November 3, 2008 November 3, 2008 Dick Cheney Endorses John McCain November 3, 2008 November 3, 2008 November 3, 2008 Gloria LaRiva knows socialists. Not only is the 54-year-old Mission District resident a longtime socialist, she is running for president for under the 4 1/2-year-old Party for Socialism and Liberation. Barack Obama, LaRiva says, you are no socialist. Not even close. "Oh, no. We're diametrically opposed," LaRiva told The Politics Blog. And just for the record, John McCain isn't a socialist, either. Neither can be socialists for one simple reason. "They represent capitalism," La Riva said. Socialist candidate for prez: Obama is no socialist In a strong, resonant voice, Rendell said, "Obama wants to give tax cuts to the people who need them most. Remember, Republicans called FDR a socialist, too." Indeed, Franklin Roosevelt's administration gave the nation social security and unemployment benefits, programs we take for granted today. Yet, when he proposed those programs, which offered much needed relief to millions of Americans during the Great Depression, Roosevelt too was accused of being a socialist. To illustrate, to prove, how ridiculous McCain and Palin's claims are, Rendell reiterated that under Obama's health care plan, "You can keep the health care you have" if you're satisfied with it, at a lower cost. "This," he said, "is not socialism." PA Gov. Rendell Goes On Offensive For Obama Against McCain-Palin Attacks November 3, 2008 Senator McCain, you're attacking Senator Obama for trying to "redistribute" our nation's wealth with his plan to raise taxes on America's rich. But America's wealth is already being redistributed. Over recent decades, in fact, we've seen here in the United States the most massive redistribution of wealth in world history -- and you haven't said a word to complain. This redistribution has been taking dollars out of the pockets of average Americans and stuffing them into the pockets of the power-suits and wheeler-dealers who sit in America's corporate executive suites and play money games on Wall Street. Obama, McCain charges, wants to "penalize success." Penalize success? Don't America's workers contribute to the success of the American economy? Just since 2000 alone, the productivity of workers in the United States has increased a hefty 18 percent, notes the Economic Policy Institute. Yet incomes for working Americans aren't now even keeping up with inflation. The Massive Wealth Redistribution that Doesn't Bother John McCain November 3, 2008 We've got to give the Republicans credit: they have successfully diverted everyone's attention away from their plans for the United States Supreme Court. Almost forgotten in the wake of the GOP's seemingly endless smear attacks and fear mongering is the simple fact that if elected, John McCain and Sarah Palin will push our nation's highest court further and further to the right. Why should we care? Why must we care? Because the preservation of our civil liberties, of our civil and human rights, depends on it. The Supreme Court Is at Stake on November 4th November 3, 2008 Blast From The Past November 3, 2008 Aside from a lengthy contemporary investigation from Phoenix's alternative weekly and occasional mentions since then, the addiction back-story -- including ample questions about what John McCain knew, when he knew it and questions over whether he was complicit in the cover-up -- has gone largely untold. Until now. Gosinski, who believes he was fired because he had learned too much about McCain's drug abuse, says he has remained quiet out of fear of retribution from John McCain or his political allies. By the time the wrongful termination suit was filed and the investigation launched, Gosinski already had been meeting for nearly a year with the Drug Enforcement Agency to detail Cindy McCain's use of the charity as her own personal pain-killer depot. Whistleblower breaks 15-year silence to allege McCain hid wife's drug abuse November 3, 2008 Thanks to the McCain campaign's endless undercurrent about race ("the other," "not one of us"), the media have also made a mistake potentially harmful to the Obama campaign by constantly referring to him as African-American. Actually, Obama is bi-racial. His mostly single white mother, a feminist ahead of her time, raised him, in some periods on food stamps. His father was not African-American but Kenyan -- an important fact. Obama has no slavery in his heritage, and bears none of the burden or anger associated with the African-American experience. Indeed, he's as comfortable with whites as they