One Million Hits

Sincere thanks to all who have passed this way..

Pintek Smears

Tonight on Night Talk, Mike Pintek continued an Obama-Smear with his phone in guest Harvey Kushner, Ph.d.

The Smear?

Obama won't release his birth certificate. Only the birth certificate would prove that he was born in the US. The (not-so) hidden implication is that Senator Obama isn't born in the United States and so therefore ineligible to be President.

When I called into the show to let them know that Pintek was mistaken, I was told that he was aware of the controversy surrounding the certificate and that parts were "whited out."

Guess what? The campaign HAS posted the birth certificate. Here. I'll even post what's found at the Obama website:

Pintek smeared.

Video Professor to the Rescue!

(h/t to Crooks and Liars)
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Rejected New Yorker Cover Art

Rejected New Yorker Cover Art:


(Click for larger image)
They do have standards after all!

Welcome Politico readers!
And, New York Daily News readers.

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Senator McCain's BFF Senator Joe Lieberman

The former Democrat can't keep his promises straight. From Talkingpointsmemo, we learn two things that mainstream media seems to have forgotten:

The first is that during the 2006 campaign against Ned Lamont, Lieberman and his aides vowed multiple times that he would continue caucusing with the Democrats. The second is that Lieberman also vowed to help elect a Democrat to the White House in 2008.

These days, as everyone knows by now, Joe's stumping for John McCain.

Altmire/Hart Fundraising Numbers

The numbers have been released.

According to the Politicker:

After a disappointing first quarter where Hart raised $141k, she more than doubled her take in the 2nd quarter and has reported $300k raised over the last three months and finishes the quarter with $625k cash on hand.

Here's the FEC page with the details.

And here's the press release from the Altmire Campaign:

Jason Altmire has raised more than $2.1 million for his re-election to Congress Altmire raised 464,444 between April 3 and June 30 of this year and has $1.57 million in the bank.

And the FEC page with his details.

Jack Kelly Sunday

This week will be difficult. Jack Kelly's column this week has him giving Senator McCain's campaign some unsolicited help. Implicit in that sentence is the notion that Senator McCain's campaign needs help.

And who am I to argue with that?

Jack starts with a mention of Congress' low approval ratings:

When your approval rating is only 14 percent, there's nowhere to go but up. Unless you're the Democrat-led Congress. A Rasmussen poll released Tuesday indicated the approval rating for Congress has declined by 36 percentage points from last year's "high." Just 9 percent of respondents said Congress was doing a "good" or "excellent" job, while 52 percent of us think it's doing a "poor" one. That's the lowest rating ever.

Much of the dissatisfaction with Congress is due to its unwillingness to do anything about the soaring price of gasoline. "Right now, our strategy on gas prices is 'Drive small cars and wait for the wind,' " a Democratic congressional aide told The Hill newspaper.

And this is the press release from Rasmussen regarding the numbers. I am not sure where Jack gets 14 from the numbers. There is a "14" in the press release but it's not tied into any approval/disapproval setting. It's this sentence:

Just 14% believe members are genuinely interested in helping people.

Which is not much good news to the Congress.

In any case, according to Politico there's some doubt that reality is adequately reflected in the poll numbers. Take a look:

Rasmussen didn’t ask respondents whether they approved or disapproved of Congress; it asked respondents to rank Congress’ job performance as excellent, good, fair or poor.

Add those up, and you get 9 percent.

But 36 percent of Rasmussen’s respondents said they consider Congress’ job performance to be fair. Is that approval or disapproval?

Rasmussen CEO Scott Rasmussen said that’s a fair question but one without a clear answer. His best guess: If you converted the thinking behind the answers into the binary results of most polls — approval or disapproval — then Congress’ approval rating might actually be as high as the mid-20s. [emphasis added]

Something to ponder, I guess. Something else to ponder (and something else Jack left out when he pointed out the low approval ratings for "the Democrat-controlled Congress":

Despite these negative attitudes towards Congress, Democrats continue to enjoy a double digit lead on the Generic Congressional Ballot.

