Too Progressive

First, I just want to point out that Republicans have no plan for America and no plan to fix the problems we’re facing, we all know that, so they’ve resorted to attacking the stage Obama will speak on when he formally accepts the parties nomination tomorrow at Invesco Field in Denver.  THE STAGE!!  Really?  C’mon now.  Second, while I haven’t been too impressed with the way the convention has gone so far because I’d like to see them take a few more shots at McCain than they have, the media and many others seem to be thoroughly impressed with soon-to-be Senator Warner’s speech from last night:

Seriously.  I can’t even watch the news today because of the mass of nuts that are gathering behind the MSNBC set in Denver.  Just to be clear, though, I am not bashing all Hillary supporters, just the contemptible shrews who can’t get it through their feeble little brains that she lost.  She lost for a reason and she will not be the nominee, for a reason.  It’s time to get over it and back the REAL nominee Barack Obama.  You sound incredibly sore losers when you continue to spew garbage about how Obama cheated and you’re voting for McCain and yaddah yaddah yaddah.  Get over it!!

/vent

Since the Obama campaign can’t seem to figure out a way to hit back against the McCain campaign, I’ve decided to provide them with some fodder I think would be perfect to use!  Via Think Progress:

QUESTIONER: If we don’t reenact the draft, I don’t think we’ll have anyone to chase Bin Laden to the gates of hell.

[Appaluse]

MCCAIN: Ma’am, let me say that I don’t disagree with anything you said.

So there you go Obama campaign, have at it!!

Falling for the same dirty Republican tricks we’ve seen for at least the past two decades and not hitting back with any sort of substantive response.  It’s unacceptable and may very well cause us to lose again in November. As of today my monthly contributions to the Obama campaign will cease until they can prove that they will stand up to the corrupt, lying, flat out ignorant Republicans and the unenlightened who support them.

I was surfing around the web today and happened to notice that TimKaine.com is redirecting to Republican Bill Bolling’s official Lt. Governor website.  After doing a quick “investigation” I found that the website is registered to a “Matt Chancey” who’s address on file with Go Daddy is listed as a P.O. Box in Chelsea, Alabama.  Not understanding why someone in Alabama would register such a domain and, even stranger, have it redirect to Bill Bolling’s website, I did a little more searching and discovered that Matt Chancey is a Republican politician in Alabama and is currently running for Public Service Commission President.  So my next question is, why is a Republican politician in Alabama registering URLs with the name of Virginia Democrats in them and then having them redirect to Republican websites??  Has anyone ever heard of this guy and is there any connection between him and Bolling?

Future Senator Mark Warner and Governor (also possible VP candidate?) Tim Kaine will be speaking together at the Science Museum of Virginia tonight in Richmond.  The event will cost $25 for Young Democrats, $100 for everyone else and is scheduled to start at 6pm.

Oh hey, remember how Wal-Mart is reportedly warning it’s workers that they have to vote for John McCain or they will face an apocalypse?  Yeah, that’s sort of illegal in the USA so several labor unions have become involved and are now petitioning the FEC to investigate the nation’s sleaziest retailer and put an end to their games.  Hopefully something will come of it but given that this isn’t the first time Wal-Mart has played politics in the work place I highly doubt it will be the last!

[Earlier: Wal Mart encouraging employees to vote for McCain]

Intriguing, but we’ll see if it actually happens.  Bill Kristol isn’t exactly the most reliable of journalists.

Sources say former Secretary of State Colin Powell will endorse Barack Obama at the Democratic National Convention, Weekly Standard Editor Bill Kristol told FOX News exclusively on Thursday.

“He may well give a speech at the Democratic convention explaining his endorsement of Obama,” Kristol said, citing inside sources.

“This is not an absolute done deal, but these people are very confident that Powell will endorse Obama,” Kristol said, adding that he thinks Powell still has “a high respect” for John McCain, Obama’s Republican rival.

UPDATE: Powell Responds (quite hilariously, too):

“I do not have time to waste on Bill Kristol’s musings,” Powell told ABC News. “I am not going to the convention. I have made this clear.”

Citing unnamed people who have “talked directly to the Obama campaign,” Kristol told the Fox News Channel on Wednesday that “Colin Powell will endorse Senator Obama and he may well give a speech to  the Democratic convention explaining his endorsement of Obama.”

