The CA GOP:
Obama for America violated federal law by converting its campaign funds to Senator Obama’s personal use. Senator Obama recently traveled to Hawaii to visit his sick grandmother. This was the right thing for any grandson to do-at his own expense-but it was not travel that his campaign may fund. In Senator Obama’s own words, his travels took him “off the [campaign] trail for a day.” The trip featured no campaign events of any kind its 22-hour duration and his decision to travel was “not driven by political concerns,” according to an Obama spokesperson. Since the trip’s purpose was entirely and admittedly personal, the fact that he made campaign telephone calls and talked with staff aides while travelling does not convert this purely personal trip into a proper campaign expense. Therefore, the Obama Campaign violated the FEC’s ban on “personal use” of campaign funds when it paid over $100,000 for the Campaign’s charter to fly to Hawaii without obtaining reimbursement from Senator Obama.
CNN:
Sen. Barack Obama’s grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, has died following a bout with cancer, Obama and his sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, said Monday.
But then again, this are California Republicans, too:
The closer Election Day gets, the easier it is to find stories of inflammatory political crossfire.
The latest: A Republican group in southern California was recently found distributing a newsletter showing a picture of Barack Obama on a fake $10 bill adorned with a watermelon, ribs and a bucket of fried chicken.
Stay classy, GOP.
Fwiffo
Don’t worry. Their destruction is neigh.
Matt
Just wait, they’re going to release the Whitey tape any minute now and will be totally vindicated.
chopper
gotta love the GOP.
condolences to the obama family. she made it one day shy of seeing her grandson win the presidency. shit.
Nikki
I image McCain would much rather they didn’t "go there" as I haven’t seen any calls for him to reimburse his campaign for the use of his plane during the bailout battle when he "suspended" his campaign.
And didn’t that trip occur just a couple of weeks ago? I imagine he still has plenty of time before the FEC would get involved.
jake 4 that 1
I suggest we administer kicks in the junk until they can explain why spending 100K to see his sick grandmother is BAAAD, but spending 150K at some of the most exclusive stores in the country to dress the Palin family isn’t a problem.
Ned R.
It’s fun living out here sometimes. Sometimes.
Josh Hueco
That’s okay. Obama paid for the trip with all those fraudulent credit card charges.
/kidding
Cris v.3.1
You know, they’re probably right that this trip was an improper use of campaign funds, and I cordially invite them to continue to belabor this point. The more they show themselves to be insensitive assholes with nothing but axes and grindstones, the better.
jrg
It’s a shame she did not hold out until tomorrow, but like Sully, I think she already knew the outcome.
Thanks to the efforts of people like Mrs. Dunham, America will continue to create leaders, regardless of the GOP attempts to divide us and cut us down.
Rest in Peace, Mrs. Dunham, and thank you. You did your work well. Now it’s up to the rest of us to get out and vote.
Thoughtcrime
As in Gambino Family.
Comrade Dread
I know we all have political differences and things can and do get heated, but at the end of the day, we’re supposed to put that crap aside and be human beings to one another.
Given the circumstances, a functioning human being would be empathetic and merciful enough to overlook it.
Tom Ames
The freepers are already talking about what secrets must be hidden in the coroner’s report of Mrs. Dunham’s death. (I’d link, but I’ll leave it to the intrepid to find their own way to that cesspit.)
That’s right: the conspiracy theories that Madelyn Dunham’s death was somehow related to Senator Obama’s presidential campaign are already being hatched.
What sick fucks those people are. And I use the term "people" very loosely.
Krista
That makes me so incredibly sad that she did not live to see Obama become President. But I’m sure she was incredibly proud of him and at least she went out knowing that his chances were excellent. My sympathies to the family.
If the Repubs don’t steal the election tomorrow and Obama wins, it’ll definitely be a bittersweet victory for him, methinks.
jake 4 that 1
They make a point of saying he’s in violation because he hasn’t paid for the trip. If he does (or already has) reimburse the campaign then they’ve got less than nothin’.
Cris v.3.1
If reimbursement is an option, doesn’t he have until the end of the quarter to pay it back? The trip was just a couple of weeks ago.
Ned R.
I’m not saying people here need to, I don’t know, drop the California GOP a little note about all this but if you *really* want to…
http://www.cagop.org/contact/
Incertus
@Tom Ames: You know, I figured someone would do that, and I figured it would be the Freepers, but goddamn it I’d really like to be surprised by those motherfuckers one day.
jbd
It seems to me that by using the private jet, Obama enabled himself to stay longer on the campaign trail before making the visit and return more quickly to the campaign after making the visit, so use of the plane facilitated the campaign. Doesn’t seem much of a stretch.
jakester
Ugh. I mean, it’s not even close on the threads I saw talking about his grandmother. For every one (1) RIP post, you get three (3) "how conveeeeeenient" posts and five (5) "RIP but Obama’s still a fucking serial liar and he wants to destroy the coal industry and and and…
This is going to be a tumultuous 8 years, John, if you don’t stop telling us what their saying. I kind of don’t want to know any more.
Evinfuilt
Sadly No covers the conspiracy. At least a few of them know they have the tin foil wrapped too tight..
