Murray Waas is reporting:

So who put together that last minute national television buy of those advertisements featuring the Rev. Jeremiah Wright?

As it turns out, Scott Wheeler, the executive director of the National Republican Trust PAC, the group which paid for and produced the ad buy– worked on the infamous Clinton Chronicles– the discredited documentary that accused Bill Clinton of murdering his political opponents, engaging in drug running, and all kinds of other nefarious things that were largely either imaginary or fabricated. For those who don’t recall, or are too young to know, with the backing of the late Rev. Jerry Falwell, more than 400,000 copies of the video were distributed and although the film’s allegations were rightfully marginalized in the mainstream, the Wall Street Journal’s editorial page amplified– sometimes as legitimate– many of the film’s most lurid allegations.

Here is an article I did way back in 1998 about how the Falwell backed Citizens for Honest Government often paid “witnesses” who had lurid stories to tell about Clinton to compensate them for appearing in the Clinton Chronicles and other conspiratorial films about Clinton which they produced. Many of the false allegations made by the “witnesses”– sometimes influenced by payments arranged by the group– were repeated as gospel on the Wall Street Journal editorial page, on the pages of the American Spectator, and on talk radio...read on

Murray has the Rev. Wright ad up on his blog. This is pretty despicable stuff, but McCain has sold his soul for a chance at the White House. You have to believe that Rick Davis and McCain knew this was coming.

The wingnut website run by Charles Johnson, who attacked kidnapped journalist Jill Carroll when she was first released channels the ghost of Lee Atwater and says: America is close to electing a President who compares his own country to Nazi Germany.

Oliver Willis explains:

To Attack Obama, Little Green Footballs Defends Segregation

With a week to go it's only going to get worse. I'm waiting for the headline on FOX News that says:

Obama is an Alien, but the MSM doesn't want you to know!

Do everything you can to Get Out The Vote. Our country can't stand four more years of this garbage.

I've been trying to ignore this jerk lately, (it seems McCain has kept him off of the TV screen. Probably bad internal polling numbers) but it's time I did a little update because one of the benefits that we'll all receive if Obama wins the election will be to see Joe Lieberman get his reward for betraying Obama and becoming McCain's side kick just to save a dying political career. Maybe he'll even get a job as a FOX News analyst. He does join the FOX News, right wing chorus when he says:

NAPOLITANO: Hey Sen. Lieberman, you know Barack Obama, is he a Marxist as Bill Kristol says might be the case in today’s New York Times? Is he an elitist like your colleague Hillary Clinton says he is?

LIEBERMAN: Well, you know, I must say that’s a good question. I know him now for a little more than three years since he came into the Senate and he’s obviously very smart and he’s a good guy. I will tell ya that during this campaign, I’ve learned some things about him, about the kind of environment from which he came ideologically. And I wouldn’t…I’d hesitate to say he’s a Marxist, but he’s got some positions that are far to the left of me and I think mainstream America.

He knows full well Obama is not a Marxist.

And Digby has more.

Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, one of John McCain’s closest political allies, said Friday he does not believe that Barack Obama is unprepared to be president.

“I’m saying he is less prepared than McCain,” Lieberman said.

But what about Sarah Palin?

Is she ready?

“If, God forbid, an accident occurs or something of that kind?” Lieberman said. “Um, she’ll be ready. You know, she’s had executive experience. She’s smart and she will have had on-the-job training.”…

“[McCain] is ready to be our president at this very difficult time,” Lieberman said. “And Sen. Obama is not as ready. It’s as direct as that.”

And you thought this type of hatred was just regional.

Sacramento County Republican leaders Tuesday took down
offensive material on their official party Web site that sought to link Sen. Barack Obama to Osama bin Laden and encouraged people to "Waterboard Barack Obama" – material that offended even state GOP leaders.

Taking credit for the site (sacramentorepublicans.org) and its content was county party chairman Craig MacGlashan – husband of Sacramento County Supervisor Roberta MacGlashan.

