Washington Times Calls Out McCain For Lying About Support For 1986 Immigration Legislation
Washington Times Calls Out McCain For Lying About Support For 1986 Immigration Legislation
As ThinkProgress noted on Saturday, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) made inconsistent immigration pledges in a speech to the National Association of Latino Elected Officials, claiming he would both “secure our borders first” and make comprehensive reform his “top priority”:
– [W]e can and will secure our borders first, while respecting the dignity and rights of citizens and legal residents of the United States
– Q: Will comprehensive immigration reform - and not just enforcement - be one of your top policy priorities in your first 100 days in office?
McCAIN: It’ll be my top priority yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
But that wasn’t the only false claim McCain made that day. Yesterday, the Washington Times noted that McCain also claimed he supported the 1986 Immigration Reform Act, legislation long lambasted by conservatives as an “amnesty” bill:
[I]n 1986, we passed a law and said we would secure the borders and gave amnesty to a couple — three million people. I supported that legislation way back then.
Watch it:
In fact, McCain voted against this legislation. As the Times explained, McCain was a vocal opponent of this bill:
The Arizona Republic newspaper in 1986 reported that he had called the bill racist and quoted him as saying the bill’s requirements for employers to verify workers “would institutionalize discrimination.” He said employers would refuse to hire Hispanics to avoid running afoul of the law.
A McCain campaign official said the senator “was referring to his support for a comprehensive solution - going back to that time. He did oppose some provisions and didn’t end up voting for the bill.” As Time Magazine notes today, McCain’s shifting immigration stance, which it calls “confusion,” has been “somewhat intentional on the part of the McCain campaign” in order to woo conservatives and moderates.
McCain confuses Sudan and Somalia.
McCain confuses Sudan and Somalia.
John McCain misspoke and confused his African countries while talking to reporters on the Straight Talk Express today. This time, he was bailed out not by Joe Lieberman, but by his close aide Mark Salter. “How can we bring pressure on the government of Somalia?” McCain asked, which prompted Mark Salter to correct him. “Sudan,” Salter said. “Sudan,” McCain repeated. “There’s a realpolitik side of my view of the conduct of American foreign policy.”
Desire For Change — Not Anti-Immigrant Sentiment — Does In Congressman Cannon
Desire For Change — Not Anti-Immigrant Sentiment — Does In Congressman Cannon
Our guest blogger is Henry Fernandez, a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress Action Fund focusing on state and municipal policy.
When Utah Congressman Chris Cannon lost the Republican primary last week to Jason Chaffetz, anti-immigrant groups were quick to define it as an example of a candidate winning because of his restrictionist stance. They were desperate because all of the recent election news has been bad for the anti-immigrant crowd, including recent losses in once über-red House districts in Illinois and Mississippi.
Roy Beck, the head honcho of NumbersUSA — a leading organization opposed to legal immigration — told the Orange County Register:
Cannon’s loss was an outburst of Republican frustration with the minority of Republican office-holders who stand in the Bush-McCain amnesty camp.
And this from Michelle Malkin:
…the simple fact is that voters finally got fed up with Cannon’s constant water-carrying for La Raza and MALDEF…
Unfortunately, the AP parroted the anti-immigrants’ talking points, but gave no facts to back up this assertion. Facts lead to a very different conclusion in a race where voters were so dissatisfied that only ten percent of Republicans even bothered to show up. Read the rest of this entry »
Fox and Kristol claim McCain’s VP choice will cause gas prices to ‘plummet.’
Fox and Kristol claim McCain’s VP choice will cause gas prices to ‘plummet.’
On Fox News today, host Alexis Glick previewed an interview with Bill Kristol by claiming that the Weekly Standard editor believes “the second John McCain announces his VP pick, gas prices will plummet.” During the segment, the Kristol Ball’s “prediction” turned out to be that he thinks McCain might pick Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate. Here’s why Kristol claims such a pick would lower gas prices:
KRISTOL: First, I think she would help him get elected, which would be a good thing if you want gas prices to come down. Then she’ll persuade him that we have to drill in ANWR and have an aggressive drilling program across the board.
