ties

The Revenge Starts

Al Qaeda has vowed revenge for the killing of Osama bin Laden and it looks like they are making good on it:

Pakistan's Taliban on Friday claimed their first major attack to avenge Osama bin Laden's death as 80 people were killed in a double suicide bombing on a paramilitary police training centre.

Around 140 people were wounded, 40 of them fighting for their lives, in the deadliest attack this year in the nuclear-armed country where the government is deep in crisis over the killing of the Al-Qaeda chief by US forces on May 2.

In the fallout over the unilateral raid and in another sign of damaged ties with wary ally Washington, an official said Pakistan's senior military officer General Khalid Shameem Wynne had cancelled a visit to the United States.

We knew this was coming and if anything the death of Osama could spark a lot bigger and more vengeful attacks than we have scene before. This is the reason that the Afghanistan war is far from over.

News

Ensign-Tied Companies Subpoenaed

More trouble for old John:

A federal grand jury in Washington, D.C. has issued document subpoenas to at least a half-dozen Nevada companies with ties to Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.), a sign that the criminal probe into Ensign’s romantic relationship with a former aide is accelerating.

The existence of the subpoenas was first reported by KLAS-TV in Las Vegas.

The TV station said Justice Department investigators “came to Las Vegas with a fistful of subpoenas to serve on local businessmen who have had dealings with Senator Ensign or his staff since January 2008. The team consisted of a special agent from the FBI and a prosecutor from the Criminal Division, Public Integrity Section of the Department of Justice.”

And yet John gets to remain sitting as a U.S. Senator.

Needless to say, President Obama is coming under fire for his trip to Asia this weekend. The right really hates seeing a President travel, well unless that President is going for months on end to play cowboy in Texas.

While Obama has traveled a lot, he has also used those trips to help strengthen U.S. relations around the world. This is something really important given the question of; “what to do in Afgranistan?”

President Obama’s trip this weekend also includes some heavy reading material:

As Mr. Obama left Thursday for a weeklong trip to Asia, he took his Afghanistan review with him. The president asked his military and civilian advisers not to present entirely new options, administration officials said, but rather to help choose from what he believes are the most promising elements. The discussions are not fixed on troop numbers alone, the officials said, but on underlying strategy and performance measures.

So the President isn’t going on some little leisure trip. Instead he is working to strengthen our ties with Japan and contemplate Afghanistan in his extra time.

Andrew Sullivan points out that this is what it’s like having an adult President:

What we are seeing here, I suspect, is what we see everywhere with Obama: a relentless empiricism in pursuit of a particular objective and a willingness to let the process take its time. The very process itself can reveal - not just to Obama, but to everyone - what exactly the precise options are. Instead of engaging in adolescent tests of whether a president is "tough" or "weak", we actually have an adult prepared to allow the various choices in front of us be fully explored.

OMG – Obama Plays Golf!

From the typical type of garbage headline I have come to expect from the Politico:

PRESIDENT OBAMA TIES GEORGE W. BUSH ON GOLF

President Barack Obama has only been in office for just over nine months, but he's already hit the links as much as President Bush did in over two years.

Needless to say the wingnuts, lead by Drudge, are jumping on this as the indication of major fail of our new President. Of course they seem to overlook minor things like Bush spending weeks on end playing rancher in Crawford. There’s a big difference from being a few miles from the White House playing golf and being thousands of miles away playing cowboy.

But like I said at the beginning, this is the garbage we have come to expect from the newest tabloid called The Politico.

New Media Matters Ad Attacks Lou Dobbs

And the best part? It will be running on CNN and during Lou Dobbs’ show. Maybe CNN will wake up soon and sever the ties with their racist host. Lou Dobbs is a disgrace and one of the main reasons I stopped watching CNN a couple of years ago.

“Hit And Run”

The DSCC has a new ad out hammering the Republicans on the economy and putting the blame on their blind following of George Bush.

The best part is that the ad ties in the obstructionism of the Republicans when it comes to fixing the economy, using the Republicans own words.

The Weekly Radio Address

This week President Obama talks about the flooding going on in North Dakota and ties that to a need for public service.

Exit thought – should we get rid of Fargo? I mean they keep having all this flooding going on. I am kidding of course, but wasn’t that what the Republicans were saying about New Orleans?

