17
POPSIn TV Interview, Cheney Confessed to War Crime "What occurred in the last eight years was an assault on who we are," Turley said. "I think that President-elect Obama's going to have to decide whether he wants power without principle or whether he wants to start with a true change, to say that no matter where an investigation will take us, if there are crimes to be found they will be prosecuted." Personally, I vote for the latter. The neocons came up with a lot of creative legal arguments to excuse torture and we ought to make them test those arguments in a criminal court. I think they'd find that their arguments were BS and that they are, quite literally, criminals. I also think that we ought to make it 100% clear that working in the White House isn't a free pass to commit war crimes. We're a nation of laws, not men, and those who break the law should have to answer to the law -- no matter who they are. That's what you call "justice."
14
POPSObama's First Executive Order Limits Lobbyists CNN's Ed Henry reminds us that during his campaign, President Obama promised that "no political appointees in an Obama-Biden administration will be permitted to work on regulations or contracts directly and substantially related to their prior employer for two years. And no political appointees will be able to lobby the executive branch after leaving government service during the remainder of the administration." Expect other executive orders fairly quickly. One widely anticipated one would be the repeal of the "Mexico city rule" -- a gag order that prevents foreign clinics that receive US funding from discussing abortion with patients.
12
POPSPalin as Russia Expert Becomes GOP Talking Point It's a measure of how weak the pro-Palin argument is that this becomes a Republican talking point. Cindy McCain could be excused for saying it, but John "former Ambassador to the UN" Bolton? He knows it's total BS. The Palin part of the team offers a very weak agreement with this argument, revealing that they're aware of just how lame it is; "Alaska’s geographic location certainly contributes to Governor Palin’s experience since she has dealt with trade and economic issues as a result, but it is only one part of her overall experience."
12
POPSDomestic Terrorists for McCain Wow, you whip your crowds up into a frenzy of hatred and then stuff like this happens -- who could ever have foreseen that? You've got people booing you when you tell them not to hate Obama, you've got terrorists mailing threats to newspapers and campaign offices -- what are you going to do about this John? Is this really how you want to go out?
11
POPSBush to Keep Afghanistan Report Secret Until After Elections So, what he's basically doing here is putting a war on hold until after the election. Bush will leave the nation in danger, by their argument, so that John McCain will stand a better chance of winning the election. Remember that "country first" stuff McCain's been talking about? Time to put up or shut up, John. Time to do the right thing and pressure Bush to release the news. I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for that to happen, though. "Country first" is, after all, only a slogan.
11
POPSFinal Bush Approval Rating: 22% The piece also tells us: Half of all Americans, when they look back on Mr. Bush's eight years in office, believe he has been a poor president. Thirty-three percent think he has been an average president. Twelve percent say he has been a good president, and only 5 percent say he has been a very good president... As for the incoming president, the CBS News poll also asked about expectations of President-elect Barack Obama. Sixty-eight percent think Mr. Obama will be a good or very good president - 25 points higher than expectations for Mr. Bush. It's official. The final word is "sucked." The people have spoken.
11
POPSKrugman Wins Nobel in Economics Look for the right to really hate this. It gives you an idea of just how devalued unregulated markets and supply-side economics has become. It's too bad it took a market-failure to finally kill it off.
11
POPSMcCain Surrogate Accuses Obama of Absenteeism Hypocrisy, thy initials are GOP. This also highlights something I've been saying; Republicans are bad on the economy because they suck at math and logic. First, 45.5% is there more often than gone, Lindsey gets it backward. Second, if Obama's "never challenged his own party to do anything different," how can he possibly be the most liberal senator ? I know that Team McCain's having trouble keeping his positions consistent, but if they could just keep their talking points in agreement, it'd be a big improvement.
10
POPSWhat the Non-Elite Wear You know, I think I'm wearing about fifty bucks worth of clothes right now. We liberal elitists shop at trendy little boutiques like Farm & Fleet. Real salt of the earth types wear thousands of dollars worth of jewelry and designer clothing, because they don't hate America. I'm so ashamed...
