Harry Shearer has some cool videos on My Damn Channel, including several silent debates between the candidates. Shearer is best known as the bass player for rock and roll legends Spinal Tap, and his voice can be heard all over ‘The Simpsons’. Check out the site above for more videos from Shearer.
Here is The Silent Debate between Hillary Clinton and Mitt Romney;
Barack Obama used a high pressure sales pitch to an Iowa audience today. He told the crowd that his wife says it is now or never. “My wife and I were talking the other day. And she said ‘We’re not doing this again’. And those of you who met her know she doesn’t mince words,†said Obama. “She meant that in eight years, I’m not sure we’ll be the same people we are now.” Obama said his wife Michele told him, “eight years from now we will have lost touch with what ordinary Americans are going through” and that “we’ll be in a different orbit.” “I think when you’re in Washington for a long time you lose touch” and “it becomes harder to relinquish power,†he added. But to prove he hasn’t lost touch yet he assured the crowd that, “my wife still shops at Target.” She makes over 300 thousand a year sitting on the board of directors for a non-profit hospital in Chicago, and he made millions off his books last year, so my guess is they lost touch with normal America long ago. Threatening people like that is not a way to get votes. Sounds like a little child at the playground taking his ball and leaving because the other kids won’t play his way. So if we don’t elect him this time he goes away? That sure blows out of the water the right wing theories that Obama is a stealth Muslim trying to take over America.
Alan Cosgrove
Rudy Giuliani has a new ad that will air nationally on cable channels which uses 9/11 as a backdrop. In the ad, titled ‘Freedom’, he compares the first responders of 9/11 to those that helped win World War II. Apparently he read a book by Tom Brokaw called “The Greatest Generation” which is about W.W. II, and this inspired Giuliani during 9/11. “And during the day of September 11 living through the things that I saw and observed. Immediately, when I saw people helping each other. I saw the picture of the firefighters putting the flag up at ground zero. I said, these are the children or grandchildren or great-grandchildren of the greatest generation. They have the same resolve. The same understanding,†says Giuliani. What he didn’t mention is these firefighters where using the same useless radios that their fathers, and grandfathers used. “When you challenge Americans, there’s no country that stands up stronger and better than the United States of America. When you try and take something away from us like freedom, my goodness, Americans are going to be one in resisting you,†Giuliani says in the ad. “So, the Islamic terrorists would make a terrible mistake if they confuse our democracy for weakness. Our democracy means we disagree with each other, but when you come and try and take away from us our freedom. When you try and come here and kill our people. We’re one and we’re going to stand up to you and we’re going to prevail.” It is interesting that he keeps bringing up 9/11 as the one thing that makes him qualified to be President. This feel good ad tells us nothing about Giuliani, other than that he was there. Maybe he should explain to those same first responders in the ad why it was “impossible” to get usable radios by 2001 while Giuliani was mayor. Maybe he would also like to explain that even after over 6 years we still have not found Osama bin Laden, and why there is still nothing more than a big hole at the 9/11 site. Rudy you got a lot of explaining to do.
Alan Cosgrove
Here is Rudy Giuliani’s new ad, ‘Freedom’;
And here is Rudy Giuliani explaining it was impossible to get radios for the city of New York even after 8 years;
Hillary Clinton told a crowd at the Manchester, New Hampshire YMCA last weekend that if she is elected gas prices will go down. “I predict to you, the oil-producing countries will drop the price of oil,” Clinton said. “They will once again assume, once the cost pressure is off, Americans and our political process will recede.” She said that once elected, her commitment towards weaning America off of foreign oil will pressure the oil producing countries to lower prices. Clinton argued that President Carter had tried to do this in the 70s, but President Reagan dismantled all his work. “Because costs were low, people didn’t care, didn’t complain,” she said. But now that oil is near $100 a barrel these things matter more. Clinton is right that oil prices should lower when she is elected, but that will happen if any of the Democrats are elected. The current Bush Presidency is drenched in oil. It is no mistake that gas was around $1.46 a gallon when Bush took office. Some have claimed that President Bush has already taken the initiative to make alternative energy a national priority, but he has done so with policies like giving giant oil companies huge tax breaks as incentives. There has been no real energy policies from this President.
Alan Cosgrove
Mike Huckabee used the day after Christmas to go hunting instead of campaigning, proving he is just one of the guys. “Maybe it will show that I certainly understand the culture of being outdoors,” he said of the hunting trip. “It’s not something we had to go out and get a primer in. It’s very much ordinary to me.” This is in contrast to Mitt Romney’s claim earlier this year, where he said he hunted “small varmints” occasionally. Huckabee’s group brought back three pheasants, one of which Huckabee claimed he bagged personally. He insisted the birds would be eaten. “Don’t get in my way,” Huckabee told reporters while pointing to the three dead birds. “This is what happens…You vote for me, you live. You don’t…there you go.” I think Huck has been hanging out with Chuck to much here. Huckabee used this opportunity to reinforce his heartland roots by saying, “people in Middle America feel like folks will come and campaign in Iowa, and then they get elected and they forget that people out here in flyover land still exist. Some of us grew up in the middle of the country and still live here.”