Biden Goes After Palin's "Pro-America Parts Of The Country" Statement

Yesterday Sarah Palin tried to divide this country even more with her idiotic rhetoric of divisiveness. She declared how she liked being in "pro-America areas of this great nation". Today Joe Biden fires back:

(video just uploaded so give it a few)

Which state has a secessionist party that is supported by their Governor and even had the governor's spouse as a member? Oh yeah - Alaska and it's Sarah Palin who supports it. Since she has brought up "pro-America' I think it's now time to ask her about her ties to the AIP and if she hates America as much as the parties founder.

Joe The Plumber?

Joe Wurzelbacher, aka Joe the Plumber, has some interesting ties that are really close to McCain:

Turns out that Joe Wurzelbacher from the Toledo event is a close relative of Robert Wurzelbacher of Milford, Ohio. Who’s Robert Wurzelbacher? Only Charles Keating’s son-in-law and the former senior vice president of American Continental, the parent company of the infamous Lincoln Savings and Loan. The now retired elder Wurzelbacher is also a major contributor to Republican causes giving well over $10,000 in the last few years.

So Joe the Plumber is tied to the figure at the center of the Keating Five scandal. Maybe this should bring the entire Keating scandal to center stage now.

McCain's Ties To Domestic Terrorists

This makes Bill Ayers look like a pick pocket.

Who Is Todd Palin?

Rick Sanchez did a big segment on the Palin's and the AIP yesterday. Here's the clip, including Dave Neiwert explaining it:

Finally the media is asking questions about the Palin's ties and support of this group that curses America. I wonder how or if the McCain campaign will respond. Perhaps if McCain goes nasty tonight, Obama could slip some points in about this with his cool style.

McCain Tied To PNAC

Does everyone remember the Project for the New American Century? This is the group that essential brought us things like the Iraq War and creating an imperial presidency. Well it looks like McCain has heard of them and even signed a letter authored by them. George Bush wasn't war monger enough for PNAC, but apparently John McCain is. Perhaps Obama needs to ask McCain about his ties to this group and what good he thinks they have done. It's hard for McCain to appear to be different from Bush when he signs on to the this group who was founded by the likes of Cheney, Pearle and Rumsfeld and is currently chaired by William Krystol.

Which Candidate Can Best Handle The Economy?

According to a new poll:

Asked which candidate could do a better job of handling the financial crisis as president next year, 48% of registered voters named Obama and 35% named McCain.

And now that we got more news of McCain's campaign manager being tied to Freddie And Fannie Mac, we can expect to see that lead grow even more. The Obama campaign needs a national ad blitz hitting Davis on his ties to the failed mortgage giants.

Distorting The Facts

The wingnuts are out to try and spin the whole McCain house gaffe anyway they can. This is the funniest I have read yet:

The latest campaign kerfuffle is Obama's effort to make hay out of John McCain's inability to tell a reporter how many houses he owns. McCain mumbled something about condos and said the reporter should talk to his wife. Predictably, Obama is trying to spin this exchange as showing that McCain is "out of touch."

I can relate, though. For example, if a reporter asked me how many ties I own, there's no way I could answer. Just like McCain, I'd tell him he has to ask my wife. Likewise if someone wants to know how many Wii games my kids have.

(emphasis added)

His wife? When did he say that? The audio of McCain's gaffe is available here and he clearly states his staff. Then to try and equate not knowing how many houses you own to not knowing how many ties you own. WTF? These guys are so desperate they will resort to down right stupidity.

The Gloves Are Off

Now the McCain campaign is accusing Obama of attacking Cindy over the houses because "she owns them". So how is the McCain campaign responding? They are going even more negative, this time bringing up Rezko.

The McCain campaign is also accusing Obama's camp of "going negative first", which we all know is a flat out lie. I say that it's now time to really hit McCain hard. Hit him on his ties to Bush, war mongering, insulting the American people on economic issues. Hell it's time to even bring up the Keating Five.

Oh yeah - and John McCain's POW time is now fair game. Perhaps we should now start digging into the rumors that he was actually helping the North Vietnamese? The McCain campaign wants to act childish and hide behind his POW status every chance they get, then it's time to pull back the covers.