Obama Leads in North Dakota!

Wow, North Dakota has not gone Democrat in the Presidential election since 1964!

John McCain is in serious trouble...

Tim and Marcus Penny Op-Ed

It's an interesting op ed.

Congressman Penny supports John McCain. His son Marcus supports Obama. Both support Dean Barkley and Tim Walz.

For the past few months, our front lawn right here in the middle of Waseca has probably left passersby a bit confused. Side by side stand two opposing signs: one for Barack Obama, the other for John McCain. While the debate might be heating up on cable news, in campaign commercials and in the blogosphere, things have stayed relatively cool in our home.

Yes, we view the Presidential candidates differently. One of us (guess who?) went to Congress with John McCain in 1982, has worked with McCain on budget issues, and respects McCain’s genuine ability to be a maverick who works across the political aisle to get things done. One of us is excited about the promise of an historic Obama presidency — believing that it represents a forward looking agenda and a break from the disastrous Bush foreign and economic policies.

Every day, we discuss the campaign, the polls, and the latest tactics being employed by the candidates. We can agree that McCain is a true patriot who served our country with honor in the military and in the Senate. We can agree that Obama represents a new generation of leadership who inspires many (including young Americans) with his hopeful message of change. We can agree that McCain clearly has the strongest record of bi-partisanship. And, we can agree that Obama made the stronger choice for a vice-presidential running mate. In all, on the presidential race, when we don’t agree, we have managed to disagree without being disagreeable.

That is possible, in part, because we don’t disagree on everything. Our ballots on November 4th might look different at the top, but there are other candidates who will be receiving our undivided support.

We both support the Independent candidate for the U. S. Senate, Dean Barkley. Especially as the other two candidates increase the volume and the ferocity of their attack ads, it seems ever more important to send a message that “enough is enough!” Barkley served a mere two months in the Senate after the untimely death of Senator Paul Wellstone. But in that time, he cast a vote for an important trade bill, weighed-in on legislation creating the Department of Homeland Security, negotiated a waiver from the federal government so that Minnesota could continue its successful welfare to work program, and secured funding for the Wellstone Community Center in Saint Paul. Not too shabby. We believe he looks pretty good in comparison to the other candidates.

We also endorse the same candidate for Congress, incumbent Tim Walz. One of us (guess who?) worked as an intern for the Congressman for six months and saw firsthand the idealism, enthusiasm, and energy that Walz brought to the office. Both of us have been impressed with Walz’s commitment to fiscal responsibility and “pay-as-you-go” budget rules. We have watched as he led his fellow freshmen in re-establishing much-needed strict ethics policies for Congress. We applauded his recent efforts to build bi-partisan support for ambitious energy policies that will lead to energy independence for our nation. His record reflects common sense and good judgment. We both believe he has represented southern Minnesota well and deserves a second term.

So, that is the view from our house - just in case you haven’t yet noticed the signs in our yard.

Tim Penny is a Waseca resident and regular Community Perspectives columnist. His son Marcus is 23 years old and studies political science at Minnesota State University, Mankato.

McCain knows how to get Bin Laden?

Well then what the hell is he waiting for?

I fully expect Johnnie Mc to suspend his campaign, fly back to Washington, and get this done.

Country First!

PS: He keeps calling me "my friend" but I can't add him on Facebook?

ABC News Poll on the Bailout Failure

Just posted on Good Morning America.

Whose to blame for the failure in Congress?

44% Republicans
21% Democrats

Think Progress has a great story on the issue.

Over the past week, McCain’s (R-AZ) campaign has already been to touting the senator’s success and casting his role as pivotal to bringing the parties together. His supporters have hit the airwaves, giving McCain credit for negotiating a deal:

“[T]his bill would not have been agreed to had it not been for John McCain. … But, you know, this is a bipartisan accomplishment, a bipartisan success. And if people want to get something done in Washington, they just watch John McCain.” — Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, 9/29/08

“Earlier in the week, when Senator McCain came back to Washington, there had been no deal reached. … What Senator McCain was able to do was to help bring all the parties to the table, including the House Republicans.” — Senior adviser Steve Schmidt, 9/28/08

“But here are the facts, and I’m not overselling anything. The fact is that the House Republicans were not in the mix at all. John didn’t phone this one in. He came and actually did something. … You can’t phone something like this in. Thank God John came back.” — Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), 9/28/08

“Before John McCain suspended his campaign yesterday, the situation that we’re looking at today looked very different then. After he showed leadership and called for bipartisanship, for us to partisanship aside and tackle this solution head on, here we are.” — Spokesman Tucker Bounds, 9/25/08

60% of House Republicans voted against the measure...a failure of McCain leadership.