Comrade Stuck
One thing about today’s GOP. They have the best damn shovels stolen money can buy. Maybe they’ll make a commercial out this nonsense and watch America continue to pull the ladder up out of the deepening hole they’ve dug for themselves.
JoyIA
McCain’s Wright ad just ran here in Des Moines. Puke.
Who are the sick fucks that are spewing appalling comments about Madelyn Dunahm’s death being orchestrated for sympahty? I mean, seriously, who are these nut jobs? I’m guessing that the McLame campaign won’t temper their negativity or lies even during this tragedy of "Toot’s" death.
JimPortlandOR
His grandparents and mother did all (and perhaps more) that family can do to raise a fine man. I hope his grandmother was alert enough in these last days to see that Barak was firmly on his way to election as President.
As for the CA GOP, there is no decency therein and hasn’t been for decades. At least they could have waited for his grandmother’s (and surrograte mother for many years) body to grow cold. But nah, they’d pee on her grave given the opportunity.
Sick fucks!
Comrade Jake
@Incertus:
I’m sure something comparable is coming soon over at NoIQ. In the meantime, they’re content to call him a triangulating homophobe.
Fuckers.
matt
Jim@24, your
is just right. There seem to be a lot of people underestimating the pain and delirium of late-stage cancer. Even if she had lived until tomorrow, it’s unlikely that she would have experienced his election in the way that we all feel that she’s entitled to.
The Moar You Know
This is truth. The red parts of this state are real "Children of the Corn" territory.
Llelldorin
Yeah, this is about par for the course for the California GOP. You can see how well it’s working for them–twenty years ago, CA was a swing state.
CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII
After a campaign is over, many of these candidates take the funds that are left and use them for personal expenses… why is it that nobody ever questions that?
I’m sure Barack Obama can afford to reimburse the fund for the expenses of a trip on a plane? McCain’s campaign is just being petty here.
Hmmm, and yet they don’t seem to care about the hundreds of thousands of dollars for Sarah Palin’s clothes – of course this is just more projection.
If Sarah Palin was wearing McCain-Pailin T-shirts, it MIGHT be legal, but, according to this, Sarah Pailin’s clothing is considered personal expenses. (warning: link goes to a pdf file)
Delia
The California GOP, the party of Duke Cunningham, Duncan Hunter, and Dana Rohrabacher. The party that taught Ahhnold how to sweep the whole Enron ripoff under the carpet and prevent all the citizens of the state from getting any compensation from the whole criminal undertaking. Yeah, that Family Values organization.
CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII
That’s a good point, and after looking at the travel for personal use regulations on the FEC site, these travel for personal use allegations are decided on a case by case basis, so he could make that argument and win it.
I like it. :)
Tim Fuller
It was a political trip. The Republican’s would have pointed to his dying grandmother and called him a heartless bitch if he hadn’t taken the trip. That makes it political.
Enjoy.
The Grand Panjandrum
The California GOP has always been a special kind of crazy. They put the "nut" in wingnut.
Fern
There is also the small matter that Obama needs to travel in a such a way that his personal safety can be assured – which kind of eliminates most other options.
DaveInLA
The whole press release is a goldmine:
http://www.cagop.org/index.cfm/press_release_586.htm
WTF. Did McCain’s campaign pay for anything when his campaign was on hiatus? For that matter, the last month McCain didn’t do anything that served a purpose.
I wonder what Ahnold’s position is?
Joe Beese
MLK: "I may not get there with you."
But her victory is undiminished.
CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII
Ahnold’s position is that McCain is big, strong, manly Goliath and Obama is scrawny little David (if I remember correctly, that story turned out working in David’s favor).
LiberalTarian
@matt: In the pictures of Obama when he went to HI to see his grandmother, I got the sense that she was already gone. He looked so bereft. He spent more of the day at her apartment, where his memories of her probably were, than at her hospital room. When my grandmother died of stomach cancer, she wasn’t really "there" the last several weeks. It had to have been terribly hard for Obama. Now, his grandmother is at rest, and her grandson has already made history.
Moron Freeper
Well, I mean, 85-year-old women don’t just die!
tavella
There is also the small matter that Obama needs to travel in a such a way that his personal safety can be assured – which kind of eliminates most other options.
Yup. That was pretty much why they had to take the plane. Obama can’t travel commercial; he needs to take a pack of SS agents with him, he needs to fly on a secured plane, and he at least has to take the ‘death pool’ of reporters/camerapeople with him.
CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII
I think he’s going to beat this.
Perry Como
Freepers are being more lizard brained than usual.
Fern
@Comrade Jake:
I was wondering what those weasels (no offense to weasels everywhere) were going to find to talk about after the election, but then I decided I didn’t really want to know.
Litlebritdifrnt
There is a special place in hell for these fuckers, right alongside the reserved spots for the NoIQers, Pumapac, Rush, Coulter, Hannity and Ingram. Lucifer is sharpening his pointy knives just to be ready.
I am sad that Mrs. Dunham didn’t make it until tomorrow but as someone on the DR said (AmericanUnity) she will know the results before the rest of us and best of all she will be with her beloved husband and daughter to celebrate. I think we should celebrate her outstanding job at raising a fantastic human being (and next POTUS) under difficult circumstances. Sleep tight toots, you earned the rest.
