News of the week

Big news of the last few days:

The Georgian-Russian conflict is becoming a talking point for both presidential campaigns because of one lobbyist on John McCain's staff, Randy Scheunemann. He has made a lot of money lobbying on behalf on the Georgian government, and it is becoming obvious that lobbyists continue to shape John McCain's policies. Even though both campaigns are, and should be, concerned with the invasion of Georgia, a sovereign nation, by Russia, lobbyists should not shape policy when they are being paid to have that concern.

More after the jump

John Edwards admitted to having an affair sometime in 2006 with his videographer for his campaign. He denies that the child she now has is his, that the relationship ended long before she became pregnant. He apparently told his wife about the affair in 2006 and is just now admitting to the affair with the public.

There is speculation as to whether Hillary Clinton will have her name added to the role call for the voting delegates at the DNC convention in two weeks. Some people are speculation that she wants to scare Obama into giving her the VP slot, while others are saying that she just wants her supporters to feel appreciated. I think at this point we should be past all of this political chess game and should be focusing on the national race, not the one that finished in June.

Congress continues to bicker over offshore drilling and a new energy bill. Behind all of the mud slinging while they are on break, a group of 10 members of congress, 5 from each party, have gotten together to create a deal on offshore drilling and renewable energy tax credits. Something for both parties. Obama has come out with tentative support for the measure, waiting for full support until after the final legislation comes out. McCain has been skeptical, while still waiting for the bill to be finished before giving a full opinion.

Today Cindy McCain injured her wrist while shaking hands with supporters. Might be time to increase those calcium supplements.



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Back from Vacation

I spent two weeks off taking a break, and four days off to enjoy my free time at home. Back into the fray, lets see a few of the events I missed:

McCain criticized Obama for not visiting the injured troops while on his world tour. Of course Obama was told he could not bring the media that spend the whole trip on his plane with him, that's official DoD policy, so he decided it would be best not to try and politicize their wounds. McCain was rejected for the same type of trip in the Spring, because it was during his primary run and the DOD saw the conflict that it would create.
Click the link for the rest.

Obama's suggestion that inflating our tires would help reduce gas consumption (the DoE has said this may help up to 4%) was immediately mocked by the McCain campaign, they released some tire gauges with "Obama's Energy Plan" on them. Of course McCain says that properly inflating tires is the right thing to do.

Senator Lindsey Graham, a top McCain advisor, said that raising raising taxes on Social Security is not out of the question as part of a comprehensive reform package that the McCain campaign is offering. McCain has repeatedly said that he, unlike Obama, would refuse to raise any taxes and would only reduce them.

The Democrats have refused to vote on offshore drilling, while the Republicans have refused to allow votes on any comprehensive energy plan. Both of them blame each other, and the American people lose.

Walmart is forcing managers to go to meetings that focus on the negatives of an Obama presidency, higher wages, health care, carbon taxes. Mostly they are afraid of being forced to open their workforce up to unions.

Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska was indicted on 7 counts of failing to report several hundred thousand dollars worth of renovations to his home from an oil company that has pushed for drilling in ANWR. Sen. Stevens himself has been a large advocate of opening up ANWR to drilling and has repeatedly been scrutinized for his connections to donors.

Bruce Ivans, the main suspect in the 2001 anthrax attacks, killed himself as the FBI began to close in around him. Charges were set to be filed, after his lawyer got a phone call indicated what the charges would be, he apparently took a large amount of prescription Tylenol with codine.

When asked about experts opinions that offshore drilling wouldn't produce oil until 2020 at the earliest at an event last week, McCain said that the oil executives he met with told him it could be done within months, maybe 2-3 years at the most. In addition to that, McCain's joint campaign fund with the RNC (which allows him to raise money but avoid nagging problems like $2000 caps on donations) raised over $880,000 from oil companies after June 16th, the day he came out in support of offshore drilling. He raised less than $50,000 in the previous 17 months of his campaign from that same business sector.

A small sampling of the events taking place while I was slacking off.
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Form Letter Reply from Senator Roberts

Dear Mr. Titus:

Thank you for sharing your views regarding United States policy towards Iran. I appreciate your taking the time to contact me.

Recently, the intelligence community released a National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) stating with "high confidence" that Iran abandoned its nuclear weapons program in 2003. However, as the NIE acknowledges, Iran continues to enrich uranium on an industrial scale in open defiance of binding UN resolutions. Thus, regardless of whether Iran axed a particular program in 2003, it continues to aggressively pursue a broader nuclear agenda that could be turned into a weapons program at any time. And it is doing so in defiance of international law.

Iran poses a clear and present danger to the entire region, and the world. In addition to the country's continued antagonistic rhetoric, a source within the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) recently confirmed Iran has the blueprints to case uranium in the shape of an atomic bomb core. The U.S. also knows that Iran has extensive technical information on how to fit a warhead atop a ballistic missile and there is considerable evidence that Iran has also been developing the detonation devices needed to set off a nuclear explosion.

Even assuming Iran is not seeking a bomb right now, it is far from reassuring that they are developing technologies that could bring them within a steps of one. As former Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and a former Marine, I believe a nuclear Iran is a significant roadblock to peace in the region. It is also an unacceptable security risk to the United States and the world. Iran continues to provide financial and material support to terrorist groups that use violence against the United States and our allies in the region.

