John McCain is soaring to new heights of hypocrisy on his wife's personal jet. He flies around the country bent on duping the public into believing he's "one of them," a regular guy who can empathize with Americans facing an overwhelming economic crush. What's more, he disparages those who oppose his ridiculous policy proposals as "elitist." But who's the real elitist?
The REAL McCain is a multimillionaire who owns ten luxurious homes. The REAL McCain backs President Bush's tax cuts for big corporations. The REAL McCain empathizes only with the interests of our nation's wealthy minority, not its money-strapped majority. But far too many are buying into McCain's deceit because the corporate press won't present the whole picture, so we created this video to educate the public about the REAL McCain.
Together, you have been a force in making sure The REAL McCain videos have been seen by nearly 6.5 million people. But as Frank Rich noted in his NY Times column yesterday, 40% of Americans hear too little about McCain from the mainstream media, meaning "the public doesn't know who on earth John McCain is." That's why it's crucial you ensure this video is seen by as many as possible, and that we use each and every tool at our disposal to get the word out. Send this on to five friends and family members, and tell them to send it to five people they know. Get it to your local news outlets and blogs and networking sites like Digg. Raise hell about McCain's economic duplicity!
AFL-CIO President John Sweeney summed it up best when he said McCain "simply doesn't understand the challenges America's working families are facing because he isn't remotely affected by them." It's up to us to tell people who McCain really is, a personal jet-setting elitist more concerned with corporate lobbyists than hard-working Americans.
Posted Jun 17, 2008, 06:51 am CDT
By Debra Cassens Weiss
The dean of Massachusetts School of Law at Andover is planning a September conference to map out war crimes prosecutions, and the targets are President Bush and other administration officials.
The dean, Lawrence Velvel, says in a statement that “plans will be laid and necessary organizational structures set up, to pursue the guilty as long as necessary and, if need be, to the ends of the Earth."
Other possible defendants, he said, include federal judges and John Yoo, the former Justice Department official who wrote one of the so-called torture memos.
“We must insist on appropriate punishments,” he continued, “including, if guilt is found, the hangings visited upon top German and Japanese war criminals in the 1940s."
Velvel elaborates in an introduction to a series of articles published in The Long Term View (PDF). He writes “there is no question” that Bush and other officials are guilty of the federal crime of conspiracy to commit torture.
He also criticizes Justice Department officials for their legal memos. “The DOJ lawyers who wrote the corrupt legal memos giving attempted cover to Bush's actions have been rewarded by federal judgeships, cabinet positions, and high falutin' professorships,” he writes. Yoo is a professor at the University of California-Berkeley law school, while another former Justice Department official who signed a Yoo memo, Jay Bybee, is a judge on the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Velvel tears into President Bush as well, writing: “The man ultimately responsible for the torture had a unique preparation and persona for the presidency: he is a former drunk, was a serial failure in business who had to repeatedly be bailed out by daddy's friends and wanna-be-friends, was unable to speak articulately despite the finest education(s) that money and influence can buy, has a dislike of reading, so that 100-page memos have to be boiled down to one page for him, is heedless of facts and evidence, and appears not even to know the meaning of truth.”
A Wall Street Journal editorial published today stands in stark contrast to Velvel’s criticism. It assails House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers for issuing subpoenas seeking information about the possible torture of Sept. 11 suspects. The editorial mentions the testimony of British professor Philippe Sands, who also contends U.S. officials are guilty of war crimes.
“Nearly seven years after 9/11, the U.S. homeland hasn't been struck again and American civil liberties remain intact,” the newspaper writes. “So how does Congress say ‘thank you’? By trying to ruin the men who in good faith set the legal rules that have kept us safe.”
Barbara Boxer on Dick Cheney and Global WarmingHere's the latest from Dick Cheney: "All Americans can be grateful" that the global warming debate was derailed in the Senate.
And Cheney's solution? "Good old oil." UNBELIEVABLE.
We must fight this outrageous defense of the status quo by electing Senators who will stand up for a new America. Click here to contribute to PAC for a Change today!
Last week, the vast majority of Senate Democrats said yes to finally attacking global warming -- not only to save the planet for future generations, but also to put in motion the policies that would lead to new, clean energy alternatives. This means America would finally lead the world on the environment again, exporting new technologies and creating millions of good-paying green jobs. And a critical effect of all this would be saying good-bye to our total dependence on big oil and foreign oil.
