This is sort of a one-item Countdown Supplemental but since the show frequently points out John McCain's wavering position Iraq both historically and in the current campaign
is especially relevant.
Never mind Senator McCain's flop back today to no tax increases, barely 48 hours after he had insisted that tax increases were not off the table. The Senator's latest motion, leading to a story perhaps even more remarkable. A McCain campaign spokesman actually claiming McCain does not speak for the McCain campaign. CONTINUED >>
With new polls coming out every day it's useless to post any lasting links to particular polls. One poll that is frequently the subject of news is the Gallup Daily poll.
From Monday's top Bushed item: David Kilcullen is not entirely pleased with Spencer Ackerman's reporting of his description of the decision to invade Iraq as "f-ing stupid."
Here's the full FactCheck.org debunking of the latest McCain attack ad (yesterday they also picked apart McCain's Obama/Castro Web ad).
The main cover page of the conservative RAND corporation's Invisible Wounds of War; Psychological and Cognitive Injuries, Their Consequences, and Services to Assist Recovery report includes links to summaries as well as the full document.
The subject of Monday night's "best campaign exaggeration:" TCS Requests Don Young Campaign Remove Misleading Ads
An Investigation of Allegations of Politicized Hiring by Monica Goodling and Other Staff in the Office of the Attorney General NOTE: At 140 pages, even with a high speed connection this download can be a bit heavy. The main page for special reports says an HTML version is coming soon. (Of course, they said that about the still-not-HTML June report.) The instantly infamous question, "[W]hat is it about George W. Bush that makes you want to serve him?" is on page 23. How Keith managed to report that item while avoiding making a Twilight Zone cookbook allusion is still a mystery.
Fox Business Just Seven Decades From Victory
President Bush's announcement of the surge was January 10, 2007 and he speaks of it in the future tense.
July 23rd was the 6th anniversary of the Downing Street memo.
The video of President Bush joking about Wall Street having been drunk and the state of the housing market is now located here.
Schmidt's Restaurant und Sausage Haus - the next best option to giving a speech to hundreds of thousands people in actual Germany.
House Committee on the Judiciary hearing on "Executive Power and its constitutional limitations." Or, as Congressman Lungren called it, "Impeachment lite."
"In the poll by our associates at Synovate eNation, we asked which of four of the media elite—Limbaugh, Fox's Bill O ' Reilly, MSNBC's Keith Olbermann , and Hardball's Chris Matthews—you wouldn't want renting the Martha's Vineyard home next to you."
The Wall Street Journal article that drew Keith's ire: What Bush and Batman Have in Common
Swift-Boating Obama: It wasn't until August 4th, 2004 that the self-named Swift Boat Veterans for Truth launched their first tv ad attacking Senator John Kerry. This year, the Swift-Boating of the current Democratic Nominee, Senator Barack Obama, already has begun, and a week early. Only one veteran is leading the attack, former Navy Captain, John McCain. CONTINUED >>
Travelocity: In a campaign of Non Sequitirs, Senator McCain has tonight reached a new high, in low. First announcing in Denver today that Senator Obama has failed the so-called Commander- in- Chief test... Then on television...endorsing Obama's plan for bringing U-S forces home from Iraq. Our fifth story on the Countdown: Senator McCain now saying a 16-month withdrawal "timetable based on conditions on the ground" is "a pretty good timetable."
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Ich Bin Ein Obama:
Even part of a day's research does not indicate what Barry Goldwater or Nelson Rockefeller -- the presumed Republican frontrunners for the 1964 nomination -- were doing on June 26th, 1963, when President John F. Kennedy addressed the world from the Berlin Wall and declared "Ich Bin Ein Berliner." But in our fifth story on the Countdown: we do know what Senator John McCain was doing today, as Senator Barack Obama addressed a crowd estimated at 200-thousand in that historic city and spoke of tearing down new walls between America and our European allies, so we could all fight terrorism. Mr. McCain was at a German restaurant in Ohio... ordering cream puffs.
