Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Honey, that’s a gnome, not a troll.

That concludes today’s edition of “Overheard In My Apartment This Morning.” Thanks for your patronage.

Posted by Kevin K. on 07/30/08 at 07:08 AM
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Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Posted by poputonian on 07/29/08 at 09:48 PM
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It’s a series of indictments.

MORE: John Cole notices THIS IS GOOD NEWS FOR JOHN MCCAIN.

Posted by Kevin K. on 07/29/08 at 12:05 PM
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Apologies for the preponderance of PUMA posts (try saying that ten times fast), but willful dishonesty really crawls up my ass (Willful Dishonesty, My Ass!)...

As Betty noted earlier, the Just Say No Deal coalition issued an extremely shady “press release” Sunday that stated the following about Barack Obama’s Berlin speech [UPDATED TO INCLUDE FULL RELEASE WITH BOLDED PASSAGES]:

United States of America (Press Release) July 27, 2008—
“While coverage of Senator Obama’s Berlin speech provided audiences here at home nothing less that a visual “shock and awe,” it neglected to mention that the well-hyped speech had an opening act: a gratis concert by two wildly popular groups, Reggae artist Patrice and rock band Reamonn. While we appreciate the Obama Campaign’s hospitality, on behalf of furthering US international relations, offering free bratwurst, pizza and even beer for three hours during the free rock concert, we question whether or not the monies might have been better spent here on financially strapped US citizens. Furthermore the Just Say No Deal Coalition identifies this pattern as deceptive to media consumers. Similarly, back on May 20, 2008 in Portland, Oregon, the critically acclaimed local band The Decemberists performed a rare free concert prior to Senator Obama’s appearance (note: there are no reports of free refreshments being served during this appearance).

While news stories generated by both appearances focused on the enormity of the crowd size, few reports mentioned the accompanying perks, leaving some to question whether revelers are showing up for Senator Obama or for free food and entertainment. Without this additional information, Just Say No Deal contends that Americans are being misled about the presumptive Democratic nominee’s true popularity.”

And it’s not only Just Say No Honesty that’s propagating this bullshit, it’s all over the web.  Check out the Google search for “Obama,” “Berlin,” and “free beer.” PUMAs and their wingnut comrades-in-arms have been spreading this blatant anti-Obama lie wherever they can.

I looked all over for confirmation that the Obama campaign was plying the crowd with free beer, bratwurst or pizza, but could find no evidence whatsoever that this happened.  Here’s what I did find from people who actually attended the event (with emphasis added where appropriate):

From Flickr:

eric double-fisting at the obama speech. they sold beer and sausages

From BenPerry.net:

It was worth swilling expensive beer and slow-mo bumping-and-grinding through security lines to get within 30 meters (that’s 30 yards) of the Großer Stern—the base of the Victory Column rather than an object “beside” the column as some of the wires had it last week.

From Less Than a Shoestring (after my inquiry in the comments):

The idea of anything ever being FREE in Germany is absurd. Food and drinks were on sale at regular German street/fair prices. Even the media had to pay for their food from vendors!

From Kittywampus:

Oh, and there were even stands hawking beer, both inside and outside the security checkpoint. When’s the last time you could buy beer at a political rally? Now, not too many people were actually drinking it. The weather was hot (mid-80s, but hotter due to all the bodies) and the portapotties so vile that I would’ve preferred dehydration.

And now it gets even better…

read the whole post »

Posted by Kevin K. on 07/29/08 at 12:12 AM
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Monday, July 28, 2008

The first trailer for Oliver Stone’s upcoming film about Dubya is out…

[via Truthdig]

Posted by Kevin K. on 07/28/08 at 04:36 PM
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Those silly, silly PUMAs have been roaring since Barack spoke in Berlin that there were PUMAs handing out anti-Obama leaflets at the event (“we are everywhere!”).  The one thing they’ve consistently avoided mentioning when touting their newfound world domination is that the source for this information was Helga Zepp-LaRouche, wife of perennial presidential candidate and chief conspiracy crackpot Lyndon LaRouche.  The story originated at the Lyndon LaRouche PAC web site:

Because what the misled teenagers on the Fan Mile along the way to the Victory Column apparently weren’t aware of, is that many early Obama supporters in the United States now feel that they have been tricked: Obama’s machine has replaced African-American regional party leaders with Establishment apparatchiks. Instead, a whole slew of new organizations have been springing up like mushrooms, demanding an open party convention, and the nomination of Hillary Clinton in an open roll-call vote.

In Berlin, supporters of one of these organizations, PUMA (Party Unity My Ass), were distributing leaflets calling for such an open party convention. Obama’s security team confiscated the leaflets, not only from the PUMA organizers themselves, but also from any spectator who passed through the security gate, leaflet in hand. So much for Obama’s oft-cited “change.”

