Bloomberg "Forgets" He Wanted To Abolish The Public Advocate

Today at a press conference:



And last year before narrowly winning re-election, he told this to the Staten Island Advance:

"You should get rid of the public advocate," he said. "It's a total waste of everybody's money. Nobody needs another gadfly and we have an aggressive enough press," he said.

Bloomberg's claim today about his stance on the Public Advocate's office may not be a complete 180 from last October, but he certainly changed his feelings since then. Furthermore, his recollection of what he said back then is at best the sign of a fading memory....though I must venture that it probably has something to do with truthiness.

When A Lie Is A Lie Is A Lie

Paul Begala and Ari Fleischer went on Anderson Cooper yesterday to talk about torture. Begala and Cooper were pretty much on the same page, saying that torture is bad, and that the evidence of what the Bush Administration approved of consists of torture. Therefore, we need to take action against the torturers in our midst. When asked about whether Bush was lying about us not torturing, Begala had the easy, truthful answer to give. Fleischer on the other hand, couldn't stop defending his old, indefensible boss.

Rachel Maddow On The Lies Of Republicans

I don't know how Rachel does it. With so many falsehoods, mistruths and outright lies told by Republicans on a daily basis, how does she choose the few to fit into an eight and half minute segment?

Chambliss Lies About His Record On Social Security

As I type, voters are heading to the polls down in Georgia to decide whether Chambliss returns to Washington or Jim Martin replaces him to change one corrupted seat in the Senate. Last night, in a bid to woo Georgians that want to keep social security as it is, he lied about his pro-privatization record, contradicting a statement he made this July.

Dana, Dana, Dana, It Isn't About The Time, It's About The Lies

Howie Kurtz did a write-up of Dana Perino in the Washington Post today and he certainly got a few gems out of her. It has to be tough to be the official lying mouthpiece of the Bush Administration and probably in a way she has to be glad it's almost over. I personally couldn't imagine selling my soul to the devil for that guy, so maybe she just gets paid well for it....perhaps hoping for a book deal like her predecessors. Whatever her reasons, I say good riddance to the entire lot of the current Administration. Of course they won't go without bestowing some advice for Obama's people, but if I were Robert Gibbs, I'd let it go in one ear and out the other.

From The Washington Post:

Perino marvels at the glowing press that Barack Obama has gotten -- "He was a great candidate, a phenomenal candidate," she says -- but warned his incoming chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, that it wouldn't last forever. "I'll give you eight months," she told him.

Eight months? Where'd ya get that number Dana? Is that how long it took the press to lose interest in the crap you peddled for the President? See Ms. Perino, it isn't about the amount of time, it is how you treat the media. Comparing the coverage for Bush to Obama and complaining about it is a waste of time in false equivalencies. Bush gets bad press not only because he's unpopular but that he's a lying snake who starts wars for no good reason that kill hundreds of thousands of people. He also helped tank the economy and make us the laughing stock of the world. Obama is already working to fix the damage Bush has done. That isn't unfair coverage, it is simply the news.

Oh and I loved this quote:

"If I gave you information that turned out to be false, and I balked at correcting it, you guys would be furious. You'd be shocked," Perino says.

You give the media false information and lie to the public? Never!

Prove It Senator McCain!

As Senator McCain's poll numbers have dropped, the negativity of his campaign has increased and so has the level of hate that can be seen in his supporters. The covert racism of his and Palin's statements ("He's not one of us," "Pals around with terrorists," etc) has stoked the overt "Kill Him," "Bomb Obama," and people that bring Curious George dolls with Obama stickers on them to rallies. Hate begets hate and although McCain wished solely for the intensity of his base to increase (it did), it also provoked a negative reaction in the press and for the undecideds that are crucial for him to sway back into his corner. By the end of the week, he had to tell a woman in his crowd that Obama wasn't an Arab (why that would be bad, well, speaks volumes in and of itself) and he got booed for it.

So by the time the Sunday talk shows rolled around, the media that has started falling out of love with " The Maverick" media-hating McCain called him out on all the hate. When he went on CNN yesterday it was still a fancied topic and he was asked point-blank. His excuse for it? Another baseless attack of course!