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Double Talk Express: Which came first, the surge or the surge? Apparently, the surge did. In our fifth story on the Countdown: Senator McCain -- who yesterday wanted you to believe that the surge pre-dated the Sunni awakening in Anbar -- now wants you to believe that the surge started before President Bush said it did. If that is not confusing enough... The presumptive Republican nominee would also have you believe that the surge....and the Anbar awakening... and the counter-insurgency in Iraq... are all the very same thing.
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The transcript of the CBS News interview with John McCain in which Katie Couric apparently misses John McCain's poor grasp of the facts of the conflict in Iraq is here on their own site:
Couric: Senator McCain, Sen. Obama says, while the increased number of U.S. troops contributed to increased security in Iraq, he also credits the Sunni awakening and the Shiite government going after militias. And says that there might have been improved security even without the surge. What's your response to that?
McCain: I don't know how you respond to something that is such a false depiction of what actually happened. Colonel McFarlane (phonetic) was contacted by one of the major Sunni sheiks. Because of the surge we were able to go out and protect that sheik and others. And it began the Anbar awakening. I mean, that's just a matter of history.
As Keith pointed out, the briefing on the Anbar Awakening was on September 29, 2006 - at least two months before rumors about the mere possibility of a surge of U.S. troops in Iraq.
By the way, this is the transcript of what aired on CBS News with Katie Couric after some pretty strenuous editing. (Ellipses below obviously not present in the video):
Couric: Senator McCain, Sen.
Obama says, while the increased number of U.S. troops contributed to
increased security in Iraq, he also credits the Sunni awakening and the
Shiite government going after militias. And says that there might have
been improved security even without the surge. What's your response to
that?
McCain: Sen. Obama has indicated that by his failure to acknowledge the success of the surge, that he would rather lose a war than lose a campaign. ... Thanks to General Petraeus, our leadership, and the sacrifice of brave young Americans. I mean, to deny that their sacrifice didn't make possible the success of the surge in Iraq, I think, does a great disservice to young men and women who are serving and have sacrificed. ... There will still be attacks. Al Qaeda's not defeated. But the progress has been immense. And to not recognize that, and why it happened, and how it happened, I think is really quite a commentary.
Couric: A commentary on what?
McCain: That Sen. Obama does not understand the challenges we face. And … not understand the need for the surge. And the fact that he did not understand that, and still denies that it has succeeded, I think the American people will make their judgment.
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Surge Protector: Senator John McCain... Now staking his candidacy entirely on the surge. Entirely on his claim that he believed in the need for a surge of U-S forces in Iraq... even before President Bush did. Tonight has proven that he does not understand one of the fundamental facts about it.
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A rare Keith/Rachel combo tonight...
Out of Iraq: There is no mistaking now that Iraqi Prime Minister al-Maliki meant every word when he backed Senator Barack Obama's plan for withdrawing troops from that country within 16-months of taking office. Our fifth story on the Countdown: Despite the White House's attempt to make it seem as if al-Maliki had (A) been "misinterpreted"... and/or (B) had reconsidered his position -- no doubt under great pressure to do so... Those efforts nullified today when... after a meeting with Senator Obama in Baghdad... al-Maliki's spokesman telling reporters -- in English -- that all American troops should be out of Iraq by the end of 2010.
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Where in the World?: The Presumptive Democratic Nominee's Magical Mystery Tour is underway, with an unprecedented level of secrecy, and of touchiness about the secrecy. In other words, in our fifth story on the Countdown...where in the world is Barack Obama.
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$52 Pick-up: When the GOP falsely accused Barack Obama of "reneging on a promise" to take only public campaign financing, its pretext was the reliability of his word... In reality, its complaint was about his competitiveness. 52 million dollars, the Democrat raised in June. And in our fifth story on the Countdown: that still puts him and the Democrats well behind the Republicans, and it points out the real nub of the GOP complaint gist... it's the economics, stupid. More over, Obama tonight is seeing results of the different way he's spent the money tonight -- with startling poll numbers out of the swing states.
