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The Media Finally Wakes Up To McCain Playing President

The blogosphere has been talking for days about McCain acting like he is President when it comes to the Georgia conflict. From having press conferences about the conflict, to sending a "delegation" to the embattled country, the media has acted like McCain was just doing the job of a candidate. No more. Today's Washington Post is finally taking note that McCain forgot who he really is - a candidate:

Standing behind a lectern in Michigan this week, with two trusted senators ready to do his bidding, John McCain seemed to forget for a moment that he was only running for president.

Asked about his tough rhetoric on the ongoing conflict in Georgia, McCain began: "If I may be so bold, there was another president . . ."

He caught himself and started again: "At one time, there was a president named Ronald Reagan who spoke very strongly about America's advocacy for democracy and freedom."

This has been another example of the so called "liberal media". When Obama spoke in Berlin, all the media outlets echoed the GOP talking point that "Obama was playing President". When McCain does the same, but in a situation that can have serious ramifications, the media goes silent. Perhaps now we will hear more about this.

Being Shot Down And Captured Is NOT A Qualification For POTUS

Wesley Clark was on Dan Abrams last night standing behind his statement that John McCain being shot down and held prisoner is not a qualification for being President. Good for him. The right is in a frenzy over Clark's statement of truth regarding McCain.

John McCain bases everything in his run on his experience in the military. As MissLaura reminds us at DKos, McCain even tried to link his time as a POW to healthcare. In other words - McCain exploits what happened to him.

What I find most ironic is some of the people complaining the loudest about Clark's statement are some of the same people who jumped on the swift boating bandwagon against John Kerry, and a few who questioned Clark's service to our nation. Let's stop acting like Clark is a nobody. He was shot up pretty badly in Vietnam. Does he use that as a resume builder? No. He uses the fact that he stayed in the military and moved on to become one of the top leaders as a resume builder. Funny how being a general and the commander of NATO doesn't qualify someone to be President, but being shot down and captured does.

If McCain wants to set the record straight and use his military experience as his main qualification for being President then it's time for him to release his military service record. Include in it how many planes he actually lost. Let the people judge on facts, not on assumption or rumors. If McCain doesn't want to do that then we have every right to question his military service and we should. We also should question the mental health of someone who was held prisoner for five years. I'm sure McCain has some hidden issues from his time as a POW and the American people need to be certain those won't interfere with his job as Commander in Chief.

We Can't Afford Universal Healthcare, Or To Help Foreclosures

But we can sure pay out another $162 billion to fund wars, including the one based upon nothing but lies.

I guess Bush was right when he said we "aren't in the job of nation building". Correct Mr. President - you are in the job of nation destroying!

Obama Leads McCain By 6 And Bush Still Sucks

First the good news:

Presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama holds a six point lead over his Republican counterpart John McCain, a new CBS News poll finds. Obama leads McCain 48 percent to 42 percent among registered voters, with 6 percent of respondents undecided.

Then the good news:

President Bush's approval rating is at its lowest level to date. Just 25 percent of Americans approve of the overall job Mr. Bush is doing as President, an all-time low for him and among the lowest approval ratings ever recorded for a President.

McCain = Bush is a great campaign strategy to run on this year. I'm curious to see how much more lower he goes when it gets around that Bush did lie us into war and we now have an investigation that proves it.

The Society Created By Bush

And it's disturbing indeed:

A longtime high school wrestling coach has lost his job amid concerns a former assistant coach tried to convert Muslim students to Christianity.

The Detroit News reports 35-year coach Jerry Marszalek's contract with Fordson High School in Dearborn, Mich., was not renewed. The decision was supported by 200 to 300 parents, who packed a Board of Education meeting Tuesday to support the principal's decision.

So we now have coaches trying to convert Muslins? I wonder if he is handing out little coins with biblical verses on it also?

The Media Kind Of Pays Attention To Iraq

Of course what they are paying attention to is a poll that says McCain leads Obama and Clinton on the issue of Iraq by 14%. They also seem dumbfounded by the results. Really? I'm not.

Here's why McCain is doing good in that part of the poll. The fault lies in the same people who are wondering why - the media. McCain has made numerous gaffs on Iraq in the past few weeks, which would have proven fatal to any Democrat. Instead the media covers them up for John. They dismiss them as "senior moments" or just let's them go unchallenged. It's part of that love fest we have witnessed between McCain and the media, and it's disgusting.

Do you really think McCain would be doing this well on the question of Iraq if the media did their job and reported that McCain doesn't even know who the enemy really is?

Just because he fought in a war doesn't make him commander ready. If we followed that logic then we should expect a President Lynndie England in the future.

Unemployment Rises To 5.1%

Another sure sign of the recession. This is the highest rate in 5 years.

