Jane!

IOKIYAR

“Mark Schmitt”

There is a bizzare irony in McCain flouting the McCain-Feingold law

Mac Bird!!!!!

So the question is — McCain, once the darling of the reform groups, is now openly gaming the system he helped to create. Fred Wertheimer and his friends at the Washington Post editorial board were all over Barack Obama for a perceived infraction that had absolutely no legal implications — so why are they so silent about John McCain flipping them all the bird?

You know why, Jane. McVain is a War Hero. Repug War Heroes don’t have to follow the same rules. No criticizing War Heroes. That’s a no-no.

Hey, Jane,
A new day, fresh with possibilities, and dear lady Jane chooses to, once again, follow the money.
It seems our “old friend” John is tap dancing as fast as he can.
Good Morning, Dancing and Flipping.
It’s a good thing that flipping someone the bird doesn’t require him to raise his arms above his shoulders. Well, tap dancing doesn’t require that either.
Just, Blech!

Only Democrats are subject to rules. Like everyone else, the Post understands that rules are for little people, not Republicans.

Fred Wertheimer and his friends at the Washington Post editorial board were all over Barack Obama for a perceived infraction that had absolutely no legal implications — so why are they so silent about John McCain flipping them all the bird?

It’s because this a lobbyist boffin’ straight talkin’ maverick bird — which makes it all okay.

As in Coot- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coot

Nice to look at, terrible to eat.

I hope he chooses Romney. Mc.Flip and Mc. Flop will be easy to confuse the voters.

Is that because they are “mudders”?

LOL

OK. I’m heading to lunch. Need anything anyone?

McBush the great war hero had a less than steller career as an aviator- culminating in being a prisoner of war- here’s a part of what he accomplished after graduating as the sixth worst midshipman at Annapolis:

(note- this whole story is a whole lot like Clusterfuck’s–highly successful father and piss ant son)
McCain was then commissioned an ensign, and spent two and a half years as a naval aviator in training at Naval Air Station Pensacola in Florida and Naval Air Station Corpus Christi in Texas,[20] flying A-1 Skyraiders.[21] He earned a reputation as a party man, as he drove a Corvette, dated an exotic dancer named “Marie the Flame of Florida”, and, as he would later say, “generally misused my good health and youth.”[11] He began as a subpar flier, with limited patience for studying aviation manuals.[22] During a practice run in Texas, his engine quit while landing, and his aircraft crashed into Corpus Christi Bay, though he escaped without major injuries.[22][20] He graduated from flight school in 1960,[23] and became a naval pilot of attack aircraft.

McCain was then stationed in A-1 Skyraider squadrons[24] on the aircraft carriers USS Intrepid and USS Enterprise,[25] in the Caribbean Sea and in several deployments to the Mediterranean Sea.[22] He was on alert duty on Enterprise when it imposed a blockade and quarantine of Cuba during the October 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.[26][23] His aviation skills improved, but he had another close call when he and his plane emerged intact from a collision with power lines, after flying too low over Spain.[22] He was rotated back to shore duty, serving as a flight instructor at Naval Air Station Meridian in Mississippi, where McCain Field was named for his grandfather.[25]

By 1964 he was in a relationship with Carol Shepp, a model originally from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; they had known each other at Annapolis and she had married and then divorced one of his classmates.[20][25] On July 3, 1965, McCain married Shepp in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[19] McCain adopted her two children Doug and Andy,[27] who were five and three years old at the time;[25] he and Carol then had a daughter named Sidney in September 1966.[28][29][30]

In December 1965,[31] he had his third close call when a flameout over Norfolk, Virginia led to his ejecting safely, and his plane crashed.[22] McCain grew frustrated with his training role, and requested a combat assignment.[21] In December 1966, McCain was assigned to the aircraft carrier USS Forrestal, flying A-4 Skyhawks with the VA-46 “Clansmen”;[32] his service there began with tours in the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.[33] By this time, McCain’s father had risen in the ranks, making rear admiral in 1958 and vice admiral in 1963.[34] In May 1967, his father was promoted to four-star admiral, and became Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Naval

How ’bout a McBird sammy, on wry? TIA.