The Bee asked MacGlashan about the content after seeking his reaction to hate-filled graffiti that was spray-painted over an Obama display on a fence at Fair Oaks Boulevard and Garfield Avenue.

In recent weeks, MacGlashan, an attorney, joined local Democratic party officials in condemning vandalism to political displays.

The vandalism to the Obama display appeared to have been done overnight Monday. A racial epithet, profanity, "KKK" and the words "white power" were clearly visible from the roadway. Six of the nine fence panels were defaced.

"What you are describing to me is not free speech, it's vandalism. We don't condone it," MacGlashan said.

But he defended his Web site. "I'm aware of the content," he said. "Some people find it offensive, others do not. I cannot comment on how people interpret things."

Move over Rush Limbaugh, you have some company. I've talked about the far reaching tentacles right wing hate talk radio have sunk deep into our society, well obviously it's even in CA. I'm sure Bill O'Reilly will do a segment on this, right?

UPDATE: More GOP racism directed at Obama.

- A San Bernardino County Republican group has distributed a newsletter picturing Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on a $10 bill adorned with a watermelon, ribs and a bucket of fried chicken.

Pam sez: How about some Obama ribs 'n chicken...plus a nice slice of watermelon for the darkie?....what's with the bucket of KFC?

Back in August, Republican presidential candidate John McCain stunned the audience at Pastor Rick Warren's Saddleback Forum by citing Democratic Congressman and civil rights icon John Lewis as one of the "wisest people that you know that you would rely on heavily in an administration." On Saturday, Lewis offered McCain some sage advice - and a stern warning - about the disgusting turn his increasingly ugly campaign had taken. Unsurprisingly, the supposed maverick shunned his supposed adviser's wisdom that the McCain campaign and its Republican allies were "playing with fire" by "sowing the seeds of hatred and division."

At Warren's Saddleback event with Barack Obama this summer, McCain surprised many by adding Lewis to a troika of trusted advisers featuring the usual suspects General David Petraeus and former Bay CEO Meg Whitman:

WARREN: This first question deals with leadership and the personal life of leadership. First question, who were the three wisest people that you know that you would rely on heavily in an administration?

MCCAIN: [...] I think John Lewis. John Lewis was at the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Had his skull fractured. Continues to serve. Continues to have the most optimistic outlook about America. He can teach us all a lot about the meaning of courage and commitment to causes greater than ourself...

Afterwards, Congressman Lewis responded to the news of his previously unknown role as a Republican presidential adviser by noting:

Continue reading »

Andrea Mitchell hit Tucker Bounds hard over the Ayers attacks by John McCain and Sarah Palin. (rough transcript)

Mitchell: There's been no question that there's been an exaggeration in a lot of the things Sarah Palin has said about the relationship. Why do that? What are you trying to suggest? Are you trying to make Barack Obama seem to be some sort of terrorist himself? This man has been running for President for the last two years and has been vetted through twenty two primary debates. Already two debates in the general election. Um, What's your point?

Bounds: Well I think most Americans who are sitting at home watching television sets know that they don't have any friends that they've gone to their living rooms and helped with their career that are also...

Mitchell: Even calling him a friend Tucker, I mean, even calling him a friend is an overstatement according to all the fact checking that we've been able to do.
{}

Mitchell: That was the board of Walter Annenberg, a stalwart Republican who created an education foundation in Chicago.

Bounds: I'm not indicting the board. I don't think there's a problem with the board. I think there's a problem with having an unrepentant terrorist who's your friend and then going before the American people and them misrepresenting

It's not a problem that Walter Annenberg's money was used apparently for the Republicans.
Bounds sounds just like Sean Hannity. Shameful.