Laura W
SNL two-hour election special tonight, 9EST.
Ah…Obama acknowledging Toot on Tweety right now, taped a bit earlier, from Charlotte, where Scrutinizer is watching live.
Anyway…SNL alert. I REALLY need to laugh tonight, and somehow I do not feel confident that there will be more Tubbo Tunch sightings.
(I kid the Tunch, out of love, just like Bill Maher. My favorite cat, RIP, was known as Tubbo Walter. I adored his fluffy, white, corpulent mass. Skinny cats just don’t hold a candle. I have both.)
CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII
Less than 24 hours to go, Lou Dobb’s show has a graphic up that says "Teflon Obama". I’m feeling pretty confident now. :)
Dennis - SGMM
The California GOP is a sick joke within the sick joke of the GOP in general. Over the years, California’s electoral districts have been gerrymandered into a collection of safe seats. The result is that the GOP (And to an extent, the Dems) have turned their races into a contest of who can be the most extreme, batshit-insane candidate. The loonies who are elected then proceed to gridlock the California legislature for months on end.
The Moar You Know nailed it: there are parts of my state that could be swapped out with reddest Alabama and no one would know the difference.
That One - Cain
If you want to see some real fun, you guys should read slashdot.org and watch progressive battle libertarians. There aren’t that many religious fundies there but it’s a hoot.
IT people battling each other is always amusing. Some of them go completely batshit crazy when you mention taxes, unions or anything government related.
slashdot.org story
cain
Notorious P.A.T.
Because he’s worried about his anti-American Muslim terrorist socialist associates stabbing him in the back, right? WILLIAM AYERS, anyone?
Jeff
Steve Young posts No on 8 signs.
CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII
Hahaha! Take a look at 538. The Electoral Votes Win Percentage is so miniscule for McCain that you can’t even see any red on that pie anymore. LMAO!
JL
Where are all the trolls? Have they decided that now is not the time to compete with the California Republicans?
JL
OMG I just went to Sadly No and they actually had this comment
I just can’t imagine that John was part of this crowd.
Incertus
@Jeff: I had to check the link to be sure, but my first thought was "isn’t he a Mormon?" And professional athletes, especially the white ones, tend to skew conservative. Of course, given their salaries and their limited career expectancies, that’s a choice that makes at least economic sense, so I don’t blame them.
But good on Young. I’ve been a Saints fan all my life, so he tore my heart out more than once, but all is forgiven now.
Jeff
@Incertus: Not only Mormon, but a direct descendant of Brigham Young.
Incertus
@JL:
I came around here a bit before John’s conversion, but even at his worst, I don’t think John ever descended to this level.
CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII
WTF? Palin was said to have violated ethics protocol in the Troopergate probe and NOW the state of Alaska is saying she didn’t?
Ummm, how did that happen?
The Dangerman
What was their expectation? That he would fly commercial? Oh, yeah, that wouldn’t have been a security nightmare.
Asshats.
Tom Ames
At his "worst", John was always a thoughtful (if harsh) critic, usually of people and policies that deserved at least some criticism.
Napoleon
Speaking of family values, TPM is reporting that the second troopergate report is to come out literally right now.
ninerdave
The people in the California GOP are fucking garbage.
JL
@Napoleon: The MSM will cover the report at midnight in order to assure that nobody will hear it before election day.
Litlebritdifrnt
Speaking of cats (to lighten the mood), Tilly (my all black kitten) was outside sitting under the grill crying cause it is raining. So I went out and called her in, she came into the kitchen and then proceeded to go out the cat door and right back under the grill and cry. After FIVE (5) (yeah you read that right) times of me falling for the "crying under the grill" routine and coaxing her in I left her there. Apart from that the other cats had emptied the large bag of cat food all over the kitchen floor and left me a dead mole in the living room, that will teach ME going away for two days last week.
Pooh
@CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII:
Well, the first report was conducted by the legislature. The 2nd was by the state personnel board, who she hired and can, er, fire.
Napoleon
@Pooh:
That investigation was a farce.
theturtlemoves
@Incertus: I’ve been lurking since before Schiavo and I have to agree. John has a self-awareness that led him out of the pit that these asshats wallow in. A prerequisite of wingnut-hood is a profound lack of self-awareness. And a cold, dark hole where your soul used to be. And this chair. And this paddle ball game. And Shithead. I guess I don’t need Shithead…
Pooh
@Napoleon:
Which one?
TheFountainHead
It kan be tommorroz nau??!!
YellowJournalism
My mother called to tell me that Obama’s grandmother had died. She was so touched by Obama’s relationship with his grandmother. She is actually worried about him, says he looks too tired and emotionally worn out today to campaign.
While we were talking, she had the news on in the background and they played a clip from McCain. I don’t know what he was speaking about, because my mother all of a sudden said, "That McCain guy can shove it."
I love my mother.
Laura W
@TheFountainHead I am not exaggerating…I’ve seen the Rev. Wright commercial 8 times in the last two hours. I switched off MSNBC when it came on 20 min ago, and 2 min later it aired on CNN.