should be with him. Having lived in the East, the Midwest, the West, Hawaii and Indonesia, he's the most universal presidential candidate we've ever had. Obama's appeal is post-racial in the Tiger Woods mode, but describing him as black or African-American may undercut it. By signing on to a label, with all the political polarization it involves, the media not only help the McCain campaign but prevent all of us from moving beyond static and unhelpful racial categories. Major Newspapers, Networks Don't Dig Deep When Covering McCain November 3, 2008 TIME TO VOTE! Map for Election Day - Nov. 4, 2008 - with Poll Closing Times October 31, 2008 Barack Obama's 30 Minute Nationwide Special October 31, 2008 October 31, 2008 Smears claiming Barack Obama doesn’t have a birth certificate aren’t actually about that piece of paper — they’re about manipulating people into thinking Barack is not an American citizen. The truth is, Barack Obama was born in the state of Hawaii in 1961, a native citizen of the United States of America. Next time someone talks about Barack’s birth certificate, make sure they see this page. The Truth About Barack’s Birth Certificate October 31, 2008 In recent days, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and his surrogates have attempted to paint Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) as holding anti-Israel views because of his relationship with Palestinian-American Professor Rashid Kahlidi. Last night on Fox News Channel, Rudy Giuliani continued the anti-Khalidi campaign by claiming that he holds a “very hostile view of Israel” and has “a connection to the PLO.” Giuliani disapprovingly noted that the Woods Foundation funded “Khalidi’s organizations” while Obama was a board member. In fact, the “public record” shows that Khalidi is a well-respected, mainstream scholar of Middle Eastern studies. Further demonstrating the inaccuracy of the McCain campaign’s characterization of Khalidi is the fact that while McCain served as chairman of its board, the International Republican Institute distributed several grants to the Palestinian research center co-founded by Khalidi.” A 1998 tax filing for the McCain-led group shows a $448,873 grant to Khalidi’s Center for Palestine Research and Studies for work in the West Bank. … The relationship extends back as far as 1993, when John McCain joined IRI as chairman in January. Foreign Affairs noted in September of that year that IRI had helped fund several extensive studies in Palestine run by Khalidi’s group, including over 30 public opinion polls and a study of “sociopolitical attitudes.” As Ezra Klein notes, “This, of course, just goes to show how absurd it is to suggest that Khalidi is some sort of radical polemicist. Giuliani Blasts Obama For Links To Middle East Scholar Previously Funded By McCain October 31, 2008 October 31, 2008 "Although Sen. McCain has long bragged of his role in the Abramoff investigation, he let Tom DeLay and the other members of Congress who were doing Abramoff's bidding completely off the hook. The sole exception was Rep. Bob Ney, who is now serving time in prison," said Melanie Sloan, Executive Director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics In Washington. "Sen. McCain knew what his colleagues were up to, he chose to take the easier path and give them a free pass." McCain Received $100,000 From Firm Of Abramoff Notoriety October 31, 2008 Instead, many in the "elite" media have decided that Sarah Palin is the Republican who should lead the Party. Sarah Palin. I never thought that the Republicans would look at the George W. Bush disaster and say, "You know what, next time, we need a George W. Bush-lite." If in 2012, the Republicans nominate Bush-lite, does that mean that in 2016, the Republicans will nominate air? Sarah Palin went a long way toward destroying the John McCain candidacy. Her dishonesty -- "Thanks but no thanks on that Bridge to Nowhere," -- her failure to answer the most basic questions about magazines she reads, her failure to understand policy, her desire to throw her companions under the bus -- the list goes on. The Republican Party Is Headed To War -- With Itself Some of his own advisers say that she is more intent on positioning herself for the next presidential race than fighting this one. Her defenders point out that it is she who pulls the crowds, not him, and suggest that Mrs Palin has been ill-served - even betrayed — by Mr McCain's team. Republican civil war breaks out behind John McCain previous Republican Elephant | next Republican Elephant entries > Republican Elephant home