That’s all Kristol offered to support his and Fox’s ridiculous claim. Watch it:
One major flaw in Kristol and Fox’s claim that drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve would lower prices immediately is the fact that it would take 10 years for the oil to hit the market, and even then, the reserve is estimated to have only enough oil to satisfy six months demand.
McCain Contradicts Mullen: ‘Yes,’ We Have Resources To Fight In Iraq Without Hurting Our Efforts In Afghanistan
McCain Contradicts Mullen: ‘Yes,’ We Have Resources To Fight In Iraq Without Hurting Our Efforts In Afghanistan
During a press conference in Pennsylvania today, New York Times reporter John Broder asked Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) if he shared the concern of “senior Pentagon officials” about the rise of the Taliban and al Qaeda in Afghanistan and if the U.S. has the “resources to devote to fighting those enemies there given the surge in Iraq.” “Yes and yes,” replied McCain brusquely.
McCain then began to take another question, but broke it off to “elaborate a bit” on the situation in Afghanistan. “To somehow think that it’s an either or situation, either Afghanistan or Iraq, is a fundamental misreading of the situation in the Middle East,” said McCain.
He then said “it’s not just a matter of more troops”:
MCCAIN: It’s not an either or situation. We need to succeed in Iraq and I am confident that we can succeed in Afghanistan. But it’s not just a matter of more troops. It is a matter of a whole lot of other factors, including those, and not exclusive to those ones that I just outlined.
Watch it:
McCain’s claims are at odds with the opinion of top military leaders, including the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Michael Mullen. Just last week, Mullen said that Afghanistan is “an economy-of-force campaign,” which means that “we don’t have enough forces there.” Read the rest of this entry »
Former Joint Chiefs chairman Gen. Richard Myers quashed legal review of torture techniques.
Former Joint Chiefs chairman Gen. Richard Myers quashed legal review of torture techniques.
In 2002, as former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld “was considering the approval of three categories of interrogation techniques for use at Guantánamo,” military officials raised “serious concerns regarding the legality” of the techniques in a series of memos. As a result, Rear Adm. Jane Dalton, the legal counsel to then-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Richard Myers, “began a fresh evaluation of the legality of the interrogation tactics.” But she was soon ordered by Myers to stop the legal review:
But such an analysis threatened to undermine Rumsfeld’s agenda — and that’s when Myers stepped in. Dalton testified that Myers ordered her to stop that review because of a request from Pentagon general counsel William Haynes. Haynes was spearheading Rumsfeld’s efforts to set up a harsh-interrogation program at the Pentagon. “The best of my recollection as to how this occurred is that the chairman called me aside and indicated to me that Mr. Haynes did not want this broad-based review to take place,” Dalton testified. “When I learned that Mr. Haynes did not want that broad-based legal and policy review to take place, then I stood down from the plans.”
Dalton told the Senate Armed Services Committee earlier this month that Myers was “aware” of the concerns about the techniques’ legality when he quashed the review.
Torture Advocate John Yoo Lied To Congress To Cast Aspersions On Philippe Sands’ Credibility
Torture Advocate John Yoo Lied To Congress To Cast Aspersions On Philippe Sands’ Credibility
Last week, while testifying before Congress, torture fanatic John Yoo sought to discredit torture critic Philippe Sands by suggesting Sands had lied about interviewing him. Rep. Steve King (R-IA) used the allegation to claim it “would perhaps reflect on the veracity” of all of Sands’ allegations:
YOO: I did read Mr. Sands’ testimony before this committee, and I noticed in the testimony he said that he had interviewed me for the book. And I can say that he did not interview me for the book. … So I didn’t quite understand why he would tell the committee that he had actually interviewed me.
KING: And with that answer, Professor Yoo then, I’m going to interpret that to mean that at least with regard to that statement that he had interviewed you, you find that to be a false statement, and that would perhaps reflect on the veracity of the balance of the book.
