Bad Deeds for 7-22-2008

 

Conservative Michael Savage Claims That Autism is Almost Always the Result of a Brat Who Hasn’t Been Told to Cut the Act Out (Updated With Petitions)

 

 

I pointed this one out yesterday, but it bears repeating, and there are now petitions to have Savage fired. Conservative radio host Michael Savage claimed that autism is almost always the result of “a brat who hasn’t been told to cut the act out.” Michael Savage has gone to far in his prejudice and discrimination of children with autism. Autism is a neuro-developmental medical condition that requires early identification and lifelong treatment. He has crossed the line by making children the object of his shock radio tactics and promoting mistreatment of children with disabilities. Here are a few other examples of Savage’s remarks:

• “We’re getting refugees now who have never used a telephone, a toothbrush, or toilet paper. … They never assimilate. And then their children become gang-bangers.”
• Savage accused former page of “gay-baiting” Foley and added: “Maybe he’s a Democrat.”
• Savage advocated “militarization of our children” to respond to terror threat.

Here’s the petition.

You can also use Media Matters’ form to find your local Savage station and make your voice heard.

 

Republican State Senator’s Blog Compares Barack Obama and Osama bin Laden – A Republican state senator put a graphic on his blog that shows Barack Obama and Osama bin Laden wearing similar clothing, along with a line that says the difference between them is “a little B.S.” The image was posted on Sen. Kevin Bryant’s blog on Friday. It appears to be a photo of a T-shirt with images of bin Laden and Obama wearing turbans and the words “OBAMA” AND “OSAMA,” with the “B” and “S” highlighted in red. The state Democratic Party chairwoman called the posting a “desperate and juvenile attempt” by Bryant to get attention for his re-election bid. “That kind of ignorance and hatred, I’m surprised to find it exists,” Carol Fowler said. “South Carolinians are not ignorant, hate-filled people.”

 

McCain Surrogate Says, “The Muslims” Are “Going To Kill Us” – On a conference call with reporters, John McCain surrogate Bud Day doesn’t do much to endear his candidate to Muslims: One of John McCain’s fellow POW’s in Vietnam, Colonel Bud Day, defended the war in Iraq, saying, “The Muslims have said either we kneel or they’re going to kill us.” Apparently, Day thinks that all Muslims are terrorists. A McCain campaign spokesman declined to disavow the comments. Bud Day is best known for his work with the Swift Boat Veterans For Truth, attacking John Kerry in the 2004 election. He’s now a member of McCain’s Truth Squad. Ah, great job of picking quality people, Mr. Straight-Talk.

 

McCain Makes False Claims On Iraq Timeline – In an interview with CBS News’ Katie Couric tonight, John McCain made the false assertion that the Surge brought about the so-called Anbar Awakening. One problem. The surge wasn’t even announced until a few months after the Anbar Awakening. Via Spencer Ackerman, here is Colonel MacFarland explaining the Anbar Awakening to Pam Hass of UPI, on September 29, 2006. That would be almost four months before the President even announced the surge. Petraeus wasn’t even in Iraq yet. This isn’t some gaffe. This shows that McCain has a real misunderstanding of what has happened in Iraq over the past year.

It is history that anyone trying out for Commander and Chief must understand when there are 150, 000 American troops stationed in Iraq. It is an absolutely essential element to the story of the past two years. YOU CANNOT GET THIS WRONG. Moreover, what is most disturbing is that according to McCain’s inaccurate version of history, military force came first and solved all of our problems. If that is the lesson he takes from the Anbar Awakening, I am afraid it is the lesson he will apply to every other crisis he faces including, for example, Iran.

 

Republican Front Group Skirts Election Law – In 2002, a shady Republican front group spent millions of dollars attacking Democratic Senate candidates across the country, including Paul Wellstone (D-MN). The group, Americans for Job Security (AJS), registered as an “issue advocacy” group, even though election laws prohibit such groups from electioneering for or against candidates. AJS’s ability to skirt election laws allowed the group to take corporate contributions and hide the identity of its donors. The group spent an estimated $8.5 million nationwide against Democratic candidates in the final weeks of the 2002 election.

