I thought George W. Bush was stupid. But I think John McCain has him beat by a country mile in that department. Yesterday, speaking to a group of autoworkers McCain actually proposed letting each state determine their own mileage standards. I can't think of anything that would kill the auto industry faster than that. Can you imagine trying to build vehicles that meet 50 different standards? WOW! If I were a Republican, I'd be really worried about the mental capacity of John McCain based on this one idea alone.
McCain talks tough about auto industry, fuel economy
BY KATIE MERX, KATHLEEN GRAY and JUSTIN HYDE • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS • July 19, 2008
The Detroit auto industry felt the hard slap of reality Friday, after basking for weeks in the glow of attention from the presidential campaigns of Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama.
GOP presidential candidate McCain told an audience of more than 500 GM workers that he would let each state determine its own fuel efficiency standards -- a position the auto industry says adds unneeded costs and kills jobs.
His pronouncement -- which mirrors what Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee, has said on the issue -- came as he promised to support General Motors Corp.'s work to develop electric and more fuel-efficient cars.
It was McCain's second visit with metro Detroit autoworkers in a week.
McCain -- speaking from the heart of the arena-style Design Dome at GM's Tech Center campus in Warren to company executives, engineers, designers and hourly workers -- said he supports California and 16 other states that want to establish their own fuel economy standards.
"It's hard for me to tell states that they can't impose whatever standards they decide to impose," McCain said. He said he wants to see GM Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Rick Wagoner "sit down with the governors and ask them what they need."
If you only forward one email this year, make it this one... America needs to know the truth about John Sidney McCain III and the disaster that awaits us if he becomes president.
DID YOU KNOW? John McCain came back from Vietnam and cheated on his disabled wife before leaving her and his three children and marrying a rich heiress 17 years his junior. McCain obtained a marriage license for his second marriage while he was still married to his first wife. (1)
DID YOU KNOW? The McCains own ten homes, valued at more than $13 million, including TWO swanky beachfront condos in California. The McCains failed to pay taxes on one of those beach homes for the past four years. (2)(3)
DID YOU KNOW? The McCains have been known to charge hundreds of thousands of dollars IN A SINGLE MONTH on their credit cards. (4)
DID YOU KNOW? John McCain's chief economic adviser, rich Swiss Bank lobbyist Phil Gramm, recently told the Washington Times that the current economic crisis is a "mental recession" and said that America is a "nation of whiners." (5)
DID YOU KNOW? Earlier this year John McCain said, "I don't believe we're headed into a recession, I believe the fundamentals of this economy are strong and I believe they will remain strong." He also stated that, "The issue of economics is not something I've understood as well as I should." (6)
DID YOU KNOW? John McCain regularly plays craps for "a few thousand dollars at a time." He loves to gamble and is extremely superstitious. (7)(8)
DID YOU KNOW? John McCain recently called Social Security "an absolute disgrace." McCain was a big supporter of President Bush's unpopular plan to ditch Social Security and replace it with private accounts. (9)(10)
DID YOU KNOW? American taxpayers spend $340 million EVERY SINGLE DAY in Iraq. Yet John McCain thinks it would be okay to keep our brave troops there for up to "one hundred years." (11)(12)
DID YOU KNOW? Disabled American Veterans give John McCain a 20% rating on his voting record for Veterans, the worst score among all 100 senators (tied with Mike Crapo and Larry Craig). The Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America gave him a "D" rating. (13)(14)
DID YOU KNOW? John McCain says he wants to save the environment, but the League of Conservation Voters currently ranks him DEAD LAST among all 535 members of Congress, with a 0% rating. (15)
DID YOU KNOW? McCain has failed to vote on the last 19 environmental bills in the Senate, dating back to 2005. (16)
DID YOU KNOW? Every single day for the first four months of this year 1.6 million barrels of U.S. oil were exported to foreign countries - up 33% from last year - while our gas prices continue to go through the roof. The McCain/Bush solution is to give big oil companies even more opportunities to pollute our coastlines and despoil the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. (17)(18)
DID YOU KNOW? The Department of Energy estimates that if we start the McCain/Bush offshore drilling plan today, we could lower gas prices by 6 cents - but not until the year 2025. (19)
DID YOU KNOW? John McCain, like George W. Bush, supports using the form of torture known as waterboarding. (20)
DID YOU KNOW? John McCain will continue George W. Bush's "rich get richer, poor get poorer" fiscal policies. If you make under $112,000 per year you will pay HIGHER taxes under John McCain than under Barack Obama. One quarter of McCain's tax breaks go to people making more than $2.8 million per year. (21)
(Could that be why they nominated him? - promoted by ScottyUrb)
Today, Republican John McCain in one of his strongest endorsements of free trade called himself "an unapologetic supporter of NAFTA" in front of the National Council of La Raza, a major Hispanic organization.