It seems to me that the Dems could probably put together a nice little ad featuring Senator Feingold on this matter.

Link, please.

If you’re going to pass along someone’s research, complete with numbers for the footnotes, it’s only fair to let us in on the source.

Candidates usually are very careful to not choose someone who will out-shine them in any way. Mitt looks better, dresses better, and speaks better (although not sure what he is saying). McCain needs to choose someone younger but that’s a problem, too. Of course, he could choose a younger idiot like Daddy Bush did. Yep, he has a problem.

There is a bizzare irony in McCain flouting the McCain-Feingold law

As he is my Senator, I think it is par for McBush’s course!

yes, even doctoring with apples, oranges et al does nothing to improve taste.
avoid at all cost.

Twain@18-might I suggest that stellar jay from Minnesota Eh-Tom Pawlenty
That’s the ticket.

Thanks LHP. Mixing up “flout” and “flaunt” is a pet peeve of mine.

People from Minnesota would probably be delighted. I really do think McCain has a problem. Huck would not be an asset (IMO) and the only one who would make McCain look positively vibrant is Thompson - hahahaha

Thanks for the explanation of situation. The bottom line seems to be that FEC made a decision when it was functioning, McCain in violation, FEC commissioner writes letter reminding McCain of done deal, non-functioning commmision cannot do anything to change deal, McCains says blow it out your #$%1. That right?

Still no trace of this story in press that I can see. Though still stupid press tizzy over the geriatric sex angle in the McCain in bed with many lobbyists story.

Sorry if this is redundant, but I didn’t see link to McCain’s resonse to the FEC commissioner’s letter:

McCain to FEC: Blow it out your #$%
02.22.08 — 5:02PM By Josh Marshall
John McCain has now responded to the FEC Commissioner’s letter telling him he cannot opt out of the public financing system without the FEC’s approval. That just his “opinion,” says McCain.

For a detailed discussion of the issues involved, see this earlier post.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/179758.php

Wiki

From your link: “A flock of coots in the US is called a ‘cover’”.

Yep, the old coots are flocking to McCain to provide cover on his blatant disregard for the law.

People rise and fall at various times in their lives. In 2004, I visited where McCain “lived” in Hanoi while a POW. He has my respect for that act of survival.

The rest of McCain’s life, before and after, ????

People from Minnesota would probably be delighted. I really do think McCain has a problem. Huck would not be an asset (IMO) and the only one who would make McCain look positively vibrant is Thompson - hahahaha

Hmmm…I wonder what their combined age would be?!!

Been missing you LHP.

The best piece I’ve found on the McCain/FEC dispute …

Everything You Need to Know About John McCain and Matching Funds - by Brad Smith

So, the consequences if the FEC finds a violation? $25,000 fine and (supposedly) a risk of 5 years jail. But as McCain’s campaign never took the public money, jail seems vanishingly remote. So, the downside is a fine of $25,000.

Smart money says he applies his skills at bamboozlement, pays the fine, and does just what he pleases.

Not just any coots, but OLD coots. Very tough and stringy.

Ancient, just freakin ancient (read troglodyte) sans wisdom
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlRXQEA0yj0 -707

FWIW, Gephardt didn’t pull out. He asked the question, got an answer, then stayed in (took public money).

