McCain Licks Obama

An unlikely headline, I know...

Third Debate Recap

Today I'm going to blog about godlessness vs. atheism; belorussian independent cinema; feminist irony in the twenty-first century; and the new Glasvegas album: dark music for dark times?

Nah, only kidding. Did you know there's an election!?

Let's start with the Third Debate of the Presidential Campaign. Watch here as McCain "cleaned Obama's clock" (™ Bride of Rove):



Despite McCain's masterful performance, all the networks said Obama won. Even Fox News. Hell, if even they are in the tank for "That One", the GOP must be worried...

There is good news, tho. The Secret Service says no-one shouted "Kill Him" at that Palin rally. The journo who said he heard it got it wrong (or, if you're from Texas Hill Country, deliberately lied). So now McCain only has to be proud of those supporters who boo him for calling Obama a "decent man"; and those who think the likely next president of the USA is a socialist-arab-muslim-terrorist, morally equivalent to Obama Bin Laden.


Meanwhile, Howard Stern is shocked to learn that some black folks will vote for Obama even if they're lied to and told Obama (like McCain) is anti-abortion and wants to stay the course in Iraq.



Imagine how shocked he'll be when he learns that some white folks are gong to vote for Obama anyway, even after they're told he's a socialist who hangs around with terrorists.

Indeed, with negative campaigning seemingly hurting McCain more than helping him, at least one Republican outfit has apparently written off the zillions they'd previously spent on ads trying to link Obama to Ayers, and are now presumably going to tell voters to tick McCain and win a pony.

Talking of fairy tales, Sarah Palin keeps insisting she's been cleared of wrongdoing in Troopergate. Is she shockingly dishonest or just functionally illiterate? Decide yourself on 4 November.

Meanwhile, here's the latest from Paranoiaville, USA:

• "socialists/communists have discovered the only thing between them and complete world domination is Fox News"
  
  
• Rush Limbaugh tells white folks: lock up your daughters
  
  
  
  
• LGF readers overwhelming say McCain won the debate
  
  
  Who could argue with LGF'er kynna who authoritatively states:

  "I actually would trust this poll over most. Lizards are pretty honest and they can be very harsh critics, as well. They won't vote for McCain just because they'd rather see him win the election."

"What a terrible thing it is to lose one's mind", as I think Sarah Palin once said.

Poll Paranoia

HT to Obsidian Wings for tipping me to a discussion of the latest poll news on the pro-McCain Hot-Air. There, "Allahpundit" writes:

"Almost as many GOPers say they’re unbothered by Obama’s associations as those who say they’re bothered by Wright or Ayers. As for independents, The One leads by 18 points now — a 28-point swing in just one week. Part of that’s due to the debate, which registered voters say he won, 48/14, but part of it’s probably also due to the negativity backfiring."

This news of Obama's increased poll lead and the backlash to McCain's much vaunted attack-campaigning against Obama doesn't go down well with The Base. Like Zombies after fresh brains, the Hot Air comments go after the bearer of bad news:

"Look back over the past few months and note the lack of enthusiasm by Allah regarding any potential good news regarding McCain/Palin. He’ll be the first to throw cold water on any positive news and the first to promote the bad news. I can’t figure it out... he either hates McCain because he’s not conservative enough or because he’s not moderate enough. It has to be one of those two, because the third possibility is too outrageous to consider... or is it?"

"Allah must be stopped. There are people looking at this and go into actual despair! I think we must have an intervention with the Allah!"

"Allah = Tool"

"believe that the liberals in New York are having more success at luring Allahpundit over to their dark side, as he is at convincing them of the true virtues of conservatism... Goodbye Allah. I hope you get a lucrative book deal out of this “unsavory” episode in your life. Having to endure us “hate mongering” conservatives for so long an’ all."

The suggestion that McCain's negativity and Palin rabble rousing is actually repelling independents doesn't go down at all well...

"Nonsense. CBS story tied this dubious swing to McCain’s negative campaigning. It’s a ploy to silence McCain on Ayers and Wright. I don’t believe it."

"Palin should mock this poll at one of her New Hampshire rallies. Really, Mac/Palin should just start mocking these MSM polls."

"seriously, its like they are trying to ruin hotair the way Polipundit ruined his blog. Damn, atleast post all the other more legit polls in same thread showing a different ballgame. You look ridiculous posting a slanted Obama poll and pretend its legit... I think he likes the anti-Palin part of the poll. Newsflash, if they go down this year she’s the front runner for nomination"

"If BO is not up by 7 come election day, he is not going to be president."