So how many Republicans said yes? Only 8! That meant we didn't have enough votes to break the Republican Leadership's filibuster, and the global warming bill had to be pulled from the Senate floor.
That's why I'm asking you, in the strongest possible way, to help us elect more Democrats to the United States Senate -- and, just like in 2006, our PAC for a Change will be leading the charge.
Last week, 46 Democrats stood up for change, while only 8 Republicans stood with us. The Republicans in Congress are fierce defenders of the status quo -- and the status quo is dangerous, especially when it comes to global warming.
We know what science is telling us about the warming of our planet, but most national Republicans would rather stand with the special interests. Senate Republicans stood with the special interests again when we turned our attention to go after gasoline price gouging earlier this week -- and they killed that bill too!
Our PAC for a Change community was a key player in helping Democrats take back the Senate against all odds in 2006, raising over $1,000,000 for Democratic candidates. But we have such a small majority right now -- 51-49. It's way too close.
That's why this November's election is so important. By picking up just six seats, we can overcome the right-wing's roadblocks to change on global warming. And by picking up as many as nine seats, we can reach a solid 60 vote Democratic majority to make even more progress on the war in Iraq, on health care, and on so many issues.
Our PAC for a Change community has already helped some of my current friends and colleagues in the Senate fight off right-wing efforts to defeat them in 2008.
But it's also important that we support Senate challengers who will expand the map and help us reach that critical 60-vote majority in the Senate. That means winning seats back in "blue" states while taking the fight to "red" states where we haven't always won in the past.
Based on the latest polling, Democrats are currently ahead in 11 key Senate races. Through PAC for a Change, I want to send financial support to these 11 Democratic Senate candidates and many others who need our help to propel them to victory this November -- but we can only do it if you help us build up our PAC war chest.
There's power in our numbers. By sending $100, $50, $25, or whatever you can afford, it all adds up to many thousands of dollars -- which we can then rush out to the Democratic candidates who can use it the most.
Just imagine what a 60-seat majority would mean not just for us, but for our children's generation: we could take stronger action on global warming, see our troops return from Iraq, provide relief to homeowners facing foreclosure, and restore our civil liberties.
Let's make sure Democratic Senate challengers all across America have all the resources they need to win this year.
Thanks so much for your help.
In Friendship,
Barbara Boxer
U.S. Senator
P.S. We're making progress: The last time climate change legislation came to the Senate floor, we only got 38 votes. Now, we need just 6 more votes to gain a working majority that will help us lead the fight against global warming. Please contribute to PAC for a Change today -- and help us pick up the 6 seats we need to pass strong global warming legislation next year!
The House is set to deal today with Dennis Kucinich's impeachment resolution, which he introduced on Monday night. By rule, his assertion that his resolution constitutes a question of the privileges of the House must be ruled on within two legislative days. The chair ruled yesterday -- correctly -- that an impeachment proposition does constitute a question of the privileges of the House, and announced that the procedure would be to move the previous question and close debate on the matter pending the resolution of a motion to refer the resolution to the Judiciary committee.
The motion to refer failed on a voice vote yesterday, and Rep. Kucinich exercised his right to demand a recorded vote instead. That vote is expected this afternoon.
Interestingly, it was Kucinich himself who moved that the resolution be referred to the committee. That's a better alternative than tabling it (if you don't want the whole thing buried with no chance of resurrection, that is), but not the only alternative. It could instead be debated right then and there on the House floor.
That Kucinich himself would rather see it referred to committee might be taken as an indication that he acknowledges that the charges he makes in the resolution require a thorough examination. Whether they'll get that examination, though, is another matter. Almost everyone expects the resolution to die of neglect in committee. An immediate vote on the merits of the resolution -- the default alternative to a defeat of the motion to refer -- is probably something mischievous Republicans would like to see, and they might therefore be expected to vote no on referral. That leaves Democrats who want to put a lid on impeachment in the position of voting affirmatively to commit the issue to the jurisdiction of Chairman Conyers and the Judiciary Committee, though they'll deny that they actually want the Chairman to exercise that jurisdiction.
Strange days.
UPDATE: The motion to refer is adopted by a vote of 251-166, with no Democrats voting against, and 24 Republicans voting in the affirmative.
