The Liberal Coalition

The news that John McCain's campaign is abandoning its efforts in Michigan -- first reported by Jonathan Martin at Politico -- is the latest in a series of negative developments for the Republican ticket over the last two weeks.

Michigan was widely regarded by the campaigns of McCain and Barack Obama as a central battleground -- perhaps the central battleground -- in the race for 270 electoral votes. Although Democrats have dominated in both presidential and other statewide contests in the Wolverine State over the last few cycles (the Democratic nominee for president has carried Michigan in each of the last four elections), Republicans believed that McCain was the candidate to change that.

More here.

Cross-posted from SoonerThought.

Labels: McCain Quits MichIgan

posted by Anonymous @ 5:31 PM |

from All Facts and Opinions

Jerry Falwell must be laughing in Hell. Some Christian fundamentalists say pro-GLBT philosophies are partly to blame for the nation's financial crisis.

From PageOneQ:

In a September 25th blog post titled "The Nation Will Right Itself If It Fixes Sex," Christian Civil League of Maine Executive Director Michael Heath writes that the financial crisis facing Wall Street is a symptom of America's sinful sexual culture, including the acceptance of gay unions.

"Our crisis is a symptom, not the cause," writes Michael Heath. "I am not saying I know whether this financial crisis is God's judgment or not. It is not for me to know that definitively."

Heath goes on to list policy changes that [the writer contends] would make God "crack a smile," including: End abortion rights and defund non-profit groups supporting it, amend state constitutions to ban gay marriage and eliminate domestic partnerships and civil unions for gay and lesbian couples, and end discrimination against private religious schools and homeschools.

A related post by Center for Immigration Studies Executive Director Mark Krikorian at the National Review's web site pushes a similar theme, this time focusing on Friday's failure of [Washington Mutual].

Krikorian suggests the big bank failed because it was too accommodating to minorities, including gays, African-Americans and Hispanics.

In his September 26th post titled "Cause and Effect?," Krikorian writes, "I really thought this was a joke, but it's not. WaMu's final press release, before it sank beneath the waves."

The press release lists the general accomplishments of WaMu in diversifying its workforce, including earning a perfect score on the Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality Index -- a rating indicative of the gay-friendliness of a company's official policies.

Fundamentalists blame Wall Streets woes on gays

So let's see... gays and their allies are responsible for Hurricane Katrina, the Teletubbies, 9/11, the state of Hollywood, and now the Wall Street mess. For second-class citizens, we sure have a helluva lot of power. No wonder the fundies are so frightened they make up this kind of hateful crap in order to keep us under their blessed, bigoted boots.

An alternative POV: The fundies are in power. They have the pols in their pious pockets. Their religious rules are inscribed in US secular law, and nonbelievers are punished every day in this country for not conforming to fundamentalist Christian values (or Judeo-Christian, in those times when they pretend to be ecumenical). Those are the facts. So even if such a charge would be unfair or untrue (just as is their charge against the inclusive gay community), wouldn't it make more sense to blame them? I'm just sayin'...

Labels: anti-gay, anti-glbt, bailout plan, bailout scheme, bigotry, blame the gays, christian fundamentalists, gop, hate, hate speech, Politics, wall street crisis

posted by nr davis @ 2:18 PM |

from All Facts and Opinions

Author and HuffPo writer Naomi Wolf scared the bejeebus out of me with her latest piece, and this thought occurred: More people need to be frightened before this election takes place. Some will consider this scenario, wherein the writer casts John McCain's running mate as "the designated muse of the coming American police state" as nothing more than lunatic liberal fear run amok. But remember: Republicans have no problem with stealing elections and capitalizing on national tragedies to carry out their long-planned evil schemes to keep their kind wealthy, powerful, and in control of the world. Recall that the plan to attack Iraq existed long before planes flew into the World Trade Center towers seven years ago. Now imagine: McCain wins, something happens, and we have the embarrassingly out-of-her-league not librarian Palin in charge -- with a little help from Karl Rove and friends. Can you say "doomsday scenario"?

You have to understand how things work in a closing society in order to understand "Palin Power." A gang or cabal seizes power, usually with an affable, weak figurehead at the fore. Then they will hold elections -- but they will make sure that the election will be corrupted and that the next affable, weak figurehead is entirely in their control. Remember, Russia has Presidents; Russia holds elections. Dictators and gangs of thugs all over the world hold elections. It means nothing. When a cabal has seized power you can have elections and even presidents, but you don't have freedom.



I realized early on with horror what I was seeing in Governor Palin: the continuation of the Rove-Cheney cabal, but this time without restraints. I heard her echo Bush 2000 soundbites ("the heart of America is on display") and realized Bush's speechwriters were writing her -- not McCain's -- speeches. I heard her tell George Bush's lies -- not McCain's -- to the American people, linking 9/11 to Iraq. I heard her make fun of Barack Obama for wanting to prevent the torture of prisoners -- this is Rove-Cheney's enthusiastic S and M, not McCain's, who, though he shamefully colluded in the 2006 Military Tribunals Act, is also a former prisoner of war and wrote an eloquent Newsweek piece in 2005 opposing torture. I saw that she was even styled by the same skillful stylist (neutral lipstick, matte makeup, dark colors) who turned Katharine Harris from a mall rat into a stateswoman and who styles all the women in the Bush orbit -- but who does not bother to style Cindy McCain.



Then I saw and heard more. Palin is embracing lawlessness in defying Alaskan Legislature subpoenas -- this is what Rove-Cheney, and not McCain, believe in doing. She uses mafia tactics against critics, like the police commissioner who was railroaded for opposing handguns in Alaskan battered women's shelters -- Rove's style, not McCain's. I realized what I was seeing.



Reports confirmed my suspicions: Palin, not McCain, is the FrankenBarbie of the Rove-Cheney cabal. The strategy became clear. Time magazine reported that Rove is "dialed in" to the McCain campaign. Rove's protege Steve Schmidt is now campaign manager. And Politico reported that Rove was heavily involved in McCain's vice presidential selection. Finally a new report shows that there are dozens of Bush and Rove operatives surrounding Sarah Palin and orchestrating her every move.

What's the plan? It is this. McCain doesn't matter.

This reading is worth your time. Share it with everyone you know, particularly well-meaning but open-minded GOPs and centrists who actually care about people. It's time to move beyond the choir... people's lives and the future of the US are at stake.

Has Sarah Palin Been Picked as the Titular Head of the Coming Police State? (via Alternet)

Labels: all facts and opinions, anti-mccain/palin, anti-palin, gop, huffington post, McCain/Palin, naomi wolf, natalie davis, News, palin, progressive commentary, Right Wing, US Politics

posted by nr davis @ 4:44 PM |