But it's when paranoia takes over from denial that things get really scary:

"I’m starting to think that the MSM is deliberately trying to set up a race riot or something. When McCain wins, and he will win, Obama’s minions will believe the election was “stolen” based on all the polls. All hell could break loose. The question is why would they want to do that? What would they gain by misrepresenting the polls then losing?"

"I liked what Rush said last week. “When do we get to riot?”"

Finally, here's two comments I thought deserved a special mention:

"Dream on… Socialism comes to this state, and it will be faced down with hot lead." - Keemo on October 14, 2008 at 9:10 PM

"For the first time in 18 years I went out today and bought:.. 40. cal handgun... 1 long gun with scope... long gun semi-auto... 1 shotgun... All with allot of ammo... Oh…btw, the shop was full of people of all races, creeds, colors and national origins, with a smile on their faces. I asked the owner haow business was, he smiled and said, “The best in years”... Just sayen’... Over." - 1GooDDaDDy on October 14, 2008 at 8:44 PM

Meanwhile, back on planet Earth, everyone's preparing for the next big Debate tonight. Obama has dared McCain to raise the Ayers allegations and McCain says he "probably" will. Probably? Just what is McCain scared of? I guess we'll find out.

McCain Hate - Video Roundup

It's the Youtube election. There's so much video flying around it's impossible to keep up... But here's a mini-best-of-new-clips for your enjoyment and elucidation.

Rachel Maddow on venomous hate at McCain/Palin rallies:



Tell McCain to end the politics of hate:



McCain Declines To Condemn Obama-Osama Comparison



Rachel Maddows interviews David Frum on GOP panic...



20 days to go.

God to Blame If McCain Loses

This is beyond parody. Apparently it'll be God's fault if McCain loses.



“I would also add Lord that your reputation is involved in all that happens between now and November, because there are millions of people around this world praying to their god — whether it’s Hindu, Buddha, Allah — that his opponent wins, for a variety of reasons. And Lord, I pray that you would guard your own reputation, because they’re going to think that their God is bigger than you, if that happens. So I pray that you would step forward and honor your own name in all than happens between now and election day.” - Arnold Conrad, the former pastor of Grace Evangelical Free Church in Davenport

David Kurtz from Talking Points Memo puts it very nicely:

"It conjures up bad Japanese movies, or the fanciful musings of 10-year-old boys. Who would win between King Kong and Godzilla? Between Allah and Vishnu? Does the Christian god have an unfair advantage because he's three in one? His "theological" take also suggests some influences from Greek mythology, but instead of angry gods hurling lightning bolts at one another, they're trying to throw an election one way or the other, which is almost post-modern in its own way."

Meanwhile, this guy might as well be holding up a sign saying "I am a complete idiot". (HT BrettMarty.com).


I'm not scared of these people... But if McCain wins, jesus h. christ on a bike, it will be a monumental victory for stupidity, ignorance, fear and fuckwittery.

Paranoid Whackjob Of The Day

"To be blunt, one of the rumors that I have heard was that OBurkha will not release his medical records because they would show that he is HIV-positive.

Far-fetched? Probably, but since he dodges the question and will not release them, it can only make you wonder."

# NosferatusCoffin, comment at StopTheACLU.com, 12-Oct-08


NosferatusCoffin is either a paranoid whackjob, or a lying c__t. (Image HT 236.com)

Palin is a C__t Shocker

More faux outrage from McCain/Palin supporters. Hillbuzz has a clutcher:

"What would the media do if someone wore tee shirts that said, “Obama is a BLANK”. Fill in the blank any way you want, but we bet there would be riots. Calling Palin a “c***”…and no one bats an eye."

Because, of course, calling somone a c__t is every bit as offensive as calling them an arab terrorist who will bring in sharia law and sell out America. Same thing. And no-one would ever make an offensive t-shirt about Obama. No siree...


I can't decide whether this next one is meant to be offensive, or just surreal...
How about this McCain/Palin supporter carrying a toy monkey wearing an Obama sticker? (See the video at Crooks & Liars)...


But wait, you say... the "C" word is purely sexist, and only used to demean women, right? Right.



HT to my beloved Anorak for the original link. As they always say, Sarah Palin is hard not to like. But sheesh, hold back on the 1950s outrage, please...

What do you think? Send in your pics!