Missing footage from the McCain video last night

No mention at all of McCain's first wife and the controversey behind his divorce.

An interesting read from a Ron Paul supporter.

In 1965 John McCain, a member of the US Navy, married an attractive model named Carol Shepp. In 1967 McCain was sent to Vietnam. It didn't take long before McCain was shot down and taken prisoner. Carol waited faithfully for McCain during his imprisonment. In 1969, Carol was in a terrible car crash. She was thrown through the windshield and suffered serious injuries. But Carol would not allow her POW husband to be notified of what had happened to her because she didn't want him to feel any additional stress. She stood by her man, alone, for the 5 years he was in prison.

McCain was released in 1973 and returned home to find that Carol's accident had "left her 4 inches shorter and on crutches, and she had gained a good deal of weight." [4] McCain no longer had a trophy wife he could feel proud of.

By the late 70's McCain had engaged in adulterous behaviors, as chronicled in the book "The Nightingale's Song" by Robert Timberg. Timberg wrote:

"Off duty, usually on routine cross-country flights to Yuma and El Centro, John started carousing and running around with women. To make matters worse, some of the women with whom he was linked by rumor were subordinates. At the time the rumors were so widespread that, true or not, they became part of McCain's persona, impossible not to take note of."

In 1979 John McCain met Cindy Lou Hensley at a military reception in Hawaii. [1] Cindy was a millionaire and very attractive. McCain was eighteen years older than the wealthy Hensley, but that didn't stop him from developing an adulterous relationship with her. [2]

McCain says of their first meeting, "She was lovely, intelligent and charming, 18 years my junior but poised and confident. I monopolized her attention the entire time, taking care to prevent anyone else from intruding on our conversation. When it came time to leave the party, I persuaded her to join me for drinks at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. By the evening's end, I was in love."

Knowing that Cindy's father had extensive business and political contacts [3], McCain decided to abandon his first wife and marry Cindy. McCain divorced Carol in April 1980 and immediately married Cindy the next month, May 17th. With the Hensley fortune and connections, McCain ran for Congress in 1982. He craved power and has been on a course to secure ultimate control ever since.

A man that cannot be faithful to a loving, self-sacrificing wife cannot be trusted to be faithful to the American people. Bill Clinton taught us that. This week the New York Times reported that during his previous Presidential run in 2000, McCain may have had an inappropriate relationship with the young and lovely lobbyist, Vicki Iseman. The public, not knowing McCain's history of adultery, responded to the NY Times as if they had to be making the story up. NOW what do you think?

Images are all over the internet of Cindy McCain standing at her husband's side as he denied reports of committing adultery with yet another young influential woman.

I wonder what Cindy was thinking.

- - -

1. Dan Nowicki, Bill Muller. "John McCain Report: Arizona, the early years", The Arizona Republic, 2007-03-01. Retrieved on 2007-11-21

2. Nancy Collins. "Cindy McCain: Myth vs. Reality", Harpers Bazaar, July 2007. Retrieved on 2008-01-11.

3. Nicholas Kristof. "P.O.W. to Power Broker, A Chapter Most Telling", The New York Times, February 27, 2000. Retrieved on 2007-04-22.?

4. http://www.usvetdsp.com/mcaindiv.htm

Palin Clueless On Iraq

Watching the RNC tonight...wow...vicious.

Absolutely vicious...

Just a few observations so far...

No ring on the finger of the Palin daughter...although Levi had a nice flag lapel pin on. Perhaps he can borrow one to Erik Paulsen.

I think they were instructed to hold hands all night...

Lots of closeups of white folks.

Still a lot of talking to the delegates in the room and not to America. Good job firing up the thousands of people in the room, but it's been a sad story when it comes to a Republican conversation with America. They've failed.

Anyone notice Palin's right eyebrow curl up when she mentioned Al-Quaida?

Back to Palin and Iraq though.

A week ago, Palin touted her role as "the mother of one of those troops and as the commander of Alaska's National Guard."

Yet, back in 2007 Palin didn't have a strong opinion on the situation.

In an interview with Alaska Business Monthly shortly after she took office in 2007, Palin was asked about the upcoming surge. She said she hadn't thought about it. "I've been so focused on state government, I haven't really focused much on the war in Iraq," she said. "I heard on the news about the new deployments, and while I support our president, Condoleezza Rice and the administration, I want to know that we have an exit plan in place; I want assurances that we are doing all we can to keep our troops safe."