Despair has a putrid odor.
Ha! Finemann on KO: "McCain is going small ball here at the end."
Howard is too polite and sexy for his shirt.
Xecklothxayyquou Gilchrist
@CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII: The Electoral Votes Win Percentage is so miniscule for McCain that you can’t even see any red on that pie anymore.
That is a thing of beauty – I screen-grabbed it. I’ve screen-grabbed 538 a few times, like when Obama first went over 90%.
Back around convention time, I was thinking I’d be happy if 538 had Obama over 60% by the time the election rolled around. I’m even happier with where it sits now. Heh.
r€nato
you know what’s especially stupid about these CA GOP shenanigans?
What’s it going to accomplish? First of all, California – Reagan’s state! – has been deep blue since Pete Wilson made the hideous mistake of climbing on the anti-immigrant bandwagon. It’s hard to think of a state in which McCain is less competitive.
Secondly, I mean, come on… picking on the guy for flying to see his dying grandmother?
This was just pure spite. There was no strategic upside to it whatsoever.
Tymannosourus
/staring at the clock.
TheFountainHead
BREAKING!!
I JUST CONVINCED MY CONSERVATIVE McCAIN-DONATIN’ ROOMMATE TO VOTE FOR OBAMA WITH ME TOMORROW MORNIN’!!!
W00t!! I’M HAVING A BEER BITCHES!!
r€nato
I’m so excited… does it feel like Christmas Eve to any of you?
And the anticipation of opening your presents is just killing you?
And you know what you’re going to get already?
And you know it’s going to be a Ferrari with Jessica Simpson in it?
…ok maybe it’s not going to be THAT good tomorrow.
But, pretty close.
Now I have some idea of how McCain felt when he finally got out of his prison cell.
Just Some Fuckhead
Sounds like it may be time for an intervention for you. Howard Fineman is a power-sucking-up-to Toad. He’s in Group A up against the wall after Teh Glorious Revolution.
Just Some Fuckhead
And how fucking hard is it to say Buh-rock like everyone else?
TheHatOnMyCat
Total saturation on cable. I have not seen local broadcast yet today, and may not, so I don’t know how that is stacking up.
One good thing about saturation on the cable news channels is that relatively few people see those channels, and most of those people are not undecideds. I think that the Obama campaign deliberately left the opposition with low-impact time slots to buy at this point.
As for the Wrong Commercial itself, I am at the point where I am holding myself back from smashing the tv when I see it mainly by thinking of how expensive a move that would be.
Xecklothxayyquou Gilchrist
@r€nato: I’m so excited… does it feel like Christmas Eve to any of you?
Kind of, if I knew it was, say, 98.1% likely that I’d find a pony under the tree and 1.9% likely that I’d find a rabid badger.
Laura W
@Just Some Fuckhead:
OK, but not till 11/10, ‘kay thanx? Give me a week to revel in the Glare of the Hopeful Now.
Fixt?
CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII
@r€nato:
OMG, two minutes before I read that I started crying, feeling like the last eight years are finally going to be over. I’ve got tears streaming down my face.
@TheFountainHead:
Congrats on your roommate win ;)
CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII
@Xecklothxayyquou Gilchrist: Yes, it is a thing of beauty.
@YellowJournalism: I love your mother too. ::grins::
CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII
TZ, relax and smile, I think the over-saturation is going to work against McCain. Look at TheFountainHead – just convinced a McCain contributor to vote for Obama. There are people out there who can be swayed against him with this bullshit. ;)
Then look at the pie for Win Percentage on 538 and just laugh.
I want to add, I find it incredible that the Wright attack was used previously and was unsuccessful, and this is what McCain decides to use to close out his campaign. Benign, I think.
Josh Hueco
@CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII:
It’s my nature to be pessimistic and to look for the worst case scenario, and I won’t believe it until BHO is sworn in on 1/20/09. But damn it feels good to be a gangsta socialist traitor baby-killer Democrat tonight.
LongHairedWeirdo
You know, I think that questioning whether the use of campaign funds was proper or not is legitimate. But isn’t that a really piddling issue to play with on election eve?
I mean, if the bullshit stories about fundraising fraud don’t have legs, why is an administrative decision about whether Obama has to write a check back to his campaign going to have legs?
Just Some Fuckhead
It’s actually fitting for a campaign whose only final shot at winning relies on the support of closet racists. Unfortunately for McCain, anyone who could have possibly been swayed by this ad was already voting for McCain.
Edit: what I mean to suggest in the first sentence is that his only shot at winning is the "bradley" or "wilder" effect, where white people claim to be supporting the black candidate but then actually vote for the white guy. I don’t think it’s ever been proven there is such an effect, but regardless, it’s the final McCain hope.
boonagain
What I found unfathomable about the Wright commercial is how it ends with a shot of Wright and Obama and, in the shot they used, Obama is beaming and is entirely unthreatening.
If the whole point was to make him a scary black man, then why in Hell did they use a picture of him which just reinforces everyone’s impressions of him from the debate.
Those idiots can’t even do attack ads right.
