GOP Dam Burst
Colin Powell opened the flood gates. Now comes the flood.
As the McCain-Palin farce quickly sinks into obscurity -- now behind 13 points in the latest CBS News poll-- more high-profile Republicans are jumping ship.
Former George W. Bush White Press Secretary Scott McClellan has endorsed Obama. I'm happy. I always kinda liked and felt sorry for Scotty.
Former Minnesota Republican Governor Arne Carlson has endorsed Obama.
Perhaps most embarrassing to McCain: C.C. Goldwater, the grand-daughter of Barry Goldwater, has endorsed Obama. An excerpt:
Being Barry Goldwater's granddaughter and living in Arizona, one would assume that I would be voting for our state's senator, John McCain. I am still struck by certain 'dyed in the wool' Republicans who are on the fence this election, as it seems like a no-brainer to me...
My grandfather (Paka) would never suggest denying a woman's right to choose. My grandmother co-founded Planned Parenthood in Arizona in the 1930's, a cause my grandfather supported. I'm not sure about how he would feel about marriage rights based on same-sex orientation. I think he would feel that love and respect for ones privacy is what matters most and not the intolerance and poor judgment displayed by McCain over the years. Paka respected our civil liberties and passed on the message that that we should conduct our lives standing up for the basic freedoms we hold so dear.
October 23rd, 2008 at 6:08 pm
Zell Miller is for McCain.
October 23rd, 2008 at 6:20 pm
Although a member of the Democratic Party, Miller backed Republican President George W. Bush over Democratic nominee John Kerry in the 2004 presidential election and since 2003 has frequently criticized the Democratic Party, and has publicly supported several Republican candidates. In 2006, Miller did voice-overs (narrations) for Republican candidate commercials in Georgia state elections (George “Sonny” Perdue and Ralph Reed).
Miller did not seek election to a full term in 2004. After leaving the Senate he joined the law firm McKenna Long & Aldridge, in the firm’s national Government Affairs practice. Miller is also a frequent Fox News Channel contributor.
October 23rd, 2008 at 6:46 pm
I remember something in the last few days, some sort of narrative, that McCain is gaining on Obama. Drudge was the biggest proponent of that narrative. Today’s polls put that down pretty handily:
MI = +22.3
FL = +7 and +5
IN = +9.5 and +4
MN = +19.4, +10, +15
MT = +4.2
NC = +2
OH = +11.5, +14
PA = +10 [or more, in four polls]
And in case you’re rooting for the Bradley Effect in this election, don’t get your hopes up. Even if you take the worst-case Bradley scenario, Obama would win with 272 EVs.
October 23rd, 2008 at 6:46 pm
I love it when obvious liberals call up talk shows and say, “I have been a Republican all of my life, but I’m going to vote for Obama.” Righhhttt. You can smell ‘em out all the time. They also have whiny voices.
Those people never were Republicans, and loyal Republicans wouldn’t jump to the presumed winning side before the election just to try to score some points and win some jobs.
- – -
Goldwater’s granddaughter is clueless. Do you think that her grandmother helped start Planned Parenthood in Arizona because she was such an abortion supporter?
What about her grandad’s support for her mom’s group?
He was once asked after he’d run years later, what his abortion position had been in 1964, and his answer was, “Well, I didn’t have one. It wasn’t an issue.”
What did Goldwater support?
For Goldwater it was anti-Communism, and it was overweening, big government, and he stuck with that all his — all of his life really. He was really completely consistent in it.
That doesn’t seem consistent with Obama.
C.C.’s an idiot who must feel guilty and wants acceptance about a past immorality and abortion.
- – -
Obama supporters aren’t waiting for the election to begin “spreading the wealth.” They’re taking what they want any way they want, now. Barack must remind them of Zorro, as evidenced by carving a “B” in a McCain staffer’s cheek.
October 23rd, 2008 at 6:47 pm
Whoops, I meant:
Today’s polls
October 23rd, 2008 at 6:52 pm
Woody, please stop the ad hominem. It doesn’t help your argument. Also, that reminds me of the time when all of those GOPers called up radio stations and even went on tv and claimed to be Hillary supporters voting for McCain. Except, we actually know that there are a lot of life-long Republicans voting for Obama, from Joe the Autoworker to Joe the Congressman and Joe the Ex-Bush Admin. Secretary.
October 23rd, 2008 at 7:08 pm
Howie: please stop the ad hominem</i.