McCain said he fully supports the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the Central American Free Trade Agreement and the Colombian Free Trade Agreement.
And he wants to expand NAFTA to the entire Western Hemisphere (minus Cuba I assume):
"I believe a hemispheric free trade agreement is a worthy and necessary goal whose time has come."
Even before the Bush Recession, Michigan had lost upwards to 47,000 jobs because of NAFTA.
So, Greenville, Flint, Lansing and all of you supposedly "whiny" Michigananders, why would any of you vote for McWorse?
This is a mash up of pundits and John McCain talking about the economy. It's clear John McCain has no clue what he's talking about when it comes to the economy.
This is unbelievable. Talking to a reporter that tells McCain exports to Iran have risen dramatically during the Bush here, with cigarettes being a major part of the rise, he replies, "Maybe that's a way of killing them." Then adds, "That's a joke." Just imagine if John McCain were negotiating with a foreign government and he made a "joke" about the country he was negotiating with.
For those of you that may want to attend the John McCain town hall to ask a question of John McCain, the event will be at noon at Bayloff Products in Belleville, 5910 Belleville Road.
It seems this is kind of a secret, since the Michigan Republican Party couldn't tell me where McCain was going to be.
I had to call the Farmington Hills Victory Center to find out where the event is being held. They did say it was open to the public. The event isn't listed on McCain's web site either. No wonder McCain's crowds are so small.
During the Republican primary John McCain and the rest of the Republican candidates answered a few questions. This one is whether they prefer a Mac of PC. Wait till you see John McCain's answer.
<!-- begin content --> Submitted by BuzzFlash on Mon, 06/23/2008 - 4:08pm.Guest Contribution
A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION by Susan J. Demas
Four years ago, a gaggle of grandmothers emerged from a University of Illinois building, breathlessly chirping about a U.S. Senate forum.
A cerise-scarfed lady spotted a placard for a hopeful and asked if he was The One.
"That's not our guy," she was told. "Our candidate is the one whose name no one can pronounce."
I recall glancing at her "Obama for Senate" button. Good luck, this hard-bitten political reporter thought before hurrying back to the library to finish researching an obscure local history project.
Five months later, I watched Barack Obama unfurl his fabled '04 Democratic National Convention speech in which he deftly defined the "hope of a skinny kid with a funny name who believes that America has a place for him, too."
That was the first time I realized I'd underestimated Mr. Obama. Then came the Illinois senator's upset win in lily-white Iowa in January, 11 straight victories after Super Tuesday and knockout blow on the last primary night, June 3.
Hmmm...perhaps this is his secret plan to compromise for reversing Roe vs. Wade if he wins! "We'll force the women to give birth, but we'll make up for it by scalding their unwanted children with bottles of hot water!"
Seriously, WTF was THAT???
Lanny Davis layed out a compromise on the issue of Michigan and Florida in a piece on the Politico. He starts with two neutral principles which the Rules & Bylaws Committee members ought to use as a guide.
The legal principle supporting that solution is pretty simple. In U.S. contract law, the party breaching a contract usually has the right to "cure" the violation during the term of the contract. But if the other party stands in the way of that cure, the breaching party cannot be further sanctioned — and certainly, as a matter of fairness, the party preventing the cure should not stand to benefit.
According to Davis, this is what happened in 2008 to Michigan and Florida: both states violated party rules, but by March of 2008 were willing to "cure" (hold new primaries and raise money to pay for them).
DNC Chairman Howard Dean said at the time that such revotes were permissible and would bring Michigan and Florida back into compliance. And there was precedent: In 1996, Delaware Democrats held a party caucus earlier than the permissible date, resulting in a rule violation. But state Democrats were allowed to hold another caucus later on and were then found to be back in compliance.
I wasn't exactly sure how I was going to cover last night's rally, but once I arrived I figured I should do what I do best--Twitter.
It was a mixture of live-reporting, attempts at wit/humor, and analysis.
I'm just going to copy & past the full stream-of-consciousness tweet-fest, please excuse the spelling error.s
Apparently, the line for the Obama event is already forming in downtown... 02:35 PM May 14, 2008 from twhirl
Retweeting @Spout: For a limited time only: 50% off all DVDs on Spout! Get 'em while they're hot. http://www.spout.com/store/ 02:48 PM May 14, 2008 from twhirl
Have to leave here at 4:30pm to get credentials for an event that doesn't start until 7:00pm. Stuuupid. 03:19 PM May 14, 2008 from twhirl
@tonytagliavia i'll be there in about an hour! 03:41 PM May 14, 2008 from twhirl in reply to tonytagliavia
Heading over to VanAndel to check in and get my wristband... 04:25 PM May 14, 2008 from twhirl
At this point, I was heading down Ottawa from my workplace to the Van Andel Arena... read the rest of my journey below the fold
But first...