Soylent Green
Which is not that much of a stretch considering that Brigham Young had 55 wives, who bore him 57 children.
Laura W
@boonagain: Airing again…8:51PM EST MSNBC. It’s almost funny at this point.
HA HA HA!
YOU LOSE!
POW!
Dennis - SGMM
Perhaps the best part of this campaign is, no matter what the outcome, McCain and his party emerge without a shred of dignity.
CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII
55 wives, 57 children? There’s something seriously fucked up about those numbers. Did he only have sex with a woman once and then decide they were ruined? (Two of them had twins, I think)
CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII
Isn’t it great? I hope he is so publicly reviled and humiliated after he returns to Arizona that he’s afraid to even go to Starbucks for lattes.
boonagain
I just want this over. I’ve got nothing done all day except go from one website to another for polls and updates.
Tok time off to get snacks for tomorrow night and then came back to the office and probably pissed off a client.
She had sent me 3 separate emails touting right to life candidates-ie Republicans-on my business account.
I sent her the following email:
Was that OK
boonagain
It’s sweet that all their money is going down the very ineffective Wright rathole.
TheHatOnMyCat
I certainly hope so. The nearest Starbucks, I think,is the one at 16th and Camelback. His condo is right around the corner.
The last thing I want to do is run into the bastard over there when I am headed to McDonalds for a Big Mac.
Dennis - SGMM
@CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII:
I have never, in sixty years, seen anyone sell himself out so comprehensively.
Just Some Fuckhead
@boonagain: Was that OK?
I guess you didn’t have any way of shipping her a severed fetus head?
CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII
Careful if your job is really important to you, a gun factory owner has been forced to resign for less.
boonagain
Wasn’t there a story earlier in the campaign about the McCain’s trailing the whole Secret Service entourage for Starbucks runs? Did I hallucinate that?
Tsulagi
@r€nato:
Jessica Simpson? Yuk. Change that to pre-Brad Pitt Angelina Jolie then I would see starbursts.
CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII
Hey, I just saw Obama’s TaxCutFact.org (paid for by Barack Obama for America) ad with the calculator to see how much you’d get back in taxes under his plan. A woman making twice as much as I normally would was shown to get back $1000. :) WOW
CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII
I missed this from Kos, but I guess it’s just because I have a visceral dislike for Dana Bash (that woman is very hard to look at):
and now I just heard Karen Hughes say McCain has a very difficult task and she doesn’t expect him to win.
Looking better and better.
Xecklothxayyquou Gilchrist
@CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII: 55 wives, 57 children? There’s something seriously fucked up about those numbers.
The worst thing about the big Mormon families here in Utah is how all the kids have such weird names.
Comrade Mary, Would-Be Minion Of Bad Horse
That woman proves, once again, that she is a complete asshole. A smarmy, thin-skinned, hypocritical, vicious asshole who deserves to be sent home to play with the huskies.
Xecklothxayyquou Gilchrist
@Comrade Mary, Would-Be Minion Of Bad Horse: Palin has, however, previously said that she is sure Obama loves his country and doesn’t doubt his patriotism.
Followed, no doubt, by one of those trademark winks.
Laura W
@boonagain:
Um….you were pretty much saintly as far as I can tell.
Here was my response to a woman who barely knows me. She made the mistake of thinking it was appropriate to include me in her "Send to All" address book group list and forwarded an absurd email to me on the wrong night at the exact wrong time. (*See below.) I’d been pimping my art at an outdoor show all weekend, was really spent and tired of smiling and making chit chat, and was one adult beverage into my unwinding when she rang in:
Doris, I am voting for Obama. McCain/Palin are disgusting and dishonorable.
I never watch Fox news, and never will.
Please don’t forward me Republican propaganda. It’s racist bullshit.
Laura
We had another set of passes at each other, in person and in email, but I’ll spare you because I am sure they are not unlike any that you all have endured in the last two years.
*SEAN HANNITY, OF HANNITY & COLMES ~ FOX NEWS, IS GOING TO AIR A VERY IMPORTANT DOCUMENTARY ABOUT BARACK
OBAMA, SUNDAY NIGHT AT 9:00 PM. HE STATED ON THE AIR THIS EVENING THAT NO ONE IN THE NEWS MEDIA WAS WILLING TO DO THIS. HANNITY IS GOING BACK TO OBAMA’S EARLIER DAYS, SHOWING EVEN THEN HIS TIES TO RADICAL PROFESSORS, FRIENDS, SPIRITUAL ADVISERS, Etc., HE STATED THIS EVENING THAT HE WILL SHOW IN DETAIL HIS TIES TO REV. WRIGHT FOR 20+ YRS (which we all know) HOW HE WAS PARTICIPATING WITH THIS MAN, AND NOT FOR THE REASONS HE STATES! HE HAS UNCOVERED MORE OF OBAMA’S RADICAL LEADERS AND WE WILL SEE THINGS THAT NO ONE IN THE MEDIA IS WILLING TO PUT OUT THERE. THIS WILL BE A NIGHT THAT YOU WILL KNOW MORE ABOUT OBAMA THAN EVER BEFORE. HANNITY IS VERY PASSIONATE ABOUT THIS PROGRAM AND ASKED THAT EVERYONE PLEASE, PLEASE WATCH~~ SUNDAY NIGHT, 9 PM. HANNITY IS DETERMINED THIS INFORMATION BE PUT OUT THERE BECAUSE AS AMERICAN’S, WE STILL DO NOT KNOW ABOUT OBAMA!! WAKE UP AMERICA!! THIS IS SERIOUS,EVERYONE. I KNOW MOST OF YOU WATCH FOX NEWS, AND YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE VOTING FOR, BUT IF YOU CAN, PLEASE PASS THIS ON TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW. THIS IS CRITICAL FOR OUR COUNTRY. MY PRAYER IS THAT WE, ALONG WITH SEAN HANNITY, WILL REACH SOMEONE/ANYONE BEFORE NOV. 4th. WE MUST NOT GIVE UP!!!! GOD BLESS!!