Now here’s the kicker ... the folks distributing leaflets in Berlin weren’t disaffected Democrats turned PUMAs, they were Lyndon Larouche supporters posing as PUMAs:

No large political gathering is complete without some of Lyndon LaRouche’s followers. They were out in force distributing flyers with the headline “P.U.M.A.: Party Unity My Ass,” accusing Nancy Pelosi and Howard Dean of subverting Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.

Even though the article I referenced is from The American Spectator, it’s a pretty even-keeled account of what went down that day.  Regardless (it is the Spectator, after all), I decided to do a little more research and found my way to this article by Christian Science Monitor correspondent Jeffrey White at World Politics Review:

“We want an open convention, when the names of all major candidates are on the ballot,” said Florian [last name removed per request], 24, who passed out leaflets for a pro-Hillary Clinton group that wants to see the senator from New York’s name still put to Democratic National Convention delegates next month.

“We also think Obama is not able to cope with the problems that we face in this world. Hillary Clinton is,” he said.

Ladies and gentleman, I give you Florian [last name removed per request], concerned Democrat:

First, we would like to thank Florian [last name removed per request] of the Berlin LaRouche Youth Movement. Without his assistance, we would not have been able to create the website you see here.

MORE: This isn’t the first time CockLaRouches have posed as PUMAs, apparently with full approval of selected-not-elected PUMA head “10 Million Dollar” Will Bower.

RELATED: Both the American Spectator article and this diary version of White’s article give a pretty clear indication of how the they-were-there-for-the-music-and-the-food meme being floated by wingnuts and PUMAs is utter hogwash. I got a chuckle outta this line:

Later a live band called Raymond [sic] took the stage. Simon Gierke, 27, a native of Hamburg, commented, “They are the worst band ever to come out of Germany.”

Posted by Kevin K. on 07/28/08 at 09:09 AM
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Kinda related to Kevin’s “Cruel and Unusual” post below – I followed the link to Flowbee’s Fortress of Fucknuttery and was amused to find an “official statement” from Just Say No Brains, which read, in part:

“While we appreciate the Obama Campaign’s hospitality, on behalf of furthering US international relations, offering free bratwurst, pizza and even beer for three hours during the free rock concert, we question whether or not the monies might have been better spent here on financially strapped US citizens….

As opposed to the $10 millllllllllion the PUMA goons supposedly raised in July to pay off a multi-millionaire’s campaign debt (money Senator Clinton’s own people believe is a figment of the PUMA’s unhinged imaginations). There couldn’t possibly be a better use for that money – well, maybe they could use it to refurbish Bower’s sofa or something. There’s probably enough for that. More from Just Say No Brains:

“Furthermore the Just Say No Deal Coalition identifies this pattern as deceptive to media consumers. Similarly, back on May 20, 2008 in Portland, Oregon, the critically acclaimed local band Decemberists performed a rare free concert prior to Senator Obama’s appearance (note: there are no reports of free refreshments being served during this appearance).

While news stories generated by both appearances focused on the enormity of the crowd size, few reports mentioned the accompanying perks, leaving some to question whether revelers are showing up for Senator Obama or for free food and entertainment.

Without this additional information, Just Say No Deal contends that Americans are being misled about the presumptive Democratic nominee’s true popularity.”

Whereas Just Say No Brains’ Mr. Bower isn’t misleading anyone by claiming that his gaggle of sore losers and low-traffic blogs comprise 2.5 million people and 250 sites – with no credible evidence whatsoever to support that claim.

Look, John McCain probably warms up the crowd at the senior center’s all purpose room with free barbershop quartet performances prior to his crappy “town hall” meetings. You can’t ask people to sit around for hours looking at a blank stage – there were speakers or entertainment of some sort at every large public event I’ve ever attended in my entire life. I guess the PUMAs don’t get out enough to know that.

As for enticing people with free refreshments, if Bower and his handful of PUMA psychos staged a nearby rally that was preceded by the dispensing of free quality beer and pizza, I might show up for the suds and pie, but I’d definitely drift off once the PUMA whinging commenced – that or lead the crowd in a repudiation of the stupefying nonsense Bower and Co. would spew.

This doesn’t happen at Obama rallies. The crowd sticks around to hear the senator speak, and the enthusiasm is obvious to anyone who isn’t a gibbering PUMA nutbag. Hell, PUMA can’t even muster more than a handful of crackpots (or a lone loon!) to offer a counter demonstration at Obama or DNC events, so this is clearly a losing line of attack for them. I hope they keep it up.

Posted by Betty Cracker on 07/28/08 at 07:57 AM
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Sunday, July 27, 2008

This post by TexasDroolin at Flowbee‘s Fortress of Fucknuttery claiming 200,000 Germans were lured to Obama’s speech with crap rock and pork knuckles is funny enough as a stand-alone (yes, they’re playing that game again), but the comments really knock it out of the park, especially this one:

Comment by RepublicanChick | 2008-07-27 16:54:37

LOL! Oops! I posted the whole thing below as my son was a listener of The Decemberists until I went and did some research on the group.

