McCain and the Economy: the Savings and Loan Scandal

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Tuesday September 16, 2008 · 9:19 PM PDT

2008/09/16 · 21:19

With a huge banking crisis, and John McCain shifting positions in an attempt to place himself on the right side of history (and out of the path of responsiblity), I think it's finally time to go there. That's right - the original McCain crisis - The Savings & Loan Scandal / aka the Keating 5. To be fair, John McCain claims to have learned his lesson and set him upon a path that lead to campaign reform, ethics form, and a refreshing humility that attracted quite a few of us in 2000, and even during the Republican primaries.

But, with the race tightening and the stakes increasing, the layers & lessons have started coming off, and today the John McCain we see is arrogant, angry, defensive, and deceptive.

See below the fold for video of and articles about John McCain during the Keating 5 scandal.

llthomps

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Monday September 15, 2008 · 9:06 PM PDT

2008/09/15 · 21:06

Folks, I've run across a pretty heinous rumor on the internet. It's been circulating in the form of a whisper campaign for some time now, and with new photographic evidence emerging it's time to blow the lid off.

The man you intend on voting for in November has fathered a black child. Barack Obama should be ashamed of himself, for not only fathering these children, but attempting to hide them in a Chicago public school, while he's out campaigning to be our very first and only ever first celebrity president (who is good at giving speeches).

Here is the primary evidence:

The Obama "family" separating after a secretly arranged visit in Senator Obama's Party Wagon.

llthomps

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Wednesday September 10, 2008 · 1:19 AM PDT

2008/09/10 · 01:19

Hey all, I've been working the past couple days on a homemade ad, based on a diary entry I made the other day, trying to bring the message that the Republicans spent 4 days essentially talking about nothing (no isssues). Case in point, they have 0 mentions of the following terms: Afghanistan, War on Terror, Taliban, Retirement during the convention. And a whole host of terms they only use once or twice.

I'm really tired, so I'm not going to do much explaining. If this concept works out, there's the possibility that I'd invest more time in a more professional one.

Video below the fold.

Poll

28 votes Show Results

Does this need a voiceover?

28 votes Vote Now!

Does this need a voiceover?

Oh yeah.

14 votes

No yeah.

14 votes

Holy Imposter Leader Batman!!!

llthomps

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Sunday September 07, 2008 · 10:11 PM PDT

2008/09/07 · 22:11

This completely blew my mind:

Is Kim Jong-il for real? The question has baffled foreign intelligence agencies for years but now a veteran Japanese expert on North Korea says the “dear leader” is actually dead – and his role is played by a double.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/...

A London Times article claiming that Kim Jong-Il died of diabetes in 2003 and has been replaced by one of his doubles he used to evade assassination.

This article is pure speculation at this point, basing the assessment on a "Japanese Expert", but I thought I'd throw it into the mix for all us Kossacks whose minds are blowing up because of politics. Here's something else to geek out on.

RNC: Not a single mention of Afghanistan

llthomps

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Thursday September 04, 2008 · 8:22 AM PDT

2008/09/04 · 08:22

Ben Smith over at Politico posted this morning:

A reader points out — and a search of the speech texts on the GOP convention site seems to confirm — a surprising fact: There hasn't been a single mention of Afghanistan at this convention.

That got me thinking. What else haven't the Republicans mentioned?

War on terror. Not a single mention of that in a speech. Pakistan, bin laden (but not osama), and Al Qaida each only get a single mention.

Equality. This word is not used once in a single speech. It's the hallmark of America, but apparently Republicans are more interested in other things. Equal pay and discrimination are also unmentioned.

Balanced budget (or anything suggesting this). The mortgage crisis is only mentioned a single time.

Go search for yourself and see what else is missing. The search returns bios, speeches, and press releases. The speeches are marked as such in the URL and link title.

http://portal.gopconvention2008.com/...

The Vocabulary of Racism

llthomps

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Saturday May 31, 2008 · 5:49 PM PDT

2008/05/31 · 17:49

Regardless of who we're supporting in the Democratic Primary, I think most of us can agree that this has been an extremely unique and interesting process, not just becaue we've been given two extremely competent candidates, but also because of the deep look at American society and the media that this campaign has exposed.

To me, one of the most interesting things is the by product between of having an African-American and a Woman running for president - an extended look at racism and sexism in our society.

To compare the two directly, I think that sexism is more widespread in our society (and is unfortunately considered acceptable in some circumstances), but racism continues to be a greater problem, partially because of the total lack of vocabulary to describe racism.

llthomps

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Tuesday April 29, 2008 · 7:16 AM PDT

2008/04/29 · 07:16

From Obama Heads for Superdelegate Edge:

His campaign also just announced a 50-state voter mobilization. That reflects another pitch to nonelected party officials: That Sen. Obama would work to build the party even in Republican "red" states, and has the money to do it, while Sen. Clinton focuses only on Democratic "blue" states and battlegrounds such as Ohio.