Watch it:
Yet, as MoJo blog points out, Sands never said he had interviewed Yoo for his book. Rather, Sands said, “[o]ver hundreds of hours I conversed or debated with many of those most deeply involved. They included…the Deputy Assistant Attorney General at DoJ (Mr Yoo).” Indeed, Yoo and Sands had debated torture at the World Affairs Council in 2005.
McCain aide: Reporters ‘have to earn’ special interview area seat on new ’straight talk’ airplane.
McCain aide: Reporters ‘have to earn’ special interview area seat on new ’straight talk’ airplane.
The Washington Post reports that Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) is now traveling in a new “Straight Talk Express” campaign airplane. It “features a special area” with “a couch and two captain’s chairs” where “McCain will conduct group interviews with the press.” But not all reporters covering McCain can enjoy this new lap of luxury. Top McCain aide Mark Salter said “‘only the good reporters’ would get to sit in the specially-configured section for interviews. ‘You’ll have to earn it,’ he said.” So how can these reporters “earn” a seat? Never challenge the Senator, as McCain biographer Matt Welch explained in a recent interview with the Los Angeles Times:
[McCain is] very open to people. You can come on the bus, everything is great but if he knows or if his team knows that you have a hostile line of questioning or you have a long and well documented critique, they’re not going to talk to you. […]
As a human, he’s haunted by the notion of honesty and about honor and truth. He wishes that he could speak the truth all the time. He doesn’t. I don’t think he speaks the truth any more than any other politician really, no more, no less.
McCain Sticks It To Organized Labor: Visits Company That Refused To Pay Minimum Wage
McCain Sticks It To Organized Labor: Visits Company That Refused To Pay Minimum Wage
Today, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) visited Worth & Co., a contracting company in Bucks County, PA, where he held a town hall. The visit is a slap in the face to the state’s unions, since Worth & Co. has been investigated by the state Department of Labor and Industry for “intentionally failing to pay the predetermined minimum wage” to its employees. The Intelligencer reports:
McCain, who has already drawn the ire of union leaders throughout this country, will be visiting a company that earlier this year was under investigation by the state’s Labor and Industry Department over employee wages. At the time of the investigation, company founder Stephen Worth said he was being targeted by union interests who were going after his non-union shop. Union members plan to protest McCain’s visit.
Part of the state’s investigation focused on a subcontractor Worth had hired, that ultimately admitted to having underpaid its employees by nearly $26,000. The state has accused the company of cheating employees out of $142,000 in wages for government projects.
McCain’s visit fits squarely within his anti-labor record. The AFL-CIO emphasizes that “there is nothing moderate about McCain,” who they call “a loyal ally of Bush who has consistently and perniciously voted against the interests of working families in his decades-long career in Washington.” Highlights of that long career:
– Helped block minimum wage hike in 2005 with John Kyl [LINK]
– Voted to filibuster minimum wage hike in 2007 [LINK]
– Compared unions to monopolies, during a presidential debate [LINK]
– Voted to block the Employee Free Choice Act in 2007, allowing workers to form unions [LINK]
– Skipped the vote on the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act in 2008, which would have made it easier for women workers to sue for equal pay [LINK]
Just last week, McCain didn’t even bother to show up to vote on a war supplemental that extended unemployment benefits. He was the only senator besides Sen. Ted Kennedy — who is undergoing treatment for a brain tumor — who didn’t vote on the measure.
White House: Polls are flawed, Bush sees a ’shift in attitudes’ toward him.
White House: Polls are flawed, Bush sees a ’shift in attitudes’ toward him.
Despite polls showing record levels of dissatisfaction with President Bush, U.S. News reported on Friday that the White House is in an “upbeat mood” and that aides “see a president who still gets his way.” According to the magazine, the administration’s positive demeanor is a result of Bush sensing less “antipathy” than he used to in crowds:
When he travels around the country, Bush feels less “antipathy” than he used to in the crowds, along the motorcade routes, and expressed by the individuals who talk to him at his events. “He feels there has been a shift in attitudes out there that’s not reflected in polling data,” the aide says. […]
Reinforcing his point, the latest AP-Ipsos poll, released in mid-June, found that only 29 percent of Americans approved of Bush’s job performance, one of the lowest presidential ratings ever. White House officials, by the way, say they aren’t sure such polls should be believed because the questions are biased and the population samples are flawed.