LOL! Have you ever read what you guys call me? Nothng that I wrote was directed at anyone here, and I substantiated my point with references.
Howie: life-long Republicans voting for Obama, from Joe the Autoworker…
Oh, you mean Joe the union worker! That’s some life-long Republican. You don’t see support of Obama or his lying tax plan from Joe the Plumber, who wants to earn more without the government taking it away.
Okay, I’m outta here.
October 23rd, 2008 at 7:18 pm
Oddly, on more levels than I care to count, one report indicates the B was oriented in such a way that it’s more likely the B was traced while looking in a mirror. Got to admit, however, that’s one hell of a shiner on this young woman. Had to have hurt like heck. Makes me want to reach for an ice pack just looking at it. Ugh!
October 23rd, 2008 at 7:18 pm
I’m from Detroit. I know autoworkers. I am the son of a (female) autoworker, who is staunchly conservative. Take it from me, autoworkers are amazing creatures capable of being in (and benefiting from) a union and voting against their unions, i.e. Republican. THE Joe the Plumber isn’t a real plumber, and actual plumbers support Obama. Shocking.
October 23rd, 2008 at 7:21 pm
Listener, I remember reading just the other day about a woman who was leaving an Obama office and was attacked for (she thinks, the attacker didn’t say) having an Obama sticker on her car. The story read eerily similar to the one Woody posted. The thought that came immediately to my mind was that his source was fake; it just spun the story the other way around (notice that added the neat “angry black guy” into the story). The picture, as you point out, sealed it.
October 23rd, 2008 at 7:36 pm
Joe the Plumber is not unlicensed. He’s undocumented.
October 23rd, 2008 at 7:44 pm
Howie, I don’t know that anything is sealed. I did see a skeptical police officer commenting at Malkin’s site. The B is an enigma to me, but by The Flying Spaghetti Monster, that shiner is very real. And, the acquisition of that shiner had to have been traumatic, no matter how it happened. I am automatically ruling out a door knob.
October 23rd, 2008 at 7:48 pm
Really…last one. How to handle political conflicts
October 23rd, 2008 at 7:50 pm
I’m not saying that woman wasn’t attacked, or that it didn’t hurt like the dickens, but I’m convinced the given story behind it is a fraud, for the reasons I stated.
October 23rd, 2008 at 7:52 pm
Nice, Woody.
October 23rd, 2008 at 7:53 pm
Got it. Yeah, I have a feeling the story that accounts for it all is a real doozie.
October 23rd, 2008 at 8:50 pm
Woody,
The well known, left wing gadfly Michelle Malkin thinks the story is bogus. I’m sure you know where to find link.
October 23rd, 2008 at 8:59 pm
It turns out the story is mostly true. The woman wasn’t outside of a campaign office and the man mugged her before he noticed the McCain sticker. After he noticed the sticker, he carved the B on her face. The story was twisted by Drudge to make it sound like Obama supporters are targeting and “punishing” McCain supporters.
I owe an apology to the woman in the story. I am still distrustful of Woody’s sources.
October 23rd, 2008 at 9:03 pm
Sorry, but what a fantastic friggin’ waste of time this discussion has been. You’re allowing my good friend Woody to set the agenda for you. Gawd.
When Obama wins, liberals better have some good PROACTIVE ideas to put forward. This stiff about merely knee-jerking back at what is now a corpse of a conservative movement is getting really, really old.
October 23rd, 2008 at 9:20 pm
Marc, I’m sorry that on the Marc Cooper blog we didn’t solve world hunger, terrorism, or the crisis that is Sarah Palin’s clothes. Please accept my apology for this one-night distraction. We will resume crisis-solving and future-building in the morning. Does 10 AM sound good for you?
October 23rd, 2008 at 9:22 pm
Okay, let’s get serious. What is it that makes Obama such a dynamic personality to so many?
An Examination of Obama’s Use of Hidden Hypnosis Techniques in His Speeches (PDF link)
October 23rd, 2008 at 9:25 pm
Woody, I’ll probably never understand what constitutes humor to The Right.
October 23rd, 2008 at 9:29 pm
Howie, you ar free to talk about wtf you want to. I’m merely pointing out with what ease Woody is leading You all around by the nose.
Im sorry for the lady who got carved up by a psycho who likes Obama. And so? This proves what? As the blue standard goes… some people uilt like this and some people built like that. some psychos support Obama. SOme support McCain.