And since we can pretty safely assume that nobody from the Obama campaign actually talked to Kristol (or someone associated with him), we can conclude that Bill Kristol was once again just making things up.

Earlier today it was announced that former Virginia Governor and soon-to-be Senator Mark Warner would deliver the keynote speech at this year’s Democratic National Convention in Denver.   Via the Warner Campaign’s official press release: Mark Warner comments on the opportunity:

“I am excited about this chance to showcase some of the initiatives we launched here in Virginia and the results we achieved in our effort to help people compete in a changing economy,” Governor Warner said. “By working cooperatively with Republicans, Democrats and independents, we restored integrity to Virginia’s budget process and focused on bringing jobs to the hardest-hit regions in the Commonwealth. I’m pleased we will have a chance to share the Virginia success story at the Convention in Denver.”

[Earlier: Mark Warner to deliver keynote speech at Democratic National Convention]

The Obama campaign just sent an email blast announcing that they expect to surpass a record two million donors within the next few hours.

You can make history in the next few hours. We’re within striking distance of 2 million people owning a piece of this movement.

Our message of change is reaching parts of this country that are rarely touched by presidential campaigns.

We’re all counting on each other to bring the change our country needs.

Future Senator Mark Warner will deliver the keynote speech at this year’s Democratic National Convention in Denver.  Via The Associated Press:

Placing Warner in the national spotlight could help boost his campaign in Virginia, where he is trying to win the Senate seat of retiring Republican John Warner. Obama is also campaigning hard in Virginia, a state that Republican George W. Bush won in the last two elections but one the Obama campaign thinks could turn to the Democrats.

“Mark Warner is the future of the Democratic Party, and putting him on Tuesday night with Hillary Clinton is exactly right move for Obama,” said Arora, who shut down the VoteBoth.com effort two weeks ago under the assumption that Clinton would not be picked. “They highlight Senator Obama’s vision and leadership qualities.”

In 2004 the keynote speech was given by Barack Obama.

I’m starting to think maybe these two twits should get together on a ticket.  First, John McCain accuses Russia of wanting to restore the Russian empire, which once included Alaska, thereby accusing Russia of wanting to invade the United States.  Yay political scare tactics!  Yay for rash assumptions with no factual evidence!

HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania (CNN) – John McCain is turning up the heat on Moscow, and accusing Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin of wanting to “restore the old Russian empire.”

“I think it’s very clear that Russian ambitions are to restore the old Russian Empire,” he said. “Not the Soviet Union, but the Russian Empire.”

Next up is our very own brain damaged governor Tim Kaine who appeared on Fox (FAUX!) News and credited Barack Obama with ending the conflict between Russia and Georgia.

First, why are Democrats still appearing on Fox?  Second, as much as I like Obama I hardly think his statement yesterday regarding the conflict in Georgia had anything to do with any cease-fire, just as I don’t believe Bush or McCain had anything to do with it either.

Check out this article from Red, Green and Blue which includes a quote from your’s truly on Virginia’s resident energy policy dunce and potential Republican VP candidate Eric Cantor:

Terry Carter of Too Progressive: “Eric Cantor has a history of blindly following the failed regressive policies of the Bush administration and the Republican party as a whole, voting nearly 100 percent of the time with the Bush administration throughout his (Cantor’s) Congressional career.  That having been said it pretty much goes without saying that Cantor is once again siding with the Republican party (and the big oil companies) and promoting a regressive energy policy that will provide virtually no long OR short term relief for average American’s struggling with gas and energy prices.  Cantor, a potential VP candidate, Republican presidential nominee John McCain and the Republican party as a whole are once again showing where their true allegiance lies - with the big oil companies that have upported their party for years.a prolific fundraiser for the campaign.”

Well, apparently “bombing for peace” really is the mindset of the world’s ignorant and unenlightened (and here I am thinking it was just one half of a snarky anti-war slogan).  In giving what may be one of the most inane statements I’ve ever heard, Moscow’s number two diplomat in the United States, Alexander Darchiev reveals Russia’s reason for invading Georgia during an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer:

“Again, our goal is to force adventurous Georgian leadership to peace.”