From Crooks and Liars:

In an interview with CNN's Dana Bash Monday, John McCain actually said the following with a straight face:

BASH: Now, whether or not, since I know you've heard this during your rallies, since you have been talking about Ayers -- and your running mate has, also -- we've heard people in the crowd screaming things like "Terrorist!," "Traitor!," when you talked about Senator Obama -- and worse. When you hear that do you...

MCCAIN: I've heard the same thing, unfortunately, at Senator Obama's rallies being said about me. There's always a fridge element that's in politics in America. The overwhelming majority of the people that come to my rallies are good and decent and patriotic Americans. And if they're worried about this country's future, that's correct.

But to somehow -- to somehow intimate that of the thousands of people -- 17,000 people were just with us in Virginia. And to somehow intimate that the overwhelming majority of those people, with rare exception, are somehow not good Americans or are motivated by anything but the most patriotic motives, is insulting. And I won't accept that insult.

Like everyone else talking about it, no candidate can be responsible for everything being said with thousands of people around them. Yet the tone of the candidate and what they condone plays a major part. Barack Obama goes after McCain, but nothing resembles an ad hominem attack, everything is based on issues and ideas (or lack thereof). Obama inspires hope (he's attacked for that too) and a better way forward. You do not hear McCain being called a terrorist, or for him to be killed, or for camera operators that share his skin color to be screamed at with racial epithets.

It is possible for him to be associated with George Bush. It is possible for him to be called out for screwing the middle class by voting with the President 90% of the time. It is possible for him to be called out for lying about his record. There are many things we can yell out about McCain at an Obama rally. Yet nothing will ever come close to the racism on display at any given McCain or Palin event. Unless someone wants to prove it with actual videotape, no one is going to believe it.

John Dowd Forgets His And McCain's Personal History Of S&L Scandal

John McCain and Sarah Palin, like others before them, are unsuccessfully trying to tarnish Barack Obama with people he has made acquaintances with. In response, Obama's campaign is reminding America about John McCain's direct dealing in the last major financial scandal. While we are experiencing one of the worst economic climates in decades, it is appropriate to know that the last time taxpayers had to fix the problems created by wealthy Wall Street Execs. Seventeen years ago Charles Keating colluded with five Senators to buy into the system that is Washington. One of those five was John McCain. Now that people are paying attention to this, McCain's supporters are spinning the story on overdrive. Too bad for them, the truth isn't hard to figure out.

From The Washington Post:

In a conference call with reporters, attorney John Dowd was asked about a specific part of the Keating Five inquiry, the fact that Cindy McCain and her father had invested in a Keating strip mall.

"It was part of the inquiry, but it did not -- John was unconnected to that and unaware of it at the time, and did not participate in it," Dowd said.

But thanks to the quick research skills of Democratic partisans, here's John McCain's answer to an attorney who asked him about that very investment during the ethics committee hearings in 1991.

"Sometime in 1986, I was told by Mr. Delgado, who was Executive Vice President of my father-in-law's company, that they were going to invest in a shopping center and that the investment -- the project -- was being put together by a subsidiary of American Continental," McCain said. "He later told me that they -- that that had happened. And I had no interest in it and just noted in passing that this investment took place."

The attorney asking the question during the hearing? John Dowd.

Whoops! It looks like Mr. Dowd "forgot" about asking Senator McCain questions in front of the ethics committee investigations. Of course, there's nothing like a good YouTube video to jog the memories of those who lie to protect their favorite politicians. Care to revise your previous statement Mr. Dowd?

Palin Lied To Couric About "Trade Missions"

Even though we haven't seen all of the footage from the Katie Couric interview of Sarah Palin, so far it has been quite painful to listen to her answers. On Saturday Night Live, Tina Fey used the responses verbatim, no need to tweak something for the audience when it is already laugh out loud funny (tragically so I might add). We also know she is a pathological liar and not unexpectedly, there was a whopper in there about Alaska and Russia.

From RawStory:

Research doesn't show a single Alaska-Russia trade mission since former Democratic governor Tony Knowles visited Siberia in 1997, when Palin was running Wasilla, according to Salon.com.

When the reporter asked gubernatorial spokeswoman Kate Morgan about this issue, she refused to answer. Morgan claimed she couldn't legally discuss the matter because she is a state employee and the reporter had learned about the trade missions through the Couric interview, which stems from her bid for the Oval Office.

Spokespeople for the McCain/Palin campaign did not respond to requests for comment.