Edited to add in case you missed these...

Beauty Contest

Superb work by the RAND Corporation. A worthy B3ta front page :)

Chomsky on Palin

SPIEGEL: Do you prefer the team on the other side: the 72 year old Vietnam veteran McCain and Sarah Palin, former Alaskan beauty queen?

Chomsky: This Sarah Palin phenomenon is very curious. I think somebody watching us from Mars, they would think the country has gone insane.


(HT LGF for this quote from Der Speigel).

Sunday Music: Sue Wilkinson

"You Gotta Be A Hustler If You Wanna Get On".
A UK one-hit wonder from August 1980. Pure gold :)

Campaign Humour

Here's a McCain supporter who hilariously doesn't want Obama supporters to park in his lot...



"For political reasons, he's just throwing a little humour into the presidential race":

"I don't expect to go after anyone with a baseball bat. I would grin at them and laugh and ask if they could read English".

Given the US's rich tradition of racial segregation, that seems a little strange to me. But hey, I guess it's just comedy.

Then there's these:


See, here's what I don't get. You can say these images are a joke - that they are not meant to be taken seriously. But if they are a joke, the joke is "Obama looks like an arab terrorist". Am I meant to laugh at that?

Now, take as an alternative some "progressive liberal" humour. Is the message here that Sarah Palin will give you VD? Or that she'll fire ping-pong balls from her vagina to get votes? Or is it more subtle?

________

For me, comedy works when it's not laughing at someone... It's laughing at attitudes, expectations, mores, ourselves... It's not about inciting hatred and mistrust and fear and ignorance. But them I'm a godless liberal, so what would I know?

McCain: Obama not an Arab

These videos are all over, but they need to be seen.

First up, McCain tells his supporters that Obama is not an arab, nor a terrorist, and that he is a "decent" man (and gets booed for doing so).



Next up, an attack ad approved by McCain, implying that Obama is a terrorist.



Now some more McCain/Palin supporters attacking the character of Obama. Do you know he's a terrorist? I wonder where they got that idea...



Finally, Obama from earlier this year, predicting just how and when the attacks would come.



Meanwhile, the conspiracy theorists are running wild on the right. The global economic crisis was engineered to help the democrats (and will resolve itself quickly after the election)... McCain was nice about Obama because he feared for his safety if he loses the election... McCain was just a fatted calf served up by the GOP to help them prepare for a proper fight for the Whitehouse in 2012... All this and more coming up soon on PTET. Go on and subscribe :)

The Despicable Race Card

If you want surreal, check out the reaction of many McCain/Palin supporters to even the slightest hint that racism might be a factor in the US election campaign.

The American Sentinel thunders:

"Liberals love to lump people into groups and sub-groups based on how they vote: we can call this potential segment the “white guilt vote”: white people who didn’t want to vote for Barack Obama, but did so rather than be forced to wear the MSM’s “Scarlet R” for racism...

...don’t allow either racism, or reverse racism, to sway your vote for that candidate."

OK, we get it. Not all black people support Obama, and not all McCain supporters are racist. But is it it really too much to even acknowledge the Bradley Effect? Or to take extra care when campaigning not to play into the hands of bigoted assholes?

Apparently so.

Check out this comment at Bride of Rove:

"few things offend me more than to hear “the race card” being used. It’s old, it’s an excuse and I just lose respect for the original argument..."

Or this eye-popping prose quoted at Liberal Rapture:

"Shut TF up about race. Now. We are sick of it... You keep saying crap like "they" will try to scare you because you don't look like past Presidents or you have a weird last name or whatever. Bullshit. BULL SHIT. This is nonsense. You got millions of votes (less than Hillary but still millions) in the primaries. None of those voters gave a shit you look like the result of Dr. Moreau sending Alfred E Newman, Bob Saget, Dumbo, and Urkle through a wood chipper and fusing their DNA in a wheat grass juicer."

Let's say it again for the hard of thinking. Not all black people support Obama, and not all McCain supporters are racist.

But sheesh, if these videos don't have you cringing with embarrassment for the state of America, then I suggest you check your pulse...

First up, "He's got the bloodlines":



Next, drunken rednecks:



Forget the redneck idiots. Stick with the normal Americans. Joe Six-Packs and Hockey Moms. Next time some Palin supporter tells you they know Sarah better than Barack... Just ask, when did you hear of them both. When did they first hear about Acorn or Rezko or Troopergate or Keating.