Comrade Jake
@CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII:
I’m pretty sure the ad’s not going to make a damn bit of difference. Not that many people view Obama as a risky/scary black man/America hater at this stage, and rightfully so. It just looks like desperation on the GOP’s part at this point. This stuff was most powerful when it first came out, and Obama dealt with it. Now it seems like pretty weak sauce.
Still, there are a good number of folks who seem to think the GOP didn’t use Wright enough. I’m pretty sure these are the same people who think Palin’s a shoe-in for 2012. Good luck to them.
Tattoosydney
@Comrade Jake:
Fuck. me. No, actually, fuck them….
It just goes to show that my people can be as fucking stupid and deluded as anyone else…
Saying that you oppose Prop 8, and yet do not support gay marriage (as opposed to civil unions of some sort) is not triangulating. It is expressing a considered view – suggesting that Obama takes the same view as some of us on here, that arguing about "marriage" is a distraction which actually gets in the way of achieving substantive equality between gay and straight "civil unions".
Regardless of whether you agree with that, or feel that "marriage" is a necessity, the mindset that would allow you to think that a Republican (who on all the evidence would follow policies which diminish gays and lesbian rights) is better than a Democrat who takes a nuanced approach to every issue staggers me.
Fucking idiots.
kommrade jakevich
@ninerdave: I pity the poor garbage.
TheHatOnMyCat
Not often that I see a post in here on this subject with which I agree 101% …but here is one.
Fine post.
Comrade Jake
I just spent a few minutes reading comments over at NoIQ. There’s no need for any of the rest of you to venture over there. I can attest that they’re all batshit fucking crazy.
cain
@CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII:
He’s just showing to the muslims that he can have 55 virgins right here in God’s green earth and you don’t have to die; you need the right religion!
cain
kommrade jakevich
No1/4: Concerned troll, or most concerned troll evar?
Something’s simple all right. Like those wanks give a flaming fuck. If they run a post between now and 12 pm EST, in which they exhort African-Americans to reject Obama because he isn’t black enough, I would not be surprised even a teeny bit.
And weren’t they supposed to produce a tape of some sort?
Tymannosourus
I just gave my father in law 10-to-1 odds on our election bet. Best dollar that I will have ever made.
Comrade Jake
Meanwhile, I hardly recognize TalkLeft. I don’t know how Jeralyn eventually voted, but her posts certainly don’t harbor any remaining HRC bitterness.
Lesley
For a long time, moderate conservatives have buried their heads in the sand; believed their party hadn’t been overtaken by the fringe-monsters of the ribs, bucket, and watermelon variety. Those who have been paying attention during the election campaign have realized that’s exactly what’s happened.
McCain has not distanced himself from the "souls that, crablike, crawl continually toward darkness, going backward in life rather than advancing, using their experience to increase their deformity, growing continually worse, and becoming steeped more and more thoroughly in the intensifying viciousness but invited them in. He’s promising to perpetuate more of the crazy and the Cheney. Many moderate conservatives are voting for Obama because they feel alienated and disgusted with the direction of the party they’ve voted for – perhaps out of habit and loyalty – for years. Their vote for Obama is a vote against what the R has become.
Tattoosydney
@TheHatOnMyCat:
*blush*
Thanks.
I’m sitting here in Australia, feeling hopeful (and slightly nervous).
I can’t speak for the rest of the world, but I can tell you that in Australia there is a palpable excitement. I have been invited to four separate election night drinks (Wednesday night, Sydney time – by which time it is likely (FSM willing) that the election will have been called for Obama). In 2000 and 2004, there were none.
On the basis of my anecdotal experience, support for Obama here entirely crosses political lines. I have spoken to so many hard core Liberal Party supporters (our Liberal Party is the party of John Howard, who spent most of his time as PM with his nose inserted into W’s anatomy) who wholeheartedly support Obama as the only rational choice….
I don’t think Australia is unique. When I was in Singapore and Amsterdam and Lisbon, wearing an Obama t-shirt was a sure trigger to five or six total strangers each day stopping me in the street to voice support…
I think we are all as hopeful as you are, and grateful to those of you who have been able to work on the ground to make what I hope happens tomorrow happen.
jcricket
Obama is poised to win California with the biggest margin since FDR in 1936. Obama is poised to win Virginia, a state that hasn’t voted for a Dem for President in 44 years. Obama is quite possibly going to win Indiana, Montana and/or North Dakota.
