Bad Deeds for 6-30-2008

McCain’s New Web Ad Misrepresents Obama’s Positions on Energy – McCain released a Web ad that distorts Obama’s positions on clean-energy innovation and nuclear power. Here is what FactCheck.org says:

The ad portrays Obama as saying “no” to energy “innovation” and to “the electric car.” In fact, Obama proposed a $150 billion program of research into a wide variety of clean-energy technologies last year, long before McCain proposed to award a $300 million prize for developing a commercially viable battery package capable of powering automobiles.

The ad also has Obama saying “no” to “clean, safe nuclear energy.” In fact, Obama has said, “I have not ruled out nuclear… but only [would support it] so far as it is clean and safe.”

 

Obama’s Ad Inflates His Resume – Obama has released his first post-primary ad. FactCheck doesn’t find this ad egregiously misleading, but says it paints a picture of Obama’s accomplishments that could leave viewers with a misimpression or two. The ad talks about laws that Obama “passed,” but in fact, he sponsored only one of the three bills mentioned and cosponsored another. The third included provisions from some bills he’d sponsored earlier, but his name wasn’t attached to the one that passed. And two of the three laws were accomplishments of the Illinois Legislature, not the U.S. Senate.

 

Afghanistan: Allied Death Toll Reaches 7-Year High – The number of U.S. and allied troops killed in Afghanistan in June has reached 40 — the highest monthly toll of the seven-year-old war. Taliban militants have increased their attacks this year. The top U.S. commander in southeastern Afghanistan, Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Schloesser, said Tuesday that attacks on his troops were up 40 percent in the first five months of 2008.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, asked about Schloesser’s comments at a Thursday news conference, said one of the reasons for the increase was that more people are “coming across the border from the frontier area [he was referring to Pakistan].”

 

How John McCain Views How History Will View Things – Here’s what John McCain said about Nixon and Watergate at the time, according to the book entitled Man of the People: The Life of John McCain by Paul Alexander, pp. 81-82:

“I feel that, in the context of history, Watergate will be a very minor item as compared with the other achievements of this Administration.”

 

Conservative Anti Tax Activist Calls Barack Obama “John Kerry with a Tan” – Grover Norquist, the conservative activist who specializes in promoting an anti-tax agenda, dropped by The Los Angeles Times’ Washington bureau yesterday and, as part of his negative critique of Obama’s liberal stances on economic issues and other matters, he termed the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee “John Kerry with a tan.”

 

Why McCain Doesn’t Like Black Cats –

• McCain believes it’s bad luck for someone to hand him a salt shaker.
• McCain believes it’s bad luck to throw a hat onto a bed.
• McCain regularly carries 31 cents in lucky change in his pocket.
• McCain carries a lucky feather, a lucky compass, a lucky penny, a lucky nickel, a lucky quarter, and a laminated four-leaf clover.
• McCain believes it’s bad luck to pick up a coin if it isn’t heads up.
• McCain’s been known to have an aide carry his lucky pen at all times.
• And now he’s having the elevator labels changed in his campaign’s building to eliminate the 13th floor.

 

After FOX News Suggests That The Press Will Not Report North Korea As “A Clear Foreign Policy Victory” For Bush, Their Own Expert Blasts It As Colossal Failure – There was a hilarious disconnect on Hannity & Colmes last night (6/26/08) in a discussion about the latest developments in the nuclear negotiations with North Korea. In his scripted introduction, Sean Hannity called the news “a clear foreign policy victory for the Bush administration.” But, he asked suggestively, “Will the press report it that way?” I don’t know about the other media but FOX News’ own expert, former Bush administration appointee John Bolton, the sole guest, called it a victory for the North Koreans, only. Bolton’s not-so-subtle implication was that we should not make the same mistake of negotiating with Iran. With video.

Regards,

Jim