October 23rd, 2008 at 9:37 pm
[...] –Marc Cooper: Colin Powell opened the flood gates. Now comes the flood. [...]
October 23rd, 2008 at 10:39 pm
Wow, excellent post Marc. I have to say that it’s been a huge pleasure reading your blog these days–you seem to be hitting your stride. It’s bizarre watching the Republican Party unravel before our very eyes: like the bad-loan-infested housing market, it’s been toxic for a long time, and now we see it tumble like a house of cards. In the long run I think this will be a very good thing for America; like the Democrats in the 80’s and 90’s, this will give the Republicans a chance to start from scratch and become relevant to normal people again. Of course, this is going to take a long time, but ya gotta start somewhere.
Anyway, keep cranking out these awesome posts.
October 23rd, 2008 at 10:52 pm
I was Googling around to find the latest on Mort Sahl.
He compares McCain to Mr Magoo.
McGoo.
October 23rd, 2008 at 11:09 pm
Remember back when we were counting on Bob Barr to soak off enough conservative votes from McCain to let Obama win? Memories.
October 24th, 2008 at 11:18 am
A McCain/Palin volunteer is claiming that she was robbed by a black man in Pittsburgh, then mutilated when he saw her McCain bumper sticker. Now police are giving her a lie detector test based on inconsistencies.
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iidrMKZwVNDDlEtkssY6t1xxhg9QD94106P03
I have no idea, and wouldn’t be surprised either way.
Here’s the drill, lefties: If it turns out she was probably lying, publicize this despicable incident across the land, and call for investigation on whether anyone on campaign encouraged her lies, and on how the tone of the McCain/Palin campaign has encouraged such behavior, yackety yack don’t go back.
If it turns out she probably wasn’t lying, IGNORE this, and calls anyone suggests a double standard with what people would be saying if the candidates and races of the parties in this story were reversed a “hatemonger.”
October 24th, 2008 at 11:24 am
I live in America’s largest suburban enclave of Orthodox Jews, a town with almost 20 synagogues and 25 Kosher restaurants (this is “modern”, not ultra-Orthodox Judaism). The town has a pop. of 40,000, mainly Jewish and African-American — it’s not your grandfather’s suburb. The Orthodox population has been trending neocon Republican for many years now (I’m on the far left of the community’s political spectrum, the JCummings as it were). Every election cycle Repub campaign signs far outnumber the Dem signs on lawns belonging to the Ortho community. This year, my totally unscientific survey shows Obama lawn signs outnumbering McCain signs by about 2-1. There’s been an Obama sign surge especially in the last week. Considering the whisper and e-mail campaign which painted Obama as a Muslim terrorist, and the deep, almost bottomless suspicion in which the Orthodox community held him, this turn of affairs is nothing short of staggering. I still believe the town’s Orthodox Jews will vote at least 60- 40 for McCain, but the enthusiasm gap is clearly huge. Sarah Palin and the economy certainly account for some of this. The rest I chalk up to divine intervention.
October 24th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/24/mccain-supporter-who-clai_n_137484.html
Ashley Todd Fake “Mutilation” Exposed
UPDATE: KDKA in Pittsburgh reports:
Police say a campaign volunteer confessed to making up a story that a mugger attacked her and cut the letter B in her face after seeing her McCain bumper sticker.
At a news conference this afternoon, officials said they believe that Ashley Todd’s injuries were self-inflicted.
Todd, 20, of Texas, is now facing charges for filing a false report to police.
Todd initially told police that she was robbed at an ATM in Bloomfield and that the suspect became enraged and started beating her after seeing her GOP sticker on her car.
Police investigating the alleged attack, however, began to notice some inconsistencies in her story and administered a polygraph test.
Authorities, however, declined to release the results of that test.
Investigators did say that they received photos from the ATM machine and “the photographs were verified as not being the victim making the transaction.”
This afternoon, a Pittsburgh police commander told KDKA Investigator Marty Griffin that Todd confessed to making up the story.
Todd told investigators that she didn’t remember what happened.
Police say they do not believe any other people were involved; and her friends believed the story about the attack.
October 24th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
The best part about her “B” brand is it was backwards…she was looking in a mirror.
As long as its Pee Wee’s great adventure time click on the “Fema’s New Toy”video for something to enjoy your evening bolt of scotch, joint, acid with…or whatever your daily disconnect is.
You must watch the whole thing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QPo1MRatNY&feature=related
October 24th, 2008 at 3:37 pm
# Howie Says:
October 23rd, 2008 at 9:25 pm
Woody, I’ll probably never understand what constitutes humor to The Right.