Any idea why Jack left that part out? Anyone? Here's an important point from that poll:

Democrats continue to lead Republicans by double-digits in the Rasmussen Reports generic congressional ballot. When given the choice, 47% of voters nationwide would vote for their district’s Democratic candidate, while 34% would choose their Republican candidate.

So despite mostly everyone disapproving of the way Congress is doing its job, a plurality (by 14 points) would STILL vote for the Democrat in their district than the Republican.

In any event, Jack quickly jumps off the bash Congress bandwagon and has some very kind words to say about the McCain campaign:

Some Republicans in Congress are crooks, and many are cowards. But few are idiots. For idiocy, you have to look to the campaign of Sen. John McCain.

I didn't write that, Jack Kelly did.

He then quotes the New York Times' William Kristol and then The King James Bible (I Corinthians 14:8) to try to kickstart McCain.

Unfortunately it leads back to offshore drilling and ANWR.

Didn't we already cover this?

While Jack Kelly offers up this advice to McCain:

The winning theme is obvious. We're paying roughly twice as much for gas as we should have to pay because the Democrats in Congress won't let us develop our energy resources. Sen. Barack Obama opposes drilling for oil, mining for coal, building nuclear power plants. If he's elected president, gas prices will rise to $5 a gallon or higher.

The government's own experts say that starting to drill for oil NOW on the outer continental shelf (OCS) won't have a significant impact on prices until 2030 and that impact on prices will be insignificant.

Says so here.

As I said, we've covered this all before.

Some weeks deconstructing Jack is easier than others.

McCain Will Say Anything...

To continue Maria's recent posting on Senator McCain's obvious and shameful pandering, here's the story from Countdown:

While it was Jon Delano who did the interview (see it here), Bob Mayo has some much needed fact-checking. Up until now, McCain had identified the defensive line of the Green Bay Packers to his torturers. Mayo even writes that in the made-for-TV bio, it shows up as a Green Bay Packers story. Then the busman started googling:

McCain became a POW in 1967. The legendary Steelers defensive line that McCain appears to be referring to -- The Steel Curtain -- wasn't in place until 1971. Mean Joe Greene --the first of the front four to arrive -- didn't join the Steelers until 1969, two years after the time McCain refers to as when he was first interrogated.

In 1967, John McCain was 31 years old and the Steelers were anything but super. They'd had only eight seasons since McCain was born in which team wins outnumbered losses. In the two years before McCain was shot down, the Steelers were 2-and-12 and 5-8-and-1. Discouraged fans back then called them SOS -- the "Same Old Steelers".

Mayo has an e-mail from Paul Lindsay of the McCain camp in PA:

Hey Bob,

On background as a McCain official - It was an honest mistake. If bloggers want to make fun of him because he forgot which team he used under torture, let them.

Hope that is helpful to you,

Paul

I can't imagine it was a mistake. If you watch Delano's interview, it's all very carefully planned out. The pander enters the discussion immediately after Delano asks McCain what's the first thing he thinks of when he thinks of Pittsburgh.

On the one hand, it's a teeny-tiny story. On the other, it shows Senator John McCain as willing to say anything even lie about his POW experience in order to garner votes in Pennsylvania.

Our Trolls' Worst Nightmare!

McCain-McBeam 08!

When KDKA's Jon Delano interviewed presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain this week he "recounted how he would recite the Pittsburgh Steelers defensive line-up to his North Vietnamese captors."

McCain, the Republican candidate for president, says he naturally thinks of the football team whenever he thinks of Pittsburgh.

"The Steelers really made a huge impression on me -- particularly in their early years."

In fact, McCain explains how the team helped him during his time in a POW camp.

"When I was first interrogated and really had to give some information because of the physical pressures that were on me, I named the starting lineup -- defensive line -- of the Pittsburgh Steelers as my squadron-mates!"

Only one problem with that: in the past (and in his book and in a made-for-TV movie), McCain's always claimed that it was the Green Bay Packers lineup -- not the Steelers -- that he named to his captors.

