Blue Spot

Former 60's radical Bill Ayers appeared on Good Morning America and called the attacks on him and the attempts to associate Obama to him a "dishonest narrative."

Labels: anti-war movement, Bill Ayers, Cultural issues, FBI, personal attacks - mudslingling, Terrorism, The 60's, Viet-Nam War, war crimes

The recent leaks by senior McCain aides regarding Gov. Palin just shows how much class and professionalism they lack. It's painfully obvious that they are now trying to cover their butts for their many mistakes during the campaign. It's too bad that an honorable man like McCain decided to seek council from idiots like these. Tonight CNN slammed these fools, and even Obama partisan Roland Martin got into the act. And once again, the so-called "mainstream media" do not lag too far behind when the discussion is about incompetence.

Labels: Gov. Sarah Palin, Media bias, personal attacks - mudslingling

AFP: Obama attacks McCain as White House truce scrapped

NEW YORK (AFP) — The White House contenders called off a brief campaign truce Friday as Barack Obama fired the opening salvo of a sharp counter-offensive against Republican John McCain's "smears and lies."

Obama's Democratic camp accused the Arizona senator of sinking "into the gutter" after the McCain campaign aired a new ad accusing their rivals of disrespecting the Republican's female running mate, Sarah Palin.

"He was the world's biggest celebrity, but his star's fading," the McCain ad said, accusing Obama and his supporters of belittling Palin as an attractive know-nothing who lies about her record.

The independent website FactCheck.org said the McCain ad explored "new paths of deception" as Obama parried with two ads of his own and his campaign manager David Plouffe, in a lengthy memo, ripped apart the Republican case.

One of the spots in the air war, which erupted after a pause in campaigning to mark Thursday's seventh anniversary of the September 11 attacks, hammered the Democrats' case that McCain is a clone of President George W. Bush.

"1982, John McCain goes to Washington. Things have changed in the last 26 years, but McCain hasn't," it narrator intoned.

"He admits he still doesn't know how to use a computer, can't send an email. Still doesn't understand the economy, and favors 200 billion in tax cuts for corporations, but almost nothing for the middle class.

"After one president who was out of touch, we just can't afford more of the same."

Obama took up the attack personally in early morning remarks via satellite to the International Association of Machinists and AerospaceWorkers.

"The very companies that shipped their jobs overseas have been rewarded with billions of dollars in tax breaks that John McCain supports and plans to continue," he said.

"So when American workers hear John McCain talking about putting country first, it's fair to ask -- which country?"

Labels: General Election 2008, personal attacks - mudslingling

Lipstick comments color presidential campaign | Reuters

NORFOLK, Virginia (Reuters) - The U.S. presidential campaign erupted on Wednesday in a spat over gender politics, with John McCain accusing the Democrat of a sexist attack on his running mate and Barack Obama denouncing Republican "lies and phony outrage."

With the race tightening in a struggle for women voters, McCain put out a Web advertisement saying his Democratic rival was talking about Sarah Palin on Tuesday when he likened Republican plans for government reform to putting "lipstick on a pig."

Palin, a little-known Alaska governor before she became McCain's running mate, had told the Republican nominating convention this month that she was a "hockey mom" and joked that the only difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull was lipstick.

McCain's new advertisement juxtaposes the lipstick remarks by Obama and Palin, then cuts to a TV news presenter observing that one lesson of the campaign was the "continued and accepted role of sexism in American life."

"Ready to lead? No," McCain's ad says in print across the TV screen. "Ready to smear? Yes."

Obama tackled the controversy head-on during an appearance in Norfolk.

"What their campaign has done this morning is the same game that has made people sick and tired of politics in this country," he said. "They seize on an innocent remark, try to take it out of context, throw up an outrageous ad because they know that it's catnip for the news media."

Labels: General Election 2008, Gov. Sarah Palin, personal attacks - mudslingling

h/t NewHampster

The thought of Democrats "snatching defeat from the jaws of victory" was finally put to rest in 2006. Or so we thought. Lately, the snarky liberals around the blogosphere at such classy sites like Daily Kos, are trying to prove they can still give elections away.

All the latest attacks aimed at McCain's VP pick, Sarah Palin , are just serving to galvanize Republicans and I predict you will soon see many independents rallying around her.

Online communities such as Daily Kos, which was once a place where diversity was tolerated and was packed with thoughtful, objective, likable progressives, have become colonies for lewd, self-absorbed, mean-spirited, narcissists. They have adopted the tactics used by right-wing operatives and advocacy groups.

Everybody was happy to see the CNN show "Crossfire" finally put to rest. What we see online is a cyber version of this show. I realize that I have been part of the problem in the past and i vow to be more balanced in the future. I started doing this for myself, to document the abuses of the Bush administration and his cronies. But this hobby or for many, profession, has evolved into what Dick Meyer (Why We Hate Us: American Discontent in the New Millennium) calls a "permanent campaign."