And again. Not supporting Obama does not make you racist. It's being racist which makes you racist.

Palin Ankle Sexism Outrage!!!

Hold onto your hats, dear readers, for I am about to show you an image of such horrific sexism that mandates a complete shutdown of AP, Reuters and every other liberal news agency. Ready? Here goes...


ZOMG! O Noes!!!!111one!eleventyone!!1!!one!

Yup, this AP image of Palin (possibly with Cindy McCain) and others like it from Reuters are sending the right-wing blogosphere into a frenzy of impotent rage.

Newsbusters call it "indecent":

"Would women's groups tolerate these kinds of pictures if this was a Democrat candidate?"

My new conserva-buddy The Bride of Rove clutches her pearls to her chest and has to have her stays loosened:

" I have lost all respect for these organizations... You can take your cameras and shove them where the sun doesn’t shine."

Meanwhile the starter of this meme Ace of Spades seems to be a little confused over what he's meant to be complaining about:

"I wouldn't mind shots of her very finely crafted calves, except for the obvious intent to demean her as a mere sex object."

So there we have it. Pictures of Sarah Palin's ankles are an outrage; designed to send men into a sexual frenzy; to demean the Govenatrix's quest for ultimate power; to bring down Western Civilization in an orgy of unfettered rutting. Like animals. Bestial. Venal. Some day a real rain is going to come and wash all this scum off the sidewalks...

Of course, no conservative would ever be so outrageously sexist. Oh no siree.

I mean, it's not as if Rich Lowry at the NRO would say something as mindbendingly stupidly sexist as this, is it?

"I'm sure I'm not the only male in America who, when Palin dropped her first wink, sat up a little straighter on the couch and said, "Hey, I think she just winked at me." And her smile. By the end, when she clearly knew she was doing well, it was so sparkling it was almost mesmerizing. It sent little starbursts through the screen and ricocheting around the living rooms of America."

I'd mention Rush Limbaugh, Dick Morris, Sean Hannity, or any other number of conservative talking heads... But we all know that they're sexist jerks already, huh?

Camille Paglia is right when she says Sarah Palin isn't as dumb as she looks. But it's not Palin's brains that are the problem... Or her ankles either.

Vital Food Safety Update!

Many thanks to Doph at B3ta for passing on this vital food safety update. Please read carefully. Thank you for observing all safety precautions.

Conservapedia & Racist Idiocy

HT to Jesus General for this wonderful picture. Of course, not all racist assholes are ignorant rednecks. Some of them are conservative christians too.

Over at the absurd Conservapedia, the future elite of the Christian Right are hard at work to ensure no-one is in any doubt as to the intellectual bankruptcy of Andrew Schlafly's monument to deliberate, practiced stupidity.

Check out the latest additions to their entry on Barack Obama:

"Obama is likely to be Muslim because:

* Obama's background and education are Muslim
* Obama's middle name remains Muslim, which most Christians would not retain...
* Obama recently referred to his "Muslim faith"...
* Obama uses the Muslim Pakistani pronunciation for "Pakistan" rather than the common American one...
* Obama, in his autobiography "Dreams from My Father" (1995), descibes Muslim Malcolm X as his favorite black leader
* Obama's claims of conversion to Christianity arose after he became politically ambitious, lacking a date of conversion or baptism...

The odds of Obama being truthful in his claim that he converted to Christianity are less than 100 to 1 against it, as fewer than 1% of Muslims convert to Christianity..."

No amount of ridicule is enough to humiliate these morons.

Rexella Update: All is well

I'm delighted to report that Rexella Van Impe seems to have recovered from whatever "illness" affected her last week. Here she is with a message of love for us all:



"To the world you might be one person
But to one person you might be the world..."

That's beautiful, man.

In case you missed it, here's Rexella from last week looking rather the worse for wear...



We love you, Rexella!

Obama v. McCain/Palin

How did I miss this one? I can't find the original source. If anyone has the proper credit, please let me know...


I'm a little confused. Let me see if I have this straight.....

* If you grow up in Hawaii, raised by your grandparents, you're
"exotic, different."

* Grow up in Alaska eating mooseburgers, a quintessential American
story.

* If your name is Barack you're a radical, unpatriotic Muslim.

* Name your kids Willow, Trig and Track, you're a maverick.

* Graduate from Harvard law School and you are unstable.

* Attend 5 different small colleges before graduating, you're well
grounded.