10
POPSMcCain Volunteers Instructed to Accuse Obama of Terrorism The Time article tells us: With so much at stake, and time running short, did not feel he had the luxury of subtlety. He climbed atop a folding chair to give 30 campaign volunteers who were about to go canvassing door to door their talking points -- for instance, the connection between Barack Obama and Osama bin Laden: "Both have friends that bombed the Pentagon," he said. "That is scary." It is also not exactly true -- though that distorted reference to Obama's controversial association with William Ayers, a former 60s radical, was enough to get the volunteers stoked. "And he won't salute the flag," one woman added, repeating another myth about Obama. She was quickly topped by a man who called out, "We don't even know where Senator Obama was really born." Actually, we do; it's Hawaii.
10
POPSMarriage Equality Begins in Connecticut Behold, America, as society fails to collapse in Connecticut, just as it didn't in Massachusetts. Families are strengthened, not destroyed, churches aren't closing, the devil doesn't rule, and children don't "go gay" in droves. In other words, it's just people getting married. Time to grow the hell up, America.
10
POPSGOP Loses Bid to Disenfranchise WI Voters A big victory for cheesehead democracy. Van Hollen is the state co-chair for McCain's campaign and, since lawsuit was to throw out newly registered voters that don't match existing records (misspelled names, new addresses, middle initial instead of middle name, etc.) since 2006, the suit was an incredibly transparent attempt to knock back a dem voter registration boom since then. In my opinion, Van Hollen should be recalled for this. It was dirty, it was undemocratic, it was corrupt, and it made a lot of Wisconsinites as mad as hell. Voter suppression efforts should never be forgiven or forgotten.
9
POPSMcCain Caught in Hypocrisy-Fest I'm so glad Rachel's on the TV machine now. I'm sure I'm missing a hypocrisy here, but we've got: McCain hanging with the hated lobbyist. McCain hanging with the hated celebrity. McCain being all elitist on a yacht in Montenegro. I'll bet they served arugula and lattes.
9
POPSFreepers See Conspiracy in Obama Gramdmother's Death A few comments from the right wing social news site Free Republic. These people believe Bill Clinton was everything from a serial killer to a coke smuggler, so this shouldn't come as any surprise. Consider this a preview. These are the fevered, psychotic, paranoid, and -- frankly -- cruel conspiracy theories we'll be hearing about for the next four years at least. That's right, these psychopaths actually believe Barack Obama would kill his own grandmother to win an election. These are seriously fucked in the head individuals.
9
POPSShoe-Thrower was Reacting to US Aerial Bombings In related news, al-Zaidi has apparently been abused by Iraqi forces while under arrest, suffering "a broken arm and ribs," along with internal bleeding. Yeah, George. Iraq's a real goddam paradise now. You must be so proud.
9
POPSMcCain Seen as 'Too Negative' in Debate As I said last night, McCain didn't seem to be very controlled and, at times, seemed either on the brink of losing it or beyond it. All Obama had to do was be Obama -- that almost serene calm he has -- and McCain was sunk. I related news, CNN's post-debate polling gives the match to Obama by a pretty wide margin -- 51% to 38%.
9
POPSClark Not Backing Down The piece goes on: "The only orchestration was by Republicans," Clark said, referring to unsubstantiated accusations that his criticism was encouraged by Obama, who has repeatedly distanced himself from Clark's remark. "I think that since John McCain's hired the Swift Boat team to protect his military record," Clark continued, "they just decided they would launch a preemptive strike." McCain has recruited Swift Boater Bud Day to serve on his "Truth Squad." The hypocrisy of that is massive...
9
POPSMcCain-Palin Faces Blowback for Dishonest Campaign Wasserman-Schultz is Dem. Senator Debbie Wasserman-Schultz of Florida. As I've been pointing out to anyone who'll listen, McCain enjoyed a post-convention bump and a bump from choosing Palin and he only managed a tie. The Palin honeymoon's winding down, so expect McCain to start polling lower. Add the fact that the media is finally reporting that McCain's campaign is a pack of lies and things don't look good for that side.