The recent Democratic nomination process has highlighted some ugly facts about my party. Some will say and use the most vile and juvenile tactics to win. They will even attempt to destroy one of their own to get what they want and their friends in the MSM will co-operate (think Olbermann, Shuster, Matthews, Mitchell, Todd, Roland Martin, Brazille, Cooper). This is incredibly disappointing, and I will not support this.

Labels: Clueless Pundits, Gov. Sarah Palin, Hillary-haters, Internet, Kos, Liberals, Media bias, Netroots, Obama, personal attacks - mudslingling, supporters

New Books Aim To Unweave the Obama Narrative - washingtonpost.com

In two autobiographies and dozens of speeches, Barack Obama has weaved the narrative that defines his campaign: An introspective boy gradually comes to terms with his mixed-race heritage and emerges with an "unprejudiced" worldview. He enters politics because of his "love of country" and succeeds by staying faithful to his morals and "transcending the partisan divide."

Two weeks before Obama accepts the Democratic nomination for president, conservative author Jerome R. Corsi has attacked his story with a narrative of his own: The son of an "alcoholic polygamist," Obama deals with his abandonment issues and "black rage" by experimenting with drugs and radical thought. He makes a calculated entrance into politics despite having accomplished little and having developed some "anti-American" sentiments. Once in office, he regularly manipulates the political machine and becomes a liberal who will "divide America."

Corsi's "The Obama Nation" lacks major revelations and has been dismissed by Obama's campaign as a series of lies from a serial liar. Parts of the book have also been disproved by the mainstream media. In 2004, Corsi co-wrote "Unfit for Command," in which Swift boat veterans criticized Sen. John F. Kerry's Vietnam War record. That book was also widely disproved.

Kerry, the 2004 Democratic presidential candidate, has started a Web site to help discredit these tactics on Obama's behalf.

Nevertheless, Corsi's book about Obama will debut as a No. 1 New York Times bestseller and threatens the candidate where he could be vulnerable. Ever since Obama introduced himself at the 2004 Democratic convention as the "unlikely" son of a Kenyan goat herder and a white woman from Kansas, he forever married his background to his political future. Corsi and other conservative authors hope that by diminishing one, they can destroy the other.

"The problem with running a campaign that's based on cult of personality is that cracks in the grandiose facade of Obama's life become very damaging," Corsi said in an interview. "That's where you can get a reader's attention and have substantial impact."

Tommy Vietor, a spokesman for Obama, said Corsi's book "is nothing but a series of lies that were long ago discredited." Vietor added: "The reality is, there are many lie-filled books like this in the works cobbled together from the Internet to make money off a presidential campaign."

Labels: Obama critics, personal attacks - mudslingling

CNN Political Ticker: All politics, all the time Blog Archive - Obama takes heat from Catholic League over Pfleger « - Blogs from CNN.com

"Why is it that of all the wonderful Catholic priests in the Chicago Archdiocese, Obama long ago chose Pfleger to hang with?" Catholic League President Bill Donohue said in a statement. "Truth be known, Pfleger has a very troubling history."

“Senator Obama says he wants to bring people together. Then why does he choose as his clerical friends people like Rev. Jeremiah Wright and Father Pfleger?" Donohue also said. "They are two peas in a pod, both equally divisive, separated only by the color of their skin.”

Labels: Election 2008, Hillary, Hillary-haters, Obama, Obama supporters, personal attacks - mudslingling, Rev. Wright, sexism, White Guilt

Political Punch

Forgoing for a moment the dirty trick of the doctored clip from “The War Room,” which falsely had Mickey Kantor using a racial slur, the filmmaker behind the documentary has posted the clip on his Web site to clarify that other point of confusion -- what Kantor was referring to when he cursed. (An apparent source of confusion since the movie came out and some newspaper writers thought he was cursing Indianans. See previous post for that.)

Filmmakers Chris Hegedus and D A Pennebaker write: "We would like to respond to some erroneous statements made today about our film, THE WAR ROOM. These statements alleged certain remarks to Mickey Kantor that simply are not true. The transcript of the scene in question confirms this."

Labels: Election 2008, Hillary, Media, personal attacks - mudslingling

Can Gov. Richardson be trusted about anything? It's funny how Richardson is now saying that he's supporting Obama because of Clinton's tactics when just a few months ago he was calling out Obama for being too negative, as the clip above shows. H/T to GRL at Insightanalytical-Watching Our World.

The moment I knew Richardson couldn't be trusted was when he said back in May, 2007 in an interview with The Hill, “The only reason I’m not there is because he’s Hispanic, and I know him and like him,” Richardson said, adding, “It’s because he’s Hispanic. I’m honest. “I want to give him the benefit of the doubt.” He was talking about his reluctance to call for the resignation of then Attorney General, Alberto Gonzalez.

It takes someone who has character to question somebody else's character.

Below is Richardson's embarrassing answer to a question from singer Melissa Etheridge regarding whether or not homosexuality is a choice.

Labels: Alberto Gonzales, Debates, Election 2008, Gay rights, Gov. Richardson, Judas, personal attacks - mudslingling