So in blue states he’s blowing them away. In light red states he’s turning them blue. And in some red states, he’s swinging things 15-20 percentage points into the Democratic direction.
In other news – NM is going to go from 2-3 Democrat (house seats) to 5-0 Democrat, with two democratic senators and a democratic governor. You don’t get that kind of change by accident.
He’s changed the game, and Republicans will either be playing catchup for a while or running down the field the wrong way (go ahead, nominate Palin).
I was a mildly enthusiastic Obama support (I supported Hillary for quite some time). There was never a chance I would vote Republican. But I’ve become a true believer that Dems are going to sweep, riding in on Obama’s coattails (with a little "fortune" thrown in courtesy of real-world events – luck favors the prepared, and all that.).
I think, pessimistically we win the presidency by 3% (300 electoral), 20 house seats and 5 senate seats. Realistically (middle), 25 house seats, presidency by 5% (330 electoral) and 7 senate seats. Optimistically, 35 house seats, presidency by 8 (380+ electoral) and 59 senate seats.
You can guess where I’m hoping we land.
Charity
@Tattoosydney: Seriously, I get what he is saying. Just because Obama personally is not in favor of gay marriage he does not see a reason to forbid the possibility to thousands of people.
Cuz he’s not an enormous ASSHOLE.
RIP, Mrs. Dunham. Thank you for your grandson. Please let Jeebus know which way to vote tomorrow.
TheHatOnMyCat
Okay, it’s Election Day.
I am officially a nervous fucking wreck.
I am getting up at the crack of dawn to vote as early as possible.
Good luck to all with your Election Day activities.
Let this be the Day Hell Ended.
TheHatOnMyCat
Oh, I forgot about Standard Time. 40 minutes to Election Day.
kommrade jakevich
@TheHatOnMyCat: 31 …
And yes, I am about to put my voter notification card on the bed table and will wake up to check on it a few times in the night.
Darkrose
@Tattoosydney: I’m so over the purity patrol queers whining about how Obama won’t come out and say that he absolutely and fully supports same-sex marriage. Do I wish he would? Sure. But for Dog’s sake, people, there are other issues on the table–and the fact is that the man wants to get elected.
(Also note that HRC had pretty much the identical position to Obama. And the Big Dog is the one who gifted us with DOMA to distract from his own penis problems.)
Tattoosydney
I’m hoping Al is right…
Good luck tomorrow.
Bey
@kommrade jakevich: Dang. You choked me up there jake.
Tattoosydney
@Darkrose:
The thing that amazes me is that there seems to be an expectation (rather than merely a hope) among some in our GLBTQwhatever community that expects that someone will pass a law and everything will be equal.
It has been 145 years from the second Emancipation Proclamation to the point where a black man might (in the next 48 hours) become president of the United States. Women were granted the vote in the US in 1920 (and in Australia in 1902), and yet women are still systematically disadvantaged by our societies (albeit to a much lesser degree).
It took time to get to where we are now, and in the mean time our governments had to deal with other issues on the table like two World Wars, and the odd Depression.
Stonewall was 1969, and yet some people think that anyone who would accept anything less than full equality now is a traitor.
We take the fights we can win, and we work with the people who are willing to help us in those fights. If it takes less than 145 years (and I suspect it will) then we’re ahead.
Fulcanelli
It’s tiny, but Rhode Island. It’ll be bluer than a Palin lovin’ male college student’s nut sack.
We were treated to the Wright ad about a dozen times this evening. Such a satisfying feeling watching the GOP waste so much money donated by the vile, soulless pricks which are left among its ranks.
Such a profound tragedy, Obama’s grandmother passing today, but her work was finished and complete. I truly believed she knew he’d make it.
The struggle, the sacrifice, the Obama story is poised to take it’s rightful place among the many rich, great success stories that are a part of the American mythology, forever with a life of it’s own.
It’s is our time.
Yes. We. Did.
Tattoosydney
@ Darkrose:
Dammit! I changed my email and now I am in moderation (and Cole is probably in bed).
Excuse me if I revert to my old email and repost…
Further, to justify the repost… (much as I hate to link to the GOS), this also.
Perry Como
Dixville notch just voted for Obama, 15-6.
Tattoosydney
@Perry Como:
Compared to the past votes, that’s kind of impressive…
Something has stirred in Dixville Notch in the last four years.
TheHatOnMyCat
It’s over.
Comrade Mary, Would-Be Minion Of Bad Horse
But what about Hart’s Location?
And somewhere out there, Sully is weeping.
Comrade Mary, Would-Be Minion Of Bad Horse
Oh, and Obama drew 90,000 in Manassas tonight.
Indylib
@Comrade Mary, Would-Be Minion Of Bad Horse:
That would be husky abuse.
She needs to be sent home and forced to have a face to face discussion with the polar bears about their status on the endangered species list.
Tattoosydney
@Tattoosydney:
Australian with little previous awareness of Dixville Notch’s prior voting record reads Wikipedia article in its entirety, and revises view…
That’s fucking impressive.
