I wish Howard Dean had been our president

BBYYYAAAAAHHHH!!!

Dr. Dean would have been a brilliant president.

Dean's comments pretty much apply to Hillary Clinton, as well. She has been a part of the problem for the past 8 years, not part of the solution.

Go ahead crazy Johnny, tell us you didn't have sex with that skank. That's your biz maverick. The fact that you sold out yet again to another lobby whore says everything about who you really are......a fucking career fraud. Cancel Christmas mother fucker, YOU HAVE NOOOOO CHANCE.

I quite agree with Dean. It would be imbecilic and worse for the Democrats to go after McCain for his unverifiable affair; it would be quite something else to attack him for his relations to lobbyists. Frankly, in the post-Clinton era, nobody cares about affairs, and the old adage that "the man who cheats on his wife will cheat on his country" is absurd.

I think it's very interesting how the faithful GOPr's are so blind to their OWN Sins.
They find amongst themselves men having sex in bathrooms, chasing after page-boys in the House etc. Ministers who are snorting crank and blowing boys, they just say, "well he said he prayed on that" and then forget about it.

They are giving us the biggest lesson ever on Hypocrisy.

On Bill Moyer’s Journal, on February 15, 2008- last week he had a great show with Susan Jacoby talking about the idiocy permeating the political culture these days across America. I think it is even more relevant only one week later when the media has a very difficult time talking about political truths. To say that the media and press have descended into even bigger lows a week later is an understatement. What I call “journotainment,” these fixtures on TV were at it once again last night. Is it me, or does it seem that every Cable news channel seems to say the same stuff in their analysis as if these people were programmed robots? Every station I flipped to last evening had the same basic story lines and analysis. To get any real analysis on the McCain story, I went to http://www.counterpunch.org/ and read Dave Lindorff’s column.

From Bill Moyer’s Journal, on February 15, 2008February 15, 2008 with Susan Jacoby

Bill Moyers spoke with Jacoby about FREETHINKERS: A HISTORY OF AMERICAN SECULARISM in 2004, in which Jacoby offered an impassioned history that challenges the current marginalization of secular values. (Watch the interview.) Her newest book is THE AGE OF AMERICAN UNREASON.
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/02152008/profile.html

The notion that Americans aren't often at the top of the ladder of erudition isn't new. Every year the media points out how poorly U.S. kids perform in math and geography feats compared to many other nations' school children. Susan Jacoby follows a notable scholarly tradition with her new book, THE AGE OF AMERICAN UNREASON. In 1964 historian Richard Hofstadter won the Pulitzer Prize with his lament — ANTI-INTELLECUTALISM IN AMERICAN LIFE: "The national distaste for the intellectual appeared to be not just a disgrace but a hazard to survival." Jacoby says of Hofstatder's work now: "It is difficult to suppress the fear that the scales of American history have shifted heavily against the vibrant and varied intellectual life so essential to functional democracy."

Are we in danger from our "addiction to infotainment" rather than a reliance on rationality?

Biography
Susan Jacoby, who began her writing career as a reporter for THE WASHINGTON POST, is the author of five books, including WILD JUSTICE, a Pulitzer Prize finalist. Awarded fellowships by the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the New York Public Library's Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers, she has been a contributor to THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE WASHINGTON POST, THE NATION, TomPaine.com and the AARP BULLETIN, among other publications. She is also director of the Center for Inquiry-Metro New York and lives in New York City.

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/02152008/profile.html

Proud to have voted for Dean in '04. I'm so glad he didn't disappear.

Dean's always been good about cutting through the crap.

This smells more like the S&L debacle (google S&L crisis) than anything downstream of Turdblossom.

It show that he is well surrounded, that Johnny Mad Mac the Maverick really rides far too solo to be a modern President. Gotta have people watching your back.

As others have mentioned, Dr Dean would have been a lot better than crap we got. Question, OT, what is he and the National D party doing about election integrity stuff. I am worried that if we want these bozo's out we will need honest elections to do it. I don't beleive the vote tabulation devices we are using will guarantee that. And we all the buzz about primary and caucus vote counting, what are we supposed to beleive. Without a counted vote we are all sheep

nsr @ 13:

There's no way to know, but I'd guess that McCain absolutely detests George W. Bush. Rich boy avoided Vietnam, the attacks in South Carolina, driving us into a ditch in Iraq, throwing torture back in his face and making him support it himself...and now he's going to have to run on President 19%'s record. That's gotta sting.

I wonder if he also hates Bush for the vile attacks on his wife and child (who McCain did not defend) by Bush and Rove during the 2000 election cycle, and for having stuck his tongue up Bush's ass for the seven years following that attack on his family.
As much as McCain seems to enjoy the taste of shit, it's got to be getting to him that he's been lapping the same poop for so long.

February 22, 2008
McCain's Blonde Diversion
When Torture is Old News
By LILIANA SEGURA

Upon being confronted with The New York Times' "bombshell" report of his too-cozy relationship with a "lady lobbyist" during his last presidential campaign, GOP contender John McCain took a page from the Bush playbook and blamed the media.

