Brooklyn Ron

McCain on Hillary and Bill: They Really Support Me. A Joke. Sort of.

Super funny John McCain asks, Where's Bill? and suggests that some Democrats at the Alfred Smith dinner are really backing him.

"Even in this room full of proud Manhattan Democrats, I can't shake that feeling that some people here are pulling for me," McCain said at the Thursday dinner.

"I'm delighted to see you here tonight, Hillary."

Whoa. That laugh from Hillary Clinton must have overlaid a little discomfort.

As for Bill Clinton, whom McCain zinged for his tepid support of Obama -- suggesting that the ex President was actually backing him, McCain -- we don't know what the reaction was.

He wasn't at the dinner.

Here's Obama's spiel, which wasn't bad, though it seems McCain got more sustained laughter. Had a better writer, we suppose. Click this bottom image to hear Obama. [McCain's talk, of course, is the above image and can be heard by clicking it.]

Barack Obama's KKK Style: Kool, Kalm, Kollected

Some pundits and others are bashing Barack Obama for not striking at John McCain's jugular.

Count this one among those who, at first, winced as Obama spoke during the debate about McCain's running mate, Sarah Palin. Obama did not dwell on Palin's glaring shortcomings that have so captivated the media, her stark lack of experience for one, her shortcomings in the area of foreign policy in particular.

Obama was, in fact, beyond nice.

But in truth this graciousness was clearly a calculated tactic -- or, okay, John, a calculated strategy -- on Obama's part, knowing that he did not want to come across as angry or bitter, especially gives the stereotypes many Americans hold about young African-American men.

Throughout the evening in fact Obama was a remarkable, even stunning, example of calmness under extraordinary pressure, parsing phrases and even thoughts with the skill of a seasoned debater, prompting  McCain a couple of times to remark upon Obama's "eloquence," although, of course, McCain said it with clenched teeth.

We would dare say that while Obama showed clear calculation in his approach to the evening, it was not a stance that could be called sangfroid, in the root "cold blood" sense of the phrase.

Obama's performance, like his character as reflected in his autobiography, "Dreams From My Father," was extraordinary, in so many ways. He gunned even as he held back, while McCain often appeared on the verge of losing it all to the anger seething within him.

McCain's was a anxious discomfort that caused him to walk the wrong way towards the end of the debate at Hofstra, prompting the tongue dropping reaction captured by a Reuters photographer. [See accompanying photo.]

John McCain is an Out-of-Control, Prevaricating, Woman-Abusing Brat: Rolling Stone

This an article that transcends any piece that's appeared in the mainstream media recently about John McCain.

The revelations about him are chilling, the way he used the names and reputations of his father and grandfather to be accepted into the Naval Academy, to avoid expulsion, to remain in the navy, to gain choice postings, and to avoid being kicked out of the navy.

Much has been said about McCain's heroic service in Vietnam; but this piece says that much of what came from McCain's mouth is untrue or misleading.

We see how he mistreated his first wife, how he cheated on her, how he used filthy, demeaning, sexist language with his next wife and how McCain's hero, Ronald Reagan, looked on him with suspicion because of his character faults.

Much of this has been aired publicly before, of course but, put together this way, in a total package and at this time and without holding back, does a true public service.

Rolling Stone says John McCain is a "Make-Believe Maverick."

(Click here to read.)

Video Truth: McCain Lies to Hide Ties to Bank Scandal

Today John McCain was in New Mexico shamefully trying to link Democratic candidate Barack Obama to banking deregulation.

It's shameful, this tactic, because it shows how low the Republican candidate will go when he starts sinking (no, tanking is a better word) in the polls.

In any event, the reckless and untruthful remarks have led the Obama campaign to release a web video that tells about McCain's involvement in the notorious Keating Five scandal that caused three U.S. Senators to be reprimanded, as McCain and another Senator, by the grace of a lower power, avoided that fate.

The Obama campaign's 13-minute documentary is called “Keating Economics: John McCain and the Making of a Financial Crisis” and it outlines John McCain’s role in the scandal that cost U.S. taxpayers $2.6 billion.

This will seem more relevant to many American voters than McCain and Palin's efforts to mock Obama's middle name and paint him as a terrorist, a charge that is an un-American as it is amoral.

Here's the video. Click to see it. (After the video image is a written synopsis of the Keating Five scandal.)

Here's the synopsis of the scandal, chilling and very relevant to today's crisis, as related by wiki:

The Keating Five were five United States Senators accused of corruption in 1989, igniting a major political scandal as part of the larger Savings and Loan crisis of the late 1980s and early 1990s. The five senators, Alan Cranston (D-CA), Dennis DeConcini (D-AZ), John Glenn (D-OH), John McCain (R-AZ), and Donald W. Riegle (D-MI), were accused of improperly intervening in 1987 on behalf of Charles H. Keating, Jr., chairman of the Lincoln Savings and Loan Association, which was the target of a regulatory investigation by the Federal Home Loan Bank Board (FHLBB).

