley drove a lot of this."

Nor, Woodward reports, did the president express much urgency for change during the months when sectarian killings and violent attacks against U.S. forces in Iraq began rising, reaching more than 1,400 incidents a week by October 2006 -- an average of more than eight an hour. "This is nothing that you hurry," he told Woodward during one of the interviews, when asked whether he had given his advisers a deadline for revising the war strategy.

Responding to a question about how the White House settled on a troop surge of five brigades after the military leadership in Washington had reluctantly said it could provide two, Bush said: "Okay, I don't know this. I'm not in these meetings, you'll be happy to hear, because I got other things to do."

Makes you feel good, huh?

Keep that in mind as you watch McSame tonight.

SURGE!

Obama is admitting on BillO's show that the surge worked.

Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama said Thursday that the escalation of U.S. troops in Iraq, which he had opposed, has succeeded in reducing violence "beyond our wildest dreams."

But Iraq still has failed to achieve the political reconciliation and self-sufficiency that is required, he said, and he vowed to withdraw American troops and end the war.

Earlier Thursday, in taping a segment for Fox's "O'Reilly Factor," Obama said the surge of U.S. troops has "succeeded beyond our wildest dreams."

Republicans repeatedly have accused Obama of denying the military progress being made in Iraq and of wanting to pull out when victory is within reach.

Campaigning in Pennsylvania on Thursday, Obama was more effusive than usual in describing the reduction in violence that resulted largely from President Bush's decision to send thousands of more troops to Iraq in 2007. But he stuck to his assertion that "the surge" has not led to the political reconciliation among quarreling factions that was its larger goal.

OK, it's good he got out of the way, but doesn't Bush's own timeline for withdrawal render the McSame position on the Surge, that we should stay until we win no matter how long it takes, as moot?

All Obama has to say is "Bush set a timeline for withdrawal like the Democrats have been asking him to do for years now. That's a validation that we've been right on Iraq all along." In other words, Obama admits he lost the SURGE! battle, but won the greater point on the entire Iraq War.

So really, Lindsey Graham can go to hell.

While You're Waiting For The Main Event

Pay no attention to the 340 point loss on the Dow today because of bad August job numbers...and the anticipation of worse August job numbers tomorrow.

The employment reports rattled the market's cage more than usual because Friday is the big August jobs report and investors are worried about what they might hear. Economists expect to see nonfarm payrolls shrink by 75,000 and for the unemployment rate to hold steady 5.7 percent.

"Although some of the recent increase in claims reflects technical factors—claims had been around 370k for months until they began to spike in the middle of July—the increase almost certainly reflects deterioration in the labor market," Tony Crescenzi of Miller Tabak wrote in a note to clients. "This deterioration will likely be evident in upcoming employment news."

Remember, the GOP knows the economy. If you're sure 4 more years of their economic policies of deregulation of everything possible and rampant greed driven markets will be great for your continued employment, please vote for them in November.

For the other 99% of us, the other guys might be better.

Epic Cultural Awareness Fail

He did not say that...But he did.

Georgia Republican Rep. Lynn Westmoreland used the racially-tinged term "uppity" to describe Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama Thursday.

Westmoreland was discussing vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin's speech with reporters outside the House chamber and was asked to compare her with Michelle Obama.

"Just from what little I’ve seen of her and Mr. Obama, Sen. Obama, they're a member of an elitist-class individual that thinks that they're uppity," Westmoreland said.

Asked to clarify that he used the word “uppity,” Westmoreland said, “Uppity, yeah.”

And from Georgia too, folks. Westmoreland knows good goddamn well what he was saying, and why he said it, and what connotations the word "uppity" has when referring to a successful black couple. Fuck him. (Sorry pop, needed to be said.)

What's sixty more days of the GOP trying to put black people in their place in this election compared to the, oh, decades they've been trying? I mean, do we get to honestly say the GOP is making this election about race, culture, gender and divisive bigotry now instead of the issues? Can Obama call people out on this now?

I hope Westmoreland is re-elected only so President Obama can call him into the Oval Office and have a little chat with the man.

EPIC FAIL.

Run For The Border

The US has crossed into Pakistan to hit at Islamist militants, and the Pakistanis are PISSED. What's more, we just sent a bunch of drones with missiles over the line from Afghanistan to clean up the mess...by making a larger one.

