Tag Archives: politics

The politically obsessed; SNL on Biden and Murtha

From last night’s Saturday Night Live: “Earlier today Democratic candidate Joe Biden and Congressman Jack Murtha spoke at a rally in Johnstown Pennsylvania where they attempted to blow the election for Senator Obama.”

Meanwhile, in the Washington Post, inadequate political junkies come out of the closet in “Capital Offense – Washington Keeps a Finger on the Political Pulse.”

“I’ve done that a million times,” Peter Barber says excitedly, when asked if he’s ever pretended to recognize a name or political term since moving to the area for grad school in public policy at George Mason. “But I always thought it was just me!”

He hasn’t lived here that long — came down from Connecticut where people aren’t so obsessed. Still, it’s not easy, he says. Especially not when there’s a whole new cast of characters and policies to memorize every election cycle.

“Like Rumsfeld,” Barber says. He’d finally gotten used to knowing that “Rumsfeld was the secretary of state,” he says, when Rumsfeld went and resigned and was replaced by that Gates guy. Now, Barber bets, “Four out of 10 people here would still say Rumsfeld” was the secretary of state.

Telling Barber that Donald Rumsfeld and Robert Gates were not secretaries of state but secretaries of defense just seems cruel.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to watch that SNL sketch again, it may be one of my favorites.

"Death threat, vandalism hit ACORN after accusations"

The conviction of ACORN without waiting for anything like a pesky investigation continues. As reported in the Miami Herald:

An ACORN community organizer received a death threat and the liberal-leaning voter registration group’s Boston and Seattle offices were vandalized Thursday, reflecting mounting tensions over its role in registering 1.3 million mostly poor and minority Americans to vote next month.

The article concludes by noting the larger implications of these events:

It’s unclear whether the alleged threats violated federal law, but Jonah Goldman, the director of the National Campaign for Fair Elections at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, a nonpartisan, nonprofit legal organization that battles discrimination, argued that the Voting Rights Act should apply.

“A real concern is the impact that these terrible acts have on the people who registered through these registration drives,” Goldman said. “Legitimate, eligible voters who sign up through these registration drives may be understandably intimidated and choose not to show up at the polls, and the Voting Rights Act prevents voter intimidation.”

On a related note, ACORN has this statement up on their site regarding John McCain’s recent attacks on the organization:

“We appreciate Senator McCain’s effort to stir up the Republican base by attacking a community organization working to increase public participation in our democratic process. However, these attacks reflect an increasingly panicked candidate. Unfortunately, the Senator McCain we saw tonight is very different than the Senator McCain who stood shoulder to shoulder with ACORN at a February 20, 2006 immigration reform event.

It is clear for us to see that John McCain was for ACORN before he was against ACORN; he was for reform before he was against reform; and he was a maverick before he became erratic. What is really going on here is that Senator McCain and his allies are part of a coordinated effort to engage in what appears to be an unprecedented effort to suppress voter turnout. Repeating a lie doesn’t make it true, and the McCain campaign has resorted to the worst type of deceptions in regards to ACORN.”

Miami Herald link via LDpodcast’s twitter feed.

McCain lied? I'm so disillusioned

Thomas Joseph, the business manager of Local 50 of the United Association of Plumbers, Steamfitters and Service Mechanics, based in Toledo, said Thursday that Mr. Wurzelbacher had never held a plumber’s license, which is required in Toledo and several surrounding municipalities. He also never completed an apprenticeship and does not belong to the plumber’s union, which has endorsed Mr. Obama. On Thursday, he acknowledged that he does plumbing work even though he does not have a license.

His full name is Samuel J. Wurzelbacher. And he owes back taxes, too, public records show. The premise of his complaint to Mr. Obama about taxes may also be flawed, according to tax analysts. Contrary to what Mr. Wurzelbacher asserted and Mr. McCain echoed, neither his personal taxes nor those of the business where he works are likely to rise if Mr. Obama’s tax plan were to go into effect, they said.