Vietnam operations
In Spring 1967, Forrestal was assigned to join Operation Rolling Thunder, the bombing campaign against North Vietnam during the Vietnam War.[19][35] The alpha strikes flown from Forrestal were against specific, pre-selected infrastructure targets such as arms depots, factories, and bridges;[36] they were quite dangerous due to the Soviet-designed and supplied anti-aircraft system fielded by the North Vietnamese Air Defense Force.[36] McCain’s first five attack missions over North Vietnam went without incident,[21] and while still unconcerned with minor Navy regulations, McCain had by now garnered the reputation of a serious aviator.[26] McCain and his fellow pilots were already frustrated by Rolling Thunder’s infamous micromanagement from Washington;[36] he would later write that “The target list was so restricted that we had to go back and hit the same targets over and over again…. Most of our pilots flying the missions believed that our targets were virtually worthless. In all candor, we thought our civilian commanders were complete idiots who didn’t have the least notion of what it took to win the war.”[35]
By then a Lieutenant Commander, McCain was again almost killed in action on July 29, 1967 while serving on Forrestal, operating at Yankee Station in the Gulf of Tonkin. The crew was preparing to launch attacks, when a Zuni rocket from an F-4 Phantom was accidentally fired across the carrier’s deck. The rocket struck McCain’s A-4E Skyhawk as the jet was preparing for launch.[37][38] The impact ruptured the Skyhawk’s fuel tank, which ignited the fuel and knocked two bombs loose. McCain escaped from his jet by climbing out of the cockpit, working himself to the nose of the jet, and jumping off its refueling probe onto the burning deck of the aircraft carrier. Ninety seconds after the impact, one of the bombs exploded underneath his airplane. McCain was struck in the legs and chest by shrapnel. The ensuing fire killed 132 sailors, injured 62 others, destroyed at least 20 aircraft, and took 24 hours to control.[39] A day or two after the conflagration, McCain told New York Times reporter R. W. Apple, Jr. in Saigon that, “It’s a difficult thing to say. But now that I’ve seen what the bombs and the napalm did to the people on our ship, I’m not so sure that I want to drop any more of that stuff on North Vietnam.”[40] But such a change of course was unlikely; as McCain said, “I always wanted to be in the Navy. I was born into it and I never really considered another profession. But I always had trouble with the regimentation.”[40]
As Forrestal headed for repairs, McCain volunteered to join the VA-163 “Saints” on board the short-staffed USS Oriskany. This ship had earlier endured its own deck fire disaster[21] and its squadrons had suffered heavy losses during Rolling Thunder, with one-third of its pilots killed or captured during 1967.[21] McCain joined Oriskany on September 30, 1967,[41] for a tour he expected would finish early the next summer.[42] By late October 1967, operating in constant twelve-hour on, twelve-hour off shifts,[43] McCain had flown a total of 22 bombing missions,[44] including ones over Haiphong and near Hanoi.[45]

One other point - on Mr. Smith’s analysis, I disagree that Obama’s hold is the present cause of absence of FEC quorum. Senator Reid says he has his party’s agreement to put each of the 4 nominees to individual up or down votes, so no DEM has a hold on any nominee.

OT: Bomb, bomb Iran…AEI:

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/.....re-likely/

“Not just any coots, but OLD coots. Very tough and stringy.”

You rang?

Bob in HI

I can never make up my mind if it is sociopathy or hypocrisy? Let’s go with both.

Maybe he thinks cheating the election commission will be considered a truly patriotic act by his peers in the Christian Taleban sect of the GOP.

As Willie sang, “…they wouldn’t lie on my TV??!…what ever happened to peace on earth?”

Because they love themselves the stench of Teh Maverick, that’s why.

Jeez, how hard is it to follow a law with your own fucking name on it, anyway?

McW is a bit ticklish on this issue: coot she coot she coo…

Because they love themselves the stench of Teh Maverick, that’s why.

flip-flop sweat.

Hillary adopts populist tone and moves visibly to the left- just what she should have done as soon as her lead started evaporating.

If McBush’s flying career is a good measure of his current persona:

He’s plenty brave

He’s a ready, fire, aim guy.

He has no patience for the rules

He has a very short attention span

He’s careless and willful.

Plenty of oppo research to work with there- he put a LOT of planes down during a relatively few years of flying.

Goopers HATE Mavericks.

They want people who respect authority without question. They also hate people who are disorganized and don’t think things through when they are in charge. There’s plenty there to put off the gooper power mongers.