U.S. News reported in January that aides “are predicting a remarkable poll shift to about 45 percent favorable by the time he leaves office next year.”
McCain’s new Truth Squad has former member of Swift Boat Veterans.
McCain’s new Truth Squad has former member of Swift Boat Veterans.
Following the lead of Barack Obama’s campaign, John McCain is establishing his own Truth Squad – an effort to “respond to unfair attacks” on his military record. One of the members of McCain’s new Truth Squad — Bud Day — was a member of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, and appeared in an attack ad for the group in 2004. (See the ads here.) Day said of John Kerry’s military service: “My view is he basically will go down in history sometime as the Benedict Arnold of 1971.”
Bolton: Israel Strike On Iran ‘During Bush’s Term Makes A Lot Of Sense’
Bolton: Israel Strike On Iran ‘During Bush’s Term Makes A Lot Of Sense’
Yesterday morning on Fox News, former UN Ambassador John Bolton claimed Israel has to make a decision to bomb Iran soon, partly because they need to do it with a U.S. President in office who would support the unilateral strike:
I think their calculation has to be they want the support — at least after-the-fact — from the United States, and therefore, I think doing it during President Bush’s term makes a lot of sense. I don’t think they’ll do it before our election because you can’t calculate what the impact would be, and of course after the election, they’ll know who will be President — and that would factor into their decision as well.
In the interview, Bolton also made the case for preventive war against Iran. “I don’t personally believe in just-in-time non-proliferation,” he said. “Our intelligence on Iran is far from perfect,” Bolton conceded. Yet Iran’s “strategic objective” and “rhetoric from their leadership” is enough to justify war. Watch it:
Bolton was even more explicit in an interview with Israel Insider. “Bolton said that if Senator Obama is elected in November, Israel could not afford to wait until he takes office on January 20, before taking action. ‘An Obama victory would rule out military action by the Israelis because they would fear the consequences given the approach Obama has taken to foreign policy.’” Read the rest of this entry »
Iraq contractor reports consistent level of violence despite troop surge.
Iraq contractor reports consistent level of violence despite troop surge.
Last week, the Pentagon reported that improvements in security in Iraq have been “substantial over the past nine months.” But an Iraqi contractor does not see such improvement. Spencer Ackerman reports that GardaWorld, a private intelligence firm doing business in Iraq, finds that since October, levels of violence are largely unchanged throughout Iraq:
After Denying ‘Involvement’ In Iraq’s No-Bid Oil Contracts, U.S. Revealed To Be ‘Integral’ To Deals
After Denying ‘Involvement’ In Iraq’s No-Bid Oil Contracts, U.S. Revealed To Be ‘Integral’ To Deals
Nearly two weeks ago, the New York Times’ Andrew Kramer reported that four Western oil companies — Exxon Mobil, Shell, Total, and BP — were in the final stages of “talks with Iraq’s Oil Ministry for no-bid contracts to service Iraq’s largest fields.” The Times wrote at the time that it was “not clear what role the United States played in awarding the contracts,” but noted that “there are still American advisers to Iraq’s Oil Ministry.”
Last week, after Senate Democrats wrote a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice requesting that she try to block the oil deals, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino claimed the U.S. had no involvement in the deals:
“Iraq is a sovereign country, and it can make decisions based on how it feels that it wants to move forward in its development of its oil resources,” said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino.
“And if that means that our companies here in the United States can compete and win business, then that’s for them and the Iraqis to decide,” Perino added. “But I don’t think the federal government of the United States needs to get involved.”
State Department spokesman Tom Casey was more more explicit in his comments, saying that “the United States has had no involvement” in the deals, and thus couldn’t be expected to “block the Iraqi government from contracting in the way it sees fit.”
But, according to a follow-up Times article published today, the State Department actually “played an integral part” in the deals:
A group of American advisers led by a small State Department team played an integral part in drawing up contracts between the Iraqi government and five major Western oil companies to develop some of the largest fields in Iraq, American officials say. […]
In their role as advisers to the Iraqi Oil Ministry, American government lawyers and private-sector consultants provided template contracts and detailed suggestions on drafting the contracts, advisers and a senior State Department official said.