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KO returns...
Commander in Brief: How low can the low-information voters go? If you're John McCain you continue to wager: lower than a box of rocks. Our fifth story on the Countdown tonight: a McCain surrogate's remarkable claim that his man isn't the new President Bush... but Senator Obama is Why? Because the Democrat in the race wants to leave Iraq. Quote: "We cannot afford to replace one administration that refused for too long to acknowledge failure in Iraq with a candidate that refuses to acknowledge success in Iraq." If you guessed only a Neo-Con ex-Rumsfeld Iraq advisor could actually say that without going into convulsive laughter, you're right -- the speaker was Randy Scheunemann.
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That Barack Obama New York Times Op-Ed on his Iraq/Afghanistan plan is here.
Rachel mentioned that Monday was the anniversary of the Sedition Act, approved July 14, 1798. Now defunct, of course, but still a pretty amazing thing to read.
That video in Monday's Bushed segment (and followed up on Tuesday night) of the lobbyist offering access to White House officials for cash donations to the Bush library (and his own firm) is from this report in the Times of London. Don't miss the copy of the company's brochure. The Congressional Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has taken an interest in the piece. Committee Chairman Henry Waxman's letter to the lobbyist can be read here.
It took some time to dig up the stats about offshore oil production because the Energy Information Administration has a serious quantity of ... well... energy information, but I think this is the clearest piece from a 2007 report:
The projections in the OCS access case indicate that access to the Pacific, Atlantic, and eastern Gulf regions would not have a significant impact on domestic crude oil and natural gas production or prices before 2030. Leasing would begin no sooner than 2012, and production would not be expected to start before 2017.
Again, those dates were from a 2007 report, so 2012 would be 2013 now.
As funny as the mash-up with the Miss Teen USA South Carolina video was, the video of S.C. governor Mark Sanford alone is quite a spectacle.
Here is Rep. Dennis Kucinich's re-introduced article of impeachment entered into the Congressional record. It's much easier to read this draft version.
The bunny letter opener clip on Friday was from a May, 2006 YouTube video.
I'd like to link directly to the relevant portion of the EPA's report on the impact of greenhouse gases on the health of humans and how to regulate those emissions through the Clean Air Act - this being the report that Dick Cheney's office is reported to have influenced - but there's just too much to sort through (and the point is not only what's there but what's not there).
You can start here but it looks like the report itself is hundreds of pages long. (Further insights from Countdown viewers are welcome.)
Rachel in for KO tonight...
The Right's Wrong: Today, one of the presidential candidates came out with a plan to send more U.S. troops into combat. It was not John McCain. The catch? Barack Obama wants to send these troops... to Afghanistan, the war some U.S. troops call "forgot-istan". In a New York Times op-ed today, Obama says as president he would send at least two additional combat brigades to Afghanistan... he explained for the umpteenth time that he has never set a rigid, unconditional timetable for withdrawal from Iraq... and he explained why he thinks leaving Iraq is essential to America's safety.
< CONTINUED >>
Check out this appearance by a McCain Campaign surrogate on Wolf Blitzer's Sunday show. Maybe he was a last minute booking...but his initial response to the Wolf-man's first question leads you to believe you'll see this footage again, only with the phrase: "I'm Barack Obama and I approve this message" after it.
Flag on the Play: And if the election were a football game...It appears that Senator John McCain just ran the ball into his own endzone. Our fifth story on the Countdown: McCain tells a Pittsburgh television station that he recited the names of the Pittsburgh Steelers defensive line while under interrogation in north vietnam. One problem with that remarkable anecdote? Every other time McCain has told that story... He's named the Green Bay Packers instead. Unnecessary Pander! Ten yards! Ahead, we'll have political analysis from Richard Wolffe. And we'll go to the go-to guy you always want to go *to* when politics and sports combine...Someone who also knows a thing or two about Countdown... Who was perhaps hoping to have the entire day off. But first, tonight... the details.
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The former FISA bill is now called Public Law No: 110-261. That's not in the public database yet but it's still in the Senate database here in case it's different from the last version we linked to.