9
POPSCheney Earns the Name 'Dick' I won't call him a psychopath, because they're deluded. Dick Cheney's a sociopath; a conscience-less being whose only goal in life is to serve himself -- no matter what the cost. He knows the difference between right and wrong; he just doesn't care. Grandiose to the point of having a godlike opinion of himself and self-centered to the point of being self-obsessed, Dick's a great example of a complete monster and a total waste of otherwise useful oxygen. In other words, he's a typical neoconservative.
9
POPSHard-Hitting Ad Takes on McCain's Dishonesty Ouch! This is what we need to see. Generally, it's a bad idea to accuse your opponent of out-and-out lying -- even if that's exactly what's happening. But McCain's campaign has gotten so bad that Obama's able to quote the press. He's not making the accusation, he's just bringing it to your attention. After a despicable campaign, McCain takes the beating he deserves. I can vouch for this airing in Wisconsin -- saw it tonight.
9
POPSScene From a Palin Rally Consider this snapshot from Dana Milbank a companion piece to my morning post . McCain-Palin has abandoned integrity and honor altogether, feeding the worst impulses of their most stupid and hateful supporters. Never again will you read a word in this space giving John McCain the benefit of a doubt or arguing that he should be dealt with respectfully. If respect must be earned, then so can it be lost. John McCain has lost any remaining respect I had for him and, I hope, that of any thinking American. He's allowed himself to be transformed by his ambition into pure scum. And his supporters? The less said about these assholes the better. WelKKKome to John McKKKain's AmeriKKKa...
9
POPSCNN Calls BS on Palin's 'Terrorist' Claim The McCain campaign has made a big thing about how they plan on going negative . Apparently, this is the best they can do -- guilt by association. McCain-Palin desperately needs to change the subject from the economy, but this strategy is pretty certain to backfire. Every time they come out with one of these things, Obama can say, "See? They don't want to talk about the economy. They want to drag this down in the dirt. They're out of material." Obama seems pretty hard to throw off message, so they're going to have to do better than this. And I don't think they can.
9
POPSReleased Documents Show Prisoners Tortured to Death The piece continues: were handcuffed to fixed objects above their heads in order to keep them awake," reads the document. "Additionally, interrogations in both incidents involved the use of physical violence, including kicking, beating, and the use of "compliance blows" which involved striking the legs with the knees. In both cases, blunt force trauma to the legs was implicated in the deaths. In one case, a pulmonary embolism developed as a consequence of the blunt force trauma, and in the other case pre-existing coronary artery disease was complicated by the blunt force trauma." In related news, the guy who wrote torture justifications and defenses for the Bush administration can't find work . Sucks to be David Addington. He should be breaking rocks in prison, along with most of the rest of the Bush administration. It's definitely the jo
8
POPSMcCain Team: Voters Don't Care if Palin Knows the Issues There you go. Sarah Palin isn't a candidate, she's a propaganda delivery system. If they feel they need to isolate her from the press, what the hell are they going to do about the VP debate? Sarah Palin is looking more and more like a Dan Quayle-style empty suit lightweight every day.
8
POPSBush and Rove Seek to Rewrite History Kind of a follow up to my morning post . It may be that the only punishment these guys ever face for their crimes will be the judgment of history and the total loss of reputation. We can't let them weasel out of even that.
8
POPSWhite House Releases Climate Change Report - But Only Under Court Order Once again, the Bush administration has to be forced to do their damned job. Among the findings: “An increased frequency and severity of heat waves is expected, leading to more illness and death, particularly among the young, elderly, frail and poor.” It added that deaths from cold would decline, but said uncertainties on both projections made it impossible to characterize the overall risk. It gave high odds (essentially a two out of three chance) that Lyme disease and West Nile virus would have expanded ranges because of warming. The report gave the same odds that some food- and water-borne diseases would also increase among susceptible populations, but said “major human epidemics” were unlikely as long as public-health systems remained effective. Sounds like they should get right on that -- which, of course, was the problem.
