McCain Hired An Oil Lobbyist To Help Ease His Transition Into The White House If Elected

Time reports today that McCain has hired another Washington lobbyist, William Timmons, to help prepare for McCain’s transition, should he win. “Transition” in this context means in charge of hiring all the people who have to be prepared to staff the new administration the moment the new President takes off. So McCain put an oil lobbyist in charge.

William Timmons is an influential Washington lobbyist who has worked in every Republican administration since Nixon. According to the Time article, he is currently registered to work on bills dealing with domestic oil drilling, regulation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and bills to provide farm subsidies.

McCain is promising REFORM??? By hiring an oil lobbyist who has worked in every Republican White House since I was born to do all his staff hiring for him? You go, maverick.

If You Support The Troops, Don't Vote For McCain

The Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America has ratings for all members of congress. Obama got a B+. McCain got a D. Wonder why? There's a difference between being a veteran and supporting our veterans -- and our troops. McCain does not support our troops.

April 2003 Voted to table (that means kill the bill, or in this case amendment) that would have appropriated over a billion dollars for procurement of equipment for the National Guard and Reserves in Iraq.

October 2003 Voted to table an amendment that would have provided an additional $322 million for safety equipment for United States forces in Iraq.

March 2004 Voted against an amendment to increase Veterans' medical care by $1.8 billion by eliminating abusive tax loopholes.

April 2005 Voted against a bill to provide $2 billion for medical care for veterans.

November 2005 voted against legislation that would have provided $500 million a year for readjustment counseling and mental health services for veterans with mental illness and post-traumatic stress disorder.

March 2006 voted against an amendment to increase Veterans medical services funding by $1.5 billion in FY 2007 to be paid for by closing corporate tax loopholes.

April 2006 voted against an amendment to provide an additional $430 million for the Department of Veteran Affairs for Medical Services for outpatient care and treatment for veterans. Was one of only 13 senators to vote NAY.

May 2006 voted against an amendment to provide $20 million for the Department of Veterans Affairs for Medical Facilities.

March 2007 didn't show up to vote on a resolution to start redeploying combat troops from Iraq.

September 2007 voted against an amendment to require minimum rest periods for armed forces between deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.

May 2007 A spokeswoman for Senate majority leader Harry Reid commented to The Hill, "[McCain] has only managed to show up for four of the last 14 Iraq votes."

June 2008 Along with President Bush, McCain opposed the new GI bill -- which passed in a veto-proof bipartisan majority. McCain didn't bother leaving the campaign trail to vote against it. The GI bill gives veterans who have served in the military for at least three years since 9/11 full tuition and other expenses at a four-year public university.

I couldn't help but notice that McCain voted for corporate tax loopholes over veterans healthcare not once, but twice. Nice.

Look! Something Shiny!

It seems to be the consensus of the pundits that the lipstick thing really IS a distraction "on purpose" from the McCain campaign from the issues of the day.

We have two wars, an energy crisis, a foreclosure crisis, and a recession. The American people want to talk about healthcare and jobs and middle class tax cuts. None of these is a winning issue for McCain. So any day that he can distract us with something unimportant and irrelevant, especially that will get his base a little riled up is a good day for McCain. Any day that Obama can stay on message about the issues will hurt McCain -- he's voted with Bush 91% of the time. And nobody wants more of what Bush has to offer. So watch for more distractions and tantrums and diversions. McCain doesn't want to talk about the issues. If he talks about the issues, he loses.

It was heartening to see some in the media last night treating this for what it was -- a big lie. Some even brought up other recent lies out of the McCain camp, specifically their disgraceful new "sex ed ad" and the "Bridge to Nowhere." Up until now, the media has gone along with the "Maverick McCain" persona, though the "maverick" is long gone. It's my hope that the "lipstick on a pig" affair might mark a turning point -- that the media will abandon "maverick" and portray McCain more often for what he is: a big fat liar.

McCain Would Rather Call His Running Mate A Pig Than Discuss His Economic Policy

To me, it was perfectly clear: Barack Obama was talking about the McCain-Bush economic policies when he said, "You can put lipstick on a pig, it's still a pig."

We all know what happened then. The McCain campaign suggested it was an insult directed at Sarah Palin ("What's the difference between a bulldog and a hockey mom? Lipstick"). The campaign put up a web ad and demanded an apology.

Obama responded this morning. My favorite parts came near the beginning and near the end:

The McCain campaign would much rather have a story about phony and foolish diversions than about the future. This happens every election cycle. Every four years, this is what we do. We've got an energy crisis. We have an education system that is not working for too many of our children, and making us less competetive. We have a economy that is creating hardship for families all across America. We've got two wars going on, veterans coming home not being cared for, and this is what they want to talk about. This is what they want to spend two of the last 55 days talking about.

Spare me the phony outrage. Spare me the phony talk about change. We have real problems in this country right now, and the American people are looking to us for answers. Not distrations, not diversions. Not manipulations. They want real answers to the real problems that we are facing.

I'd like to add, for my part, that the media could choose not to cover this nonsense.

On Community Service

Unless I missed the boat (and that's always possible), Barack Obama hasn't claimed his years as a community organizer in Chicago as experience that qualified him to be president. They are part of his life story, his history, part of what brought him ultimately to run for president. But as a qualification to be president? I don't recall hearing him say that.

You'd think otherwise after some of the speeches at the Republican convention this week. You'd think that being a community organizer was all the experience Obama has claimed. "Community organizer," Guiliani sneered. "What?" Palin said that being the mayor of a small town is "sort of like a 'community organizer,' except that you have actual responsibilities."

If you believe in small government, believe in cutting government food programs, cutting programs to aid the homeless, or, for that matter, cutting aid to young unwed mothers in Alaska, if you believe in cutting job training programs because you feel that isn't the governement's role, or shouldn't be . . . well, it seems to me that you might then have a strong personal committment to community service. You should believe in non-governement programs through local houses of worship, though community centers. It's just not good for society to have homeless children starving on the street. So if you believe in small governement, then for Heaven's sake, don't ridicule people who give up lucrative jobs and go into the business of community service!

Pray we all stay safe and dry in Hurricane Ike.

It's 3 a.m.

You May Have Made A Bad V.P. Pick If . . .

If people keep hitting their internet browser refresh buttons to see what else has come out about her, you might have made a bad VP pick.

If your surrogates are citing her time on the PTA and refueling stops as credentials, you might have made a bad VP pick.

If the word “secessionist” comes up during your convention’s video tribute to Abraham Lincoln, you might have made a bad VP pick.

If Google associates her name with Dan Quayle (122,000 hits), Tom Eagleton (26,100 hits), and Spiro Agnew (21,500 hits), you may have made a bad VP pick.

If the phrase “Jews for Jesus” appears in press coverage previewing her convention speech, you might just have made a bad VP pick.

If there's a picture of her holding a (Bridge to) Nowhere t-shirt, you may have made a bad VP pick.

If the phrase "executive privilege" is used with respect to a pending investigation against her, you just may have made a bad VP pick.

Refresh . . . refresh . . .