Yes, it’s censorship in my home. However, I’m not paying for that kind of crap to infilitrate my kids. So it is back to Three Doors Down for him and my peace of mind back.

Posted by Kevin K. on 07/27/08 at 08:47 PM
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From the LAT‘s James Rainey:

The Center for Media and Public Affairs at George Mason University, where researchers have tracked network news content for two decades, found that ABC, NBC and CBS were tougher on Obama than on Republican John McCain during the first six weeks of the general-election campaign.

You read it right: tougher on the Democrat.

During the evening news, the majority of statements from reporters and anchors on all three networks are neutral, the center found. And when network news people ventured opinions in recent weeks, 28% of the statements were positive for Obama and 72% negative.

Network reporting also tilted against McCain, but far less dramatically, with 43% of the statements positive and 57% negative, according to the Washington-based media center.

Conservatives have been snarling about the grotesque disparity revealed by another study, the online Tyndall Report, which showed Obama receiving more than twice as much network air time as McCain in the last month and a half. Obama got 166 minutes of coverage in the seven weeks after the end of the primary season, compared with 67 minutes for McCain, according to longtime network-news observer Andrew Tyndall.

I wrote last week that the networks should do more to better balance the air time. But I also suggested that much of the attention to Obama was far from glowing.

That earned a spasm of e-mails that described me as irrational, unpatriotic and . . . somehow . . . French.

And before any wingnuts or PUMAs claim that the Center for Media and Public Affairs suffers from a pro-Obama bias, please proceed to their web site aand check out some of their research during the primaries.

Posted by Kevin K. on 07/27/08 at 02:29 PM
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Saturday, July 26, 2008

One of the most passionate and popular anti-Obama, Hillary-supporting vloggers on YouTube, Manny (aka “idiotwind75”), posted a pretty honest and encouraging vlog yesterday.  I’ve seen several of his vlogs in the past (including one that was posted at No Quarter) and, boy, was he one angry dude (you can check out what’s left of them here), but he’s finally come around. If Manny can step back and take a deep breath, maybe there’s more hope for the last of the Hillary holdouts than I had previously thought.  Check it out:

Posted by Kevin K. on 07/26/08 at 05:21 PM
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My pals Colin and Miss Mira picked up on this when The Daily Show ran the clip on Thursday and, fortunately, MSNBC’s Dan Abrams did, too:

More info at Daily Kos. [hat tip Mr. Butters]

Posted by Kevin K. on 07/26/08 at 02:21 PM
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Friday, July 25, 2008

From the Just Say No Deal calendar:

Thursday, July 24, 2008
7:30a-11:00a
Demonstration-Michelle Obama in Ft Myers, FL
Demonstration @ Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre, 1380 Colonial Blvd, Ft Myers, FL
Contact Bob Kunst by e-mail @ hillarynow@hotmail.com for more details.

The result:

Roar.

MORE: Someone tipped me that Bob, the one-man demonstration, has a new web site, HillaryNowForMcCain.com. What an asshole (scroll down). It’s like Atlas Shrugs meets GeoCities.

Posted by Kevin K. on 07/25/08 at 02:02 PM
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[via FREEwinona]

Posted by Kevin K. on 07/25/08 at 08:51 AM
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Thursday, July 24, 2008

From The New York Times:

Last month, the McCain campaign startlingly added Arizona to its list of 24 “battleground states,” a fact that state Democrats have clung to like sprinkles on a soft-serve ice cream cone.

“John McCain has striking vulnerabilities here,” said Emily DeRose, spokeswoman for the Arizona Democratic Party. “We are going to take him to the mat. We are not giving him a pass in Arizona.”

What is more, the state’s Republican Party is more or less in disarray, split between its moderate and staunchly conservative factions. Its chairman, who cheerfully attended a Ron Paul campaign event here just two months ago, has been a thorn in Mr. McCain’s political side for years. On Super Tuesday, Mr. McCain captured 47 percent of his party’s voters, hardly the resounding victory that a candidate who has represented his state for over 25 years might expect.

The Democratic ambitions may be largely bluster. Neither Mr. McCain nor Senator Barack Obama, his presumed rival this fall, appears to be spending money in the state. There are no advertisements, and the Obama campaign has no paid staff here.

[...]

While Democrats welcomed the McCain campaign’s description of Arizona as a battleground state, the pronouncement could also have been a strategic move, done to raise money or motivate volunteers at home, or to mess with the minds of the opposition.

“I didn’t take that too seriously,” said Mr. Pullen, the Republican chairman. “I probably should have called them to ask why. It could have been a trap for Obama.”

Quite a trap. [via Instaputz]:

Posted by Kevin K. on 07/24/08 at 02:25 PM
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I grew weary of syncing up the videos with the sound near the end, but I kinda like the abrupt finish.

Posted by Kevin K. on 07/24/08 at 01:37 PM
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