Comrade Mary, Would-Be Minion Of Bad Horse
Woo-hoo from Hart’s Location!!
Obama: 17
McCain: 10
Ron Paul: 2 (write-in)
Bob Barr: 0
Ralph Nader: 0
Gotta love that whiteboard.
Delia
The goopers have been playing the Rev. Wright ad in heavy rotation on MSNBC in Oregon today. Which is insane. Well over 50% of the population has turned in their ballots and one of the documented issues that irritated voters about both candidates in the senatorial campaign was their negative TV ads.
Barack has been running his Paul Simon American Tune ad a lot lately here. I think this one is great.
Martin
It’s national. It’s running in every market. We see it every hour or so here in CA, which McCain is going to lose by about 107%.
Comrade Kevin
@Delia:
That is a good ad, Delia. It was not produced by the Obama campaign, though, if you see what is said at the end of it.
I was inundated with that odious Wright ad on MSNBC this evening as well, in California.
Comrade Kevin
On another subject, I do like the Samuel L. "Bad Motherfucker" Jackson No On 8 ad. It lays out the historical pedigree of the Yes on 8 people.
Delia
And a friend just sent round this Obama music video in the faith and hope of a good outcome tomorrow.
Tattoosydney
@Delia:
Dammit. You made me cry.
Comrade Kevin
@Delia:
that’s another great video, Delia!
Comrade Nikolita
It’s probably been mentioned already, but if the GOP could spend $150k on Palin’s wardrobe, it should be fair game for Obama to visit his dying grandmother. Nevermind that a family deed like that is the right thing to do, but new clothes are optional.
I can’t remember who said it, but after the primaries were over, I remember someone saying McCain was going to make Hillary’s campaign look like puppies and rainbows, or something like that. And they were right. Wow, that was a really, really sleazy campaign by McCain.
r€nato
being a believer in the power of snark, my reply probably would have read more like this:
"Dear Madam: I appreciate your strongly-held beliefs, but, IMO, this election has to be about more than one issue. That’s why I am a strong Obama supporter; I support his agenda of taxing the shit out of mandatory gay marriages and mandatory abortions for Bible-thumping wackjobs. Respectfully yours…"
Delia
Well, I really should just turn off my computer and go to bed, but now I keep finding more Obama videos. Speaking of actual family values, here’s a clever one filled with cute kids.
iluvsummr
@Delia: Thanks for sharing that – made me tear up (especially around the MLK part).
Dennis - SGMM
So, McCain’s closing argument isn’t about why you should vote for him, it’s about why you shouldn’t vote for Obama. Welcome to the dustbin of history, John Sydney. It’s yawning wide for you and for that vicious little rodent from Alaska.
bago
Megalomaniacal and harder than the rest.
Gravenstone
Coming rather late to the party tonight (sneaking in from work). Yeah, the push buys of the Rev. Wright ads were loathesome, but I have to admit there was one aspect of the ad that made me chuckle after I first caught it.
They have the Wright quote "not God Bless America, but God Damn America." featured prominently (shocking, I know). What was amusing (to me anyway) was they did not bleep the first iteration of God, but did so on the second. Seriously? They were that *worried* about context that they selectively bleeped a reference to the second variation of the FSM? **boggle**
Yeah, watching clowns like the ones behind that ad, and everything they purport to stand for about to go down in flames within the next 24 hours has a certain pleasant tang to it.
bedlam UK
Considering how badly McCains Season has gone, and how people have mostly rejected the idea of this dirty, lying campaign, I do wonder if in 4 years time, the GOP will have re-branded themselves, and kicked out the fundies.
With the pain of remembering the massive failure of these awful tactics and the power of the internet to fact-check and re-run lies and statements, they may realise that they need to run a ‘real’ campaign and have to find the issues that really matter and that they actually believe in, rather than any hook they find that day.
If Obama has had a successful term, and runs a clean re-election bid would they run an equally clean campaign in fear of another awful fiasco?
This election could mark the end of these tactics, or alternatively, Sarah Palin could run a 3rd Party, the Christian Coalition against Intelligence, and all the dirty / evil / stuupids can go there, leaving 2 intelligent parties to work to make your country better by being the watchers and counter-balances to the party in power.
Nah, its Palin / Plumber 2012
Conservatively Liberal
When I heard this news I felt sick inside. It doesn’t help that I came down with a nasty cold last night (Sunday) as it just made it feel worse. I really really wanted his Grandmother to see what she, her husband and their daughter had accomplished in Barack. I am not one for prayer but I was really hoping that his Grandmother could hold on at least until the election was over so she could see her Grandson reach the pinnacle of success in American politics, but it was not to be.
Obama sacrificed seeing her in her last days of her life for us, the people of America, and I am sure that Toot wouldn’t have had it any other way. Just saying the above brings tears to my eyes and I am one staid SOB who rarely tears up.
I would say more but I all I can say is:
Thank you Madelyn. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Rest in peace.
Regarding the sick animals on the right who are making hay with this, I will save my comments for another thread. This death touches too close to home for me and I really can’t say much more than that right now. It took me this long to comment here for that reason.