The New McCain Ad Against Obama Is Staggeringly Dishonest On So Many Levels

Ken AshfordElection 2008, Energy and Conservation, Environment & Global Warming & EnergyLeave a Comment

McCain’s new TV ad, "Pump", blames Obama for rising gas prices. On its face, it is silly.  Obama has been a one-term senator.  How can one man be responsible for rising gas prices? Here are some very worthwhile critisicms of the ad: Daily Kos‘ BarbinMD:   "John McCain has often said that he would run a respectful campaign, but he never … Read More

McCain Intent On Reminding Voters That He Is Doddering

Ken AshfordElection 2008Leave a Comment

The Bad McCain Week express rolls on: Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz) said “Iraq” when he apparently meant “Afghanistan” on Monday, adding to a string of mixed-up word choices that is giving ammunition to the opposition. McCain was talking about how we will face a "hard struggle, particularly given the situation on the Iraq/Pakistan border."  (Video here). Yyyyyeah. One prob:  Iraq … Read More

That’s Got To Leave A Mark (GOP Response: “We’re Fucked”)

Ken AshfordElection 2008, Iraq1 Comment

The Prime Minister of Iraq has endorsed U.S. plans for an withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. Well, not Bush’s plan. And not McCain’s plan (McCain doesn’t really have one). Nope, the Bush-backed Iraqi PM supports Senator Obama’s plan: BERLIN (Reuters) – Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki told a German magazine he supported prospective U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s … Read More

Someone Has To Call Out McCain On This

Ken AshfordElection 2008Leave a Comment

What McCain said yesterday: "Senator Obama wants to raise taxes; I want to keep them low. [If you’re] somebody who wants higher taxes, I’m not your candidate. Senator Obama is." What McCain should have said if he wanted to be 100% accurate and the "straight talker" that he supposedly is: "If you’re somebody making less that $237,040 and wants lower … Read More

Late Night Comedians Can’t Find The Funny In Obama

Ken AshfordElection 2008Leave a Comment

The New York Times addresses this "problem": Comedy has been no easier for the phalanx of late-night television hosts who depend on skewering political leaders for a healthy quotient of their nightly monologues. Jay Leno, David Letterman, Conan O’Brien and others have delivered a nightly stream of jokes about the Republican running for president — each one a variant on … Read More

Local Politics: Dem In NC-11 Running Virtually Opposed

Ken AshfordElection 2008, Local InterestLeave a Comment

From Kos: At one point, the GOP was bursting with enthusiasm about gaining back their long-lost and well-deserved House majority, and high on their target list for this goal were seats like North Carolina’s Republican-leaning 11th District, now represented by freshman Democrat Heath Shuler. Except that their candidate has now suspended his campaign. Republican Congressional candidate Carl Mumpower has suspended … Read More

An Uneducated President Is Not A “Plus”

Ken AshfordElection 2008Leave a Comment

I touched on this yesterday, but it seems to me that the GOP strategy of touting one’s educational ineptitude is really not a good selling point.  It’s kind of like pandering to stupid people: "Hey, I’m a moron, just like you.  And if I can get in the White House, so can you.  Because I’m a regular Joe, a non-Ivy … Read More

A Useful Set of Graphs

Ken AshfordEconomy & Jobs & Deficit, Election 2008, HistoryLeave a Comment

Presidents and the economy. In the graphs, the parties are color-coded by the traditional Republican red and Democratic blue. Individual terms are in a lighter shade, and the party average is the darker shade. Technical note Unless otherwise noted, the figure shown is average annual growth rate for a president’s term, from the year, quarter, or month of inauguration to … Read More

Obama’s Elitism

Ken AshfordElection 2008Leave a Comment

One of the oddest things the Republicans are trying to pin on Obama is his supposed "elitism". I really don’t understand it.  I mean, yes, Obama went to Harvard Law School and was the editor of the prestigious Harvard Law Review. This is… what… bad? Are we back to this stupid old "I want my President to be a regular … Read More

Since When Is Ignorance A Virtue?

Ken AshfordEducation, Election 2008, Foreign Affairs, Immigration and XenophobiaLeave a Comment

So here’s the latest scandal rocking the Obama campaign…. Last week, Obama said this: Instead of worrying about whether immigrants can learn English — they’ll learn English — you need to make sure your child can speak Spanish. You should be thinking about, how can your child become bilingual? We should have every child speaking more than one language. You … Read More

Oy Vey, Maria

Ken AshfordElection 2008, Race, Right Wing Punditry/Idiocy4 Comments

Oh, Marie Jon Apostrophe.  You’re so self-parodying, it’s not even fun anymore: Hope and change worth having without an Obama racial test Ok.  So I’m going to gather from Marie’s awkwardly worded headline, that she is in favor of hope and change.  Not in favor of Obama’s racial test (I guess we’ll have to wait and see what that means), … Read More

Stupidest Poll Of The Campaign Season (So Far)

Ken AshfordElection 2008Leave a Comment

The Associated Press wrote up results from an AP/Yahoo poll showing that John McCain does better than Barack Obama among pet owners than among Americans who do not own a pet. John McCain leads by Barack Obama by five points among pet owners (42% to 37%), while Obama leads by 14 point (48% to 34%) among those who do not … Read More

Bush Is An Embarrassment To The GOP

Ken AshfordBush & Co., Election 2008Leave a Comment

…which is going to make the GOP convention very… aaaawwwwkward. I mean, the last thing the McCain people want is to have their boy up on stage, in front of the whole nation, being embraced by their party’s leader, who just happens to be the most unpopular President in the history of polling. The solution?  "Give the president a first-night … Read More