Joe Klein is very, very shrill and I have to say I agree with him.
Embarracuda

I'm of two minds about how to deal with the McCain campaign's further descent into ugliness. Their strategy is simple: you throw crap against a wall and then giggle as the media try to analyze the putresence in a way that conveys a sense of balance: "Well, it is bull-pucky, but the splatter pattern is interesting..." which, of course, only serves to get your perverse message out. I really don't want to be a part of that. But...every so often, we journalists have a duty to remind readers just how dingy the McCain campaign, and its right-wing acolytes in the media (I'm looking at you, Sean Hannity) have become--especially in their efforts to divert public attention from the economic crisis we're facing. And so inept at it: other campaigns have decided that their only shot is going negative, but usually they don't announce it, as several McCain aides have in recent days--there's no way we can win on the economy, so we're going to go sludge-diving.

But since we are dealing with manure here, I'll put the rest of this post below the fold...read on

McCain's camp will keep spinning this over and over again. Even O'Reilly scolded McCain for using this.

  Download | play   Download | play (h/t BillW)

Nancy, I know you're better than that.

Apparently she's not, David.

Shuster does a good job at debunking the lipstick/pig idiocy that Pfotenhauer tries to peddle, but it's still another day that this story dominates the airwaves and it's another day McCain wins in the media wars.

Never let it be said that Republicans and their counterparts in the conservative blogosphere (yes, Ann "I Like To Drink Wine and Blog About American Idol" Althouse, I'm looking right at you) can't attempt to manufacture a scandal out of thin air that shows just how stupid they are. 

The impetus of this scandal is this article from Reuters, which breathlessly described the set for the upcoming speech by Barack Obama at Invesco Stadium as looking like an ancient Greek temple since there will be a series of columns behind from which Obama will appear and then walk onto a raised stage.

So Ann "Liberal Boobies Enrage Me" Althouse whips herself up into a righteous indignation, which is promptly echoed throughout the other sites.  (I won't dignify her with a link, look it up) How dare Obama?  Is he trying to suggest that he's a God or something???  The presumption! Do you see how messianic he is? His supporters are like a cult! (imagine her furious fingers typing away)

But see, here's the problem, Ann.  You clearly haven't traveled.  If you had actually ever gone to the seat of our federal government, Washington DC, guess what you'd see?  Columns!  Know why?  Because most of our federal buildings were designed in an architectural style called...wait for it...Greek Revival.  Which means, you know, lots of columns.  Like the ones in the front and back of the White House--where Obama will reside in January, by the way.  And the ones in front of the Lincoln Memorial, where exactly 45 years ago today, Martin Luther King gave a speech in which he said these words:

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

So today, Ann "I'm a law professor, but I don't know how to correctly interpret judges' rulings" Althouse, Barack Obama will take the stage, designed symbolically to be reminiscent of the city from where he will be leading this country, and the site of one of the most stirring orations in our history (is this too nuanced for your conservative brain?), and accept the nomination of the Democratic Party for the Presidency of the United States, having earned that nomination not because of the color of his skin, but because of the content of his character.  It is the fulfillment of that dream  Martin Luther King espoused 45 years ago.  A dream that your conservative compatriots have worked endlessly to suppress.

Doesn't that make your righteous indignation over Greek temples and Greek gods seem just so pathetically ignorant?  By the way, do you have any memory of the stage from which George Bush accepted his nomination? Don't look now, but there were columns!  *gasp!* 

UPDATE:  That presumptuous John McCain! Is he trying to insinuate he's some sort of Greek God? (h/t Aimee)

  Download | play   Download | play   (h/t BillW)

The Washington Post yet again manages to produce an op-ed only fit to wrap fish in, as neocon Michael Rubin - ex of the Pentagon's Office of Special Plans, the Office of the Secretary of Defense as an advisor to Rummie, political adviser to the Coalition Provisional Authority and unpaid hack for propaganda articles produced by the Pentagon's PR firm, the Lincoln Group - blames Joe Biden for eight years of Bush administration foreign policy failure in a desperate attempt to label Biden as "Iran's favorite Senator".