The FHLBB subsequently backed off taking action against Lincoln. Lincoln Savings and Loan collapsed in 1989, at a cost of $2 billion to the federal government. Some 23,000 Lincoln bondholders were defrauded and many elderly investors lost their life savings.

The substantial political contributions that Keating had made to each of the senators, totalling $1.3 million, attracted considerable public and media attention. After a lengthy investigation, the Senate Ethics Committee determined in 1991 that Alan Cranston, Dennis DeConcini, and Donald Riegle had substantially and improperly interfered with the FHLBB in its investigation of Lincoln Savings, with Cranston receiving a formal reprimand. Senators John Glenn and John McCain were cleared of having acted improperly but were criticized for having exercised "poor judgment".

All five of the senators involved served out their terms. Only Glenn and McCain ran for re-election, and they both succeeded. McCain would go on to become the Republican nominee for president in 2008.

For Palin, 'Diversity' Means Whites of All Creeds and Gender Preferences

The untold story, perhaps, of Sarah Palin is the way her election could change the nature and social meaning of the word "diversity," which for the past generation has largely denoted racial or ethnic balance in various environments.

Palin used the word diversity in Thursday's debate with Joe Biden, and she fairly remarkably applied it to her own family.

Let's just say that months, or even weeks, ago that would have suggested Palin might have a Latino or two, or a black or some Asians, among her blood or marriage relations.

But such an assumption with respect to Sarah Palin would be way off base. In fact, since she made her debut at the Republican Convention several weeks ago, it's almost as if the Republicans are trying to make that era of racial diversity, as a thing to achieve, a thing of the past.

The numbers of blacks in particular have been notably reduced, and there's been a relative scarcity also of Latinos, leading many bloggers to refer to the Convention scene in the Twin Cities as a "sea of white faces."

Given Palin's continual reference to Israel as American's die-hard friend in the Middle East, it might be a strain to say she's one of those exclusionary Christian fundamentalists who view Jews as damned.

And she's made a point of saying also that while she opposed gay marriage, she does have gay friends.

In fact, it was in this latter context that she used the word diversity in the debate.

Here it is. Think on it and decide whether these thoughts are true.

"I . . . want to clarify, if there's any kind of suggestion at all from my answer that I would be anything but tolerant of adults in America choosing their partners, choosing relationships that they deem best for themselves, you know, I am tolerant and I have a very diverse family and group of friends and even within that group you would see some who may not agree with me on this issue, some very dear friends who don't agree with me on this issue."

[Photos: far left, Palin; right, clockwise from top, George Bush, Joe Lieberman, Dick Cheney, Rudy Giuliani.]

McCain was Bumbling and Condescending in Debate on Foreign Policy

Did you hear all the times John McCain tried to come off as the wise man, telling Barack Obama how Obama simply didn't understand this or didn't understand that about foreign relations or about war.

It was clearly an effort on McCain's part to fill a void, to send an overly overt message that said, "I'm the veteran here. I'm the one who's supposed to really understand foreign policy."

And it didn't work.

Obama offered, tripping off his tongue, names of more foreign leaders and countries than most listeners could easily recall afterwards, even as McCain mispronounced the names of leaders of Pakistan and Iran.

Also, it was a bit strange the way McCain accused Obama of "talking the talk" while not "walking the walk"  -- a pretty obnoxious phrasing that he likely would not have used with Biden or anyone else.

Another half an hour and maybe we'd have heard McCain yell, "Wait a minute, bro."

Obama turned it on McCain, however, when he used the walkin/talkin line himself, doing so without even giving the impression that he was shoving it as McCain.

Very cool, actually.

Some pundits on CNN, especially the corrupt idiot William Bennett, seemed to think McCain did pretty well.

Truth be told, he failed miserably.

[Photo: AP of the candidates just before the debate began in Oxford, Miss.]

McCain Suffers Panic Attack, Cancels (Almost) Everything. Some are Pissed

John McCain, in a clear sign that he's had an anxiety attack, canceled just about everything of significance on his calendar, including Friday's scheduled debate with his Democratic opponent, Barack Obama.

Weirder and weirder, as someone in Alice in Wonderland might have said.

And someone might also say: The problem here, stupid, is the economy.

McCain knows very little about the ways in which everyday people are suffering from it.

For crying out loud, his wife Cindy wears jewels and dresses worth many hundreds of thousands of collars. Plus, the McCains have 13 cars, and they don't even know how many homes.

Now, with the nation on the front end of a financial meltdown, McCain finally realizes something is wrong here and that he's going to have to lots of people in lots of pain.

Even George Bush, his political twin, is frantic fashioning jerry-built solutions to the Wall Street crisis. McCain knows that he's got to study this economy thing and come up with something of significance to say.