Countdown made it their first story last night:


2 Political Junkies has learned exclusively that this seeming pander to the Steeler Nation was to be only the opening salvo of a multi-pronged campaign to win over the crucial swing state of Pennsylvania.

A remake of the McCain "My Christmas Story" ad was set to run in Western PA. In the new ad, instead of his captor drawing a cross in the sand,

he drew this symbol:

(A Philadelphia-themed ad had an image of a cheesesteak sandwich sketched in the dirt.)

Reportedly, the campaign was to culminate with McCain naming Pittsburgh Steeler mascot Steely McBeam as his running mate. (After numerous rounds of focus groups nationwide, it was found that the frightening, soul-stealing, universally-hated McBeam was the only one able to make McCain appear in comparison "upbeat and friendly" to so called low information voters.)

McCain-McBeam 08
(Artist Rendition)
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Altmire Update

Things just got a little worse for my new friend Melissa Hart.

Apart from claiming that he Chinese might now be drilling off the coast of Cuba (even though they weren't a few weeks ago) looks like her opponent Congressman Jason Altmire is getting some campaign cash.

From RealClearPolitics:

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is taking advantage of its huge financial advantage already, making major media buys in 31 Congressional districts around the country, according to an internal document obtained by Politics Nation. The DCCC has reserved $34.5 million worth of television time, including $22.5 million in districts currently held by Republicans.

Guess who's getting a chunk of that money?

But after picking up thirty seats in 2006 and another three in special elections this year, Democrats realize they have to play defense as well. The party will defend Reps. Jason Altmire, a Pennsylvanian who faces a rematch with his 2006 opponent Melissa Hart, Texan Nick Lampson, who will face former Congressional aide Pete Olson, and Harry Mitchell, a freshman from Arizona who will face the winner of a competitive primary.

To the tune of about $554,000.

Why should this bother Hart?

According to Opensecrets.org, at last check (April 2, 2008) she's only got about $400,000 on hand.

Obviously the numbers will change over time, but in one swoop the DCCC has promised Altmire a little more than what his opponent already has.

And take a look at the opensecrets site. As of April he had $1.3 million of his own.

It was Torture

The International Committee of the Red Cross sez so.

From the New York Times:

Red Cross investigators concluded last year in a secret report that the Central Intelligence Agency’s interrogation methods for high-level Qaeda prisoners constituted torture and could make the Bush administration officials who approved them guilty of war crimes, according to a new book on counterterrorism efforts since 2001.

The book says that the International Committee of the Red Cross declared in the report, given to the C.I.A. last year, that the methods used on Abu Zubaydah, the first major Qaeda figure the United States captured, were “categorically” torture, which is illegal under both American and international law.

There's more at the Washington Post:

In The Dark Side, Jane Mayer, a staff writer for the New Yorker, documents some of the ugliest allegations of wrongdoing charged against the Bush administration. Her achievement lies less in bringing new revelations to light than in weaving into a comprehensive narrative a story revealed elsewhere in bits and pieces. Recast as a series of indictments, the story Mayer tells goes like this: Since embarking upon its global war on terror, the United States has blatantly disregarded the Geneva Conventions. It has imprisoned suspects, including U.S. citizens, without charge, holding them indefinitely and denying them due process. It has created an American gulag in which thousands of detainees, including many innocent of any wrongdoing, have been subjected to ritual abuse and humiliation. It has delivered suspected terrorists into the hands of foreign torturers.

Tell me, tell me, tell me true.
What's mean
For me and you?

From The Times:

Citing unnamed “sources familiar with the report,” Ms. Mayer wrote that the Red Cross document “warned that the abuse constituted war crimes, placing the highest officials in the U.S. government in jeopardy of being prosecuted.”

Torture is a war crime and they allowed torture to be committed.

2pj on tpm

David's interview here with Missy Hart has garnered some real attention at Talking Points Memo. It's the lead story on that site right now:


Here's a link to their story.

And, here's their video version of it:




CONGRATS to David!
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Local Eyes on State Legislature

From http://www.democracyrisingpa.com :

Democracy Rising PA kicks off citizens for good government initiative

WHAT: Democracy Rising PA, a statewide, nonprofit, nonpartisan
organization working for integrity, value, transparency, and citizen confidence in government will hold its first Western PA Local Eyes meeting.