8
POPSUN: Nearly 1 Billion Live with Hunger The lion's share of the problem is food prices. While prices have dropped recently, the report tells us "they still remain high compared to previous years." "FAO’s Food Price Index is still nearly 30 per cent higher as of October 2008 than it was two years before," according to the UN. "Meanwhile, the prices of seeds, fertilizers and other inputs have more than doubled since 2006, leaving poor farmers unable to produce food." Over two-thirds of the world's hungry live in just seven nations: India, China, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan, and Ethiopia.
8
POPSReport: Bush, Rumsfeld Responsible for Detainee Abuse The article tells us: The Bush administration, which has not yet commented on the report, has repeatedly said detainees in U.S. custody are treated humanely, and that because they are enemy combatants, and not prisoners-of-war, they are not entitled to the protections of the Geneva Conventions. That never made any sense to me; the Bush argument was always "We can abuse detainess because Geneva doesn't apply, but we're not." Why make the argument that the Geneva Conventions don't apply if you're not planning to violate them? Why even bring it up? We now have proof of the freakin' obvious...
8
POPSMcCain's Version of 'Leadership' So basically, he had to rush off to Washington to keep a chair warm. Nice stunt. The piece goes on: Sen. Chris Dodd said, “Instead of being a rescue plan for our economy it was a rescue plan for John McCain .” Sen. Chuck Schumer urged Bush to “respectfully tell Sen. McCain to get out of town. He’s not helping .” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid added, “We had Senator Bennett, a high ranking official, who said these are the principles. And then, guess who came to town? And it all fell apart.” Leadership? I don't think so.
8
POPSPoll Shows Gross Miscalculation on McCain's Part The results of a SurveyUSA poll on whether the debate should be cancelled, as McCain suggests. Opinions seem to be rapidly moving away from McCain's position here -- today, 75% think it should go on, rocketing up from 50% yesterday. It's starting to look like John really pulled a boner here.
8
POPSMcCain-Palin Rhetoric Goes Over the Top Next up, handing out official McCain-Palin pitchforks and torches at rallies. Now that he's pretty much screwed, McCain's true colors are manifest. Given a choice between losing with class or instilling honest-to-God hatred in his supporters, McCain chooses the latter. See also; McCain steps up character attack on Obama .
8
POPSObama Chooses Press Secretary Another one that's not a big surprise. Gibbs served him very well during the campaign and is someone who can really think on his feet. This is also another "must fill right away" position. If you're wondering whether Gibbs can handle tough questioning, watch him eat Sean Hannity alive , then see what you think.
8
POPSCongressman Threatens Rove with Jail For a better background on the Seigelman case than I can give in the limited space here, check this -- it's pretty thorough. Long story short, it was a gross miscarriage of justice and about as clearly illegal as is possible. Seigelman was a political prisoner of the United States, whose only real crime was being a Democratic Governor that the GOP "could not beat fair and square," according to a former Republican Attorney General of Arizona. In Rove's defense stands Bush's assertion that executive privilege lasts forever. It's looking more and more like that BS claim is going to be tested in court.
8
POPSAP Calls BS on McCain Ad The story, from Associated Press, goes on to give McCain's defense of the ad: In support of its ad, the McCain campaign cites the nonpartisan Web site Factcheck.org, which has been critical at times of McCain's spots, contending they contain false or misleading information. For example, the site says McCain's charge that Obama would raise taxes on small businesses is false, contending that the vast majority of small-business owners would see no change and that many others would see their taxes fall. Annenberg Fact Check hasn't reviewed this ad yet, so citing them as backing it up is more BS. The McCain campaign is lying when they says someone else is saying they aren't lying... Makes your freakin' head spin, doesn't it?
8
POPSBlackwater Gunmen Could Get 30 Years in Shooting The report tells us that prosecutors have "been considering bringing charges under a law, passed as part of a 1988 drug bill, that carries a mandatory 30-year prison sentence for using a machine gun in a crime of violence." The exact charges won't be known until monday. These people need to pay dearly for this crime. Not only did they kill a bunch of innocent civilians, but the incident caused such an outcry in Iraq that US and coalition personnel were almost certainly killed because of it.
Most Pops
see Most Pops
11
Clips
Latest Pops
Latest Comments
Tags
Print
Save
Turn on live update