Here's how Rubin's logic works, as explained by Ilan Goldenberg of Democracy Arsenal:

Rubin makes a convoluted and nonsensical argument that A.  Joe Biden supported engagement with the reformist Khatami government of Iran during the late 1990s and first half of this decade.  That B.  During that time trade between Iran and the EU increased.  That C.  A National Intelligence Estimate found that Iran had stopped working on its nuclear weapons program in 2003.  From this he deduces that it's Biden's fault that Iran has moved ahead on its nuclear weapons program because it used increased trade with Europe to fund a nuclear weapons program.  What???

... Rubin basically takes a bunch of unrelated facts and uses them to conclude that Iran must have spent 2000 to 2003 working furiously on its nuclear weapons program and that it did it with money from Europe that somehow Joe Biden was responsible for.  Yup, putting those rigorous analytical skills that he learned that the Office of Special Plans to work.

Rubin also forgets to mention little details.  Like the fact that under this Administration trade with Iran has actually increased ten-fold and is at its highest levels since before the Iranian revolution.  Or the fact that the 2007 NIE concluded that Iran did in fact stop working on its nuclear weapons program in 2003 and was still years away from building a bomb.

Rubin then claims that Biden's vote against Kyl-Lieberman was partisan politics because Biden said that he didn't trust this Administration.  Ummm.... Trying to prevent war with Iran is not exactly a partisan activity.  It's not partisan to fear that an administration that has a track record of escalating conflict and misleading the American public might do it again.  That is in fact the exact opposite of partisan if you believe that war with Iran is against America's interests.

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We learned last month that the Associated Press' DC bureau Chief Ron Fournier (pictured above, right, enjoying donuts with John McCain) is a huge fan of Karl Rove and the Bush administration and considered taking a job with the McCain campaign so when he stepped up to the plate for the GOP candidate this morning, it came as little surprise. The headline of his article says it all:

Analysis: Biden pick shows lack of confidence

DENVER - The candidate of change went with the status quo.  

In picking Sen. Joe Biden to be his running mate, Barack Obama sought to shore up his weakness - inexperience in office and on foreign policy - rather than underscore his strength as a new-generation candidate defying political conventions.

He picked a 35-year veteran of the Senate - the ultimate insider - rather than a candidate from outside Washington, such as Govs. Tim Kaine of Virginia or Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas; or from outside his party, such as Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska; or from outside the mostly white male club of vice presidential candidates. Hillary Rodham Clinton didn't even make his short list. Read on...

As if it were written by Rove himself and it begs the question - with the cloud of suspicion over Fournier's head, why did AP run with him? The Associated Press has a real problem on their hands. They can no longer be seen as an objective news outlet and Fournier is slipping easily into the role of poster child for media corruption and failure. He may not have taken an official job with the McCain campaign, but he sure doesn't mind donating his time and international platform to him.  Contact the AP and let them know what you think about the article -- remember, be nice. 

UPDATE (Nicole) I've been given a new contact for AP:  Contact the Associated Press ... Kathleen Carroll (Fournier's boss) at kcarroll@ap.org or (212) 621-1500. Be POLITE, but be FIRM. Let them know that you don't want to see them serve as stenographers and amplifiers for pure spin by the McCain campaign.

UPDATE #2 (Nicole)  FireDogLake has employed their LTE widget to make it even easier to complain about AP and Fournier's bias.

UPDATE #3 (Nicole) Majikthise asks if Fournier's extracurricular paid speaking engagements violate AP's rules for outside appearances of their journalist pool.

Obama smear author and swiftboater Jerome Corsi is a very sick guy indeed. Not only has he been debunked by almost everybody, but now people are starting to look at his insane articles over at World Net Daily.

madasheck over at DKos has more:

And the first paragraph:

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain has enjoyed strong support from a lobbyist group that backs the Kosovo Liberation Army despite allegations the KLA is a Muslim terrorist group with ties to criminal drug networks and al-Qaida.

You think the Republicans will continue to support this jerk?

Actually I do. They don't care who does the smearing as long as it helps their cause.