WHEN: Saturday, July 12, 2008, Noon

WHERE: Coffee Tree Roasters, 5542 Walnut Street, Shadyside

WHO: Tim Potts, President of Democracy Rising PA, will introduce the organization's Local Eyes initiative to Western PA voters.

WHY: For years Democracy Rising PA has endeavored to educate, inform and mobilize Pennsylvanians on state government's needed reforms. In light of charges filed this week against elected state representatives and numerous staff members, Democracy Rising PA is increasing efforts to engage Western PA voters in calling for accountability from state government.

Look What Happened Today!

From CBS News:

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said this morning that the House Judiciary Committee may hold hearings on an impeachment resolution offered by Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio).

Kucinich is expected to offer a "privileged resolution" this afternoon calling on the House to look at whether President Bush should be removed from office for lying to Congress and the American public when he sought congressional approval back in 2002 for taking military action to invade Iraq and overthrow Saddam Hussein.

Personally I'd be happy if they could just grow a spine (or other body part) and get it on the record dubya lied.

Lied his New Haven-born Texas bred AWOL from the TANG butt off.

WHINERS! YER ALL WHINERS! THE RECESSION AIN'T REAL!

Senator McCain's economic advisor (and possible architect of the current sub-prime lending crisis) called Americans "whiners" today. We're a nation of whiners, he said.

I gotta ask, is there any doubt that the media's coverage of Senator Gram calling Americans "whiners" will end long before the media stops its ranting on Reverend Wright or Jesse Jackson or Pennsylvania's "bitter" rural residents?

I mean Senator McCain has already distanced himself from his own economic advisor? Take a look:

But didn't Senator Obama distance himself from Reverend Wright? Did that stop the wailing and knashing of teeth among God's Own Party and their allies in the media?

Of course not.

Via talkingpointsmemo, there's more going on in this story. According to Sam Stein at the Huffingtonpost, the McCain camp initially stood by Gramm's obnoxiousness:

The McCain campaign is working hard to distance itself from statements made by economic adviser Phil Gramm describing the current economic downturn as a "mental recession" and saying America had "sort of become a nation of whiners."

But in an initial statement published by Politico and then, seemingly, removed from its site, a McCain campaign aide actually stood by Gramm's remarks, saying the interview as a whole was merely meant as a preview of the Senator's economic agenda.

It was only after the things looked really bad did they flip-flop backtrack.

For what it's worth, Gramm (great lovable guy that he is) isn't backtracking:

"I'm not going to retract any of it. Every word I said was true," Gramm said.

Though he's trying to pull his own butt out of the fire by saying he was misquoted and that he meant the nation's leaders were the whiners.

Yea right, Phil. That'll work. You were misquoted.

Whiner.

Suck It

FISA Vote on CLOTURE:
Obama: Yay
Clinton: Nay
McCain: No show/no vote

FISA FINAL BILL VOTE:
Obama: Yay
Clinton: Nay
McCain: No show/no vote

Sen. Hillary Clinton's Statement:

STATEMENT OF SENATOR HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON ON THE FISA AMENDMENTS ACT OF 2008

July 9, 2008

One of the great challenges before us as a nation is remaining steadfast in our fight against terrorism while preserving our commitment to the rule of law and individual liberty. As a senator from New York on September 11, I understand the importance of taking any and all necessary steps to protect our nation from those who would do us harm. I believe strongly that we must modernize our surveillance laws in order to provide intelligence professionals the tools needed to fight terrorism and make our country more secure. However, any surveillance program must contain safeguards to protect the rights of Americans against abuse, and to preserve clear lines of oversight and accountability over this administration. I applaud the efforts of my colleagues who negotiated this legislation, and I respect my colleagues who reached a different conclusion on today's vote. I do so because this is a difficult issue. Nonetheless, I could not vote for the legislation in its current form.