Alan Cosgrove
Mitt Romney scores the first major non-endorsement of the political season from a newspaper. The Concord Monitor printed an editorial Sunday called, ‘Romney should not be the next president’. In the article they say Romney is packaged perfect to be our next president, “who sure looks like the next president and most surely must be stopped.” The article attacks Romney for changing his mind to fit his current needs. “When New Hampshire partisans are asked to defend the state’s first-in-the-nation primary, we talk about our ability to see the candidates up close, ask tough questions and see through the baloney. If a candidate is a phony, we assure ourselves and the rest of the world, we’ll know it,” according to the article. “Mitt Romney is such a candidate. New Hampshire Republicans and independents must vote no.” Romney’s campaign has responded by calling the Concord Monitor a liberal paper. “The Monitor’s editorial board is regarded as a liberal one on many issues, so it is not surprising that they would criticize Gov. Romney for his conservative views and platform,” according to a Romney spokesperson. “Governor Romney has taken firm positions that are at odds with the board’s support for drivers licenses for illegal immigrants, their position against school choice and their advocacy for taking ‘Under God’ out of the Pledge of Allegiance. The governor happens to disagree with the editorial board on all those issues.”
Alan Cosgrove
Here are a few of the ads by candidates that have a holiday theme.
Here is Rudy Giuliani’s ad, “Holiday Wishes”;
Here is Hillary Clinton’s ad, “Presents”;
Here is John McCain’s ad, “My Christmas Story”;
Here is Barack Obama’s, “Friendship”;
Here is Ron Paul’s, “Season’s Greetings from the Ron Paul Family”;
John Edward’s, “Season”;
And the first one, Mike Huckabee’s, “What Really Matters”;
Cynthia McKinney, who is best known as the ousted representative from the Atlanta area that scuffled with a Capitol Hill police officer, has announced she will run for the Presidency as a Green Party candidate. She now says the Democrats, her old party, is corrupt and beholden to corporate interest. “The Democrats do not speak for us,” she said. “The Democrats are no different than their Republican counterparts.” She calls the Green Party her, “new political home.” “The Republicans have deceived us and the Democrats have failed us,” according to McKinney. A group in California called Run! Cynthia! Run! have drafted her to run, and she agreed to go. She has already made appearances across the country as a Green candidate. McKinney served six terms in Congress representing Atlanta, and was the first black woman elected to Congress from Georgia. In Congress she accused President George Bush of knowing ahead of time about 9/11. She also introduced a bill to impeach President Bush, saying he misled Congress into approving the war in Iraq and violated the law by secretly spying on American citizens. McKinney is one of 7 Green Party candidates. They will select their candidate on July 10th at their convention in Chicago.
Alan Cosgrove
Here is video of Cynthia McKinney announcing her intentions to run as a Green candidate;
Mike Huckabee has just released an ad that simply wishes all of us a Merry Christmas, but it has caused an uproar because of all the subliminal messages. There is the floating cross, a secret message to fans of the Beatles, and messages to fundamental Christians through morse code. “Actually I will confess this, if you play this spot backwards it says ‘Paul is Dead, Paul is Dead, Paul is Dead,’†Huckabee told reporters on Tuesday. “So the next thing you know, someone will be playing it backwards to find out the subliminal messages that are really there.” The floating cross is actually a book shelve in the back ground which does seem to be nicely lit. “They had a bookshelf behind me, a bookshelf. So now I have these people saying, ‘ahhh there was a subtle message there,’†said Huckabee. “….I never cease to be amazed at the manner in which people will try to dissect the simplest messages, can’t even say ‘Merry Christmas’ anymore without somebody getting all upset about it.†On Fox and Friends this morning Huckabee explained that he also sent messages to fundamental Christians through his blinking eyes using morse code. Through close examination it looks like he might be saying, “Merry Christmas.” Huckabee took offense to the people that took offense to him saying “Merry Christmas” in the ad. “I don’t know what else to call Christmas, last time I checked that is what we celebrate. If somebody can give me a way to get around that and do it honestly, then perhaps that’s what Christmas is,†said Huckabee. If Huckabee would check his calender a little closer he might find out that “we” celebrate a few different religious holidays through this holiday season. Maybe he is only going to be President of the Christian part of America. Huckabee goes on to explain the origin of the word Christmas just in case we are confused. “The very word Christmas comes from the contraction of ‘Christ Mass’ — the worship of Christ – again, change the word if we don’t want to talk about it, but that’s what it symbolizes and represents,” according to Huckabee.
Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays,
Alan Cosgrove
Here is Mike Huckabee’s Merry Christmas ad called, ‘What Really Matters’;
Mike Huckabee announced on Friday that the architect of Ronald Reagan’s landslide victory in 1984, Ed Rollins, will now join the Huckabee campaign as national campaign chairman and senior advisor. Rollins also played key roles in Jack Kemp’s presidential run in 1988, and Ross Perot’s run in 1992. “I had given up the profession and felt this was probably my last campaign and I wanted to help,” Rollins told CNN. “Mike is someone with great communications skills and a very approachable message and that is why you see his support growing not just in Iowa but across the country.” Rollins who worked closely with Reagan compared Huckabee to President Reagan. “There’s a lot of people going around talking about the Reagan days, who’s the next Reagan,” he said. “I was with the old Reagan and I can promise you this man comes as close to anyone in filling those shoes.” Rollins also joked about Huckabee’s campaign being “unique.” “It’s the only campaign I’ve ever been in where there’s no donuts and no booze, so it’s going to be a real struggle for me,” he said. “But one of the good things is Huckabee can look at me every day and he can say, I am not going back to being a fat old guy like him, I am going to stay slim and keep joggin.” Rollins has the skills to move Huckabee’s campaign beyond Iowa and New Hampshire which he desperately needs. Huckabee is going up against better known, and better financed candidates and he needs a man like Rollins to help. He should consider adding some donuts and beer to keep this man happy.
Alan Cosgrove