Interviews with party officials suggest this appeal has effectively exploited lingering resentments that the DNC, under President Clinton, abandoned the red states. "Obama has made it absolutely clear he's committed to the 50-state strategy, and the Clintons obviously aren't," says Nebraska party chairman Steve Achepohl, who endorsed Sen. Obama last week. "That's a major factor for all the party people in smaller states."

llthomps

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Monday April 28, 2008 · 8:22 PM PDT

2008/04/28 · 20:22

One of the most frustrating things about being a sports and news fan is watching the way that broadcast journalism has inevitably followed in the footsteps of sports journalism. And while sports journalism

And when I run across a story like this (about Roger Clemens extra-marital affair with country singer Mindy McCready):

We’re no closer to the truth about Clemens
So along comes this Mindy McCready, attempting a comeback before I knew she was ever here, and when she hands over a Miller Lite sixer stuffed with Roger Clemens’ DNA, we should care.

It makes me realize that sports journalism is starting to turn the corner and has, in fact, more ethics than standard broadcast journalism. This gives me some hope that broadcast journalism may begin to abandon the "throw the news out there" mentality and realize that there is enough real news that sensationalism is pointless and ethically devoid.

The Superdelegate Super-Solution (gets your whites clean)

llthomps

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Thursday April 24, 2008 · 10:50 PM PDT

2008/04/24 · 22:50

I started crunching number this weekend and discovered something that completely blew my mind. Superdelegates account for a greater number of delegates than any state in the union. In fact:

They account for more delegates than New York state and California COMBINED
The following list of states combined has one less delegate (719) than the number of superdelegates (720)

Iowa, New Hampshire, Alaska, S. Carolina, Utah, Oklahoma, N. Dakota, Idaho, Deleware, Kansas, New Mexico, Connecticut, Arkansas, Nebraska, Maine, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Rhode Island, Vermont, Wyoming. (20 states)

And that list was thrown together. You could probably take out a couple larger ones and get up to 25, maybe even 28-29 if you cheat and use the foreign territores.

I don't think we'll ever get rid of the superdelegates, and I do believe in the institution stepping in when it needs to; however, this politicking, string it out stuff they're doing right now is either selfish, cowardly, or principled (in which case I doubt they'd mind a different approach).

The solution? Combine the superdelegates into their own winner take all, 50 delegate caucus. That way the institution can speak as a whole, or withhold its voice.

The Fibonacci Primary Sequence [UPDATED]

llthomps

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Thursday April 24, 2008 · 7:17 AM PDT

2008/04/24 · 07:17

I think this extended primary season has many of us wishing that it was a touch shorter. In this age of media saturation, it's easier to deliver a national message, so the original intent of primaries working like this goes down the drain. So, maybe it's time to reform our primary system.

Some have suggested a National primary, but that doesn't work for me because it heavily favors institutional candidates and candidates with massive funding. It also doesn't ever test and try a candidate to get them ready for the general election. We need a primary system that:

Slowly ramps up to narrow the field to serious candidates

Doesn't end too quickly so that every state conceivably can get their say in

Doesn't have ridiculous six week gaps

Increases in states, as the contest goes on, to either help deliver a knockout or increase the stakes. Also, this will help show, both traditional campaigning and the ability to run a national campaign, leading to a good narrative.

I propose one that increases the number of states ~~exponentially~~, ~~summarily~~, asymptotically exponential (thx sp0t), using the Fibonacci sequence.

Poll

64 votes Show Results

Should we reform the primary system?

64 votes Vote Now!

Should we reform the primary system?

I like it fine the way it is

1 vote

Yes, but not like this

14 votes

Yes, once again the golden spiral provides us with an insight that allows us to advance our collective culture. Did you ever see that movie Pi?

49 votes

Why I've been saying Indiana is a lock for Obama

llthomps

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Wednesday April 23, 2008 · 6:00 PM PDT

2008/04/23 · 18:00

From Candidates on equal footing in Indiana

In Lake County, Obama was a household name well before the presidential race.

“The northwest part of our state considers itself part of Chicago,” says Matthew Tully, political columnist for the Indianapolis Star and a Gary native. “They get Chicago TV and read Chicago papers and have been watching Obama grow up as a politician for years now.

The other large cities in Indiana (Fort Wayne & Indianapolis) have large black populations and there are 3 large colleges in the rural areas of the state (Indiana University in Bloomington, Purdue in W. Layfayette and Ball State in Muncie).

llthomps

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Thursday April 17, 2008 · 6:52 AM PDT

2008/04/17 · 06:52

One area where this prolonged battle is hurting us is the lack of establishment to protect our major candidates from baseless attacks about nothing. We're depending on Rachel Maddow and Keith Olbermann to defend the Democrats, but where's John Edwards, Howard Dean, and Al Gore?

They're all on the sidelines. Meanwhile, completely baseless claims are passing off as news without heavy hitters to come in and spank the media into place.

If we ARE going for this 50-state primary process, which is actually a good idea, we need these heavy hitters to get off the sidelines to start:

A) Defending our candidates against all the meaningless political attacks
B) Attacking John McCain who has been going around playing howdy-doody, gaffing left and right, unchallenged and unnoticed.

RSS

McCain and the Economy: the Savings and Loan Scandal

BREAKING: Obama may have fathered a black daughter!!! [UPDATED]

New Ad: Content Free

Holy Imposter Leader Batman!!!

RNC: Not a single mention of Afghanistan

The Vocabulary of Racism

WSJ: Obama Heads for Superdelegate Edge

Sports & Broadcast - Sports lead the way

The Superdelegate Super-Solution (gets your whites clean)

The Fibonacci Primary Sequence [UPDATED]

Why I've been saying Indiana is a lock for Obama

Where is the establishment?