Howie, that coupled with Mort Sahl’s depiction of McCain as Mr Magoo has made my day.
October 24th, 2008 at 6:16 pm
eeek. no…McGoo brother called 911 to complain about traffic.
On Maddow they played all the tapes. You couldn’t make this up.
That IS a Mr Magoo moment.
October 24th, 2008 at 6:44 pm
It’s like the time that guy called 911 because Subway left the sauce off of his sandwich. No kidding.
October 24th, 2008 at 8:27 pm
Back in 03/4 conservatives organized a film festival…the organizer was quoted as saying (po faced) “well, you know…conservatives aren’t usually thought of as being creative”.
October 24th, 2008 at 11:02 pm
It turns out the story is mostly true
Howie Howie Howie; get a clue. People’s reports are taken at face value by the media all the time; it doesn’t mean they’re true. When some white woman says some black man cut a B in her face because she was a McCain supporter and there are no witnesses, wait for confirmation before saying it’s true, dude.
As for defections, Scottie McClellan is small potatoes compared to McCain advisor Charles Fried, a very conservative fellow who is touted as having great integrity.
October 24th, 2008 at 11:08 pm
Here’s the drill, lefties: If it turns out she was probably lying, publicize this despicable incident across the land, and call for investigation on whether anyone on campaign encouraged her lies, and on how the tone of the McCain/Palin campaign has encouraged such behavior, yackety yack don’t go back.
If it turns out she probably wasn’t lying, IGNORE this, and calls anyone suggests a double standard with what people would be saying if the candidates and races of the parties in this story were reversed a “hatemonger.”
Hey, you asshole racist, hypocrisy and double standards are YOUR drill. Fuck you for PROJECTING — accusing people of a transgression that has occurred only in your imagination.
October 24th, 2008 at 11:13 pm
call for investigation on whether anyone on campaign encouraged her lies, and on how the tone of the McCain/Palin campaign has encouraged such behavior, yackety yack don’t go back.
No investigation is necessary, you racist cretin; the facts are plain and public that the McCain campaign promoted this story without doing any checking. As for encouraging such behavior, it doesn’t need encouragement — just watch those videos of McCain supporters and you can count on there being one who will do this sort of thing.
October 24th, 2008 at 11:49 pm
Woody, please stop the ad hominem.
An absurd and foolish request; Woody can’t stop being what he is.
October 25th, 2008 at 2:29 am
passing t. — I’m sorry to insult your religion.
mccain didn’t “promote” the story and more than obama did (both called the woman), and in fact the media didn’t spend much time covering it before it was revealed as hoax. It was just a white girl after all. The hoax would have been a much bigger deal if accuser had been an Obama supporter with an unside down “M” on her cheek. Such an incident would have been bigger, that is, because it would have been round the clock, front page news for the past two days.
October 25th, 2008 at 10:17 am
White Cornerback,
Apparently you’ve never heard of Charles Stuart or Susan Smith.
October 26th, 2008 at 4:22 pm
Randy Paul,
Are you comparing a distrubed young woman who has commited no violent criminal act to two MURDERERS? Since you brought up the absurd comparision, however, I’ll point out that Stuart and and Smith choose the false alibi because of its plausibility. Blacks make up 12% of population, and 50% of murder suspects.
http://www.colorofcrime.com/colorofcrime2005.html
October 26th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
White cornerback,
I’m comparing their acts and who they accused. It’s credible because of racists, and in your case, if the shoe fits, wear it.
October 26th, 2008 at 5:24 pm
One more thing, White Cornerback: here’s the ADL’s profile of Jared Taylor, the founder of the New Century Foundation, the organization that created the report you link to. Enough said.
October 27th, 2008 at 7:36 am
I don’t agree with him on many areas, but I find him and his viewpoint interesting. He grew up in Japan and basically wants us to become more like the Japanese. I had no idea that racists could be intellectuals — you get the idea that they are all frothing at the mouth.
That’s actually a very fair portrait of Taylor by the ADL. As they point out, btw, he’s not an antisemite, and actually works closely with several Jewish writers.
Attack the message, not the messanger.
October 27th, 2008 at 8:22 am
I find it repellent.
October 31st, 2008 at 9:49 pm
passing t. — I’m sorry to insult your religion.
mccain didn’t “promote” the story and more than obama did
Your religion is apparently lying.