Hillary adopts populist tone and moves visibly to the left- just what she should have done as soon as her lead started evaporating.

If she had done that her corporate finances would have dried up.

Her finances dried up anyway- she’s broke.

Exactly.

They also hate people who are disorganized and don’t think things through when they are in charge.

You mean like Little Boots and Darth Cheney and Rummy and all the other cheerleaders for the Irak invasion and occupation?

I was going back through the timing. The McCain-FEC story broke in the WaPo on Saturday February 16 as far as I can tell. On its home page, Democracy 21’s last article under What’s New is from February 20. On its Newswire, it has story’s from February 21 and 25. Now the McCain story has been around for 9 days. You would think that even moving at a sedate pace Democracy 21 might have had a chance by now to respond to it or simply link to the story. But as far as I can see zero, zip, nada.

And you would expect something from them. Here are theire goals from their mission statement:

Democracy 21 provides the public and media with the latest information and analysis on money and politics, and focuses its activities on:

Promoting campaign finance reforms, such as the ban on soft money enacted in 2002, reforming the Federal Election Commission and fixing the presidential public financing system;

Ensuring that the new campaign finance law and the nation’s other campaign finance laws are effectively implemented and enforced; and

Defending campaign finance laws in the courts.

http://www.democracy21.org/ind.....&SEC={BF5ECB7D-47F4-42A2-B73D-2655EA0A19AE}

Perhaps it’s unfair but I too have to begin to wonder if Wertheimer is another one of these Establishment liberal types like Mark Shields who gets a chubby every time McCain’s name gets mentioned.

Once Edwards dropped out- both candidates should have seen that the leftiest 20% of the dem voters were up for grabs. The fact that Hillary didn’t react to that opportunity and let Obama corral the majority of the Edwards vote is what probably lost her the presidency.

Yep,

Those errors of judgement were not often criticized publicly- but you can bet that uber goopers noticed and were furious.

That sounds like she triangulated her way out of the nomination.

Well, by failing to speak up and calling their leaders on the BS, the “uber goopers” forfeited their rights to claim to have been “upset.” Seems they placed their party membership and loyalty above their respect for the country so I won’t waste any tears on them.

No one cryin for them. The point was that there’s a lot for the father figure party to hate about McBush.

Placing party membership and loyalty above all else is required to join the Republic Party.

I have a question for my friends here at the lake. Non-friends, too.
I’m starting to have anxiety about watching the debate tomorrow night.
Not breaking out in hives, but that squimish feeling in my tummy.
What should I do?

Just thought it would be good to fill in that part.

And I’m saying they need to take some long looks in the mirror before they start whining about McCain or their leadership. They enabled the actions so they bear ALMOST as much responsibility for allowing it to happen as those who actually committed the idiocies.

Breathe in the good
Breathe out the bad

You getting all tangled up about it will do zero to impact the outcome. Be cool mon.

OT, FWIW: My wife and I just got back from early voting in the Texas primary. There were two voting locations in our college town of approx. 100K people. While there was no line, there was a fairly constant flow of people ambling in an voting. We had a choice of paper or electronic ballot. Then you fed them both into an electronic reader/tabulator. We’re supposed to go back on the night of 3-4 to participate in a caucus over, I believe, 30 delegates.

On that thin bit of observation, I thought the election might show aq pretty big turnout.

Thanks, Raven. You’re a good man.
I think I’ll go outside and play in my garden.
It’s actually sunny today.
PS - what was it about my formatting? or was it my syntax? :)

Thanks- I found the whole article fascinating.

Also interesting what Bush and McCain have in common- highly successful fathers that neither could measure up to growing up. Terrible academic records. Wildly mispent youths. No patience for detail or analysis. Lack of respect for the “rules”….

One might think they were brothers.

Might go dry off my clubs and play a few holes now that the sun’s out.

Yesterday’s San Antonio Express-News had these figures for early turn out in Bexar Co. (I believe through Friday but not sure on that)
Total R early vote = 12,189
Total D early vote = 37,530

Nothing
just
the carriage
returns!