And the tweet that defines the night for me. Although its a simple take-away, it was all over the news last night.. and I tweeted it first (well, probably not really):
Endorsement shifts focus away from obama's trouncing in WV. Now he has to live up to increased expectations among workingclass whites in KY. about 22 hours ago from txt
But on to the fun! Again, I apologize about the spelling. I removed the irrelevant tweets (mostly me asking my friend for a ride home).
As
one who's been an early
backer of yours,
it truly gives me great pleasure to finally be able to offer you a
hearty: "Welcome to
Michigan!" Sure was nice of you to
bring that John Edwards fellow along too!
Unfortunately, family obligations prevented me from
attending either of your events today. However, I know you'll be back -
A LOT - between now and November, and I'm sure we can catch up sometime
down the trail. In the meantime, I figured I'd pass along a few tips on
how you might best hand John Sidney McCain III his second straight
Michigan defeat in 2008:
Make up for lost time
Because
of the primary snafu, we need to make up for lost time...pronto. Good
call on starting off the general election campaign here. But Michigan
needs to see you some more...and not just in October. We need you to be
so familar around here that the papers will finally get bored
mentioning how we were overlooked in the primary process, etc.
If
you're going to move forward in Michigan, that storyline needs to be
put to bed now (the Edwards endorsement certainly did help with
this).
West Michigan is fertile ground
Also nice call on your choices of venue today...particularly Grand
Rapids. You're
not going to win Kent County, but there are a whole lot of
good folks
over there in West Michigan who are too often ignored and who might be
amenable to your message. People take their faith extra
serious in West Michigan, and you have demonstrated a strong ability to
talk sincerely and openly about the role of faith in your life (unlike
John Sidney McCain). So talk about Jesus. Talk about him a lot.
BTW, did you know that over in Holland (the reddest part of
the state), they actually have an institution called Hope
College? How's that for campaign synchronicity? Just for kicks, it might be worth a quick visit
sometime.
More Oakland; less Macomb
As
it has for the past 30 years, the national press will continue to
repeat over and
over and over about how critical it is that you win back
the "Reagan
Democrats" in Macomb County. This is massively overblown. Don't get me
wrong, Macomb is important and you do need to hold onto as much support
there as you can (fortunately, you have a classy guy in David Bonior to
help with that). But Oakland County, with it's more affluent and
educated base will be much friendlier to you. It's
been trending more Democratic every year. Case in
point: in
2002, Jennifer Granholm became governor by winning Oakland -
and while losing Macomb. Another factoid: in 2006 the ballot
proposal banning affirmative action passed in
Oakland with 57% of the vote - slightly less than the state tally of
58%. In Macomb, the total was 68%.
Spending more time in Oakland County will also enable you to help Gary Peters,
who is one of our best prospects for taking a U.S. House seat this
year.
As many of you heard, John McCain was at Oakland University today. I got up early, so I could be one of the first people in line. When myself and my friend got there, we were the only people there at 6 a.m.
We stood in line for almost 2 hours before the doors opened. We went through security, no problems. Glenn Clark, the 9th District chair and McCain employee, greeted me and said that my camera was welcome. My friend and I got seats right in front of the podium, maybe 30 feet from where McCain would be speaking and I set up my video camera. We were talking to people around us and then out of the blue Glenn Clark and two uniformed Oakland University police officers came up to me and asked me to leave. I protested a little, declaring that this was a public event and everyone was welcome. That was what all the newspaper articles said. But I guess I wasn't welcome.
They were ready to arrest me again for attending a public event with a man who could be the next president of the United States.
I left without incident. One arrest is enough, but John McCain and the Michigan Republican party have no interest in letting average Americans ask them about their character or their views on issues.
We'll find out tonight, when McCain pops in for a fund raiser with Mitt Romney down Detroit way. But, we have some clues. They include people who helped finance this ad (below the fold, due to size):
DEARBORN — The McCain presidential campaign made a major strategic error this week insulting the Arab American community when it cut a community leader and politically active Arab American Republican from its Michigan finance committee. The decision to remove Mr. Ali Jawad from the campaign effort came after protestations from a discredited blogger known for her hate language and ignorant rants against Arab Americans, American Muslims, the religion of Islam and American officals and public figures with whom she disagrees.
All of it undeniabily true, especially the part about the Costco Coulter's regular tirades against Muslims, which is why my original post included a standard accuracy disclaimer.
The bigger point, however, is how often the McCain will insult the Arab American community over the next six months. Siding with the Costco Coulter over someone who's given them a lot of money in the past may serve as a useful predictor in this case. In a state expected to be close, like Michigan, and with a significant Arab American population, like Michigan, it could be an important development.