Frederick D. Barton, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told the Times that “citing issues like sovereignty, when we have our hands right in the middle of it” undermines the U.S.’s credibility.
NYT: Diversion of resources to Iraq contributed to al Qaeda resurgence in Pakistan.
NYT: Diversion of resources to Iraq contributed to al Qaeda resurgence in Pakistan.
In a front page story this morning, the New York Times reports on the story of how Al Qaeda “gained a new haven” in Pakistan’s tribal areas across the border from Afghanistan. According to the Times, “it is also a story of how the White House shifted its sights, beginning in 2002, from counterterrorism efforts in Afghanistan and Pakistan to preparations for the war in Iraq“:
Current and former military and intelligence officials said that the war in Iraq consistently diverted resources and high-level attention from the tribal areas. When American military and intelligence officials requested additional Predator drones to survey the tribal areas, they were told no drones were available because they had been sent to Iraq.
[…]
One reason for this, according to two former intelligence officials directly involved in the Qaeda hunt, was that by 2006 the Iraq war had drained away most of the C.I.A. officers with field experience in the Islamic world. “You had a very finite number” of experienced officers, said one former senior intelligence official. “Those people all went to Iraq. We were all hurting because of Iraq.”
GI Bill Opponent President Bush Lauds GI Bill Opponent John McCain For The GI Bill Expansion
GI Bill Opponent President Bush Lauds GI Bill Opponent John McCain For The GI Bill Expansion
This morning, President Bush signed a war supplemental spending bill which included a doubling of GI Bill college benefits for troops and veterans. The Bush administration had resisted Sen. Jim Webb’s (D-VA) strong bipartisan effort to pass the bill, going so far as to warn of “harm” that might come from giving expanded educational benefits to soldiers who served “only” 2 years.
But today, Bush was all too happy to pat himself on the back for the GI Bill, and to laud the work of senators who tried to stand in the way of the bill’s passage:
The bill is a result of close collaboration between my administration and members of both parties on Capitol Hill. … I want to thank members who worked hard for the GI Bill expansion, especially Senators Webb and Warner, Graham, Burr, McCain. This bill shows that even in an election year, Democrats and Republicans can come together to stand behind our troops.
Watch it:
McCain — along with Bush — was one of the most vocal opponents of Webb’s bill. He claimed it was too generous, would lead to a drop in military retention, and would “hurt the military.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham — a key McCain surrogate — urged his conservative colleagues to vote against Webb’s bill, claiming “we will get rewarded in the next election” for doing so. McCain, Burr, and Graham offered an alternative bill that was “seen as a way to convolute the GI bill.”
But once the House struck a deal pushing forward Webb’s legislation, McCain disingenuously tried to take credit for it. In fact, McCain didn’t even show up last week to vote on the GI bill legislation, which passed 92-6. The only other senator not present for the vote was Ted Kennedy (D-MA), who is battling a brain tumor.
Southern Baptist scholar says spousal abuse stems from wife’s refusal to submit to husband.
Southern Baptist scholar says spousal abuse stems from wife’s refusal to submit to husband.
Bruce Ware — a Southern Baptist scholar – argued that one reason that men abuse their wives is because women rebel against their husband’s God-given authority:
“And husbands on their parts, because they’re sinners, now respond to that threat to their authority either by being abusive, which is of course one of the ways men can respond when their authority is challenged - -or, more commonly, to become passive, acquiescent, and simply not asserting the leadership they ought to as men in their homes and in churches,” Ware said from the pulpit of Denton Bible Church in Denton, Texas.
ThinkFast: June 30, 2008
The Bush administration had issued a secret plan last year allowing Pentagon’s Special Forces to kill or capture al Qaeda leaders in Pakistan. But more than six months later, the Special Ops forces “are still waiting for the green light. The plan has been held up in Washington by the very disagreements it was meant to eliminate.”