The Garden, yea, I’m going to pound out my laps in the pool most ricky tic!

Wow, a republic who doesn’t think he needs to abide by the law. Who’d have thunk.

Placing party membership and loyalty above all else is required to join the Republic Party Neo-John Bircher Cabal.

A little fixer-upper there ;-)

Ri
ght!
Just my attempt at being original.
Trying to get the written word to follow my brain waves.
Have a nice swim and pat l’il bit for me.

Wow. That would be great if the numbers in the general would be anything like that, but I have no illusions that will happen. Still, if the D turnout is unusually large in comparison, it might gain back one or two state offices.

That’s easy — don’t watch it.

I’d rather read the reviews — more informative, and the spin almost matters more than the debate.

These debates are gettin really boring. Only thing that might make this one worth watching is- it’s do or die time for Hillary. Will be interesting to see how she approaches this.

Do you know what the previous General Election figures were for parties were. Is Bexar a Red County? Those numbers are like 3:1 Democrat! Pretty amazing anywhere in Texas…and usually it’s Republicans who vote by absentee with day-of turnout being Democrats. That’s awesome if the proportions hold up in the General.

Well, yes and no.
I don’t get the full impact of reading a review if I haven’t personally watched. My take on things is sometimes a little bit different.
I don’t always believe what I read. Know what I mean?
But, the boys here will all be watching.
Errrrrr…..

No idea what the previous figures were
Bexar is probably more purple than anything
This is early voting by going to polling places, not absentee voting. Slight difference there semantically.

McCain, the panderick, in fearmongering liar mode:

McCain on FISA: Congress “Disgraceful”

http://politicalticker.blogs.c.....sgraceful/

(via TPM)

I guess technically they are McLies, since seem to be recycled garbage from WH and House GOP>

The fdl news posters have a story up that post-surge Iraq troop levels will be 140,000.

http://ap.google.com/article/A.....QD8V1HQ100

What is interesting is how the math is being tinkered with. The pre-surge level is now being reported as 132,000 and the surge itself at 32,000. I think the Petraeus-Bush cabal is trying to say that there will only be 25% of troops over and above pre-surge levels. And this is somehow easier to sell than that 1/3 of surge troops will be kept on. Yet no matter how it is spun the simple truth is that when the surge is over it will not be over and all the hoopla about the surge’s success. Yeah right, apparently it has been such a success that we will end up having to increase the baseline number of troops in the country. This is all reminiscent of the Pentagon’s oft reiterated line that the insurgents were doing so badly that violence was expected to increase due to their desperation.

Re, McCains service jacket.
I spent 5 years working on F4 Phantoms. It’s really, realy hard to launch a missile while the airplane has weight on the gears. When the struts are holding the weight of the plane, a squat switch is opened that disables the landing gear retraction and all weapon releases. To fire off a rocket that has been (1)pinned for ground safety and (2)disabled by the squat switch would almost have to be intentional.
Not saying anything. I’m just saying…

Bexar County is San Antonio. Almost all counties are red, but Bexar has a very high hispanic population and may be close to purple. Some other purplish counties are in East Texas. Travis County is really the only reliably blue county in Texas. That’s Austin, home of the University of Texas and capital and is sometimes thought of like Bolder or Missoula, as the home of a bunch of wine and cheese liberals.

The Obama campaign made a big point of telling his supporters to vote early. I didn’t notice that in Hillary’s speeches. I assumed he wanted people who heard his speeches to go out and vote while still under the influence.

I’m afraid in the general election, the Republicans will all drag out, even though they may not be motivated in the primary.

The republic party is all lies, all the time. I don’t believe anything they say. In fact most of the time whatever comes out of their mouths can be turned upside down to find the facts.

So you think someone wanted McBush put out of commission?