Here's McCain listed as "not voting" on the Kyl-Lieberman amendment that he accuses Obama of not supporting because he's soft on Iran's terrorist status. The full "printer friendly" text of the amendment is here with this being the most referenced passage:
(5) that the United States should designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps as a foreign terrorist organization under section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act and place the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps on the list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists, as established under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and initiated under Executive Order 13224;
Meanwhile, here's The Iran Counter-Proliferation Act of 2007 of which Obama is a cosponsor. And Obama introduced a bill of his own, S.1430 (the Iran Sanctions Enabling Act), "A bill to authorize State and local governments to direct divestiture from, and prevent investment in, companies with investments of $20,000,000 or more in Iran's energy sector, and for other purposes." That was May 17, 2007.
The story of U.S. exports to Iran was the result of data compiled by the AP, not a single government report, but here's an interesting breakdown of exports by state. The real irony of McCain's crack about hoping exported cigarettes kill Iranians is that his state's chief export to Iran is vitamins.
The company behind the Electro-Muscular Disruption bracelet being considered as a security measure in airports is Lamperd Less Lethal. The company pitch video is an instant "war on terror" classic.
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee offers a considerable amount of material in relation to their hearing on the manufacturers of FEMA's toxic trailers. Among the more damning passages in the main report:
Despite these test results, the trailer manufacturers did not warn trailer occupants of the dangerous levels of formaldehyde. Gulf Stream did not tell FEMA the company had found elevated levels of formaldehyde in occupied trailers or warn FEMA not to place families in its unoccupied trailers. The company did, however, send FEMA a letter making some of its test results available to FEMA, an offer which the agency apparently never pursued. Another trailer manufacturer, Keystone, revised its owner’s manual to advise consumers that new travel trailers were expected to emit formaldehyde, which it called a “naturally occurring substance,” resulting in “a strong odor and chemical sensitivity” that “is not a defect in your recreational vehicle.”
The separate report filed by Republicans on the committee is here. "The problem was, and remains, confusion among federal agencies, not some conspiracy by trailer makers."
Gramm Crackers: The next time you need to take out a second mortgage to fill up at the gas pump... Don't worry: Any pain you might be experiencing? is apparently all in your mind. And if that second mortgage turns out to be a sub-prime mortgage... and you just happen to lose your home? Again: No worries. Any homelessness you might encounter... will also be, just psychological. Our fifth story on the Countdown: One of John McCain's oldest and closest economic advisers, former Senator Phil Gramm, has told Americans to stop "whining" about the U-S economy... which -- he says -- is only suffering from a "mental recession". Wish I was kidding... but I'm not.
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No Joking Matter: Despite the restrictions on Americans doing business with Iran... American exports to that country have increased ten-fold during the Bush Admnistration... with America sending more cigarettes to that country than any other product -- 158-million dollars worth. So far, doesn't seem to be a laughing matter, right? Apparently, not if you're Senator John McCain. In our fifth story on the Countdown: The Republican presidential candidate who last year sang "Bomb Iran" to the tune of the Beach Boys "Barbara Ann"... Responded to a question about the administration's mixed-messages trade policy... by joking, quote: "Maybe that's a way of killing" Iranians. Yeah. Still not funny. Trying to find it funny. Can't. And somehow, just hours later, we're supposed to take his reaction to Iran's missile test very seriously.
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The McCain site lists the 300 economists who endorse the McCain economic plan (but don't mention the gas tax or the budget balancing).
This appears to be the official site for the World Wife Carrying Championship.
You may not have thought it was possible but here is the ruling on the Pringles case in which it was determined that the snacks are not technically potato crisps.
The full Jim Carrey/Jenny McCarthy swimsuit video is on the TMZ site.
The Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works site has a number of documents, including the original letter, related to former EPA official, Jason Burnett's exposing Vice President Cheney's office for cutting nearly half the original CDC testimony, so the CDC's health findings wouldn't oblige the government to crack down on carbon emissions.