UPDATE 2: Kucinich Vows to Keep Up Impeachment Fight
"Leadership wants to bury it, but this is one resolution that will be coming back from the dead," Kucinich told Capitol Briefing. "Thirty days from now, if there is no action, I will be bringing the resolution up again, and I won't be the only one reading it."
On Monday, Rep. Dennis Kucinich made history on the floor of the House by reading 35 Articles of Impeachment against President George W. Bush. At last!!!!!
We've waited years to find one Member of Congress brave enough to stand up for our Constitution, for which generations of Americans have fought and died. We are thrilled and honored that Dennis Kucinich has chosen to be that one genuine patriot.
We congratulate him on his historic leadership, and pledge to do everything in our power to persuade the House to adopt all 35 Articles and put George W. Bush on trial before the Senate of the United States, exactly as the Founding Fathers wanted.
Of course, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (CA-8), Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (MD-5), and Democratic Caucus Chair Rahm Emanuel (IL-5) all remain adamantly opposed to impeachment - despite the overwhelming evidence of High Crimes, including the "Phase II" report by the Senate Intellligence Committee and Scott McClellan's new book.
And when Rep. Robert Wexler (FL-19) called for Judiciary Committee hearings on Kucinich's Articles of Impeachment against Vice President Cheney in January, only 17 Democrats joined them: Neil Abercrombie (HI-1), Tammy Baldwin (WI-2), Michael Capuano (MA-8), Yvette Clarke (NY-11), Lacy Clay (MO-1), Steve Cohen (TN-9), Peter DeFazio (OR-4), Keith Ellison (MN-5), Sam Farr (CA-17), Raúl Grijalva (AZ-7), Luis Gutierrez (IL-4), Barbara Lee (CA-9), Gwen Moore (WI-4), Jim Moran (VA-8), Mike Thompson (CA-1), Ed Towns (NY-10), and Lynn Woolsey (CA-6).
So Kucinich's heroic efforts will be in vain unless we inundate Congress with emails and calls (202-224-3121) showing our full support for Rep. Kucinich's 35 Articles of Impeachment:
http://www.democrats.com/35
And if you have time to do more, please login to Democrats.com, click "Local" and connect with other activists in your Congressional District to organize a Honk-To-Impeach gathering at the District Office of your Representative or a major local intersection:
http://www.democrats.com
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your constant support throughout this long and historic struggle.
Bob Fertik
1. John McCain voted against establishing a national holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Now he says his position has "evolved," yet he's continued to oppose key civil rights laws.1
2. According to Bloomberg News, McCain is more hawkish than Bush on Iraq, Russia and China. Conservative columnist Pat Buchanan says McCain "will make Cheney look like Gandhi."2
3. His reputation is built on his opposition to torture, but McCain voted against a bill to ban waterboarding, and then applauded President Bush for vetoing that ban.3 4. McCain opposes a woman's right to choose. He said, "I do not support Roe versus Wade. It should be overturned."4
5. The Children's Defense Fund rated McCain as the worst senator in Congress for children. He voted against the children's health care bill last year, then defended Bush's veto of the bill.5
6. He's one of the richest people in a Senate filled with millionaires. The Associated Press reports he and his wife own at least eight homes! Yet McCain says the solution to the housing crisis is for people facing foreclosure to get a "second job" and skip their vacations.6
7. Many of McCain's fellow Republican senators say he's too reckless to be commander in chief. One Republican senator said: "The thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine. He's erratic. He's hotheaded. He loses his temper and he worries me."7
8. McCain talks a lot about taking on special interests, but his campaign manager and top advisers are actually lobbyists. The government watchdog group Public Citizen says McCain has 59 lobbyists raising money for his campaign, more than any of the other presidential candidates.8
9. McCain has sought closer ties to the extreme religious right in recent years. The pastor McCain calls his "spiritual guide," Rod Parsley, believes America's founding mission is to destroy Islam, which he calls a "false religion." McCain sought the political support of right-wing preacher John Hagee, who believes Hurricane Katrina was God's punishment for gay rights and called the Catholic Church "the Antichrist" and a "false cult."9
10. He positions himself as pro-environment, but he scored a 0—yes, zero—from the League of Conservation Voters last year.10