Palin has never visited Russia and had never traveled outside of North America until last year, the Associated Press reported. The vice presidential candidate had never met a foreign leader until a trip to New York this week.

Another day, another lie care of Sarah Palin. Now how exactly do Republicans say with any credibility that she's trustworthy? Oh yeah thats right, they don't.

Palin Tells Her First Lie To Israel

Sarah Palin is a textbook case of a pathological liar. She tells so many whoppers and lies that are easily debunked that the rational observation is that she no longer knows her own truth. Such a serious incompetent human being has no business being Governor of a state, let alone a heartbeat from the Presidency. No wonder the McCain campaign tries to hide her as much as they do. The more unscripted camera time she gets, the greater chance there is for her to lie to anyone she comes into contact with, such as Shimon Peres of Israel.

From The NY Sun:

President Peres of Israel yesterday met for the first time with Governor Palin and with Senator McCain, who called the veteran Israeli statesman "my old friend." The warm handshake and exchange of broad smiles occurred during an international gathering known as the Clinton Global Initiative, hosted by President Clinton. "I wanted to meet you for many years," Ms. Palin told Mr. Peres, according to an aide to the president. "The only flag at my office is an Israeli flag," she was quoted as saying, "and I want you to know and I want Israelis to know that I am a friend."

Her friends include people that denounce Jews, something I'm sure she does not wnant people like President Peres to know about. And as for that single solitary Israeli flag flying in her office up over yonder in Alaska? Well, this picture doesn't even need to tell a thousand words to show she is a terrible liar. Perhaps she meant the only tiny 3x5 flag was that of Israel?

McCain's Campaign Manager Rick Davis Is Still A Lobbyist

Despite John McCain's pathetic attempt to lie about Rick Davis' lobbyist status, it wasn't too hard to pull the facts from the shallow ground that the GOP dug for them. At this point McCain and his cronies simply do not care about earning the public's trust. Instead they are on a direct strategy to lie and manipulate the public with ridiculous gimmicks that a blind man could see through. Since McCain challenged anyone on Rick Davis' status, the media did exactly that and guess what they found?

From Newsweek:

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Rick Davis, John McCain's campaign manager, has remained the treasurer and a corporate director of his lobbying firm this year, despite repeated statements by campaign officials that he had ended his relationship with the firm in 2006, according to corporate records.

The McCain campaign this week criticized news stories disclosing that, since 2006, Davis's firm has been paid a $15,000-a-month consulting fee from Freddie Mac, the troubled mortgage giant recently put under federal conservatorship. The stories, published Tuesday by NEWSWEEK, The New York Times and Roll Call, reported that the consulting fees continued until last month even though, according to two sources familiar with the arrangement, neither Davis nor anybody else at his firm did any substantial work for the payments.

Stefanie Mullin, a spokesperson for the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which has taken over Freddie Mac and its sister entity Fannie Mae, confirmed Wednesday that the Davis Manafort contract is being terminated. "All lobbying activity has stopped and political consulting contracts at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are in the process of being terminated," said Mullin. (Democratic strategist Paul Begala also was on the Freddie Mac payroll, according to sources familiar with the arrangement.)

The McCain campaign can skirt around the issue all the want, but the truth of the matter is that Davis still benefits from the arrangement. The facts of the case make this extremely relevant and especially revealing about the character of the people McCain employs and by that standard, the character of the candidate as well.

The Media Bent Over For McCain And They Can't Get Up

The traditional media was for the most part in the pocket of the McCain camp for quite sometime, even before he had a "camp" so to speak. They loved his brazen remarks and random statements that bucked his supposedly more conservative party. Now that he has become a tool of the neo-con right they aren't so fond of him, but as Eric Boehlert of Media Matters points out, McCain's campaign could care less.

From Media Matters:

Did you hear the media are mad? According to Howard Kurtz at The Washington Post, the press is angry at McCain for his patently untrue lipstick attack ("It's false. It's ridiculous"), and they're seething over how Sarah Palin keeps telling her demonstrably false Bridge to Nowhere tale even after members of the media pointed out her stump-speech applause line was a lie. (A "whopper.")

During the past week, virtually every major news outlet has produced welcomed, hard-edged fact-checking pieces about how the Republican ticket goes far beyond bending the truth and just plain snaps it out on the campaign trail.