The legislation would overhaul the law that governs the administration's surveillance activities. Some of the legislation's provisions place guidelines and restrictions on the operational details of the surveillance activities, others increase judicial and legislative oversight of those activities, and still others relate to immunity for telecommunications companies that participated in the administration's surveillance activities.

While this legislation does strengthen oversight of the administration's surveillance activities over previous drafts, in many respects, the oversight in the bill continues to come up short. For instance, while the bill nominally calls for increased oversight by the FISA Court, its ability to serve as a meaningful check on the President's power is debatable. The clearest example of this is the limited power given to the FISA Court to review the government's targeting and minimization procedures.

But the legislation has other significant shortcomings. The legislation also makes no meaningful change to the immunity provisions. There is little disagreement that the legislation effectively grants retroactive immunity to the telecommunications companies. In my judgment, immunity under these circumstances has the practical effect of shutting down a critical avenue for holding the administration accountable for its conduct. It is precisely why I have supported efforts in the Senate to strip the bill of these provisions, both today and during previous debates on this subject. Unfortunately, these efforts have been unsuccessful.

What is more, even as we considered this legislation, the administration refused to allow the overwhelming majority of Senators to examine the warrantless wiretapping program. This made it exceedingly difficult for those Senators who are not on the Intelligence and Judiciary Committees to assess the need for the operational details of the legislation, and whether greater protections are necessary. The same can be said for an assessment of the telecom immunity provisions. On an issue of such tremendous importance to our citizens - and in particular to New Yorkers - all Senators should have been entitled to receive briefings that would have enabled them to make an informed decision about the merits of this legislation. I cannot support this legislation when we know neither the nature of the surveillance activities authorized nor the role played by telecommunications companies granted immunity.

Congress must vigorously check and balance the president even in the face of dangerous enemies and at a time of war. That is what sets us apart. And that is what is vital to ensuring that any tool designed to protect us is used - and used within the law - for that purpose and that purpose alone. I believe my responsibility requires that I vote against this compromise, and I will continue to pursue reforms that will improve our ability to collect intelligence in our efforts to combat terror and to oversee that authority in Congress.

I'm still voting for Obama, but for all the shit I took on this blog during the primaries, to quote Kathy Griffin: Suck it!

Oh yeah, Bob Casey fucking voted Yay on both too. Gee, so glad PA finally got a Dem back in the Senate!

You can see all the votes here.
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Killing Iranians on the Brain

From The Huffington Post:

Responding to a question about a survey that shows increased exports to
Iran, mainly from cigarettes, McCain said, "Maybe that's a way of killing them."

He quickly caught himself, saying "I meant that as a joke" as his wife, Cindy, poked him in the back.

Video:


Of course he was joking! Everyone knows that when it comes to Iranians, McCain would prefer to bomb, bomb, bomb them:



BONUS POINTS for making his latest joke in da 'Burgh! (Notice the Primanti Brothers sign in the background.)

Internet access protection--FCC Coming to PGH July 21--be heard!

From Misty Perez, SavetheInternet.com: FCC Coming to Pittsburgh: Make Your Voice Heard The Federal Communications Commission is coming to Pittsburgh on July 21 for a public forum on the future of the Internet. There is no more important time than now to speak out -- which is why it's vital for you to be there. WHAT: A Public Hearing on the Future of the Internet WHEN: Monday, July 21 TIME: 4 p.m. WHERE: Carnegie Mellon University (room TBD)

For the latest information, visit: www.savetheinternet.com/=pittsburgh

In recent years, we've witnessed growing threats to the free-flowing Web. Powerful phone and cable companies like Verizon, Comcast and AT&T have begun blocking or filtering content in ways that favor their interests over those of Internet users like you and me.

The Pittsburgh hearing is our chance to speak out for an Internet that continues to drive economic growth, free speech, and social justice. We can't leave the future of the Internet to a handful of giant corporations. It's time for us to make affordable, high-speed Internet access a priority in the United States.

Millions of Americans still stand on the wrong side of the "digital divide." We need to speak out and work together to make the Internet an equal opportunity engine that serves everyone in America. This is your chance to advocate for an Internet centered on basic principles of access, openness, choice, and innovation.