Amazingly, it's possible to connect Phil Gramm to Kevin Bacon using feature films and no Fred Thompson cheat step.
Here's the Progress Now Action campaign to raise money for the legal defense of Carol Kreck who was issued a citation for trespassing while standing in front of a John McCain town hall meeting with a "McCain = Bush" sign. The full video of her ordeal is on YouTube.
Matthew McConaughey's new baby enjoys considerable company in being named Levi. His cousin's name, however, hasn't been in popular use since the 1930s. (But that's still more common than Sunday.)
The Access Hollywood interview with the Obama family will be presented in four parts. Below the video on the upper right of this page is a playlist of the first two parts so far.
Iraq the Vote: Even though Senator Obama has not changed his position on when and under what circumstances our troops could come home from Iraq... Senator McCain won the first round of the spin war on that issue, convincing most of the media for most of a long-weekend-news-cycle, that Obama had flip-flopped, on Iraq. But in our fifth story on the Countdown: Round Two is about to get a lot trickier for the presumptive Republican nominee... McCain said four years ago quote, "it's obvious that we would have to leave [Iraq]"... if the Iraqi government asked us to do so. Well, asking us to do so, is exactly what the Iraqi government has now done.
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Rachel Maddow in for Keith tonight...
Budget Buster: Of the many claims made today by Senator McCain about the economy... my vote for the most laugh-out-loud double-take, wait-a-minute-what?! moment? Was the part where Senator McCain said he will have balanced the budget by the end of his first term because of all the money he will have saved... by winning the war in Iraq. Our fifth story on the Countdown: If you believe that, then there is this bridge in Brooklyn I'd love to talk with you about. I can get you an awesome deal.
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Some supplemental highlights from recent shows:
You can read the first judicial review of the government's secret evidence against detainee Huzaifa Parhat in which the accusations are described as being based on "bare and unverifiable claims."
You may recall this is the one that references the Lewis Carroll poem, "The Hunting of the Snark." There are many versions of the poem available online for free but this one also contains images of the book.
Fox News is looking for a "fact writer." Is this a new position?
TPM Muckraker has a follow-up today on last week's story of Deborah Honeycutt's fundraising peculiarities.
Communist Attempts to Elicit False Confessions from Air Force Prisoners of War (Also known as the basis of an interrogation class by military trainers who came to Guantanamo Bay in December 2002.)
Patrick joins NBC, reunites with Olbermann - Dan Patrick has been named a co-host of NBC's "Football Night in America" studio show, reuniting him with Keith Olbermann. The two redefined sports highlights during their time together on ESPN’s SportsCenter from 1992-97.
Rachel Maddow in for Keith tonight...
Can the Center Hold?: In outlining his plan to boost national service today, Senator Barack Obama was no doubt aiming for John F. Kennedy's "Ask not, what your country can do for you... Ask what you can do for your country." He was perhaps reaching for Franklin D. Roosevelt's "I pledge you, I pledge myself to a new deal for the American people." But instead, in our fifth story on the Countdown, in a week of campaigning on expanding faith-based federal programs and the size of the military, Obama's political message today may sound to his left-wing base a lot like the "Compassionate Conservatism" of George W. Bush. For a candidate running on change, defining the alternative to the Bush years -- what gives?
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Keith mentioned it in last night's show but because Senator Webb's appearance on Monday night's show is being so widely discussed, here's a handy link to the video of that segment so you don't have to go digging through the archives.
Church and Statesmanship: It is one of the most insidious aspects of the Reagan and Bush presidencies...What was never attempted before -- a smudging of the line between Church and State -- what the current President Bush termed "faith-based initiatives" -- becoming a part of the government... making America to some small degree, even a tiny fraction of one percent, part theocracy. In our fifth story on the Countdown: seeing political opportunity, and seeing some way of incorporating the faith without the intolerance, Senator Barack Obama today trying to offer the compassion without the conservativism, and deliver, unto himself, some votes. What if he winds up costing himself, more?
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