Digby discusses the Corsi book and how the press reacts to it:

Rutten says this is all about making money, and I don't disagree that there's probably some money to be made by the wingnut welfare recipients in the food chain. But money isn't the motive of the people who buy those books in bulk. They are making an investment in Republican politics. And the most telling thing about it is that one of the most mainstream Republican figures in the country -- so mainstream that she regularly appears with her Democratic operative husband on Meet the Press with their two daughters at Christmas time --- is giving her imprimatur to a book written by a known delusional, right wing racist. On that side of the dial the separation between the mainstream and the violent fringe isn't even one degree. 

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As long as the villagers are in agreement that the only people who are truly beyond the pale in American politics are on the left, then this will continue. Mary Matalin will still be considered a perfectly respectable person by both the "right" and the "left" (as if there's any discernible difference among the cognoscenti) and there will be no professional or social repercussions. Meanwhile even staid, old organizations like the ACLU suffer from the myth of being some sort of far left fringe organization and Democratic politicians run for cover when the right wing publicly "tars" them with guilt by association.

This is an ongoing problem that we see being played out once again in a national election. And I don't think the progressive movement has fully come to grips yet with just how powerful this image of scary left wing freaks still is in the national imagination --- or how thoroughly the right's extremist views have been accepted by the political establishment. It's something...read on.

Via The Next Right on Jerome Corsi:

The French Revolution produced the saying "no enemies to the Left" - a mindset that has poisoned both the Left and the Right in American politics. As a result, some figures who should be repudiated have, instead, become prominent representatives. On the Right, in particular, the "go along to get along" approach has created a Movement where the bad guys are protected, and the people who get promoted are those who make friends, not waves.

It's wrong, and it needs to stop. So, with that said...

The continued tolerance and prominence of Jerome Corsi - his books, columns and appearances - is just embarrassing. It is embarrassing for the Right, embarrassing for Republicans, embarrassing for conservatives and libertarians, embarrassing for all of us.

It's not just that he's frequently, remarkably wrong - something pretty well documented and acknowledged by both the Left and (while less enthusiastically) the Right.  (and the Obama campaign (PDF), of course)  Both the Obama campaign and Hugh Hewitt acknowledge that Jerome Corsi is "fringe".

Bad as his gross errors are, though, it's not just that.  It's also about who Jerome Corsi is...read on

(h/t Matt Stoller)

Everyone knew this presidential election was going to be ugly and now the gloves are off. Unable to run on issues, the Republican attack machine is in full swing and as always, we are inundated with endless smears, lies and attacks from a party that is in a steep, painful and very public decline.

Silent Patriot posted yesterday about "author" Jerome Corsi's appearance on Larry King Live where he was dismantled by Media Matters' Paul Waldman. Now, the Obama campaign has responded to Corsi, debunking the staggering number of lies in his book, Obama Nation. Fight The Smears - Unfit for Publication:

One of the most vile smear peddlers of the 2004 election has found a new target.

Jerome Corsi just published a new book full of rehashed distortions and the same old lies about Barack Obama, and the right-wing noise machine is in full gear promoting it.

In 2004, Corsi helped launch the Swift Boat smear campaign with a book of distortions and lies he wrote about John Kerry.

It's up to you to spread the truth, so here it is. We've posted some of the facts about Corsi and his desperate fabrications on this page, but there's even more in our (PDF)PDF: Unfit for Publication.
A LITTLE RESEARCH DISPROVES EVEN CORSI'S MOST BASIC CLAIMS

LIE: "The year 1995 was a banner one for Obama. He had just married Michelle and the couple bought a Hyde Park condo, the first home Obama ever owned."[p 145]

REALITY: OBAMAS MARRIED IN 1992 AND BOUGHT A CONDO IN 1993

10/3/92 Obama And Michelle Robinson Were Married. [Chicago Sun-Times, 10/3/07]

1993 Obama Bought a Condo for $277,550. [Chicago Sun-Times, 1/22/06] Read on...