“Our enemies will test the new president early,” said Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) on CBS yesterday. “Remember that the truck bombing of the World Trade Center happened in the first year of the Clinton administration. 9/11 happened in the first year of the Bush administration.”
Bogus claims that China is drilling for oil off the Florida coast “continue to circulate almost three weeks after a senator representing the state derided the claims as ‘akin to urban legends.’” The truth is China’s oil company, Sinopec, has an agreement with Cuba, but its lease is for an onshore site and no actual drilling has taken place.
Gas prices rose to a record high last night, reaching an average of $4.086, up seven-tenths of a cent from $4.079 the previous day. Prices “have risen 2.9% in the last month and are almost 38% higher than where they were a year ago.”
On the trail today: Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) will deliver a speech in Independence, MO, on “what patriotism means to him and what it requires of all Americans who love this country and want to see it do better.” Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) will be in Bucks County, PA, this afternoon for a town-hall meeting. Read the rest of this entry »
John Roberts has failed to uphold pre-confirmation pledge.
John Roberts has failed to uphold pre-confirmation pledge.
“With his third term as chief justice coming to a close amid three explosive cases last week, John Roberts has proved to be almost everything conservatives hoped and liberals feared.” The Chicago Tribune recalls his pledge in 2005: “I come before this committee with no agenda, no platform. I will approach every case with an open mind.” Yet, “in his three years on the court, Roberts has never sided with the more liberal members against his conservative brethren in a close case.”
FLASHBACK: McCain In 1999 — ‘I Would Not Support Repeal Of Roe V. Wade’
FLASHBACK: McCain In 1999 — ‘I Would Not Support Repeal Of Roe V. Wade’
Today, CNN’s Late Edition re-broadcasted an August 22, 1999 interview with Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), in which McCain expressed support for overturning Roe v. Wade, while also noting that the action “would condemn young women to dangerous and illegal operations”:
Ultimately, I would like to see the repeal of Roe v. Wade, but to do it immediately, I think, would condemn young women to dangerous and illegal operations.
Watch It:
Throughout the 2000 campaign, McCain hedged on the issue. Just two days earlier, on August 19, 1999, in an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, McCain said that he “would not support repeal of Roe vs. Wade”:
I’d love to see a point where [Roe v. Wade] is irrelevant, and could be repealed because abortion is no longer necessary. But certainly in the short term, or even in the long term, I would not support repeal of Roe vs. Wade.
Unfortunately, now that he is the presumptive nominee of the Republican party, McCain is no longer concerned for the “young women” who will undergo “dangerous and illegal operations” if Roe v. Wade is repealed. In fact, on his campaign website McCain argues that the decision “must be overturned” to restore “constitutional balance”:
John McCain believes Roe v. Wade is a flawed decision that must be overturned, and as president he will nominate judges who understand that courts should not be in the business of legislating from the bench. Constitutional balance would be restored by the reversal of Roe v. Wade, returning the abortion question to the individual states. The difficult issue of abortion should not be decided by judicial fiat.
While his rhetoric has waffled back and forth, McCain’s voting record throughout his entire public career has been consistently anti-choice. That’s why McCain gets a zero from women.
Cross-posted at The Wonk Room with updates.
Vandals in Orlando spray-paint cars with anti-Obama messages.
Vandals in Orlando spray-paint cars with anti-Obama messages.
Approximately 60 cars parked across from the Orlando city hall Saturday night were damaged by “politically-motivated” vandals. Some spray-painted notes with messages such as “Obama smokes crack” and racial epithets. “Business cards left on the cars disparage both Barack Obama and John McCain.” “I’m driving by and every car I see has been hit with spray paint,” witness Mike Lowe said. “There is so much damage to them. There is messages written on them and the vandals left their business card, which is crazy.”
Fox News losing its lead over rival cable networks.
Fox News losing its lead over rival cable networks.
Fox News “has seen its once formidable advantage over CNN erode in this presidential election year, as both CNN and MSNBC have added viewers at far more dramatic rates.” The New York Times reports:
CNN has added 170,000 viewers a night, on average, when compared with the last presidential year, while Fox has shed about 90,000, according to Nielsen. (MSNBC, which added 181,000 viewers in that audience, much of it courtesy of gains by “Countdown With Keith Olbermann,” still lagged in third place, with 303,000.)