His spokesperson, Jill Hazelbacker, called it "a hit-and-run smear campaign." McCain invoked his service to his country and issued a blunt denial: "Obviously I am very disappointed in The New York Times article," he said. "It's not true." And in what might be her second public utterance since she piped up to say that she is very proud of her country, would-be First Lady Cindy McCain -- who bears an eerie resemblance to the lobbyist in question -- joined her husband at a press conference to say that she, too, was "very disappointed in The New York Times."

"Americans are sick and tired of this kind of gutter politics," Hazelbacker declared in an official statement.

Maybe so -- but you can't say the same for the media. Just when it looked like McCain was comfortably, boringly, settling into his role as GOP nominee, a sexy front-pager broke that would not only spice things up, it would give the press a chance to drop everything and indulge in a little journalistic naval-gazing.

Hours after the Times posted its story Wednesday night, The Washington Post followed with its own version of a politician-meets-lobbyist tale told amid fundraising venues and inside private jets. AlterNet's Joshua Holland provides the sordid summary:

Read the entire article @:
http://www.counterpunch.org/segura02222008.html

"National Journal" has some other interesting items:

http://nationaljournal.com/onair/transcripts/080222_black_charlie.htm

http://nj.nationaljournal.com/voteratings/

Obama has swept 11 states in a row, hillary trailing further and further behind. When will she wake up and smell the cr@p she's been spouting?

http://news.google.com/news?sourceid=navclient&hl=en&ned=us&ncl=11354053...

Q: This whole matter, actually though, seems in a funny way to be helping Senator McCain, because the conservatives who were so skeptical about him now are rallying around him and saying he is a victim of the liberal New York Times. Isn’t this a development that could actually wind up helping John McCain?

Funny is right. "He's not conservative enough" and "He's too liberal" have been the accusations within his own party. Well, now they know they were wrong. All of the sudden they find out he is possibly a cheater and possibly corrupt, and presto chango they yell EUREKA!!!! He IS one of us. LOL

Remember that a large part of McCain's whole schtick is that he was originally part of the "Keating 5" and has since reformed, cleaned up his act, and become a Golden Boy. A dalliance that long ago would actually fit in with the "I've reformed since then!" platform. So to focus on the affair aspect of this might indeed be detrimental to using it as political ammunition, if it must be used at all. But focusing on the lobbyist aspect could very well prove beneficial.

RueMorgue @ 36:

Remember that a large part of McCain's whole schtick is that he was originally part of the "Keating 5" and has since reformed, cleaned up his act, and become a Golden Boy. A dalliance that long ago would actually fit in with the "I've reformed since then!" platform. So to focus on the affair aspect of this might indeed be detrimental to using it as political ammunition, if it must be used at all. But focusing on the lobbyist aspect could very well prove beneficial.

Sorry for the double post, but I'd also like to mention this: McCain's entire manufactured personality reminds me of professional wrestling (not that I watch it), wherein a 'heel' turns 'babyface' to garner even more audience support than a consistently 'good-guy' would. It's so obviously false, but that might be part of its charm.

My guess is that a lot of them don't want to fly public transportation as they don't want to be bitten by the fleas. However, when you think of flying next to Bush, the problem isn't just fleas, but ticks, lice, mange and rabies.

Barack Obama (D) Senator from Illinois

Last year was a good year for Obama, who matched fundraising frontrunner Hillary Clinton nearly dollar for dollar and is her last serious competitor for the Democratic nomination. Obama collected $22.8 million in the last quarter of the year, bringing his total haul to $102.2 million. The Illinois senator is now competing with Clinton to win over John Edwards's supporters for both their votes and their cash. Although official January reports won't be available until the end of February, Obama's campaign is already reporting that the presidential hopeful brought in about $1 million a day in the first month of the year.

Total Receipts: $138,231,595
Total Spent: $113,291,435
Cash on Hand: $24,940,159
Debts: $1,104,693
Date of last report: January 31, 2008

http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/summary.asp?id=N00009638&cycle=2008

BARACK OBAMA (D)
Top Contributors

Top Contributors
Goldman Sachs: $421,763
Ubs Ag: $296,670
Lehman Brothers: $250,630
National Amusements Inc: $245,843
JP Morgan Chase & Co: $243,848
Sidley Austin LLP: $226,491
Citigroup Inc: $221,578
Exelon Corp: $221,517
Skadden, Arps Et Al: $196,420
Jones Day: $181,996
Harvard University: $172,324
Citadel Investment Group: $171,798
Time Warner: $155,383
Morgan Stanley: $155,196
Google Inc: $152,802
University of California: $143,029
Jenner & Block: $136,565
Kirkland & Ellis: $134,738
Wilmerhale Llp: $119,245
Credit Suisse Group: $118,250

http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/contrib.asp?id=N00009638

John and Cindy now play the same dodgey one the Clinton's played.
McCain has refused to answer the base question -did he have any inappropriate contact with her personally? He and his long time high powered attorney Bennett, who seems to be a pretty up and up guy, have said NO to everything but that. Last night when Bennett was asked point blank, "Did John McCain have any inappropriate contact with that woman"?
Bennett, the attorney, answered "I don't know".

As McCains' attorney he knows everything. But was not able to honestly say "NO".