* If you spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer, become
the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a
voter registration drive that registers 150,000 new voters, spend
12 years as a Constitutional Law professor, spend 8 years as a
State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people,
become chairman of the state Senate's Health and Human
Services committee, spend 4 years in the United States Senate
representing a state of 13 million people while sponsoring 131
bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public
Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you don't have any real
leadership experience.

* If your total resume is: local weather girl, 4 years on the city
council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000
people, 20 months as the governor of a state with only 650,000
people, then you're qualified to become the country's second
highest ranking executive.

* If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while
raising 2 beautiful daughters, all within Protestant churches,
you're not a real Christian.

* If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and left
your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month,
you're a Christian.

* If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education,
including the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the
fiber of society.

* If, while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with
no other option in sex education in your state's school system
while your unwed teen daughter ends up pregnant, you're very
responsible.

* If your wife is a Harvard graduate lawyer who gave up a position
in a prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner
city community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family's
values don't represent America's.

* If your husband is nicknamed "First Dude," with at least one DWI
conviction and no college education, who didn't register to vote
until age 25 and once was a member of a group that advocated the
secession of Alaska from the USA, your family is extremely
admirable.

OK, much clearer now.

John McCain - "That One" "Kill Him"

Here we see John McCain's utter disdain for Barack Obama, and what this has led to amongst his supporters.



Edit: Oops. Just realized that in this case the McCain supported shouted "terrorist" and not "kill him". My bad. Heard it wrong. The "kill him" line was from a Palin rally. Sorry for the confusion.

McCain is playing to a dangerous audience with an obviously racist sentiment. Amusingly, tho, even those votes aren't in the bag for him. Ben Smith has this:

"An Obama supporter, who canvassed for the candidate in the working-class, white Philadelphia neighborhood of Fishtown recently, sends over an account that, in various forms, I've heard a lot in recent weeks.

"What's crazy is this," he writes. "I was blown away by the outright racism, but these folks are f***ing undecided. They would call him a n----r and mention how they don't know what to do because of the economy."

On that note, in case you missed it, here's a incredibly perceptive letter to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram from back in September:

"What if John McCain were a former president of the Harvard Law Review? What if Barack Obama finished fifth from the bottom of his graduating class? What if McCain were still married to the first woman he said "I do" to? What if Obama were the candidate who left his first wife after she no longer measured up to his standards?

What if Michelle Obama were a wife who not only became addicted to pain killers, but acquired them illegally through her charitable organization? What if Cindy McCain graduated from Harvard? What if Obama were a member of the "Keating 5"? What if McCain was a charismatic, eloquent speaker?

If these questions reflected reality, do you really believe the election numbers would be as close as they are?

This is what racism does. It covers up, rationalizes and minimizes positive qualities in one candidate and emphasizes negative qualities in another when there is a color difference.

— Kelvin LaFond, Fort Worth"

One ironic thing is that I thought, during the nomination process, that Hillary would have had a hard time being elected president. Now it's clear she would have won hands down. The only thing standing in the way of an Obama victory is mud flung from an increasingly erratic and obnoxious McCain camp. It will probably get uglier. Here's hoping it doesn't.

Sarah Palin: Barefaced Liar

Watch as Sarah Palin tells a bare-faced lie:



She only raised Ayres because the New York Times did. Right.

If Sarah Palin truly believes in the God of the Bible, then why does she tell lie after lie after lie?

Here's a nice little comment from Cheryl at the Secrets of Sarah Palin:

"...What I don’t get is how a supposedly “Born-Again” Christian can be saying all these horrible things about Barack Obama… talking about people she knows nothing about or has never met. How can she be lying and spreading rumors and untruths and not feel guilty? Where is the love that Christians supposedly have for each other?"

The next bit is genuinely scary:

"Some people in my state even think she is a prophetess for this day. Why can’t Christians wake up and ask some questions, like “Where’s the love, Sarah?” “Where’s the desire to obey the law, Sarah?” “Where’s the putting your family first, even before your own career?”"

Meanwhile over at Pro-McCain blogs such as Bride of Rove, perfectly normal, civilized, intelligent people are laughing about "getting rid" of Barack Obama, and cheer-leading as McCain turns this into the most hateful election campaign in US history.

McCain can't win on the issues. His own campaign team says so. So he's going to lie and smear.

Luckily for him, the Stupid Vote is still up for grabs...



Could things get even uglier? Watch this space.