A suspected U.S. drone aircraft fired missiles at house in Pakistan's Waziristani tribal region on Thursday, killing four Islamist militants a day after U.S. commandoes killed 20 people in a cross-border assault.

The latest attack targeted the house of a tribesman, Rehman Wali, in the Mohammad Khel area in North Waziristan tribal region, near the border with Afghanistan, where the militants were hiding.

"Apparently three missiles were fired by the drone," a witness in the area told Reuters on condition of anonymity. Five militants were wounded in the attack.

Military officials were not immediately available for comment and it was not known whether any senior al Qaeda leader was among those killed or wounded.

On Wednesday, U.S. forces carried out a pre-dawn helicopter-borne ground assault on the village of Angor Adda in the nearby South Waziristan tribal region in the first known incursion into Pakistan by U.S.-led troops since the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.

The United States, a major source of aid to nuclear-armed Pakistan, has not officially commented on the raid, though U.S. officials in Washington said the U.S. commandoes attacked an al Qaeda target in a move that could signal more intense U.S.-efforts to thwart cross-border militant violence.

North and South Waziristan are regarded as major sanctuaries for al Qaeda and Taliban militants.

Anger mounted in Pakistan, a staunch U.S. ally, after Wednesday's attack, with the foreign minister saying Pakistan was determined to defend its territorial integrity.

You know, territorial integrity, just like the US is saying Russia must respect for Georgia. Or foreign policy is atrocious. If anything, the current crop of Republicans should be disqualified for election just on that "merit" alone.

How many wars are we fighting these days, and how many more will we get into over the next four years? That's a valid question to ask for any President or Vice President we may have.

Community Communications

The Lefty blogs are on fire with the counterattack meme to the GOP's savaging of "community organizers" last night in St. Paul. Over at Hullabaloo, dday leads the way:

Let's see if the media will react to a Democratic hissy fit. Because there's ample opportunity. Roland Martin laid this out immediately. Community organizers, which were part of George H.W. Bush's thousand points of light, provide comfort, help save jobs, create opportunity. In a nation ripped asunder by right-wing policies, they are often the last line of defense. Leaders of this nation like Martin Luther King, Cesar Chavez, Susan B. Anthony, even Thomas Paine and Sam Adams, were community organizers. As this fellow writes today, Jesus was a community organizer and Pilate was a governor.

In the largely white confines of the Republican National Convention, the phrase is a slur, like "ghetto hustler," but lots and lots of people today derive great benefit from community groups, including church groups, and the help they provide ordinary people. Most Americans live in metropolitan areas and actually have experienced the value of community organizing in their lives. Think bake sale.

The Obama campaign is going to try and ramp this up, they've already done so in an email to supporters:

I wasn't planning on sending you something tonight. But if you saw what I saw from the Republican convention, you know that it demands a response.

I saw John McCain's attack squad of negative, cynical politicians. They lied about Barack Obama and Joe Biden, and they attacked you for being a part of this campaign.

But worst of all -- and this deserves to be noted -- they insulted the very idea that ordinary people have a role to play in our political process.

You know that despite what John McCain and his attack squad say, everyday people have the power to build something extraordinary when we come together. Make a donation of $5 or more right now to remind them.

Both Rudy Giuliani and Sarah Palin specifically mocked Barack's experience as a community organizer on the South Side of Chicago more than two decades ago, where he worked with people who had lost jobs and been left behind when the local steel plants closed.

Let's clarify something for them right now.

Community organizing is how ordinary people respond to out-of-touch politicians and their failed policies.

Absolutely.
In summation:

1. Community organizer is being used as a pejorative for "black hustler".
2. The GOP has ruined communities with job losses, infrastructure cuts, and endless wars and don't want to spend the money to help them.
3. Having people take pride and improve their communities without government help would seem to be something the GOP would be happy to encourage, but no.
   
4. The Democrats can now take a long tradition of community activism and beat the crap out of the GOP with it.

In other words, it's time to get to work. The GOP made some fatal errors last night, and it's time to strike back. As I've seen repeated today, The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King was a community organizer of the first order, and look what he was able to achieve.

So let's get organized.