AJS is up to its old tricks, calling itself an “issue advocacy” group to hide the identity of its donors. Just as the Wellstone campaign did in 2002, the New Hampshire Democratic Party has filed a complaint against AJS with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) laying out a solid case as to why the group is in clear violation of election law.

Please sign the petition to the Federal Election Commission to force AJS to abide by the law and reveal its donors..

 

Dick Cheney’s Staff Took Advantage of 9/11 to Enhance Presidential Power – Jane Mayer, author of The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned Into a War on American Ideals, told the hosts of MSNBC’s Morning Joe that Dick Cheney’s staff took advantage of 9/11 to enhance presidential power and that — in the words of Republican lawyer and former 9/11 Commission director Philip Zelikow — “fear and anxiety were exploited by fools and zealots.” Mayer added, however, that there were also opponents of torture and other extreme powers within the administration. “Almost from the start after 9/11,” she stated, “lawyers in the administration have said, ‘That’s not the American way, we can’t do that, it’s criminal, it may be a war crime.'”

 

This Is What “Respectful” Looks Like? – From John McCain campaign memo to reporters, March 12, 2008:

Throughout his life John McCain has held himself to the highest standards and he will continue to run a respectful campaign based on the issues.

John McCain today:

I had the courage and the judgment to say that I would rather lose a political campaign than lose a war. It seems to me that Senator Obama would rather lose a war in order to win a political campaign.

Yep, because nothing says “respectful campaign” like accusing your rival of hoping America loses a war in order to serve his personal ambition.

 

McCain’s Tank Full of Nonsense – McCain’s new ad accuses Obama of keeping gas prices high, all by himself. That’s absurd, and McCain knows it – he has said repeatedly that our current problems were “30 years in the making.” The ad also tells us that gas prices are high because “some in Washington are still saying no to drilling in America.” Not true. The federal government’s estimate is that if the moratorium on offshore drilling were lifted today, it would be 2030 before we’d see a noticeable effect on supply and prices. For the same reason, it’s simply not true that drilling more now will “rescue our family budgets.” Read the details from FactCheck.org.

 

McCain’s Small-Business Bunk – He claims 23 million small-business owners would pay higher tax rates under Obama. He’s wrong. The vast majority would see no change, and many would get a cut. McCain has repeatedly claimed that Obama would raise tax rates for 23 million small-business owners. It’s a false and preposterously inflated figure.

We find that the overwhelming majority of those small-business owners would see no increase, because they earn too little to be affected. Obama’s tax proposal would raise rates only on couples making more than $250,000 or singles earning more than $200,000.

McCain argues that Obama’s proposed increase is a job-killer. He has a point. It’s true that increasing taxes on those at the top would leave them less money for other purposes, including investment and hiring in the case of business owners. But the number of business owners who would see their rates go up would be only a small fraction of what McCain says. Many would see their taxes go down.

 

McCain Advisor Tied To Bush’s Pay-For-Play Influence Peddler – John McCain’s senior foreign policy adviser is a close business associate of Stephen Payne, the lobbyist caught on tape offering access to top administration officials in exchange for donations to the Bush Library. Payne’s company’s entire business model is international influence peddling in exchange for oil and gas leases from politically unstable and dictatorial regimes. McCain’s senior foreign policy and national security adviser, Randy Scheunemann, is listed as a member of Worldwide Strategic Energy’s executive team in a pre-prospectus obtained by Majikthise.

 

Census Bureau Plans War on Data – In taking the 2010 Census, the Census Bureau intends to “edit” the accurate responses of legally married same-sex couples to report them falsely as “unmarried partners.” Such “editing” would not only be highly offensive, it would lead to the reporting of inaccurate demographic data, completely contrary to the Bureau’s mission and goals. Politics should have no place in the Census. Accuracy should be the only criterion.

Regards,

Jim