A Fox News spokeswoman, Dana Klinghoffer, refused “several requests” for comment about the channel’s ratings and strategy.
Kristol: ‘Republicans are much more open to strong women.’
Kristol: ‘Republicans are much more open to strong women.’
On Fox News Sunday this morning, Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol sarcastically decried “the horrible sexism and misogyny that the Democratic primary voters demonstrated” towards Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY). “It never would have happened in the Republican party,” claimed Kristol. “Republicans are much more open to strong women.” Watch it:
Kristol’s sarcastic claim is ironic given the sexism he himself directed at Clinton during the primary. Not only did he mock her tears in January, but in February, while discussing Clinton’s supporters, Kristol quipped, “White women are a problem, that’s, you know — we all live with that.”
Hersh: U.S. escalating covert ops against Iran.
The New Yorker’s Seymour Hersh reports that late last year, “Congress agreed to a request from President Bush to fund a major escalation of covert operations against Iran.” The “Presidential Finding” was designed to destabilize religious leadership and gather “intelligence about Iran’s suspected nuclear-weapons program“:
But the scale and the scope of the operations in Iran, which involve the Central Intelligence Agency and the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), have now been significantly expanded, according to the current and former officials. Many of these activities are not specified in the new Finding, and some congressional leaders have had serious questions about their nature.
“The Finding was focused on undermining Iran’s nuclear ambitions and trying to undermine the government through regime change,” a person familiar with its contents said, and involved “working with opposition groups and passing money.”
McCain: I ‘Don’t See How It Matters’ That I Don’t Know The Price Of Gas (Updated)
McCain: I ‘Don’t See How It Matters’ That I Don’t Know The Price Of Gas (Updated)
In a telephone interview with the Orange County Register earlier this week, John McCain acknowledged he was unaware of the price of gas. The OC Register’s Martin Wicksol reports:
WICKSOL: When was the last time you pumped your own gas and how much did it cost?
MCCAIN: Oh, I don’t remember. Now there’s Secret Service protection. But I’ve done it for many, many years. I don’t recall and frankly, I don’t see how it matters.
I’ve had hundreds and hundreds of town hall meetings, many as short a time ago as yesterday. I communicate with the people and they communicate with me very effectively.
Listen here:
McCain’s cluelessness about gas prices is compounded by the fact that he is clueless about what to do about it. He is promoting a gas tax holiday for drivers because he claims to understand “Americans are hurting.” It will provide “a little psychological boost,” McCain said of his plan.
In reality, his gas tax holiday would be worth a mere 60 cents a day for Americans and would be a boon for oil companies and foreign oil-producing nations. It would drive up the deficit. Moreover, the proposal would rob $1.4 billion from “public transportation and severely restrict the industry’s ability to add and improve transit services for a growing number of Americans.”
It seems that gas prices is just one more issue that “is not something” McCain has “understood as well he should.”
McCains’ home in California about to enter into tax default.
McCains’ home in California about to enter into tax default.
Via Huffpost, Newsweek reports that John and Cindy McCain have failed to pay taxes on their beach-front home in La Jolla, California, for the last four years and are about to enter into default. The article reports that the McCains had been delinquent in paying taxes until Newsweek inquired about the matter. The McCains then paid off $6,744.42 in back taxes, but still owe more. Newsweek writes:
When you’re poor, it can be hard to pay the bills. When you’re rich, it’s hard to keep track of all the bills that need paying. It’s a lesson Cindy McCain learned the hard way when NEWSWEEK raised questions about an overdue property-tax bill on a La Jolla, Calif., property owned by a trust that she oversees. […]
County officials say the trust still owes an additional $1,742 for this year, an amount that is overdue and will go into default July 1. Told of the outstanding $1,742, the aide said: “The trust has paid all bills shown owing as of today and will pay all other bills due.”
McCain makes inconsistent immigration pledges in speech to Latinos.
McCain makes inconsistent immigration pledges in speech to Latinos.