It's extraordinarily rare to have all five FCC commissioners in one town, outside of Washington, at the same time. Help us spread the word about this important event in Pittsburgh.

View more information about this event at: www.savetheinternet.com/=pittsburgh

Download a flier to promote the hearing:
www.freepress.net/files/sti_pittsburgh_prelim.pdf

Use an e-card to tell your friends about the Pittsburgh hearing:
http://free.convio.net/site/Ecard?ecard_id=1501

Take a stand for the future of the Internet. Make your voice heard. Join us on July 21!

See you there!

Misty Perez
Campaign Coordinator
Free Press
http://www.freepress.net/
http://www.savetheinternet.com/

P.S. Learn more about the FCC's previous two Internet hearings in
Boston and Palo Alto.
www.savetheinternet.com/=boston and www.savetheinternet.com/=stanford

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My Interview with Melissa Hart

He can't be serious, you're saying. There's no way HE could be be chatting with HER, you're yelling between knashings of your teeth. Something must be dreadfully wrong with The Universe in order for that to happen, you're screaming while pulling out what remains of your hair.

Nope. It's all true, The proof is right there. On the right. Get it? It's a pun.

Earlier this election year, I interviewed two prospective candidates for Tim Murphy's House Seat; Wayne Dudding and Steve O'Donnell. I thought it only fair to extend the same invitation to one who's looking to reacquire Jason Altmire's House seat. And the rest, as they say, is history. Well, recent history.

Sitting in a bright corner of Mitchell's Fish Market downtown, me with a ginger ale, Hart with an alcohol-free Seabreeze and Alicia, Hart's Campaign Manager, with a diet Pepsi, we had a very nice chat about her campaign. I started the ball rolling by asking her why she wanted to run again.

After devouring at the orange slice that came with the Seabreeze, she answered that she had a lot of reasons to run. She said she's looking to finish some projects she was working on when she left Congress - some highway projects in order to bring economic development to the area, for instance.

Every now and then throughout our chat, her well manicured fingers tapped at the table for emphasis.

Her main point, and one I'm guessing she's relying on for her campaign, is that she feels she's a "better fit" for the voters in PA-4. While Democrats constitute 57% of the district, she says, the voters there don't fall into an Republican vs Democrat choice. The voters, she said, want lower taxes, less regulation and so forth. Assuming a leftward shift in the Democratic Party (and, unfortunately, she did use the incorrect "Democrat Party" a few times), she said that given the current political climate John F Kennedy would be a Republican these days. PA-4 voters, though, are closer to JFK than they are to Nancy Pelosi, she said.

Obviously she's thinking she'll win in November, when asked about the three recent special elections (the ones where Democrats beat the Republicans in highly "red" districts) she side-stepped a bit. As they were special elections, they shouldn't be used as a model for all the elections to come.

When asked about the overwhelming advantage money Congressman Altmire has at the present time (at last count, he has $1.3 million on hand to her $393,000, with little possible help from the NRCC) she said, "We'll have what we need."

Given her high conservative ratings from the National Journal, she scored an 83 on economic policy (higher than Orrin Hatch) and an 89 on foreign policy (higher even than Rick Santorum), I wondered how she close of a match she could be.

I wondered, as well, how she would explain how she, if she indeed was a "better fit" for the district, was voted out of office in 2006. She explained that that year was an anomaly. The voters were sending a message. They were mad about the war, they had reason to be angry and they took it out on the Republicans.

Now however, the situation in Iraq is getting better, she said and Bush is not an issue in this campaign and so on. My guess is that the voters will decide whether either of those are indeed the case.

I had to ask about her appearance on Pintek's show from a few weeks ago. She was on and said that the Chinese were drilling off the coast of Cuba. This urban myth has since been debunked and even the office of the Vice President has said it wasn't true.

She agreed. The Chinese weren't drilling. They were relying on this old NYTimes article and this recent column by George Will. They said they'd heard it from so many places they figured it was probably true. It seemed true and in fact the Cubans did make a deal with the Chinese.

She did add, however, that they may be drilling now.

Transcript to follow.