Category: Politics Page 37 of 73

This DNC tool – which lists specific projected proposed for Federal funds in Virginia that McCain voted against – is being promoted as an attack vector on McCain, but I think it’s kind of lame for that use.  Because really, most of these projects were almost certainly presented as parts of larger bills that had nothing to do with the listed project, and I’m not interested in perpetuating a fundamentally dishonest approach to attacking politicians for their votes.

But it is interesting to see what those oft-maligned earmarks are really for.  In my view, they’re not the best way of doing business.  But if you show people in a given district what their representatives are using them for?  I bet you’d find overwhelming support for Federal funding of each specific project, even while a good portion of the same people are decrying earmarks.  If you’re in Virginia, click around the map and check out the examples.  North Carolina residents can click here (there doesn’t seem to be any indexed list of these efforts – but if you live in a swing state, there’s probably a map available.  Just drop in your own state’s name in the URL to check.)

Jeff Frederick, recently-elected Chair of the Virginia Republican Party, thought it was a good idea to say that:

“both Barack Obama and Osama Bin Laden have friends that have bombed the Pentagon. That is scary.”

Really.  That’s about as reasonable as saying both John McCain and Osama Bin Laden have killed civilians while furthering their political ambitions.   And of course, McCain “would have to look at the context” before he can really judge that remark.  But hey, Jeff’s just sayin’.   And Waldo’s rule about RPV choices just gets more and more evidentiary support.

Everyone on my street who had an Obama sign in their yard received a copy of this letter:

Dear Neighbor:

Please don’t take this the wrong way, but a friend has recommended that I reach out to you about a problem that you may be having but may not be aware of: Have you ever considered whether your ostentatious support for Senator Barack Obama is really a disguise that hides a deeply anchored form of racism towards Black-Americans?

And it goes on and on like that.  A neighbor who writes for the Washington Independent has the whole letter here.  I’m not angry about it – it’s more pathetic than anything else, really.  If anything, it stoked some fires.  It sure pissed off my neighbor Jack, a 70-something vet who is four-square in Obama’s corner.  He went out and put up more Obama signs after getting his.  Keep it up, guys.  But after you lose?  Please go away.