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has recently spoken highly of immigration reform — despite running away from the issue during the GOP primary. Speaking before the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials today, McCain said immigration reform “will be my top priority yesterday, today, and tomorrow.” In the same speech, however, McCain also said:
Many Americans, with good cause, did not believe us when we said we would secure our borders, and so we failed in our efforts. We must prove to them that we can and will secure our borders first.
McCain is trying to have it both ways. Supporting comprehensive reform and enforcement-first “are two very different approaches,” Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-TX) noted yesterday. “Either he supports comprehensive reform, or he supports an enforcement-first strategy. He cannot have it both ways,” Reyes said.
Cheney ‘tried to block North Korea nuclear deal.’
Cheney ‘tried to block North Korea nuclear deal.’
Earlier this week, the Bush administration the Bush administration announced that it was taking North Korea off the State Department’s list of state sponsors of terrorism after the country declared its nuclear program to the outside world. Vice President Dick Cheney has not hid his disapproval of the move. Now, the Telegraph reports that Cheney tried to block the deal before it happened:
Vice President Dick Cheney fought furiously to block efforts by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to strike a controversial US compromise deal with North Korea over the communist state’s nuclear programme, the Telegraph has learned.
“The exchanges between Cheney’s office and Rice’s people at State got very testy. But ultimately Condi had the President’s ear and persuaded him that his legacy would be stronger if they reached a deal with Pyongyang,” said a Pentagon adviser who was briefed on the battle.
On Friday, the New York Times described the North Korea deal as the State Department’s win in a “major battle against the Cheney camp.”
Weisman apologizes for racially-insensitive comment.
Weisman apologizes for racially-insensitive comment.
This past Monday, ThinkProgress reported that Washington Post’s Jonathan Weisman critiqued Barack Obama as being “much more white than black.” The newspaper received several complaints from readers about that comment, including one from Kendall Ridley of Houston who wrote, “Please let Mr. Weisman know that black culture is the all-encompassing experience of being black; there is not just one kind of black culture, as black America is neither monolithic nor single-minded.” The Post’s ombudsman Deborah Howell reports today that Weisman offered this apology for his insensitivity:
Weisman replied to me: “I was trying to say that chronologically, Obama spent his entire childhood either in the white environment of an elite Hawaii prep school or in Indonesia. But frankly, I’m not defending myself. It was a really stupid, insensitive comment, and I have apologized for it to the people who have e-mailed me.
Conservatives Who Ripped Obama For ‘Race-Baiting’ Now Silent In Wake Of Norquist’s Racial Remark
Conservatives Who Ripped Obama For ‘Race-Baiting’ Now Silent In Wake Of Norquist’s Racial Remark
Eight days ago in Jacksonville, Florida, Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) predicted to a crowd of supporters that he would soon face race-based attacks from the right:
They’re going to try to make you afraid of me. He’s young and inexperienced and he’s got a funny name. And did I mention he’s black?
Conservatives immediately criticized Obama for injecting race into the campaign. The right-wing site Newsbusters complained that he “pre-smeared the opposition by charging they will ‘make you afraid’ by identifying him as black.” Hugh Hewitt said Obama was engaging in “casual slander of his opponents” by warning of “imagined grievances.”
A host of television pundits claimed Obama was playing the “politics of fear” by “race-baiting.” Watch it:
Yesterday, Grover Norquist — an influential supporter of John McCain — did exactly what Obama predicted would happen, making a not-so-subtle reference to Obama’s skin color:
Norquist dropped by The Times’ Washington bureau today and, as part of his negative critique of Obama’s liberal stances on economic issues and other matters, he termed the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee “John Kerry with a tan.”
Will those who attacked Obama for “race-baiting” now acknowledge the validity of his concerns?
Justice in this country never comes easy. We have to fight for it. Just yesterday, we were reminded exactly what I am talking about, Grover Norquist said,"Barack Obama is basically John Kerry with a tan." This is why we can't back down. We need strong people. We need leaders. We need you. Your country needs you because thanks to good, decent committed people like you, we're going to make sure that true justice does arrive in this country.
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