Something interesting I just saw. I had on Morning Joe and he was talking to Erin Burnett of CNBC. They were trying the usual "sugar coating" of the economy when Burnett was handed a piece of paper. She looked at it and kind of looked shock and said "Wow" then pushed it off to the side. A couple minutes later was when the breaking news alert of the new jobs figures started coming in. Was that what she was given and wanted to go back to sugar coating? If so, then isn't their job to report the news, not make it up?

Bush Is "Disappointed" In Payroll Decline

This should make all the people suffering feel better:

The White House said on Friday that it was disappointed in the biggest monthly decline in nearly five years in U.S. job payrolls and that the current quarter would be difficult for the U.S. economy.

"This quarter's going to be a difficult quarter for the U.S. economy. We are in a low growth period in the economy," White House spokesman Tony Fratto said.

The Labor Department said U.S. employers cut payrolls for the second straight month in February by slashing 63,000 jobs. February's data showed biggest monthly job decline in nearly five years.

So when little Bobby or Suzy are hungry, just feed them a big, warm plate of the bullshit that comes from our nation's leader. That should fill them up!

Melanie Morgan Hits The Unemployment Line

The female version of Rush Limbaugh has lost her job due to down sizing. And the war bloggers weeped.

Putting A Bandaid On An Amputation

That is the approach the fed seems to be taking towards the economy:

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, warning Congress of a period of sluggish business growth, sent a fresh signal Wednesday that the central bank will again lower interest rates to steady the teetering economy.

"The economic situation has become distinctly less favorable" since the summer, the Fed chief told the House Financial Services Committee. Since Bernanke's last such assessment last summer, the housing slump has worsened, credit problems have intensified and the job market has deteriorated.

No Ben not "less favorable". Didn't you get the memo? It's a "slowdown". According to some it is also the fault of the Democratic candidates.

More Contradict McCain's Defense

Not only do we have McCain himself contradicting his defense, now we got another person involved doing so:

Broadcaster Lowell "Bud" Paxson yesterday contradicted statements from Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign that the senator did not meet with Paxson or his lobbyist before sending two controversial letters to the Federal Communications Commission on Paxson's behalf.

Paxson said he talked with McCain in his Washington office several weeks before the Arizona Republican wrote the letters in 1999 to the FCC urging a rapid decision on Paxson's quest to acquire a Pittsburgh television station.

Paxson also recalled that his lobbyist, Vicki Iseman, likely attended the meeting in McCain's office and that Iseman helped arrange the meeting. "Was Vicki there? Probably," Paxson said in an interview with The Washington Post yesterday. "The woman was a professional. She was good. She could get us meetings."

So the New York Times article as an apparent "hit job", yet McCain is lying to defend himself? So far no one has proved the NYT article lied, but now we are getting tons of proof that McCain has lied. Can we now stop with this meme of the article being a hit job unless McCain is willing to be honest with the people?

Montel Stands Up For The Troops And Gets Canned

The "make you feel good" channel of FOX wanted to ignore the troops dying in Iraq, but FOX wouldn't have it. Here is a clip of Montel on FOX wanting to talk about the troops instead of Heath Ledger.

According to BradBlog:

Despite the tease at the end of those uncomfortable three minutes, that Williams would be back for more after the break, he was not there when the show returned from commercial.

According to Variety it was FOX stations that opted out of the CBS produced Montel Williams Show:

Mark Your Calenders - January 28

That's the day Dennis Kucinich is planning on introducing articles of impeachment against Bush. He is also going after Pelosi:

He also fired a volley at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California who has maintained that impeaching Mr. Bush is not on the table for Congressional Democrats. “If impeachment is off the table,” Mr. Kucinich said, “truth is off the table. If truth is off the table then this body is living a lie.”

AMEN! Impeachment, or the threat of, is one of the core principals of checks and balances and by Pelosi saying "it's off the table", she is, in effect, saying that checks and balances are off the table. This shows Pelosi is not up to the job of being Speaker of the House.

Protecting Petraeus

The administration just loves David Petraeus

The Pentagon is considering Gen. David H. Petraeus for the top NATO command later this year, a move that would give the general, the top American commander in Iraq, a high-level post during the next administration but that has raised concerns about the practice of rotating war commanders.

A senior Pentagon official said that it was weighing “a next assignment for Petraeus” and that the NATO post was a possibility. “He deserves one and that has also always been a highly prestigious position,” the official said. “So he is a candidate for that job, but there have been no final decisions and nothing on the timing.”

Now if Petraeus is doing all these wonders in Iraq, then shouldn't they wait until they are 100% certain Iraq is stable before pulling him out? It sounds like the Pentagon is more worried about one man than an entire military.

10 More Years

Yup now we got our own military saying that we will be in Iraq for another ten years. Since Bush only has a year left on the job perhaps he should plan on finally doing some combat tours. Oh wait - it's more fun to start wars than it is to actually fight them.