McCains running partner.

Fljotsdale · Post by **Fljotsdale** » Tue Sep 30, 2008 7:18 am

Lol! Ya think Letterman was peeved? :laugh::laugh::laugh:

dragon wench · Post by **dragon wench** » Tue Sep 30, 2008 8:39 am

Fljotsdale wrote:Lol! Ya think Letterman was peeved? :laugh::laugh::laugh:

Oh, you know.. just a little bit

Seriously, the mind boggles.. Did McCain honestly think he could get away with standing up Letterman and lying to him.. and then instead undertaking a taped interview with Couric in the same building? Without anybody finding out????
And to do that to somebody who has a large following and *airtime* ??? I mean, it practically stretches credibility...

But... returning more fully on topic... [url="http://www.groundreport.com/Arts_and_Culture/Sarah-Palin-Witchcraft-Pastor-Thomas-Muthee-VIDEO"]Palin is protected from Witchcraft[/url]
More details [url="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gvCzZ0SoitdKvCm5L-qbcB6KSGUQD93DIUQ80"]here[/url]

C Elegans · Post by **C Elegans** » Thu Oct 02, 2008 2:29 am

Xandax wrote:As a European - this woman scares me on a level that I hope the US makes a constitutional change and allow Bush to sit for 8 more years - just to keep her out of office

A lot of Europeans fear Palin, because she enbodies all the aspects of the US that we view as highly negative. European media reported that according to polls, McCain's popularity actually increased after he announced Palin would be his vice president candidate, and that scared the hell out of a lot of people. An US politican with power that is uneducated, fanatically religious, doesn't have a clue about economics and international politics and likes to shoot around a lot - that's everything we loathe about the US, and fear because it is a nation with an immense power. This woman is a parody of everything that makes Europeans dislike the US. And there are people who actually like the idea of her becoming vice president?

Here in California, nobody believes McCain will stand a chance, everybody I speak to in convinced the Republicans can't win. My colleagues claim "people can't be that stupid"...but I am far from convinced. I hope I have time to watch the vice president debate tonight. Unfortunately I will be on a flight over the Pacific at the time when the election is decided.

Moonbiter · Post by **Moonbiter** » Thu Oct 02, 2008 3:49 am

C Elegans wrote: Here in California, nobody believes McCain will stand a chance, everybody I speak to in convinced the Republicans can't win. My colleagues claim "people can't be that stupid"...but I am far from convinced.

I said the same thing in 2004, and look where that got me. Now, I'm skipping tonight's debate. I cringe at the thought of listening to these people, and Palin in particular. Let's hope Biden tears her a new one, but I'm not sure he's capable of that.

dragon wench · Post by **dragon wench** » Thu Oct 02, 2008 8:48 am

I'm always extremely sceptical about polls because they are so easy to manipulate, but nonetheless, [url="http://www.electoral-vote.com/"]this[/url] page provides an interesting picture.
We'll see...
As far as the debate tonight goes, I'm not sure if I'll watch it... I don't know if I can tolerate listening to Palin's voice for that long..
If I were Biden, I'd be feeling pretty cautious though. There's no telling how Palin will perform since she's such a loose canon. He'll need to capably return any punches she throws without appearing patronising or a bully.

Given that Canada is directly on the border and that our economy is tightly linked to the US economy most people here have been following this thing very closely, and the majority are horrified by the thought of a McCain/Palin (especially the latter) win.

galraen · Post by **galraen** » Thu Oct 02, 2008 9:51 am

Which horrifies you more DW, McCain/Palin winning, or Harper actually getting a working majority?

Frankly the former I wouldn't find too surprising from a country that voted in Reagan twice, but Oh Canada, where did it all go wrong?

dragon wench · Post by **dragon wench** » Thu Oct 02, 2008 10:10 am

galraen wrote:Which horrifies you more DW, McCain/Palin winning, or Harper actually getting a working majority?

Frankly the former I wouldn't find too surprising from a country that voted in Reagan twice, but Oh Canada, where did it all go wrong?

To be honest, it's a tossup. I tend to be critical of those on the left who throw the term "fascist" at anyone with conservative politics, but I am utterly serious when I say that I view Harper as being half a step away from wearing jackboots..
So, bearing that in mind, I'd say they scare the Hell out of me equally.

Where Canada is concerned... *sigh* It is difficult to pinpoint where it started to go wrong, but for the last number of years the country has been gripped by a political malaise, and right now people are voting more by default than anything else. None of the three major parties are particularly inspiring, and their leaders even less so. At present it's a choice between three entirely insipid party leaders, and as a result voter apathy is at an all-time high. Had the Liberals picked a better leader at their last convention things might be a bit different.
Many Canadians are paying far more attention to the US election. The drama is, of course, part of it, but there is also the inspiration factor. A recent poll that came out showed that something like 41% of Canadian voters would support Obama were he running in Canada. I number both my partner and myself in that category...
Sure, Obama is not as far to the left as we'd like, in fact, by non-US standards he's not even left at all. But, compared to our own crop of hopefuls he's a Hell of a lot more promising. *sigh*

We'll go out and vote come election day, if only to do what we can to deny Harper a majority. At that point, the decision between the Liberals and the New Democrats will be based on whichever candidate in our riding stands the best chance of defeating the Tory.

Here are some pages that give something of a picture of the landscape up here:
Entering Week 3 amid growing voter apathy
herenb.com - Elections Canada battles voter apathy
CD’s Best of the Web / Rick Mercer on Canadian vs. US Election
The Associated Press: US debate to overshadow Canadian debate
TheSpec.com - Local - Prime time toss-up

EDIT
Speaking of horrifying..
Granted, this has been deliberately crafted to be sensational, I'm fully aware of that... but nonetheless I shuddered when I just caught this.
Warning: the above video link contains some very disturbing imagery.