In the past, that kind of truth-telling would have embarrassed campaigns and likely caused a dramatic change in the rhetoric. But what do McCain and Palin do in response? They pretty much ignore the press and its critiques.

Writing on The New Republic's website, Eve Fairbanks spelled out the conundrum, capturing the dumbfounded realization that spread through the press corps. It's like that scene in a movie when the superhero realizes his unique power (for the press, it's collective indignation) has suddenly been rendered useless:

Reporters demolished the claim that the Palin opposed the Bridge to Nowhere, and yet the McCain campaign insolently still uses it. Writers dismantled the McCain campaign's untrue assertion that Barack Obama compared Sarah Palin to a pig yesterday, and yet the campaign put out an audacious ad featuring the ridiculous allegation, presumably on the assumption that Real Americans don't care what the elite press says anyway.

Real Americans care about what the media says, they just put it into context. Boehlert points out that most people just don't pay attention to them as much because most of what Chris Matthews et al put out is complete garbage. The author cites several examples from the current election season as well as Kerry's windsurfing from four years ago. However there is a silver lining. If the media would keep reporting facts and times when candidates lie for more than fifteen minutes, then people will start paying more attention.

As GOP Likened Al Gore To The Internet, McCain Links Himself To Cell Phones And Wi-Fi

Eight years ago the GOP successfully used an out of context comment to insinuate that Al Gore said he invented the Internet. Thanks to a hapless traditional media with almost no one to correct that falsehood at the time, people believed it and contributed in some form to declining popularity throughout the election season.

Now here we are in 2008, and Barack Obama is far too smart to fall into that trap. Yet McCain is apparently dumb enough to set some vicious snares for himself. After delaying his response to questions for the Science Debate 2008, his answers were.....well, you've got to see this.

Devilstower over at DailyKos sums up the good parts for us too:

Take this reply to a question about maintaining America's lead in innovation.

I am uniquely qualified to lead our nation during this technological revolution. While in the Navy, I depended upon the technologies and information provided by our nation’s scientists and engineers with during each mission.

Let's stop there for a second. Here John McCain insists he's uniquely qualified to discuss technology because... he used some. Forty years ago. This is the same kind of high standard by which he assured us that Sarah Palin knew more about energy than anyone else in America, and Phil Gramm was one of the smartest people in the world on the economy. At least he didn't claim any MacGyverite tech affinities developed in Hanoi.

Okay, let's continue.

I am the former chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. The Committee plays a major role in the development of technology policy, specifically any legislation affecting communications services, the Internet, cable television and other technologies. Under my guiding hand, Congress developed a wireless spectrum policy that spurred the rapid rise of mobile phones and Wi-Fi technology that enables Americans to surf the web while sitting at a coffee shop, airport lounge, or public park.

And, stop. There you have it, people. John McCain not only invented cell phones, he tossed in wifi as an afterthought.

Of course none of McCain's responses are grounded in any sort of truth. As Devilstower and the Senate's record clearly shows, McCain was on the wrong side of the legislation that helped to foster the technology that scientists helped to create. Now that John needs something to show that he is pro-science (hint: mentioning Sarah Palin is not a good idea) he does what his campaing is all about, making stuff up.

Oh and not content with the amount of bullshit that John spewed on the questionaire, one of his top aides mentioned that McCain also invented the Blackberry. I wonder what the Canadian company RIM thinks about that?

Fiorina Lies For Palin's Earmark Hypocrisy, But The Truth Still Shines Through

Carly Fiorina was busy this weekend lying her ass off for the McCain/Palin campaign. Fortunately for the rest of us, Senator Claire McCaskill and ABC News host George Stephanopolous were ready to interject the truth about Sarah Palin and her record with earmarks.

It's Bad When Rove Calls Out Your Lies

Even the official chief liar and manipulator Karl Rove couldn't spin away the blatant string of lies that McCain has tried to pull over the American people:

Deconstructing McCain's Lies, One At A Time

This is a devastating video that John McCain and his die-hard supporters never want you to see, simply because it contains the truth that refutes their constant stream of lies.