As the commander of Alaska's National Guard, Palin hadn't thought about Iraq. With children on active duty and as the commander of the Alaska National Guard, it strikes me as odd that Palin hadn't given Iraq much thought.

As the commander of nearly 5,600 Alaska National Guard soldiers, how comforting is it that their leader hadn't really thought of Iraq much?

With 6 major military (Army and Air Force) bases in Alaska, did it not occur to Palin to give Iraq much thought?

Seven months into the surge, she still either had not formed any opinion on the surge or the war or just wasn't sharing. "I'm not here to judge the idea of withdrawing, or the timeline," she said in a teleconference interview with reporters during a July 2007 visit with Alaska National Guard troops stationed in Kuwait. "I'm not going to judge even the surge. I'm here to find out what Alaskans need of me as their governor."

And Palin assailed Obama and Biden for sitting on the fence on major issues?

Arguably, Iraq has been the biggest issue in America for years. Does it take that long for news to travel that far?

16,000 active duty soldiers reside in Alaska. While Palin is not THEIR commander in chief, her ignorance on Iraq is astonishing, especially since she has two sons serving this great country.

And we could want that a heartbeat away from the Presidency?

A Question about Palingate 08

I'm by no means in CSI mode here, but I've looked at some photos of Bristol Palin lately and have a question.

Where is the engagement ring?

Will we see it tonight at the convention when the media pans to the Palin family and the future son in law?

Looking at AP photos from 8/31, while Palin's kids were getting off the "Straight Talk Express" you see Bristol getting off the bus carrying the Palin's infant son, but you cannot see any sort of engagement ring.

Just curious here, since the right loves to play the family values card at nearly every turn.

Will McCain spring for some bling?

I'll be anxiously watching tonight...

First Palin Ad

Wow...

So, what did I miss?

I haven't been able to blog much lately as I am in the midst of a 65+ hour workweek...




But what the hell happened?

Paris Hilton swings back at Old Man McCain

Yeah, I'm going Evil Bobby on it today...posting some celebrity BS.

Funny video though...

See more Paris Hilton videos at Funny or Die

McCain stumbles on women's issues

Bluewoman saw this one this morning. She was not impressed.



So, while John McCain supports health insurance plans that pay for Viagra, he has voted against legislation that would have called for birth control to be covered by health insurance.

Bill O'Reilly came to McCain's defense and shows once again just how out of touch with reality he is...

Bachmann, The GOP State Convention and Other Musings

Notably absent from the speakers at the Minnesota Republican Convention this weekend in Rochester, was Congresswoman Michele Bachmann. I hear she was in attendance at some point but did not address the delegates.

Erik Paulsen also did not address the delegates.

I find that to be pretty interesting. How worried are they of a You Tube moment?

It's been widely reported on right wing blogs that convention attendees were greeted with two large "Ron Carey approved" banners displaying who delegates were to vote for. A "Conservative Team" they called it.

Red Hat McCain staffers were marching across the convention floor dictating who each delegate should vote for by holding up yes and no placards.

Ah...democracy at its best! At least they have evolved to the point where they actually count votes, unlike the Meeker County Republicans failing to count votes because of their fear of the Ron Paul revolution.



AAA over at Residual Forces has a letter from the Chair of the McLeod County Republicans. Apparently, because they are upset with Norm Coleman and had threatened to not support him after he was endorsed, party leadership sought to remove BPOU's that did not support endorsed candidates.

Carey threw a temper tantrum.

When I was done speaking, Ron Carey slammed his chair back, ran to the microphone, and spoke out of order to direct a personal attack against me. In essence, he said that I was a dishonest BPOU chair who took too long getting his delegate lists to the party. (Funny thing, I thought it was Carey who wouldn’t share his lists with the Huckabee or Paul campaigns. Either I was misinformed or there’s a double standard.) He made it clear that the amendment would have been used against my county, and probably against McLeod. Fortunately, it failed by a vote of 66% to 33%.

Wow, and the righty bloggers say Al Franken has a temper! How many delegates did Carey do this in front of? This guy is still the Republican Party leader in Minnesota?

BTW, it's been 26 days since several progressive bloggers have called for the Ron Carey Gag Order to be lifted...nothing yet...

Mr. Carey, can you please remove the gag order on Michele Bachmann while you're at it?

McCain's Straight Talk Express Derailed?

A Bravenew Films endeavor.

Funny McCain Angry video

Bluewoman and I have been looking at these videos for about a week now.

Damn they are funny!

McCain 100 year Move On Ad