As for Obama, if he and his advisers have their act together, and if the debate finally happens, they will hit McCain hard with McCain's acknowledged ignorance about the economy and his 13 vehicles.

As of this writing, it's unclear whether the Mississippi debate will actually happen, whether McCain may be shamed into showing up.

Among the angry people now is David Letterman, who skewered McCain for canceling an appearance on Letterman's Wednesday show.

Here's what the HuffingtonPost, via Drudge, had to say about the insult to Dave Letterman and Letterman's anger:

"In the middle of the taping Dave got word that McCain was, in fact just down the street being interviewed by Katie Couric. Dave even cut over to the live video of the interview, and said, "Hey Senator, can I give you a ride home? . . .

Earlier in the show, Dave kept saying, "You don't suspend your campaign. This doesn't smell right. This isn't the way a tested hero behaves." And he joked: "I think someone's putting something in his metamucil. . .

"He can't run the campaign because the economy is cratering? Fine, put in your second string quarterback, Sarah Palin. Where is she? . . .

"What are you going to do if you're elected and things get tough? Suspend being president? We've got a guy like that now!"

McCain said earlier Wednesday that he was canceling Letterman and the debate because he wanted to show up in Washington and deal with Bush's $700 billion plan to bail out Wall Street.

Presumably McCain's main goal is to reduce embarrassment for himself and, by extension, his political partner Bush.

On it goes.

[Image above is from BruteProp. To see their work, visit here.]

Lisa Does Sarah Better Than Sarah Does: See Interview with 'Charles Gibson'

This Lisa Donovan sometimes goes by the name Lisa Nova.

Either way, she's getting to be pretty well known these days because she's become the new Tina Fey, who 's done Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live.

But check out Lisa Donovan. She's in a class by herself, doing Presidential candidate Palin as Palin strains to appear informed and savvy on international affairs. (There's a wide gap between her actual knowledge on that topic and her extreme confidence, if you haven't yet noticed.)

The video of her doing Palin doing her first interview is wild; and the guy who sits in for ABC's Charles Gibson isn't bad either.

The Times made a little mention of Donovan, though there's nothing better than seeing and hearing her for yourself.

Palin Pales on Paper: She and McCain Weren't Exactly Studious

[The following comes via the list serv of a cousin:]

Let's look at the educational backgrounds of our two options:

Sarah Palin [photo]:
--Hawaii Pacific University - 1 semester
--North Idaho College - 2 semesters - general study
--University of Idaho - 2 semesters - journalism
--Matanuska-Susitna College - 1 semester
--University of Idaho - 3 semesters - B.A. in journalism

and partner John McCain:
--United States Naval Academy - Class rank, 894 of 899

Versus

Joe Biden:
--University of Delaware - B.A. in history and B.A. in political science.
--Syracuse University College of Law - Juris Doctor (J.D.)

and partner Barack Obama:

--Occidental College - Two years.
--Columbia University - B.A. political science with a specialization in international relations.
--Harvard - Juris Doctor (J.D.) Magna Cum Laude

McCain is Allowing Racial Code Words in Fight Against Obama, Paterson Says

Gov. David Paterson said Republicans have been using "community organizer" as a racial code word, as they try to highlight the fact that their opponent is a black man without actually calling him a black man.

"There are overtones of potential racial coding in the campaign," Paterson told the Crain's Business Forum, when asked whether racism would hurt Obama's chances to become president.

"The Republican party is too smart to call Barack Obama 'black' . . .But you can take something about his life, which I noticed they did at the Republican convention. A 'community organizer.' They kept saying it, they kept laughing, like what does this mean?"

This was reported on The Daily News' web site today.

Paterson is suggesting, in other words, that "community organizer" (and the laughing that goes along with it) is a kind of substitute phrase for the N-word, a term so fraught with possibilities of being caught and exposed as a racist that it's been, presumably, much suppressed these days, even among fairly die hard anti-black Republicans.

The Governor had the openness of heart to say something obvious already to many, that the Republicans have been injecting race into the campaign in the old Madison Avenue way, slyly and effectively.

Keep this in mind: That the night of the Republican Convention in which Sarah Palin used the term "community organizer," sneering as she did so, Rudy Giuliani also had the platform and used code words of his own.

And New Yorkers know that Giuliani's hostility to persons of darker persuasion is not hidden under a bushel.

All in all the words being tossed out as the first grenades by the Republicans are nothing less than evidence that Karl Rove, player of dirty, nasty, race-laden tricks, has the upper hand in John McCain's campaign.

And John McCain -- the object of every decent Democrats' prefatory remark, asserting McCain's decency and heroism and blah, blah, blah -- is going along with the vileness.

And that, rather than heroism, is rank dishonesty.

[Photo of Paterson is by Duprey of AP.]