And on that note, the main stream media and McCain campaign surrogates are all over Barack Obama for spending time with his family this week in Hawaii while the conflict between Georgia and Russia escalates.  In typical MSM and Republican party fashion they almost always fail to mention that both campaigns have already issued statements condemning Russia’s actions.  Also, speaking of vacations let’s not forget that President Bush, the poster boy of the Republican party vacationed (as he’s been known to do during times of crisis) in China during the first few days of conflict between Russia and Georgia.  On top of that, I’d also like to suggest to the MSM and McCain surrogates that perhaps they should inquire as to why George Bush was unable to convince his BFF Vladamir Puttin (aka Pooty Poot) into working towards a cease-fire.

On a completely unrelated note (except that it once again involves the MSM), I just wanted to take a moment to remind folks that what a politician does in his sex life should not be part of the vetting process for our elected leaders, especially compared to the judgement they will use and the policies they will put in place to better our society and solve the problems facing our country, our people and our planet.  While I certainly feel for Elizabeth Edwards and in no way condone John Edwards’ behavior, his (and any other politician’s) sex life is in no way going to help or hinder my access to affordable health care, affordable education and cleaner, more affordable energy.  After all, let’s not forget that if a politician’s infidelity mattered in the overall scheme of things, John McCain would not be a sitting senator or a candidate for president.

Republican party poster boy George W. Bush holds up the American flag the wrong way at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China:

In the words of Keith Olbermann, “everything looks perfect from his point of view.”

While I’d be willing to bet that most of us who are actively involved in the political blogosphere have long been registered to vote, it’s certainly still worth mentioning that the deadline to register to vote or update your address in Virginia for the November 4 election is exactly eight weeks from today (October 6). I know I personally wasted no time registering after I turned 18 back in 2003 and am very proud to say that I have voted in every election (general, special, off year, primary or what-have-you) since.  However, it never ceases to amaze and sadden me at just how many people either don’t know how to register, don’t take the time (often because they think the 15 minute process takes much longer) or just simply don’t think the political process matters.  That having been said, If you are not registered to vote or need to update your voter information on file, click here or simply click the graphic on the right hand column of my blog.

So I’m up rather early today (especially for a Sunday) and have the TV on in the background when lo-and-behold here comes John McCain’s completely irrelevant ad comparing Barack Obama to Paris Hilton and Britney Spears while simultaneously essentially claiming that a popular, well received individual is unfit to lead the United States.  Now after I got over the initial shock (if you want to call it that) that McCain’s campaign, as inept and out of touch as they may be, was still running the ad, I began to question what exactly it is that Republicans find so nauseatingly frightening about having a president who is incredibly well received in the international community?

While I certainly believe world leaders should always put what’s right ahead of what’s popular, having the kind of international support Obama does cannot possibly be a bad thing.  Republicans, please take notes!  Although on second thought, if the McCain campaign wants to continue blowing valuable funds running ads that virtually nobody is taking seriously, I guess I’d be all for that too.  Especially when pretty much everyone is in agreement that McCain’s campaign won’t have nearly the resources of Obama’s.

Video I took earlier today at MoveOn.org’s emergency rally to tell Republicans to stop their big oil trickery and start telling the American public the truth.  Photo gallery can be found here.

As promised here are some photos from today’s MoveOn.org rally to stop Republican trickery and big oil gimmicks as well as some photos of the surrounding areas in the Imperial District.  I’ll have some videos later tonight after they finish uploading.

As some of you may have heard, MoveOn.org is holding an emergency rally today to stop House Republican “big oil gimmicks.”  Via The Hill:

Although the House is in recess, several Republicans on Friday and Monday have taken to the floor of the chamber to discuss the country’s energy woes and demand that Pelosi bring back the House and give the GOP an up or down vote on expanding domestic oil production.

Now MoveOn is planning to get involved.

“Republicans have been escalating their attacks on [Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.)] and the Democrats over oil drilling, and we need to push back hard,” the group said in an e-mail to supporters, asking them to come to a 4 p.m. rally at the Capitol.

“Speaker Pelosi blocked their plan because it won’t help lower gas prices—but it will line the pockets of Big Oil executives, the same people donating millions of dollars to Republicans,” the e-mail said. “But Republicans are working hard to make it seem like they’re fighting for cash-strapped commuters—and not the oil companies who wrote their plan.”

The group plans to point to the ties between the GOP and Big Oil.

As stated above, the rally is planned to begin at 4pm at the Capitol building and supporters are asked to meet in front of the Grant Memorial on the mall (1st street, between Pennsylvania Ave and Maryland Ave.  I am planning to attend and will hopefully have some photos and videos to share later on this evening.