Because of Iran’s demonstrated hostile intentions, I will continue to support policies that promote the containment of Iran until it agrees to comply with international law. It is my hope that the United Nations Security Council will continue to work collectively and decisively to stifle the Iranian regime's dangerous attempts to exert influence over the international community. Again, thanks for writing. If you would like more information on issues before the Senate, please visit my website at http://roberts.senate.gov.

With every best wish,

Sincerely,

Pat Roberts

Does this sound at all like something you have heard before?

Jokes are hard to come by...

I'm sure you've all seen the cover of the latest "New Yorker." Of course a lot of people are upset about it. While slightly offensive, it is becoming increasingly obvious that it is hard to take a joke in this election campaign. Sadly it is a perfect image of satire, but without an article to go along with it, it is completely out of context. It would've made a better picture inside the magazine than on the cover. Gladly, Obama seems to have brushed it off without much concern for the misguided outrage that has been set off.

Twisting the truth.

Every politician does it. We all do it to a certain extent. Telling a date we're more athletic than is the reality. Telling a job interviewer we had a few more responsibilities than we did. It is just something we all have learned to do to get ahead. When public figures do it however, there are plenty of people who are willing to throw in their two cents(with the price of gas I'm now charging a nickle for my thoughts.) I'm learning to laugh at the weekly spins, and becoming more disheartened at the increase in flat out lies.

It has become common practice to use what your opponent says against them by carefully selecting what you quote, then telling everyone how they're wrong or "out of touch." While obnoxious and slightly misleading, it is the bigger stuff that hurts the average voter and will send many to apathy this year. There are still people questioning Obama's religion. Even people who know about all the news with his former pastor still think he might not be a Christian.

It would seem to me that lately, the GOP has been trying to over spin more than normal. I would guess they are trying to fight off accusations of bringing a 3rd Bush to the White House along with all the other scars from the current president. It feels like they're willing to say anything to get people to vote for their party over the ones they are competing with. Topics like Iraq, where suddenly, when Obama said he would listen to his commanders on the ground and adjust his plan accordingly, people are saying he's on McCain's side and he is waffling on his own policies. When did listening to strategy from the people who know more about a topic turn into giving up? I guess McCain was giving up on reducing the deficit when he suggested millions in business tax breaks?

The answer of course is no. Obama is not going to stay in Iraq, he still plans to withdraw, but he is saying, and has said since the primaries, that he would accept suggestions for how to accomplish this from his commanders. McCain is not giving up on the budget deficit, he plans on dealing with it, his priority is assisting businesses with their taxes first. Hopefully that will trickle down and help the economy (I compare it to pouring water on a 3 foot stack of paper towels, some of the water might leave a wet spot on the bottom, but the top towels will be soaked.)

Personally I enjoy watching the creative way people are spinning news now. Obama says he won't take public financing? Everyone is up in arms over the "disadvantage" McCain will have on the advertising front. The GOP just started a $3 million ad campaign in 4 states using an "independent expenditure committee." In simple terms is a group of people who collect money on behalf of a party, not a candidate, and they can spend it however they want. It is almost like a dreaded 527 group, except it is run by a party instead of a group of like-minded people who have no certain political affiliations, just common policy goals. Considering that the GOP has well over $50 million in the bank, they should have no problem keeping up with Obama's juggernaut of donors. I'm sure they plan to complain the whole way though.
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White House trying to bury the truth again.

Bush is at it again. His administration is trying to block and edit the EPA's findings on the dangers of CO2 and the ability of the US government to regulate emissions. The EPA is releasing this statement based on a Supreme Court decision that the EPA can and should regulate CO2 using the Clean Air Act. The White House is trying to block the original draft and get it changed so that they can say the CAA is broken and needs to be replaced (more than likely with some weaker policies and regulation). What are they trying to hide?

According to leaked copies of the draft, "the net benefit to society could be in excess of $2 trillion" if the US government changed fuel standards for cars to "well above 35 mpg." The White House has repeatedly tried to block things like this from being released, while would require them to act on it. This kind of editing and censoring of government agency's opinion and public releases should not be happening.

If the EPA, DoD, CIA, NSA, etc. decide that something is/is not happening and releases a statement on it, it should not be edited. I understand the security concerns for things such as terrorism, but this has nothing to do with that. This is simply a piece of work that directly challenges the idea that acting on CO2 would hinder the US/world economy. The EPA is saying the this is just not true, and Bush wants to silence that, since it is his biggest argument for not doing anything on climate change in the last 7 years. The Executive branch should not be allowed to censor things that they just don't agree with. The EPA is just doing what it is paid to do, and Bush just wants it to say what he wants, not what the data says.

I think given the way Obama and McCain have been touting their energy plans, they should stand up and take a side on this. Either you believe that the EPA is right, and the US can effectively regulate CO2 and avoid hurting (or in this case actually assisting, by $2 trillion) the economy, or you think that Bush is right for trying to have it removed. I imagine neither will speak on it, and that it is really a pipe dream that someone would stand up and say what is happening is just plain wrong. Hopefully it will either be release as is was intended soon, or the EPA will be able to stall until a White House administration that will allow it to publish what it has spent millions of taxpayer dollars researching. ...Read more

Update:Are we really that sensitive?

I just watched the whole video of Clark's statement. This is just the same old crap, taking quotes out of context to fit what ever design you need it to. McCain should be ashamed of his campaign turning this into and issue, and Obama should be ashamed for not standing up by his general. See for yourself:
http://www.jedreport.com/2008/06/what-wesley-cla.html