TPM Election Central Headlines –

Gallup: Obama Holds Double-Digit National Lead For First Time

Rasmussen: Texas Primary A Dead Heat

Poll: Hillary Only Up 4 Points In Ohio

Anecdotal news from Texas — via TPM Election Central comment thread

Down here in Texas, I can assure you that if any hard core Republicans are voting in the Democratic primary, it will be for Clinton. Particularly in some already close contests and among State house races, Republicans were counting on waving the red meat of a Clinton candidacy in front of their constituents.

However, with Democratic early voting turnout at roughly three times that of the Republicans, and the Obama machine cranking up here, the Redcoats are starting to really get nervous.

None other than the “Dean of Texas political reporting,” Texas Monthly’s Paul Burka, concludes tonight that:

“Barack Obama’s personality and his message are dominating politics nationwide. The last candidate to stir this kind of feeling was Ronald Reagan in 1980 and before him Bobby Kennedy in 1968. Veteran political observers like me can roll our eyes over someone running for president on a platform of “Hope” and “Change,” but nothing is so powerful as an idea, even a vague one, whose time has come.

Obama is riding the whirlwind, and if he can make the moment last until November, it is going to sweep out the Republicans, even in Texas. These numbers are so overwhelming, and the fifteen counties have such a large fraction of the state’s registered voters — 7,815,906 of 12,607,466, or 62% — that what happens in other 239 counties is unlikely to alter the trend. These numbers have made me a believer. Rick Noriega could defeat John Cornyn. The Democrats can win a majority in the Texas House of Representatives. The consummate irony is that George W. Bush, who made Texas a Republican state on his way in to the presidency, may make it a Democratic state on his way out.”

Burka is a McCain supporter and up until now has been very dismissive of Democratic chances in Texas this year.

Sorry, I hadn’t seen your reply and thought you might have gone out.

Elections in 08- new census and congressional districts redrawn in 2010. Could be a major event if dems take control of some state legislatures this time around.

The only number you can trust is the number of Bush family members serving in Iraq. That number is permanently fixed at zero. The warrior traditions of our royal family stopped in 1945.

That would be my guess. This was, after all, the war that gave us “frag” as a verb meaning to have a pointed disagreement with an officer.

Terminology is important. Goopers invariably now refer to the Democratic party with the slur “democrat party.” Consequently, I now always refer to these smarmy peeps as the “rebu’ublicist party” they most certainly have become.

Also, I now will always refer to Sheik bin al BaraBlackHusseinOsamBama.

Redrawn AFTER the 2010 election to become effective for the 2012 election.

Hi LHP - you still here? Good to see you. Two threads back Christy and I were hoping for your insight. Came up when discussing Seligman. The question was: given that there is very little hope that DOJ will do anything about this blatantly political prosecution, can the state bar interveve? Are AUSA subject to those rules? I told Christy that I remember Fitz, druring the Lynn Stewart trial testifying that the was only a bar member in NY. As a federal prosecutor he was not required to join the bar in Illinois.

Any light you can shine on this would be greatly apprecaited.

Found some things from there. Forget the Governor’s Race as there were 4 candidates splitting the vote (but the Republican won about 40%). For Senate, the state re-elected Republican Kay Bailey Hutchison over Barbara Ann Radnofsky, with 62% of the ballot in Bexar. Bexar County supported George W. Bush in the last two presidential elections. According to unofficial vote totals for 2004, Bush received 259,762 votes and Kerry received 210,354 votes. Ciro Rodriguez (a Clinton supporter) won a closely contested race with the Republican incumbent in Congress in a run-off 54-46%. His district covers only part of Bexar, though. Republican sections have been gerrymandered off, and there are parts that are pretty Republican. But overall it seems to lean strongly Republican as suggested above.

So those early figures are quite good!

Phil Graham: “We’re going to keep on building the party (the Texas Republican Party) until we’re hunting Democrats with dogs.”

Unfortunately, he wasn’t far wrong. I think old Phil is McCain’s main economics guy. Thrilled he would be coming back. They would probably dig Dick Armey out also.