He was dodging reporters all day long. Hard to campaign when you can't talk to reporters. Even on the plane he kept them at bay. W00t

Sure, this guy is ready to be a 'level-headed' representative of 'the people' of these United States, NOT!

The Maverick is mad at reporters.Newsweek reports that the McCain campaign — including the senator himself — is so bitter about the recent New York Times story that it is shunning campaign reporters to the back of the plane:

John McCain’s campaign plane is usually a pretty jovial place to be. […]

But in the aftermath of today’s New York Times story looking at McCain’s dealings with a Washington lobbyist, the mood is decidedly different. Before McCain boarded his plane, reporters were asked to sit farther back than usual on the plane. And when McCain finally boarded the plane, he failed to offer his usual wave at reporters and opted to quickly take his seat. During the flight, the cabin was unusually quiet, save a few quick discussions McCain had with top aides Steve Schmidt and Mark Salter. Near the end of the flight, Schmidt came back to the press cabin, where, with cameras off, he railed against the New York Times for publishing its story.

At least he didn’t call them “f–ing jerks.” 2:58 pm
Filed under:
Posted by Amanda at 2:58 pm

Comments »
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/02/22/the-maverick-is-mad-at-reporters/

Mr. XXXX @ 42:

Now, continuing on with the rest of the story...

HILLARY CLINTON (D)
Top Contributors

DLA Piper $471,750
Goldman Sachs $413,361
Morgan Stanley $362,700
Citigroup Inc $350,895
Lehman Brothers $241,870
JP Morgan Chase & Co $214,880
EMILY's List $213,266
National Amusements Inc $210,010
Kirkland & Ellis $179,676
Greenberg Traurig Llp $177,800
Skadden, Arps et al $167,796
Merrill Lynch $165,042
Cablevision Systems $145,313
Time Warner $144,977
Microsoft Corp $143,459
Bear Stearns $141,835
Latham & Watkins $138,598
Patton Boggs $137,200
Ernst & Young $126,865
PricewaterhouseCoopers $121,939

http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/contrib.asp?id=N00000019&cycle=2008

Hillary is way ahead of Obama on PAC money, and also ahead of McCain by a factor of two, for that matter.

Hillary : $1,045,419 / 1%
Obama : $25 / 0%
McCain : $579,424 / 1%

Dems in the House refuse telecom immunity, St. McCain criticized in the MSM, Dems out-voting Reps two to one, The RNC in debt. Methinks we have at last hit the tipping point.

Orangutan. @ 51:

http://www.fallacyfiles.org/guiltbya.html

The entire (211) current (as of Friday 12:01am pst) McName List:

Keep reaching Dean.

Americans are going to care more about Obama's scandals, than they are McCain's, after the media finishes linking Obama to anti-American groups.

"...he has taken thousands of dollars from corporations, ridden on their corporate jets, and then turned around and tried to do favors for them and get projects approved."

I agree with #34 and 37.

So, how is that a bad thing, in the eyes of the cons? Those that are even paying attention are chanting, "one of us, one of us." The majority probably could be put off by the sex/adultery angle. Why it would take something like that to sink the Republican bid is beyond me. If this presidential race is even close, I'll know that our country is as fucked up as my most cynical self can imagine.

Left&Left @ 45:

Vicki @ 39:

he has taken thousands of dollars from corporations, ridden on their corporate jets, and then turned around and tried to do favors for them and get projects approved. He has tons of lobbyists on his staff.

Oh yeah! How is this different from Clinton, Edwards, Kerry or Gore. When you look at the last three, the difference is they own those corporate jets while Clinton's ambition is to own her own too. Kerry probably has his and hers corporate jets and they trade them in every three years for a new model.Seems to me, a lot of Democrats not only fly in corporate jets, but also own them.

Way to go Vicki! Stand by your man. And if he's no different than the Democrats as you claim(a classic Repub evasion from responsibility) what makes this angry old lying fool a "maverick"?

Lefty, bravo, you've nailed it. The cons never tire of using examples of what they disapproved of in Dems to defend their own.

(DAM) I wish that the CORPORATE CONTROLED MEDIA had not sank his bid for the PRESIDENCY. This country would not be in this BAD SHAPE IT IS NOW. WE have the CORPORATE CONTROLED MEDIA to thank for his DEFEAT. When are We the PEOPKLE going to stand up AND BRAKE UP there compleat controle on every THAT WE Read, See, or Hear.

Bonkers @ 7:

Yeah, Dr Matt, I really like Dean, too. Quite typical the way the MSM went after him with such ferocity for that one stupid scream soundbite and even more stupid how the 'Murkan public actually allowed themselves to be swayed by such a childish gambit.

I would blame the dem voters for stupidity . media always acts like clowns. in this troubling times it is necessary to see thru the murky waters of the media. dean is a big visionary. if he has his way, he will revolutionize his party. best part is despite the rebuff he has regrouped himself and lead his party in chairman's role to victory in 2006. his goals have long term results in mind. one can only imagine how much hurt and disappointment this man would be carrying after dems let him down after his scream was shown in negative light. may god bless this man and the human beings alike him, truly.