Palin Caught In Bold-Faced Lie, Continues To Show No Shame

Charlie Gibson confronted Sarah Palin about her repeated lie that she never supported the infamous "Bridge to Nowhere." Yet she shows absolutely no remorse for misleading and lying to the American people about her position, despite the indisputable facts on the matter:

Palin Continues To Lie About Bridge To Nowhere

This just goes to show she has zero respect for the American people and those that vote. To her, being debunked over and over again about the Bridge to Nowhere is no big deal. Palin thinks she can lie over and over again to the voters, but no one appreciates a liar, exactly what Palin is.

Barack Obama Fights Back Against A Fringe Bigot

Barack Obama's campaign may call Jerome Corsi a fringe bigot who is peddling lies, but he is much more than that. Corsi is what the GOP is banking on. They have no issues to win Americans over. The only thing McCain and the Republicans are offering is more of the same, another four years tacked on to the last miserable eight. So they must smear Obama in order to have a chance at winning. Unfortunately for Corsi and his ilk, Barack is going to fight back and he isn't taking names.

From RawStory:

The Obama campaign picked apart the book's claims in a rebuttal titled "Unfit For Publication," to be posted on the Obama campaign's rumor-fighting Web site, FightTheSmears.com. The title is a play on the book Corsi co-authored against 2004 Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry's military service called "Unfit For Command."

"Jerome Corsi is a discredited liar who is peddling another piece of garbage to continue the Bush-Cheney politics he helped perpetuate four years ago," said Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor. "His is just one of what will likely be many more lie-filled books rushed to print this election cycle, which are cobbled together from debunked Internet sources to make money and advance a partisan agenda. We will respond to these smears forcefully with all means at our disposal."

Corsi's book is off to a swift start and is No. 1 on The New York Times' hardcover nonfiction best-seller list, even though Obama's campaign would argue the book should be listed as fiction.

The fiction Corsi is peddling is nothing of the sort to lull children off to sleep. The book is a white supremacists dream (in fact he has promoted the book on two white supremacist radio shows so far). He drags up old rumors that have been discredited, he writes about his mom's "second man of color to be her mate." Corsi accuses him of using drugs and slams Islam simply because his middle name is Hussein. Corsi is nothing more than a piece of shit liar who is financed by people that can not debate Obama on the issues. This man has zero credibility and should be treated as such.

I'll leave you with this:

In an interview with The Associated Press, Corsi defended raising the issue of drugs without any evidence.

"I don't need more," he said. "I'm putting this question forward. I'm putting the evidence forward. Voters can make up their own minds."

Corsi writes for World Net Daily, a conservative Web site whose lead headline Thursday was "Astonishing photo claims: Dead Bigfoot stored on ice."

Now for those conservative Republicans out there that are still frothing at the mouth over this, just try and imagine someone with Corsi's background wrote the same type of drivel about McCain.....that is right, you can't, because it doesn't exist.

John McCain Tells Another Whopper

No earmarks John? Come on, you should know by now we are too smart for that. It is too easy to call out your BS in this day and age.

Romney Continues To Lie For McCain

Ah, Mittens Romney is up to no good again. In this run-up to the selection of VP running mates, the former Governor is trying hard to please Mr. McCain and on CNN, he delivered a doosey of a lie to make his man look good.

From ThinkProgress:

Today, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney appeared on CNN’s American Morning to discuss an ad by Barack Obama that argues John McCain would give $4 billion in tax breaks to Big Oil. Romney declared the charge “dishonest” and “below the belt.” He claimed that McCain “doesn’t ask for any tax reduction for oil companies.”

There is nothing dishonest about pointing out the fact that McCain’s plan to cut the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 25 percent would give nearly $4 billion in tax breaks to the six largest oil companies. Ensuring that corporations pay dramatically fewer taxes is an integral part of McCain’s regressive tax plan that skews its benefits heavily toward the wealthy and offers little for the poor and middle class.[...]

Just since McCain’s embrace of offshore drilling in June, donations to his campaign from the oil and gas industry have skyrocketed. He has received $881,450 in the last 6 weeks alone.

The McCain campaign may claim to “stand up” to the oil industry, but McCain’s own plans are the stuff of Big Oil’s dreams.

Perhaps because Romney is a multi-millionaire himself, he doesn't see stuff like this as a tax break but good fiscal planning and his and others like him god-given right. Why would this plan draw any ire from Romney when he has no clue as to the sentiments of the middle class, millions of Americans who he has no idea on how to relate to?