Fljotsdale · Post by **Fljotsdale** » Thu Oct 02, 2008 1:51 pm

dragon wench wrote:
EDIT
Speaking of horrifying..
Granted, this has been deliberately crafted to be sensational, I'm fully aware of that... but nonetheless I [url="http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=-5320899754096826073&ei=aBLlSKWHG5H8qAPutrWNCw&vt=lf&hl=en"]shuddered[/url] when I just caught this.
Warning: the above video link contains some very disturbing imagery.

Crafted to be sensational? Yes... but ... I felt myself go pale. The contrast between those shocking images of maimed and dying kids and that appalling man...

C Elegans · Post by **C Elegans** » Thu Oct 02, 2008 8:34 pm

Moonbiter wrote:I cringe at the thought of listening to these people, and Palin in particular.

I just watched it, and Palin gives me a headache. She sounds like a toothpaste ad, only more cliches and more slogans.
More later.

Tricky · Post by **Tricky** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 2:12 am

Remember how someone once made a painting or a photo-edit of Bill Clinton's nose, replacing it with a woman's bottom? There's actually a crack in the middle of his nose, so after that I had trouble not seeing a shiny ass whenever I saw him.

Say hello to Sarah McCheese!
- Overcompensating, 10-7-2008

It is actually really troubling.

strjms72 · Post by **strjms72** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 2:34 am

I don't know if you see this : YouTube - Don't Vote

Don't Vote. Big name celebrities come together to... tell you not to vote.

Moonbiter · Post by **Moonbiter** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 2:53 am

strjms72 wrote:I don't know if you see this : YouTube - Don't Vote

Don't Vote. Big name celebrities come together to... tell you not to vote.

Erm, no. They actually tell you to vote if you care about issues, and if you don't care then don't vote and stop whining.

Xandax · Post by **Xandax** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 6:03 am

strjms72 wrote:I don't know if you see this : YouTube - Don't Vote

Don't Vote. Big name celebrities come together to... tell you not to vote.

The first part is clearly sarcasm and the second part states the message clearly, so as said by Moonbiter - the message is very much the contrary of what you say.

dragon wench · Post by **dragon wench** » Wed Oct 08, 2008 10:52 am

While surfing around for intelligent commentary and tracking polls following last night's debate I came across [url="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/3151048/Sarah-Palin-Facebook-page-is-latest-US-election-spoof.html"]this[/url]

Moonbiter · Post by **Moonbiter** » Wed Oct 08, 2008 11:07 am

dragon wench wrote:While surfing around for intelligent commentary and tracking polls following last night's debate I came across [url="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/3151048/Sarah-Palin-Facebook-page-is-latest-US-election-spoof.html"]this[/url]

ROTFLMAO!!!!!!

I wish I had thought of that! This is going to be my wallpaper until the election is over!

dragon wench · Post by **dragon wench** » Wed Oct 08, 2008 11:44 am

Moonbiter wrote:ROTFLMAO!!!!!!

I wish I had thought of that! This is going to be my wallpaper until the election is over!

Glad you liked

I thought the whole page was great, but this line is probably my favourite

Political Views: None – I’m not very political”

*snort*

Tricky · Post by **Tricky** » Thu Oct 09, 2008 6:06 am

Ok, well I hate opening up more political threads than strictly necessary, so I'm going to dump this here:

Foo Fighters slam John McCain for unauthorized use of 'My Hero'

"This isn't the first time the McCain campaign has used a song without making any attempt to get approval or permission from the artist. It's frustrating and infuriating that someone who claims to speak for the American people would repeatedly show such little respect for creativity and intellectual property. The saddest thing about this is that 'My Hero' was written as a celebration of the common man and his extraordinary potential. To have it appropriated without our knowledge and used in a manner that perverts the original sentiment of the lyric just tarnishes the song. We hope that the McCain campaign will do the right thing and stop using our song--and start asking artists' permission in general!"

That's downright insulting. I guess he has 'bigger' fish to fry.

Fljotsdale · Post by **Fljotsdale** » Thu Oct 09, 2008 7:45 am

I think that's illegal in the uk.They should sue him.

VonDondu · Post by **VonDondu** » Thu Oct 09, 2008 1:54 pm

McCain has personally supported strict copyright protections, but (surprise, surprise) Republicans never seem to think that laws should apply to themselves. The McCain campaign has ignored copyright laws repeatedly and used many different songs without permission. I don't think they ever ask for permission to use a particular song, which is evidenced by the fact that so many artists have either sued McCain or asked him to stop using their music. Here are the ones I can think of off the top of my head:

Frankie Valli ("Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You")
ABBA ("Take a Chance on Me")
Jackson Browne ("Running on Empty")
John Mellencamp ("Our Country" and "Pink Houses")
Heart ("Barracuda")

I can't think of any more, but just keep an eye on the news. A couple more are bound to pop up in the next four weeks.

EDIT: I just remembered that members of Van Halen were appalled when they found out that McCain was using one of their songs without permission. I can't remember which song it was, but it was probably "Running With The Devil".

dragon wench · Post by **dragon wench** » Thu Oct 09, 2008 3:09 pm

Bah... the more I hear of McCain the more disgusted I become...

I was chatting with a friend down in the US this morning and he told me that despite his abysmally low ratings almost 1/3 of the American public think Bush is doing a good job and that the Democrats are responsible for the present economic situation...
Granted, when it comes to the economic matters you can't entirely pinpoint a single source, but given that the Republicans have been in office for the past eight years and that the Clinton administration left the nation in the black.. the mind simply boggles..

When I hear things like this I can't help but wonder if there's even any reason to have hope. And yes, before anybody says it, I'm painfully aware that Canada is scarcely any better these days